Love for the Grace House, Love for RHCC

Last weekend I fell in love with the girls at the Grace House. As we watched our dear friends from Rolling Hills leave for the U.S., we stayed an additional 3 days in Chisinau to work with the girls at the Grace House. We spent a few hours each day teaching, building rapport, playing games, and praying with the girls. On Sunday, June 13, we lead the girls in a bible study. They were reading out of their Romanian bibles about being fearfully and wonderfully made. The bible study lead to an English lesson when the Grace House's newest member, Lucia, wanted to read out of our English NIV bible. Then all the girls wanted to try to read out of our English bibles. I will never forget hearing our girls read Psalm 139 in English. I can't wait to see what God is going to do in the lives of Elena, Veronica, Lucia, and Lilia.

Before I close I just want to thank RHCC again for embracing us and making us feel so welcome in Moldova. We feel like we have so many new friends! It was a joy serving with you!!

Blessings!!

Mary White
Orange, TX

Reflections from Straseni

All glory to our God! I am still in awe at what our God allowed us to experience last week in Straseni! I am so grateful for our amazing team - everyone worked so hard and loved so well. It was such a joy to serve alongside each partner in ministry and to watch each team member use their God-given gifts for the glory of the Lord. Also, I continue to marvel at God's protection and His provision for each one of us. In every detail God was present. From no sickness to all our luggage arriving and, especially, to all the "divine appointments" our God specifically scheduled for each one of us. What a joy and what a blessing! However, above all, I continue to marvel at God's Sovereign will to take us all the way from Nashville in the States to intersect these specific precious orphan children. I still think about their faces. I think about the change in their disposition from the first day we all met until the last day we were all together. The coldness that turned to warmth. The sadness that slowly morphed into smiles. The distance that became glue-like attachment. To think about the change in these kids continues to draw me back to the grace and the mercy of Christ!

Straseni, in so many ways, reminds me of our first year at Internat II. The kids were so unsure of us at first. They did not know the songs, much less the Bible. They were leery of our reason for being there. And, yet, as the Spirit of God descended, lives were changed. Smiles appeared, Jesus became visible, and lives were literally changed before our very eyes. God again worked a miracle. I can't believe that God would allow us, or choose to use us, in the lives of these precious children. Yet, He does. And, He continues to call. I rejoice in the lives of the children of Straseni who came to know Jesus as their personal Savior. I celebrate the way this orphanage, the second largest in all of Moldova, will look after years of us going to serve, to love and to invest for the glory of God. Each and every child - from the 40 preschoolers to the 110 six to fifteen year olds - God loves them all! Praise God for all the orphans lives that have been changed at Internat II, the largest orphanage in Moldova, and I can't wait to see what God, their Heavenly Father, has in store for each precious orphan child of Straseni.

I am so proud to be a part of this church - Rolling Hills! I am so proud to serve alongside such amazing people who truly invest in what our God is most passionate. It was amazing to see an entire country being touched. As we stood at the opening of the Transitional Living Home last Friday, I looked out at the faces - the faces of fellow church servants, the faces of Moldovan church leaders, the faces of orphanage directors, the faces of translators whom we have come to love, and the faces of precious orphan girls who now have a place to live. I was overcome with a sense of God's Presence and His Delight! This is what I want my life to be about - introducing people to their Heavenly Father who loves them so much and then connecting them to precious lives whom they can touch with the love of Christ. Praise God for the lives that have been changed over now six years of ministry in Moldova, and I truly believe our God is just getting started. What an incredible time, but there is still so much more to do. God has called us to this entire country, as well as to the rest of the orphans in this world, so please continue to pray, to love, to go and to give all for the global glory of our great God! Great job, team Straseni! I love and appreciate each of you very much! And, thank you to everyone for your faithful prayers and encouragement. God blessed, and we all are changed! All glory to our God!

In Christ,

jeff

What a day...Part trei (three)

Buna (hello) to all. Well as you have read, the day has been quite eventfull. The tone of the day was set a little chaotic.
After recovering from the morning at preschool, I slid into the recreational track time. I got the oppotunity to engage in some fun time with some of the older kids. It may seem like a relieve to go from 3 and 4 year olds to 13 and 14 olds. The thing we have to remember is that these kids have not had alot of outside (of the orphanage) relations, and they do not speek our language. So, as you can see communication has been a big problem. Although, God is prevailing in so many ways. We were able to teach the older kids some new games, other than soccer (futbol). These kids are so talented, opportunity is so very limited. It sounds so wierd that they have never played games such as frisbee, baseball (which they do not like), we taught them ultimate frisbee(which was a success), and various others.
Lifeskills seemed to be getting better. We actually started connecting with the boys and earning their respect. It has been uplifting to be a part of such a great cause.
The skit that has been the theme of the week, went really well. The kids have been really exited to help us with finding the treasure, whch will be revealed later. Chris did an awesome job writing the script.
Todays camp ended well as expected. Although it was a little heart breaking. There was a 16 year old girl, Lucia, who touched the hearts of all. She is basically homeless, to old for the orphanage and no where else to go. It just so happens that the ladies at the pre-school orphanage let her sleep there the past two nights. The ladies in our group have been working hard to try and get her in to the Grace House, which is one of the reasons for our being here. Please pray that this young lady will be accepted somewhere safe and comforting.
To close the day, we met with the other two teams at the IMB house to end in group prayer. We would meet every night on this basketball court out by the house. Jeff gave us all a piece of sidewalk chalk and asked us to write on the concrete the names of just some of the kids that touched our hearts. We then formed a big circle and prayed over them. This became a very powerfull ending to another great day.

Your continued prayers are truely needed.

Thursday

Buna! How thankful I am to be to be a part of what God is doing in the lives of those here in Moldova. Specifically the older boys(ages 14-17). I have been reminded of the way I used to behave when anyone used to talk to me about God. I heard what they were saying but the words didn't resonate in my heart. I was stubborn, impatient, and ultimately bullheaded. That's how some of the older boys were earlier in the week when taking the time to read the Word to them. They have had trouble making since of what a relationship with Christ is. I don't think they've ever had anyone in their life show them what love is. There's a good chance no one really has. Most have been left to fend for themselves, and/or live with parents who abuse them both physically and mentally. It's been great to see over the course of 3 days their hearts are much more receptive to what we have to say. Playing soccer, basketball, and random games has helped establish stronger relationships, opening up times to have one on one conversations. Most don't have a clear picture of what the future looks like for them. They have dreams of what they want to become but at this point do not have the resources or education to fulfill them. Although this is true, I have been encouraged to see their responses to our conversations about God. They are beginning to realize that regardless of where they are in life they can learn to trust God. They are showing signs of hope and beginning to understand their relationship with Christ.

Please continue to pray how our church can play a role in helping these young men. We mentioned tonight at the team house that we should start praying for a transitional living facility for the young men in Chisnau, just as the we have started for the girls.

What a day...Part Doi (two)

What a wonderful day in Moldova. This is just a little update from the Texas gals who are so totally blessed to be a part of this wonderful team. We have been working with the group in Straseni. We have been so excited for months and we have been praying for God to use us as we ministered to the teachers from the Orphanage. Well of course all of the things that you prepare for and imagine will happen upon your arrival are not exactly what you find and experience. The first day of camp we found out that there were no teachers to join us in our bible study. (bummer)! The joy and the blessings of working with the children has been so precious and amazing, but our passion was also to teach these beautiful women who pour their lives into taking care of these children.

Tuesday morning came, and we still had no teachers who would join us. So we decided to befriend the ladies by bringing them coke and cookies. Even in foriegn countries (food talks!)
The teachers seemed to appreciate our attempt to make friends, so we decided to make one more attempt to get them to come to the bible study on Wednesday morning. They reluctantly said they would come.

So today (Wednesday morning) we met the teachers outside and asked where we could meet. We went into one of the classrooms in the orphanage, leaving the 36 children in the care of the other 4 members on our team, (they are amazing!) We had such a great time with two teachers who agreed to spend time with us. We feasted on more cookies and more coke and spent some time getting to know each other. They were very transparent and told us that they were very nervous to meet with us, but were willing to see what the bible study would be like.

Mary, Becky and I had such a great opportunity to share Christ with them. They told us that they were of the Orthodox faith, but that they had visited the Baptist church in town. They said "we feel different at the Baptist church, because everyone has such peace and joy, and we have seen the peace in you and the way you smile." We were able to see the walls come down, and before our almost 2 hours were over, they were crying and they hugged and kissed us. Moldovian women are not known to show their feeling or emotions, so God did a BIG thing today! We are so thankful that God is so faithful, even when the details don't fall into place like we have prayed and anticipated. His ways are so much better than ours! Continue to pray for us as we have opportunity to share and plant seeds for two more days.

In Him,
Mary, Trina and Becky

What a day...Part Une(one)

Today was a wonderful day(for me) but for the other leaders of the preschoolers was an entirely different story. Me, Jeremy, Becky, and Trina are in charge of the "itty itty bittys" in the preschool. Our childrens' ages range from 2-5 and they are the most precious children; they are truly a gift from God(as well as all of the other children). Kathy and Sam are in charge of the other "itty bittys" and their ages range from 4-5. On this particular day the "Texans"(Trina, Mary and Becky) were doing a special bible study for the teachers at the preschool, which left me, Jeremy, Sam, and Kathy in charge of 36 children. Jeremy was leading the bible study today and everything was absolutely perfect. We played follow the leader most of the time and Jeremy allowed each child to have a turn at being the leader(so they would not cry). All of the children , amazingly, did as they were told and stayed in line. All was going well until the end, and that it when it happened....utter chaos!!!!

Kathy and Sam were teaching the bible study and everything was going well... until the glow and the dark stars. Kathy had made these glow in the dark stars, that said God loves you in romanian(moldovian). She decieded that she would give it to them as a present, and they all loved it..at first. They were cupping their hands and putting it up to their eye to see if it glowed in the dark, but it was not working. One child had the idea to go into the building and see if it would glow in there, which it did. Then they all made a mad dash to the building and locked themselves in, and left all of us who were in charge outside. Kathy had brought some candy and thought that it would be a great idea to coax them out of the building, which it turned out to be a huge mistake. As they were passing out the candy they heard the childern crying and figured out that it was because they could not have the same exact candy. It was all down hill from here... The children grew very angry and began to throw their stars on the ground and tried to break them.

All the while Jeremy and I were having a wonderful time with our "itty itty bittys" and our wonderful oasis became disrupted. I was passing out animal cookies to our children for being good and the "itty bittys" saw this and ran over to me to get the cookies, and began to push the little ones out of the way. This just made things worse. By this time we were all very frustrated with the children and wanted the "Texans" to hurry up with the bible study so they could come out and help us. When they finally came out we were so happy cause we knew that we could leave. Dispite this have been a rough time for us the texans had a wonderful time with the teachers during the bible study(you will hear more about it part doi(2).

I truly feel that the first part of the day was a spiritual warfare because satan was doing everything that he could possibly do to disrupt the teachers' bible study and he did not suceed(Praise be to God)!!!!

All in all it turned out to be a wonderful day!!!

Please be in prayer for the children, that their spirits would not troubled and will overcome any attacks from satan. Also for our team mates that we will have strength and patience for the rest of the week and that we will continue to stay in good health.

Camp Day 2 : Electric Boogaloo, or The Super Straseni ShangHai Showdown!

Forgive the ridiculous title, ... I had to.

This is going to be a retrospective bit of blogging about yesterday (Tuesday). So please forgive any lapses of memory, it already feels like it was weeks ago. (if any one remembers something please feel free to add it ...it'll kind of be like travelling through time ...but not really.)

I think it's decently safe to say that yesterday was tough. This is my second year in Moldova, and the second "new" orphanage, (as far as RHCC is concerned). It's evident to me that we were presented with challenges on Monday, and through a lot of prayer and letting go of our presuppositions, I honestly believe that Tuesday was hugely successful.
In a purely procedural sense, yesterday went off without many hitches at all. We were an Orphan-Ministering Machine, a missionary force to be reckoned with! More children showed up and in a couple cases doubled the amount in our classes. I help with teaching the older boys who are 12 to 16. It's honestly very challenging to me. Not because I still assume every one who's 16 or so still wears Acid-washed Levi's or feels like the "High Top Fade" is still a good idea, but in all seriousness, it's because of enormous the chasm that differentiates our two cultures. This trip has been a much bigger slap in my face than the one before. The sheer darkness that completely permeates the streets here is honestly frightening. It's such a subtle thing that, unless you're aware of the corruption thats happening around you, it may seem like just a quaint but underprivileged European country. But the evidence of the complete spiritual devastation is obvious in the attitudes of some of the older boys. In a lot of ways they are just being 16 year old boys. But only in that they don't want to be told what to do, or are looking for things to validate them. There is also a stifling lack of hope and direction, that considering the conditions, is tragically understandable. I say all that to give a hint of the reality here; there is also marvelous good occurring as well. From seeing them embrace you, teeter between acting "cool" and needing people to love them; to just being able to play with them and maybe even be one person that they can trust. There are seeds being planted here. What the Lord chooses to do with them is his, but I know that some of the most beautiful things I've seen, I've seen here.

The rest of the day was a blast, (speaking for myself ). The guys on my team took on Mark, the son of the people housing us, in Monopoly. I was told that victory was at hand but that Mark pulled out the most crafty card in his repertoire, the "Oh, I've got to go to bed" Move! It's sheer cunning is staggering. The men were crushed ...(that may not be true). While that went on, I was in the living room printing out pictures of the students with all the women from the team. ...and Steve Davis. I was excited to actually make it to bed before 2:00 AM, but I had no idea that, as I ascended the steps to the guy's room, I was walking into what has been dubbed "Giggle-Fest '08". Which involved us telling stories about the day and laughing WAY too hard for 2:30 in the morning. (I feared that, had we stayed up much longer, we would have given each other pedicures and broken into a pillow fight ...I was saved of this outcome).

The days here are exhausting, but in a way that is so fulfilling. The days feel so long, yet somehow are gone before I can recognize it. I can only speak for myself, but I have already been immensely blessed with a handful of days to go. It would be a disservice to try and pour everything into this lil' blog here, so I just look forward to telling you about it face to face. The world needs to know about this place, it's titanic injustice, and the potential for God's love and grace to overshadow that. Your prayers are essential. They are obvious at the end of the day in ways that can't be described. Please know they are felt here, and please continue to pray for about this trip and this country. See you all soon. Peace.

-Scott-

Camp Day 1

Wow what an amazing first day of camp! We really did not know what this morning was going to bring. No group has ever been in to Straseni orphanage before so we are setting the bar for the next groups that come! We got to the orphanage early this morning and got thrown a curve ball. The orphanage director would not let us combine the older kids and the younger kids together so we had no choice but to divide and conquer. We split into two groups and dove in head first. There was a lot of chaos; we definitely could use the prayers with our translators. The translators are our mouth piece so we have to make sure they are paying attention and telling us exactly what the kids are saying.

We are all being very prayerful that we are able connect with the kids on an intimate level. Some of the group thought that it was hard to connect with everything that was going on. Aside from the chaos, God definitely was at work. There are seeds that are being planted here. It was amazing that some of the children felt so comfortable enough to share their story. It opened a lot of our eyes to hear about why they are there.

After a long successful day at camp we visited the Internat II Camp where we have another team from Rolling Hills. The children there were completely different from Straseni. They were very out going and affectionate. Within five minutes they were your friends hugging and kissing you.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow. Please pray that God will continue to lead us and speak through us to touch these children’s hearts.

Sunday, June 6th Update - Straseni Team

Hi, This is Chris (Catag) and now on to blog (write) about a whole day of activities.
What a day! And what a way to spend the day of our Lord! Just so you know, the team is very busy making Nutella sandwiches and preparing lanyards (sp?) for the activities of tomorrow.

Activities of the Day:
We started out with a wonderful breakfast served by our hosts, Victor and his family. We then hopped on the bus with Big Serge and made our way to Calarasi, a small town 1.5 hours from Chisnau, where Dorel & Olga pastor a church. It's a small church but we joined the Moldovans in a wonderful service of singing, a sermon by Jeff and Communion. The experience was wonderful and the idea of spending Sunday worship with people from a small town 1/2 the way around the world seems unreal.

They were kind hosts, sang with us and eagerly shook our hands. I should add that with the first hymn they sang of their blessings from Christ, something we all took notice of. Also interesting to note that Jana sat next to a Moldovan lady who led prayers and sang with a deep voice. She was obviously a leader in this small town church and she shared her hymnal with Jana...text in Romanian, but it didn't matter. They both sang and enjoyed the fellowship, then said goodbye with hug. We may not speak the same language, but communicated in worshiping Christ.

We headed back to Chisnau, enjoyed a pizza lunch together and walked to an art-park of sorts. I think we all enjoyed walking part of the city and in case you are wondering, Moldovan currency is called the lei, trading at 9.5 to $1. There were a number of paintings for sale along the sidewalks as wells as other curious pieces of art.

Straseni team made its way to the orphanage and we checked things out as well as dropped our supplies. The Lord is leading us along an unknown path as we found children playing nearby, and there is no certain idea about how many kids will be awaiting us tomorrow. No matter, our faith will have us ready for any and all comers and we look forward to meeting these kids and working with them.

So, we've gathered this late evening after some devotional time with all of the teams: Construction, Internat & Straseni. We are praying for each other and asking for all sorts of things, such as strength, spirit, logistics, safety, accuracy, courage, charisma, time management and bonding with our translators. Please think of us and consider these items in your prayers.

Finally, the theme of the day is Building the Legacy! The transitional living team met with 20 girls today and found friends with ambitions and dreams. These girls want the opportunity to learn, grow and build confidence in their abilities. As they grow into adults and have had the opportunity to be part of our programs in past years, we now pray that God watches them and transitional living affords them the opportunity to learn and grow. It is wonderful thing to see their hopes and dreams and we know God is with them.

Time to sign off; more to come and may God bless us all. We have already witnessed abundant evidence of that.

We Made It!!!

Dear Friends! We are in Moldova! Praise the Lord, because every single piece of luggage was here. This is the first time in 8 years for this to happen, so I consider this a miracle. All of our flights went smoothly, without any issues. The trip has gotten off to an amazing start. For me, being here in Moldova has brought me so much peace. It is like part of my heart has been here since I left, and it feels like home. The bus ride from the airport to our wonderful team house reminded me of the contrast between God's beauty that is so present in this country, and the poverty, sorrow, and pain that also is a large part of Moldova. On our drive we went from rolling hills of beautiful country side to run down, moldy,old communist apartment buildings. It is a physical representation of how much damage humans can do. Anyway, when we got to the team house we had a delicious dinner of chicken, mash potatoes, veggies, and ice cream! Tomorrow is a big day! Between all of our team we are going to several different churches, then some are going to camp, some are going to a monestary, and I am spending the day with some of the girls at the transitional living home. I am actually living across the hall from two of them this week, and I'm really excited to develop friendships with them. We start camp on Monday, and all we know about the camp is that there are 40 pre schoolers! That is right, 40! Please pray for us to be prepared for them. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Here We Go!

Wow, I can't believe we leave today! I've been anticipating this for SO long and now it's finally here. I'm pretty emotional today - excited, nervous, anxious. I've never done anything like this before. I didn't grow up in a church that had summer camps or did mission work, but despite that I've always felt this desire to go on a trip such as this. When we found Rolling Hills a little over a year ago and heard about Moldova, I knew God placed us here for a reason and knew I had to go. Please pray for our mission team' safety as we venture to Moldova. I'm anxious about the communication barrier and about communicating God's message correctly. Please pray that I turn these insecurities over to God, because I know in my heart everything will be okay and that I'll do things that, when they happen, I know had to be made possible by Him. I can't wait to meet these precious children. Please pray that their hearts are open to hearing about Christ and the Good News. Here we go!

Count down

All week I have been excited and anxious. Work has been busy, last minute errands, and that to do list keeps growing! I even thought we just need to leave before I think of any thing else to pack! But the time is here and I am so very excited. I feel a sense of joy and anticipation! I look forward to making new friends and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to go, to be Gods hands and heart to these children and their teachers. I know each member of this team is very special and it is not by chance we have been placed together and are going to a "new" location. I can't wait to see what God does this week not only in the lives of the Moldovians, but in ours. I know HE is going to show up in a big way!
Lights out! Jana Z

only a day away

I can not believe that we are leaving tomorrow! I am very excited about going back to Moldova,but I am also somewhat nervous about going to Straseni and not knowing what to expect. Despite me being nervous, I am just so excited about what God is doing in my life and also with every single person on our team, and with everyone else who is traveling to Moldova. I can not wait to be able to wrap my arms around the precious children, to just love them and to be able to share with them about Christs' love for them and how special they are. Please be praying that I will no doubt myself when it comes to teaching the children about Christs' love and His Word. Also for every team member that no sickness will plague us and that we will have a safe journey there and coming back and during our stay. Please pray for the children and teachers that they will be receptive to what they hear and the God will just touch each and everyone of their hearts. Also, that when we are there that we will give the children are undivided attention and love without any distractions.

Can't believe its here already!!

I can hardly believe it!

I do not think that it has really hit me yet that I will be traveling to Moldova tomorrow! It has been a frustrating day trying to do the final preparations for this trip. Between my internet not working at home(I'm in Belmont's student life center) to having problems printing out pictures for the kiddos technology is not on my side today. I know that none of these things really matter, and that in a few days I will be holding a child that has been longing to be held for months. Please pray that our trip will go a smoothly as possible. Also, pray that God will humble each of our hearts so we can truly serve and love these kids to our full capacity. 

This Week

Wow! We leave TOMORROW! I can't believe it nor can I wait! I will say though that this has been a very difficult week to get through! All I want to do is get to Moldova now, but there are so many responsibilities at work and in life that I have been so overwhelmed this week.
Please pray for my attitude: that I wouldn't be frustrated because I am not there yet, and that I would have fun having a grateful heart and being a servant to those I am around everyday.

YAY! We leave tomorrow!

-Sam

Teaching the Teachers

Please be in prayer for the Straseni teachers. Each day we will have the opportunity to minister and teach the women who care for the kids at Straseni. We can't wait to meet these ladies and share God's word!