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!

Faith expressing itself

This is a totally different journey - because I’m in different place in my faith journey. I am taking it in to see where God leads me - listening and seeing. I am not really sure yet of where I’m being taken but I do have a peace being here.  

Last evening was Ladies night - we shared a time of worship and sharing our stories. I do believe i was sent to share Sophie’s story - to give hope to someone of God starting with the impossible then doing a miracle. A miracle that can only point toward God. Confirmation came that indeed that I have reached someone - without God we are lost but with God we never walk alone - one of the women who came shared with joyful tears - she was given hope. This morning another confirmation came from a prayer partner - thru Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” That is what is happening here with our entire team. 

We have completed day 2 at the medical clinic in Cahul -seeing over 180 patients thus far. I have been acting as a pharmacist and watching. Today we were blessed to have Dr Anastasia with us - a family practice physician. Our translators are Mark, Nikita and Alyssa all of whom I’ve worked with before and this year we’ve also been working with Emma. I like it that we are able to talk and share about our culture and lives. Emma passed her final exams with a 9.5 - how exciting to see her happy face. We are all staying at the transition home - Viji and Olga (from the home in Balti) are the current houseparents. Their daughters Abigail and Sophie have grown so much. Olga has been making us delicious meals - none are going hungry. 

The team went on a short walk to see the town - beautiful. All are sleeping so I will join them - until the dogs bark and roosters crow welcoming morning. Looking forward to what tomorrow will bring. 

The People

Having a wonderful experience in Moldova. This is my second international mission trip and it has surprised me how different it feels. For the first day I was helping people choose reader glasses in our clinic. This gave me an opportunity to speak with and provide care for the Moldovan people. I immediately felt a deep connection and desire to show love to these people. They come dressed up with lipstick and jewels presenting themselves in a dignified manner. That struck me because of the pride that they have despite the oppressive circumstances. My heart to heart connection with most of the people was so intense that I found the language barrier was not a barrier at all. Russian and Romanian languages have some similar words as English so maybe that was it but I really don’t think that was the reason. I felt as if I could read their expressions, intonations and especially their eyes. It sound corny but I felt I saw a glimpse into their soul. I was blessed, hugged, kissed and received gifts all day long. And I thought I was the one here to pray and love on people?!?  This connection continued into Day 2. Somehow I knew the ages of a woman’s children without having met her before. Total God things!! 

The connection with these people continued at the preschool today. I had a blast playing with the kids. They enjoyed hitting me in the head with balloons like whack a mole. Then I lead follow the leader which looked like me herding cats despite the teachers helping. This was a school for 3-5 year olds. The kids are there from 7:30am to 6pm everyday. Wow. That’s a long time without your parents everyday. 

I am so grateful for being able to have this experience and I am eagerly awaiting the rest of the week. 

Oh and by the way our team is AWESOME! We are all growing and supporting each other and laughing all the time. 

Mr. Vitale

Today was beyond touching. I’m sure our days will continue to be even more incredible, but I don’t know how it can get any better than this. 

This morning durning our devotional time Cathy’s prayer partner had sent her the quote, “Life becomes more meaningful when you realize the simple fact that you’ll never get the same moment twice.” It was my goal today to live in the moment, appreciate the tiniest of things, and feel what was happening around me. 

Half of our team went to a preschool this morning, while the nurses stayed back to run the clinic. They are working SO hard! The children this morning melted my heart away. I lived in the moment this morning! I’ve never felt so much love flooding my heart from so many different people. Every child we were there to spend time with was thrilled that we came to love on them and play with them. It was very moving. 

The food bag delivery today was awakening for me. We saw many families that were beyond thankful that we came to help them. One man was telling us about how they don’t make enough money to keep their electric on. His wife had major stomach issues, had surgery, and it didn’t go very well. He doesn’t eat very often so that his wife and son have enough. After we prayed for him, he prayed for us. Telling us how we are no different than Jesus and he is so grateful for our help. It brought me to tears! 

Personally, when I hit hard times, my faith doesn’t always stand as strong as it should. I know I have some pride to let go of, but when tough times hit I tend to drift away from God at first. Then I run back to him and my faith grows stronger, but these people keep their faith! They have nothing, they have been through harder times then we will even know, and no matter how deep of a hole they are buried in, they never loose their faith. These people need powerful prayers of blessings to start flooding their villages! 

This man came back tonight for our men’s group and I believe he got a lot out of the messages that were shared. He smiled, he cried, he danced, and his eyes were so filled with love! When we gave them dinner you could see the hole in his belly as he ate. I wish I could have given him the world because he has completely changed mine.

Day 2 in Moldova

We have been in Moldova for 2 full days. This journey to a place I never knew existed is nothing less than amazing. It is so humbling and at the same time I feel privileged to be here. These past couple of days have been filled with seeing patients. They get in line very early in the morning and wait hours for the clinic to open. Then wait to be seen. Every person I would meet, was looking back at us with eyes of hope. Needing something specific for an illness and we would do our best to help them. At the end of triaging them , I had the opportunity to pray with them. You can see their heart through their weary eyes. Most people we treated have been middle aged to elderly. You can see the years in their faces but after prayer , their eyes would shine and sometimes tears would flow. I know God is in the midst of our time together. There are already so many stories to tell in just a short time. I will be posting much more. I cannot praise God enough for all the great things He has done and will do. All glory goes to the Father!

Sunflowers in Moldova

Moldova’s countryside is beautiful, as are its people. Driving to the transition home from the airport we passed numerous fields of sunflowers, which are grown here for their oil. Their splendor could only be created by a truly awesome God! The Holy Spirit is at work on this journey. It has been inspiring to be able to visit this breathtaking land and to witness the unstoppable power of God. Today our team ministered to the sick (at the medical clinic which saw 93 patients), the poor (during home visits where we delivered food and bibles), children (at a local preschool where we shared a bible lesson), and women (who joined us for a night of praise and testimony). It was a day as splendid as a field of sunflowers, created and unfolded for us by our truly awesome God!

Ladies Night

Today was Day 1 of our medical clinic! We saw 93 people and even more that came to get an eye exam and reading glasses. We also did food bag deliveries to homes, and we put on a ladies nights filled with music, testimonies, and goodies. The women loved it and thanked us over and over again for coming to help their country ❤️ There are some amazing people here who are still filled with lots of love after the hard times they have been through. Us Americans can learn a lot from their lifestyle. We have more to be grateful for than we may ever know. We are so blessed with the lives we live!
Looking forward to day #2 
(Wish I could post some photos here, but having some technical difficulties)