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-