Another side of the Olympics

Tonight I met with a few ladies that I pray with each month concerning the trafficking of women and the start of our own ministry here to women. One of the ladies made a comment that right now, along with all the Olympic venues being built, brothels are going up as fast as they can build them. Since the brothels are going up, they are also busy recruiting right now. This means that the traffickers are working hard to get many other women to "come for work" abroad.

One of the ladies, Mariana, also has been meeting with a young women in a Pysch ward of a hospital who lived 2 years in Turkey after being trafficked. She is broken and hurting. Please pray that we can give the love of Christ to Ludmila.

And as I hear of this young woman, I see the desperate need to get our home going. At this point, we do not have a place to offer her. She needs a place where God can fill her with His love and peace. We are making an offer on a home that is under construction and we are so excited about that.

Pray:
1. That the traffickers who are working so hard to line their pockets by selling yet another girl, would be stopped. That the girls thinking today of answering an add or going to where they think life will be better will find the truth about what lies ahead. That these girls simply wouldn't go in the numbers that the traffickers are working to get.

2. That Ludmilla would find the healing that only Jesus can give.

3. That God would give us favor and speed in buying this property and that he'd make all things come together on it. That we'd get all the needed funds to do so.

Thanks for praying today.

Needing a church building`

Andy met this morning with the pastor from the church we attend here in Chisinau, "New Life" church. Over the course of about 6 years the church has met in 3 or 4 different locations, renting a place until they are told they have to leave. So again they are being told that they need to leave the building they rent.

Please pray with us today for "Viata Noua", New Life Church in Chisinau to locate a new building to ren. We really need to build, but the property values continue to skyrocket and it is getting harder to find this. We need a building to rent for this time, but we also need to find a permanent location. Pray also that God would bring a miracle and provide a much needed building for permanent location.

This whole move also affects the children that daily come to the program to feed and teach children. Pray that the children who come daily to "bread of life" aren't lost in the move!

Thanks today for praying.

Freezing in Moldova

It's been so cold here, we don't even want to go outside! The temperature is below zero (Fahrenheit) every night and climbs a few degrees above that in the daytime. My mother gave me her 20 plus year old fur coat and I'm getting a lot of use out of it now when I do have to venture outside! Schools are cancelled because it is too cold for the kids to walk to school and too costly to try to heat the buildings, which don't stay warm anyway. So we stay inside, dress warm and enjoy looking outside.

Prayer needs for us this week:

1. I've been asked to speak at a women's service in a small town the far Western Border of Moldova on Thursday, January 26. Please keep me in prayer that I can speak what God wants. The topic I've been asked to address is abortion.

2. The reality that we must leave here in about 4 months for a year in the states has hit with full force. I can't believe our first term has flown by so quickly. Pray we finish well. We still have many things to wrap up here.

3. We have possible property to buy for our Home of Hope for women. Pray that if this is the one God wants, all things would come together for it.

4. Pray for the young pastors and their wives that we meet with monthly to teach and encourage. Many pastor several churches, having feeding programs for children or elderly in their churches and are working to bring the gospel to their communities any way they can.

5. Pray as Andy works to schedule services for our year home. He's calling pastors and it has been good, but he still has some to do. This is always the joy of upcoming itineration.

6. Pray for home schooling the girls. We have 1/2 the year to go. They are doing well. Natalie is catching on to reading. Elissa can't get enough to read. But we always have days that are challenging. Pray that I have patience as I teach them!

7. Pray also for a young woman who is seeking God about coming here to home school the girls when we return in 2007. Her name is Shauna. Pray that she'd know what God wants for her the year after she finishes college.

8. And lastly, please continue to pray that we can find housing easily when we return to the states this summer.

Thanks for your prayers.

Jan. 18, Bringing hope to the Broken

When I first came to Moldova, I saw my position of just one as wife, mother, home-school teacher. Over the past 2 1/2 years God has opened my eyes to a huge need here and has called me to respond.

The trafficking of women for forced prostitution has become the #2 money making industry in the world, just behind drug trafficking. It will probalby overtake the other soon, because a human can be sold again and again and used and abused over and over. Drugs can only be sold once.

After arriving in Moldova I begin to hear about the problem of trafficked women from Moldova to other parts of the world. It is estimated that 2 to 5 women leave Moldova a day, thinking they are going for a legitimate job in the west, only to be sold into sex slavery. A lady from a secular organization asked me, "what is the church going to do about this?" This bothered me, but I didn't want to get involved. Somebody else could respond.

I couldn't get away from that question or the overwhelming thought of the pain these women must feel. I knew the only hope they could find is in Jesus. I tried to make excuses to God that I wasn't the person to respond, but He didn't take any of my excuses. He kept bringing the need to me again and again.

I knew that God was calling me to open a home for women who have been forced into prostitution and returned to Moldova--a home where they can find hope, healing and restauration for their mind, body and soul. A home where they can see the hope in Christ and find freedom from misplaced guilt.

Those of you who know me personally don't need to worry that I'm going to begin to combat traffickers or break into brothels. Every year many of these women return having no where to live long term and no way to return to their village or home they left. They are branded with the Scarlet "A" in their small villages.

Our home will be a part of a larger AGWM ministry, Project Rescue, which has operated for 8 years and has 12 homes going in Southeast Asia. At the end of February, I will travel with a small group from the states and visit some of the existing homes, meet the staff and talk with them, learn from them and see what will apply in this culture.

Currently in Moldova we are looking for a home to buy and restore. This will be the first Project REscue home outside Southeast Asia. At the beginning of our next term we will finish the home and begin ministry in the home. We have another woman coming to work with us in this ministry. She will come soon and begin language study.

1. Please pray for this ministry in Molodva. I feel with this blog I really can't express the true pain and need. But it is huge in Moldova. God has gone before us in this entire endevour. As I have said, "yes" to him, each step of the way, I'm amazed at what He then leads us to and opens for us.

2. Pray that God would lead us to the right house at the right price to use for this ministry.

3. Pray that we find the right Moldovan staff to work with us with this ministry.

4. Pray as I travel to India. First, I need my visa to come through. It is not an easy process with India and I will need to travel to Bucharest, Romania to pick it up. But I need it to come through before I must leave on February 23. Pray also that I would be spiritually prepared for this time. I really don't worry about my safety, but I do think about the emotional toll this trip will have on me as I meet girls and women so abused. And pray for Andy and the girls who will remain here.

5. Pray that God will enable us to bring hope to the broken lives of women from Moldova.

January 12

We are home in Moldova. It is good to be home. The conference for students was incredible. The time with family great, but it is good to be back to where God has called us--cold, snow, crazy drivers and all.

The first week in the states was filled with visiting family, Christmas shopping, and doctors appointments. I experienced what is called "reverse culture shock". There is just so much available, so many choices and I didn't know if I wanted to be there. My last week in the states was wild with packing, visiting family and preparing to leave again. The conveniences of America appeared everywhere and I didn't know if I wanted to return to Moldova. My emotions swam with conflict.

As I've unpacked and tried to get over jetlag (I haven't slept the last 2 nights) I have been so glad to be home, and I realize that my conflicting emotions are very normal.

So today I just ask you to take time and pray for by name the missionary women that you know. Ask God to be with each of them.

We leave America and its conveniences not feeling that we are sacrificing, but glad to go where God has called us. But it doesn't make it easy to get to that foreign land and deal daily with the differences, inconveniences and problems here.

Pray for the missionary wife who has recently returned home and is missing her friends and church in the country she left. Pray for the missionary wife who will return to her country of calling soon and is dealing with the emotions of living again outside her passport country.

We are women who deeply love and appreciate two cultures and are forever torn between the two. A friend recently said to me, "When I'm in my country of calling, I so miss some wonderful American foods. And when I'm in America, I miss terribly the incredible tropical fruit we can get on the field. I want to always love and miss both places."

Thanks for your prayers today.