A Journey

As I travel home I am pondering the journey God took me on with tears of joy. I am so blessed that this was offered to me and that so many of my family, friends and even friends of friends who were a part of this journey of obedience and faith. This, a journey of love. God often sends us places to challenge us to grow and he also sends us to just love on people. 

Our trip was primarily centered around a medical mission - a clinic held in church. A clinic that ran for 6 days touching at least 708 people. A clinic that ran for 2 of those six days with only nurses and translators....how could this be? It’s because we weren’t just taking a blood pressure or blood sugar reading, we were listening to each persons story with open ears. People started lining up before 7am for a clinic that did not open until 10am. Not everyone needed medicine, some just wanted to be checked out. All who came left with vitamins and some toiletries. It’s taking the time to pray for with and for each person. 

It’s Women’s night. Women worshiping together, sharing their life stories, encouraging each other and praying for each other. It’s unbelievable that so many people have been praying for Sophie and others who have started praying. All prayers are heard by our God - who was present with us while at the same time present with Sophie.  I remember one of the villages I visited on my first journey here, to the village of Sofia. To hear that one man’s life, Ian’s, had been changed when missionaries from America had traveled to his village and told him how much God loved him - traveling all that is way to share that love. They left him with a small token gift, which he can’t remember exactly what it was, but he did remember there was a gift - saying it changed his life forever. The love, knowing he wasn’t forgotten. God is always with us, never forgetting us - it’s just that some people need to be told or reminded - in dark times as well as during happy times.

It’s the orphan children. Those who run up to the van with expectant smiles that people would come to visit time, spend time with them, play with them, laugh with them, and hug them. To sing ‘and hand motion to ‘Yes Jesus loves me’ - a song we pray they remember all of their days - drawing them into a relationship with God. To see the joy when a child (every child) receives a brand new pair of flop flops - replacing those held together with string or literally not even a whole shoe. Because of others generosity - and willingness to be a part of our team - WE all were able to make a difference!

It’s believing God will always send us with the exact people he wants to go, to be greeted by the exact people he wants us to share life with. It’s believing that we will have the right amount of supplies to take, right on time, because our God provides for our daily needs and desires. It’s about not stressing. It’s being willing to be stretched, to be flexible, to live with strangers, to eat different food, to not always be able to understand what is being said to you in Russian / Romanian, and be ok with that until a translator can be located. It’s recognizing someone’s face from a previous journey - and letting them know it is good to see them again (and them beaming when remembered by me - which really lets them know they are remembered and loved by God - that brings pure joy). It’s meeting new people for the very first time. I am thankful for all the blessings I have - and I have been blessed to be a blessing to others. 

Changed

Saying goodbye today has shown us how many connections we have made here in Moldova. God has stretched every one of us on this journey and we have been so blessed to be able to come here. 

As we stood there in front of the church today Mark made a fantastic point. There are only 9 of us in this country, but close to 1,000 standing behind us at home. They helped us to raise these funds, the supplies that we brought with us, and the prayers lifting everyone up. The people here have thanked us over and over again. They have thanked us for coming into our schools, their community, and their lives. 

On our last day here, our hearts were yet again filled. I’m so thankful that our entire team was able to go together on this final stop. We spent out evening at an orphanage today. From the moment we pulled into the driveway they swarmed our van. We sang, we danced, we laughed, we gave them gifts, we gave them stories and the hope of Jesus! 

These kids hugged me harder than anyone has ever hugged me in my life. An 80 pound girl literally squeezed the air right out of my body and she didn’t let go. In fact, she came back for thirds. ❤️ For some reason adoption has always been on my heart. I’ve never felt the desire to have kids, but I have always considered adopting. To see how grateful those kids were to have some flip flops and a goodie bag... I can’t imagine the look on their faces when a family comes to take them home. I hope someday JR and I are able to change a kids life. 

I think I’m going to feel lost at home. This trip sure has shown me how self centered I can be. It’s been great to be surrounded by other people from our church that know how and where to get me more involved. Something so different here is that even if a person doesn’t agree with you on something, they still keep a respectful demeanor with you. So speaking with people back home is going to be a challenge for me this coming week.   These worlds are just so different, and the people here are impossible not to love. 

Photos!

I’ve found a way to post photos from my phone! I’ve gone back and put a few photos with my posts, but here’s some extras for you friends and family! 😊

New challenges

“Don’t treat people how they treat you. Treat people like God treats you.” 

Everyone is at a different place in their faith journey, but helping them to be better, and loving them through it is going to be a huge challenge for me heading back the America. When people don’t want to change themselves and their mindset to be better, what can you do? Love them through it. This is all I can think about right now since we are coming home very shortly and I will be faced with a whole new set of challenges. 

I am no better than any other person. I fail God daily. I can’t always hold my tongue. My thoughts get away from. I let the world influence my behavior. I’m self centered and not always putting other people or God’s work first. But, I am aware of those things and constantly trying to change. Change is hard, but it’s the best thing we can open ourselves up to. 

“Repentance is a lifestyle, not a one time event. True repentance is a change of behavior. John, writing to believers said in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from ALL righteousness.”

I know I’ll fail and fall back into my old ways because I am human. But, I want this to stick. I don’t want to be moved by the friends, family, or the world. I want to be moved by God and work for him daily. I don’t want negative conversations filling my mind, bad behavior effecting my decisions, or sinful ways infecting my soul. My biggest struggle going home is going to be standing firm in my faith, pouring out God’s love onto others, and blocking out any darkness from coming into myself. It’s very hard to live in this world, but not be of the world, and strive for something bigger than yourself.

Just Go

It has been a week since leaving home....hard to believe all the team has done this far. The journey has been filled with multiple opportunities to reach people. We were in Cahul thru Wednesday evening and have been in Chisinau since. I have been primarily in the medical clinic. We have been blown away with the number of people who have shown up for care -  590. Today will be our last day open. All have been provided vitamins, soap and shampoo or a toothbrush. Children have been provided vitamins and a toothbrush and toothpaste. Everyone has been prayed for. In Chisinau, we are fortunate to be working with the same physician that we have worked with on all the trips - dispensing multiple medications and supplements and providing consultation. I was also able to visit the homes of people deriving food bags and sharing the love of Christ. Last night we shared a meal with the families and girls from the transition homes in Chisinau and Orhei. We laughed playing a game of spoons with forks. Fun and lots of laughs. Marianna won - any game I have ever played with her - she has won. 

I have been stretched this year - in a very different way. More watching and listening then doing. This is good. Every time I come I am truly amazed with what God is doing. “God is able to do far more than we wound ever dare to ask or even dream of - infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” Eph 3:20. I can be stretched anywhere / anytime. I just need to be willing and able to Go to serve and love people. 

Pictures from Day 4 and 5

Enjoy some pics...

Day 1 at the Chisinau clinic.

Who let Kilroy in the clinic?

Clowns going to evangelize at the preschool and Jake looks concerned.

150 Eye glasses distributed in 1 day!

Playing spoons with the transition home girls.

Walk by faith not by sight

“We walk by the spirit when the desires of the spirit are stronger than the desires of flesh.” John Piper

God ran the show all day! We had a program for just shy of 300 preschoolers today.

Today I felt very led by the Holy Spirit. In the smallest of tasks I would know what was about to happen, I already knew the correct path to take, the correct people to discuss things with, or an answer to what I was facing. For example, this morning was very hectic and I didn’t have time to read my bible. I grabbed my daily letter from JR to read on the go. I read it as we walked out the door and by the time we got into the van the letter was buried in my backpack. We had about 5 minutes of standing and waiting until we loaded up to leave. I was racking my brain trying to think of the Bible verse JR wrote on my letter. As I was thinking Cathy walked out of the house wear a shirt that said, “Walk by faith” 2 Timothy 4:7 That was it! That was the Bible verse JR wrote to me this morning. 

Another God trick, as most of you know, I take photos of EVERYTHING. A huge part of my job on this trip is documenting what’s happening here for our mission, for Oleg’s mission, and for the community we are being involved with. Most of the schools we are attending don’t mind photography. Actually, the kids absolutely love it! They love to see themselves on the camera. The first school we attended today I picked my camera up and immediately felt the need to set it back down. I just keep hearing, “No!” After the end of the program I said something about it and it turns out that the principle at this school would have had a big issue with the camera. 

The children today were amazing. One school had 160 kids and the second school had 120. Each kid I got to dance with, high five, or hug I truly connected with. I just knew what to pray over each tiny head and I loved being able to squeeze some love into them. One little boy was so excited about a Hershey Kiss that he was vibrating with excitement  in his chair. I think today was one of the few times I have truly been able to pray within the spirit. 

Say some prayers for our health! We have one person not feeling so great and I didn’t feel very good today either. We are getting very tired, constantly busy, around tiny germs all day, and ill feeling people in the medical clinic which is inside our home. We are drinking lots of water and they do feed us extremely healthy here! Looking forward to delivering some more food bags out in the community tomorrow!

Laughter

In the past 24 hours our group has not stopped laughing! Such a huge difference compared to the spiritual warfare we faced yesterday. 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭6:21‬ ‭“Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.”

And Cathy doesn’t need mace anymore. She scared a man away with her foot. Hehehehe

In addition, Jake is going to create the iPoddy when we come back 💩 It is going to track your “health” in an angry French accent. And for your convenience, you’ll be able to share your data straight to Facebook. 

Pictures from Day 3!

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Val playing with some kids at the transition home.  Maybe a quick game of dodgeball?

The team on the way to evangelize at the preschool.  What is Cathy doing?

Singing songs at the preschool.

Building 3 tier bunk beds at the transition home is fun.  

The transition home girls pick out their new flip flops!

This burger never had a chance..

Being on the front lines

This morning I was reading my daily devotional and I thought to myself, “I need to get a new one. I’m not really connecting with this and getting much out of it.” A few hours later I walked out of our bedroom to leave for the day. Stand in the front door was a women who spoke broken English. She told Nan and I about how she is leaning and trying to get better at English. At 11:00 every day she goes to the library to read to some children and teach them English as well. She asked if we had any books in our language. I jumped on the opportunity to give her my devotional, but she was really wanting books that she could read to the children. 

I brought 4 children’s story books to leave here, not thinking about the fact that they are in English, and asking myself last night why I brought them when not many people can read them. Well, God answered my question on that one! When I told her she could keep the children’s books as well as the devotional, she smiled so big and gave the books a big hug ❤️ I LOVE God tricks! I’m so thankful to know I am hearing him correctly, and we are all being stretched in our faith immensely on this trip! 

Now family, don’t freak out at first... I keep telling everyone that we are here to support Oleg and his team. Oleg is on the front lines over here. He finds people to rescue out of horrible situations, and brings them to Christ. But today, a group of us delivering food bags got to see him in action. 

This afternoon I truly got to see God work before my eyes. We were driving around and trying to find a home. We were having a hard time locating it and Oleg stopped and thought maybe this was the house we had been looking for. We got out and started talking in the street with the family that lives there. The mother was extremely angry, the daughter was ill, and the man in the house was an alcoholic. Also he was drunk while we were there. 

My sprit could feel the warfare while we were standing there, but I didn’t understand what was happening until we discussed it afterwards. The mother was angry at God for the poverty in their country and how the government abandoned them when they pulled out. The daughter believes in God, but not the Bible. And the man was at first oblivious to what was happening until Oleg started speaking. As soon as he starting sharing with them about Jesus the man walked up to Oleg and stared him dead in the face. Probably because he was drunk, but it truly looked like he was having an out of body experience. They all began fighting with Oleg, but he stayed standing firm in Christ. It was incredible to watch!

Before leaving that day Nan and I were talking about how we were a little nervous to do the food bags today. In our country it isn’t “normal” to pray over people let alone give your testimony and preach to them. We only go to church so we can be preached to. I felt convicted to share my testimony with the mother of the family, but they kept fighting with Oleg. The mother left and it was just the daughter and man left. Nan then felt like she should share with them so she did. We had fear to go today, but God pulled through to show us both that the fear was not from him. 

When we left the house we gave them the food, a bible, some medicine, and toys for their children. The man had tears in his eyes, shook all of our hands, and thanked us. He had another conversation with Oleg and was grateful that we came. They asked us how we ended up coming to their home, and of course since it was a mistake, we replied that Jesus sent us. 

We got back in the van and someone from our group asked, “So was that the correct address or did we still never find the house?” Oleg’s reply was, “Yes ma’am, that was the right address because Jesus wanted us there. That house is filled with demons. It’s not me working, it’s Jesus working through me.” Stand firm in your faith because God is holding you in his hands.

Lessons Learned

Today we delivered gifts and prayers to teenage mothers living in a shelter and also to families struggling to survive and provide for their children in the city of Cahul. Meanwhile, the nurses on our team provided much needed care to 87 patients in the medical clinic.

Wherever we were at work, God blessed us with the opportunity to connect with the Moldovan people. As a side effect of our collective effort to connect the ‘least of these’ to the powerful love of God, each of us found ourselves drawing much closer to Him on our spiritual journey. In a way, the ones we thought we came here to serve were actually serving us! God is SO incomprehensibly GOOD!

When we visited with a young mother who grew up in an abusive household and was clearly deeply scarred by trauma, I felt deep gratitude to God for the imperfect but ALWAYS loving family life my daughters enjoy. 

As I delivered unrehearsed testimony to two groups of strangers, I was forced to practice setting my fear aside and trusting in the Holy Spirit to supply me with words when I did not know what to say myself. 

One food delivery we made was to a woman whose husband was killed when he left the country to find work. She tended a beautiful small farm to provide for her two daughters. The manual labor she must do daily for her family’s survival seems exhausting and impossible, yet her face radiated peace and beauty. I felt God’s love and presence powerfully in that garden.

I end this day with prayers that each person I encountered today fully experiences God’s love, peace, and favor, as well as newfound gratitude for the blessings I too often take for granted.

Day 1 and 2

Enjoy some photos from day 1 and 2...

Welcome to the town of Cahul!

Day 1 setting up the medical clinic.

Cathy getting the eye glasses set up.

Patients start waiting for the clinic at 7am, but the clinic doesn’t open until 10!

Jake Spending some time with one of the kids at the clinic.

Mission team delivering food bags to a local family.

Day 2 - One of the patients came to sit at our morning devotional!

Nan captures the attention of the pre school students with a story of Jesus!

The team takes a break to walk the city of Cahul!