Saturday, March 25, 2006

someone hurting

I had the opportunity to meet with a girl in a pyschiatric hospital a few times in the last few weeks. This young woman, Ludmila, had been a victim of trafficking. Now her mind doesn't think clearly, she is sad and without hope. She is exactly why we have the burden to build this home to help women just like her.

Today I just ask you to pray for Ludmila. She is going home to her mother's house, but she is not well. I have gone with a few Moldovan friends and we have ministered to her about the love and hope of Jesus. She really doesn't understand this. We have found a place for her in a Christian rehabilitation center near her mother's home, but she is not yet willing to go there. Please pray that her heart is opened to going and that her mother will see that she needs more help and really only the healing that Jesus can give.

Thanks for your prayers today.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

To Kiss the Word

Last summer I asked God to give me more opportunities with non-Christians in Moldova. It is so easy when we work in a Christian world to be isolated from non-Christians. The day I prayed this prayer we took a walk into center with the girls and stopped for ice cream at a favorite restaurant. As we went to leave, a young waitress we know, Nastia, asked if I'd start meeting with her to speak English so she could improve her English. I saw an immediate answer to the prayer I prayed that morning.

So we have been meeting since that time and a friendship has grown. Nastia began to ask questions about who we are and what we do here. We have talked with her about the Lord and she wanted to come see our church. Today she came to church and loved it. After church she came to our house for lunch. She said the service made her feel so good. Before she left our house we gave her some discipleship books and I asked her if she had a Bible. She didn't and I gave her my Romanian Bible. She took it with a smile and kissed it.

To her this used Bible is a most precious gift. I'm not sure I've ever kissed my Bible.

Would you please pray with me for Nastia? Pray that she comes to a true understanding of the need of Christ in her life. Pray that as she reads the Word, it would be alive and real to her and it would speak to her life.

Thanks. Now I need to go kiss my most precious Book.

Monday, March 13, 2006

I really did come back

By now some may be wondering if I really came back from India or went at all. I did! But a week away gives me two weeks to play catch up. I'm getting there.

The trip was incredible. I really know that the prayers of others held me up that week away. We were constantly busy, constantly going and constantly having our emotions pulled.

I traveled with a group of six people from America. We were also joined by different M's while there and also national workers.

Last night I invited the women from the Moldovan church we call home to come to my home and hear about my trip. They had all been praying for me. I served them Indian tea (Darjeeling), wore my Indian clothes, showed them the pictures and spoke for over and hour and then we discussed for another hour. This is to say that there is no way to really put down about this trip on a blog SPOT.

So what I will share with you is something I wrote in my journal as we flew one evening to Calcutta.

How do I discribe the poverty, filth and squalor of a slum in Mumbai?
How do I even understand this?
How do I discribe a child's kiss on my cheek, her longing for my arms and a few minutes of love, touch and peace?
How do I discribe the joy & beauty of a home where children live in cleanliness and health, away from the flith of the streets, the life in a brothel?
How do I discribe the prayers of girls who surround me (girls who were trafficked themselves and are finding healing), crying out to God on behalf of me; but not just on my behalf--really not me at all. They are praying for every girl who is trafficked from Moldova, every girl who will come through our home-praying for rescue and praying for restoration and hope.
I'm not sure that I can....


I left India with an incredible sense and knowledge that we serve a God who is able to bring live and HOPE to the broken. I saw what he is doing in India and know he will do the same in Moldova.

Last night at the close of our meeting, our pastor's wife said to the women that if girls in India are praying for our Moldovan girls, then we should be praying daily too.

God is doing a great work. Thanks for your prayers and please continue to pray for this growing ministry.