Celebrations

Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of one of the women in the Home of Hope. She turned 31. It wasn't anything huge--a few roses and a birthday cake after lunch. When I gave her the roses and then we began to sing "La Multi Ani" (Moldova's Happy Birthday song) she put her head down and began to sob. The other women in our home also began to cry.

I wondered when the last time was that anyone celebrated any of them. When was the last time their birthdays were acknowledged in any way? Was this woman a child the last time she was even given a cake for her birthday?

I pray that all of these little things of love and concern will change the hearts of the women in the home. That God will speak to them of His great love.

A week ago some workers with a partner organization were in the home. They commented on the peace that they feel when they walk into the home. One said, "I wish I could stay here for a week. There is such peace here." This peace is something new to her.

This is something that so many prayed for before we opened. We had multiple groups in the home, bathing it in prayer. People continue to pray. We want the Home of Hope to be something different, not just another shelter, but a place where the presence of God dwells.

Please understand that every day and every moment in the home is not like we are skipping around fields of daisies. There are intense moments of anger or fear in the lives of the women.

Pray with us today that God would continue to fill the lives of the women with a sense of peace and that they would understand that when they submit to Him, He brings "the peace that passes all understanding." Pray for an incredible and supernatural healing in their lives and spirits.

Pray also for some staffing issues we have at the home. I need to hire for one more spot, and it needs to be the right person. Pray that God opens that person up to us and brings us together.

Thanks for your prayers for this ministry. God is doing such amazing things.

Blessings,
Nancy

Challenges

Andy & I just returned from India where we attended Project Rescue Leadership meetings. It is always good to meet with the other leadership and to know we are not alone.

The trip was long. We spent a lot of time in airports. To get to India the flights are always overnight so we missed 2 nights of sleep out of the last five. That is travel. I'm blessed that we live in a day that we can make trips like this and do it within a few days.

Our house of hope in Moldova always has challenges. A few weeks ago I wrote about meeting with a partner organization that wants us to take in a young girl who was sold by an aunt in her home village. We are willing to take her. While I was gone, someone from the state came to the home demanding how things would be at Home of Hope if we took her. Understand that this girl has no place to go, but they are making her transition to our home difficult. We are willing to work with them, but not on their secular terms. We will maintain as a Christian organization.

Please pray today for this girl. Her Social Worker from her village is a Christian and has been praying for her. It looked like God's answer for her life had come, but Satan does not want to see her redeemed. He is fighting all the harder to see that she does not change. He is using the broken Moldovan system to try to keep her from coming to a place of safety for the first time in her life. This situation shows the reality of the verse "we do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in the evil realm."

I do not want to give names of these girls any longer. They need to be protected in all ways. God knows their names. Please pray for this one, this situation, and ask God to smooth out the difficult path so that she can come into the Home of Hope. Ask God to break the powers that would hold her in darkness.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

understanding

We continue to move forward in the ministry at the Home of Hope, but there is so much more that needs to be in place. Yesterday I told someone that we are in the start up phase of this ministry, meaning we are putting in a lot of capital without a lot of return at this point. We are realizing each day that there is more to do, more to put in place, more to understand.

We need to know laws. We need to know how we can work with minors. We need to know how to lead the women to healing. I realize all of this comes with time and God is bringing the work together, but it is a slow process.

Please pray for us. Pray that God gives each member of the team wisdom to deal with the area in which they have responsibility. Pray that we have understanding, patience and grace for the women. Pray that the women come to an understanding of who God is in their lives.

Pray also for Andy and me. I write this as we sit at the Chisinau airport waiting to board a flight to Turkey and from Turkey we fly to India. We are going for Project Rescue leadership meetings this week. The girls are home with wonderful missionary associates, but we still hate to leave them. Pray for protection as we travel. Pray for peace and safety for the girls at home. And pray that we will learn from those who have done this work now for many more years than we have.