It's a new year

So with the New Year comes resolve to eat less, exercise more, communicate better. And thanks should be given in this new year for all those who hold this ministry in constant prayer.

I saw some of my blog followers in church one Sunday when we were in America. (Thanks John & JoAnn for coming to our service at Life Church. It was great to see you.) They asked if we were having visa problems because we were in the states again. No, we do not have visa problems. That is for those in Russia (pray for our Russian M's who need visas). 2008 was a strange year. My mom died, so a trip back for all. Then I went back to visit with my dad and another family trip for Christmas and The World Missions Summit.

TWMS is a missions conference for Chi Alpha Students (A/G Christian University Churches). Andy and I spent a week in Cincinnati with other Eurasia missionaries talking about "give a year, pray about a lifetime." It was great connecting with students who are interested in missions.

We were blessed to be able to tie this conference in with Christmas holidays and seeing all our family. Leaving was bitter/sweet. We were so ready to get home to Moldova. But it was hard to say good bye to my dad. We are praying for his home-going. He has lived a good life and is ready to be home with Jesus. His condition will never get better and now we would love to see his suffering end.

We came home to a lot of craziness. When we checked our bags in Minneapolis, one bag was double tagged, so one bag was not tagged at all. It did have our address on it (always put an address on your bags). We had little hope that we'd ever see that bag again, but the next day it came to the airport via a different route--absolutely amazing.

When we came into our house, Sara, the Missionary Associate working with us, said that the night before someone had opened our gate and all the dogs had gotten out (we have a German Shepherd & miniature schnauzer and she has a sister to the schnauzer). Britta, our German Shepherd, was near by and came right away. After some searching, Gracie, our small dog was found, but Lola, Sara's dog, is still missing. Such sad news.

We were in our house about 2 hours when a call came from the House of Hope and 2 of the residents were having a terrible fight. Andy went to try to deal with it (it was now after 10 p.m.) and he didn't return until about midnight. I spent a good portion of Thursday at the House of Hope and with the staff.

So, I have requests for prayer.

We are still praying that Lola would show up once again. It is very hard for Sara and our girls.

Please be in prayer for the House of Hope. There are so many needs there. These girls that live there are such hurting girls. It is terribly stressful for the staff. Before Christmas one of the girls left the home, then she returned and then she left again. The other two girls are fighting horribly. They don't know how to react normally to anything in life and they don't know how to communicate without angry words.

We need to pray that God will really give healing to their lives and emotions. We want to see something miraculous in their lives. One of the girls has already had a miraculous healing in her body.

Pray for our staff. They are tired and discouraged. We need to add more staff and I need to pray for God to show us some new people to hire. I also need a Christian psychologist or counselor and this is not easy to find. Finding Christians willing to work with trafficked women is hard. It is not because they think these women are awful, it is just very hard and exhausting work.

Finally, at the World Missions Summit I talked with some young women looking to come to teach our girls for the next two years. We really need someone who would be willing to give a year or two and be here by August. This means she needs to apply now and start raising her funds immediately. Please pray that we can get a teacher to commit within the next month. I could not do what I do with the House of Hope without a teacher for the girls.

Thanks for your faithful prayer for this ministry and our ministry in Moldova.