Update!

So far, things are still going great! I am really having a blast teaching in the orphanage. However, expecting the kids to learn anything, is a different story entirely. For the most part, the classes have been really successful. The kids will get up in front of the class and practice speaking to each other in English, it's really awesome to see. I feel so blessed to be out here and to be a part of what's going on! I don't want to give you the wrong idea though... there have been a couple terrible classes. If it weren't for my little police squad of 4 or 5 of the girls in the class, I don't know what I would do. Every now and then, some of the boys in the class will start trying to be funny and impress their classmates. Really they just get loud, and yell things at the top of their lungs. Judging from the rest of the class's reaction, I get the feeling that the things that they yell are probably obscene haha - and outrageously inappropriate. I'd like to tell you guys that my patience is endless; but anybody who knows me will tell you that that's probably what I struggle with the most. So, luckily, that police squad I mentioned is always there to rescue me! It's pretty funny actually. The girls will all whip around in their seats and snap at the boys to shut up. Then they turn back to me and smile. (Hahaha) I crack up so hard every time it happens. I did tell one boy, the ring leader, one day after class that although I may not be able to speak Romanian, I can understand it. Hey - I understand the basics perfectly! I didn't lie. Anyways, the kid turned so red and got so embarrassed and said repeatedly, "Jake I sorry Jake, sorry, I sorry." BAM! Thats right! What up son! 

I have also had an awesome time teaching the adults!! I have to admit, not too much changes between childhood and, "adulthood." You still have the class clowns in a room full of thirty year olds, and you still have the teacher's pet trying to impress you and rest of the class. It's a pretty cool experience to be on this side of the classroom! 

I did finally take some pictures of the orphanage so I will go ahead and post them! Unfortunately, I have yet to take any pictures with the kids, due to the administrations attempt to prevent exploitation. I'll eventually be able to take more pictures, I just have to work on earning the trust of the Head Master. 

Stay posted.

Love And Be Loved.

Moldovan Sunset. I was planning on waiting a bit longer to try and take a better picture, but it was so cold. 

I stare at the cieling and never gaze at the stars, my perception of your power is down to nothing at all. Who am I, to you so wonderful? 

Take this doubt from my heart Lord, take this doubt from my heart. 

-Lyrics from an amazing song by Singer/Songwriter/Friend, Charlie Mann.

More Pictures

I just spent forty-five minutes writing a lot of words right here in this space for you guys to see. The internet connection dropped and I lost them all. I currently don't have enough time to re-write them. As soon as I have time again, and I have regained my spirits, I will re-write the post. In the mean time, enjoy the pictures.

 This is the girl's transition home that NewHope is building. 

 Little farmers market in Orhei, Moldova.

 The pastor's son, Joseph, and myself.

 The local pastor (whom I am staying with) Vasille. Big dude, used to be a boxer.

 Market in the capital, Chisinau.

 City center in Chisinau, Moldova.

 Joseph sledding.

Bus stop... 

First class

Alright, so last time I said that I had figured out what the final plan was. That is no longer the final plan. There is a new final plan, (like a bond job (for the construction guys)). I will now be teaching English two days a week at the orphanage, after school; to any students and teachers that have the desire to learn. I will also be teaching English two days a week at the local church here in Orhei, and two days a week back in the capital city of Chisinau. This is all subject to change at any moment. That all starts tomorrow. Today was a different day; I got to teach a class finally! I had a blast. I sat in on the first class this morning, as an assistant to the teacher. For the second class, the teacher was my assistant! It was amazing. I was so thankful throughout the entire class period because just a couple days ago the teacher confessed to me that the majority of students don't even like English and have no desire to learn the language! Haha, man, what a depressing sentence that could have been! I raise all this money, travel all this way, get so many people back home involved, and the kids don't even want to learn the freaking language?????? Honestly I really thank God on this one; because I truly remembered thinking to myself (and I do believe it was God telling me this), "Don't worry about that Jake. That will not be the case; the children will want to learn. Keep your head up, you are hear to serve the people of Moldova, so serve the people of Moldova." Today in class, probably about 95% of the kids were heavily involved in the lesson, and what was being taught. Afterwards, I went to each room throughout the school with the Assistant Director, telling all the kids that I would be there two days a week after school to teach English. Again, probably about 95% of the kids were stoked, and told the Director they wanted to come to my lessons. The Director told me that I might even have to split up the lessons. So much for not wanting to learn!

I have taken a couple more pictures of the city. I'll post them a little bit later on. I will also try to take some pictures of the orphanage, and of course the kids. I will keep you guys posted on how the next few days go!

Love and Be Loved.

Side note from my study time today: I have been going through the book of Matthew, in the Bible, for the past few weeks. Today I was reading from chapter 21 and came across something that I thought was pretty interesting. To give you an idea of what's going on: Jesus is walking back to the city of Jerusalem from a little suburb called Bethany when he sees a fig tree. He wants a fig, the tree has no figs. So he says to the tree, "May you never bear fruit again." Immediately the tree withered. When Jesus' disciples saw this, their response was, "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" (I can see how this might be easy to scan past, as are many things in the Bible, but I couldn't believe what happened.) When I saw this, my response was, "Are you serious???" At this point in Jesus' life he has performed a large number of incredible miracles: healing many sick people, giving the blind their sight, driving out demons, feeding 4000 people with a few fish and a few loaves of bread, feeding 5000 people with even less food than before, walking on water (!), and more. Yet still, the disciples are curious as to how the little fig tree withered so quickly. Haha, please, put yourself in Jesus' shoes. How frustrating must it be for him when we continuously underestimate his abilities and power??!! Thank God Jesus is patient, merciful, and everything else that is good!  - On the contrary, how happy must he be when we acknowledge his true power, and exercise faith that knows no bounds??!! My guess... pretty happy! Haha. Just something I wanted to share with whoever cared to listen!

Finally about to start!

Alright so I have finally found out, for sure, exactly, in stone, what I will be doing here! BUT, that could change at any second. I knew I was going to be teaching English all along but I wasn't sure where or how; or for how long. So for the past few days I have been staying in the capital city, Chisinau, which has been awesome. Chisinau really is an amazing and beautiful city; so I cant complain that I have yet to depart for my final Moldovan destination, Orhei. Over the past week, I have spent the majority of my time developing long and tedious English lessons. I am not sure exactly what I was picturing when I imagined myself actually teaching; but knowing my "Chill bro, it's all good...." self, it wasn't like this! Haha, but really, it is all good. I haven't been in the classroom for 8 months now so getting back into the swing of spending long hours sitting at a desk, on a computer, making PowerPoints, exercising my brain past its usual limits, has been an adventure. An adventure well worth it of course. I'm making fun of the whole thing, but really I am ecstatic to be here; serving the children of Moldova, and serving my awesome God.

So tomorrow morning I will head toward Orhei, a smaller city about 30 minutes outside of Chisinau. I will try to take a bunch of pictures for you guys. If you google Orhei, Moldova, you will see picture after picture of a cliff with holes in it. Haha. I will not be there unfortunately. I really couldn't find any good pictures of the city online. I will be teaching there at the orphanage four days a week, in the mornings. During the day I will be doing some construction on the new girls transition home, provided by the organization I'm here under, NewHope Moldova. If you don't know, all of the orphanages in the country kick the children out once they reach the age of 16, due to lack of funding. At that point, many of the kids have nowhere to go. The transition home will provide a safe place, and community, to shelter the young girls who have just recently been kicked out of the orphanage. Yeah, that's nice. But what about all the other kids? It gets worse. Moldova is notorious for its human trafficking. This includes slave labor, sex, and even body parts (organs sold on the black market). So those kids that have no where to go when they turn 16, many of them will end up somewhere in the trafficking mix. I would like to encourage you guys to pray for these children. It's bad. Organizations like NewHope Moldova, and others, do their best to do everything they can. But unfortunately, a lot of the time, thats not enough. There is only so much we can do as humans, that's why it is so crucial that these children are prayed for. God has already done some incredible things here in Moldova. Not to mention all over the world since the beginning of time. He does have a pretty awesome rap-sheet, we'll call it, so I trust in His ability to do some awesome things. You think you feel heavy hearted for these kids? My knowledge extends to, "the kids", as a collective. God knows each and every kid by name. He knows what they like for breakfast, what their favorite memories of their parents are, what makes them happy or sad, and even the overused - how many hairs are on their head. His heart burns for these children. In Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller says that sometimes you have to witness somebody else really love something, before you can love that same thing yourself. Well, witnessing God really love these children, has lead me to feel a love for them myself. You don't have to come to Moldova to love them. You can love them from wherever you are at right now. Again, I want to encourage you guys, pray for these kids.

Alright Im out. Ill take some pictures of Orhei and of the transition home and post them soon. I have a usb internet thing so I should be able to keep you guys posted on whats going on. Always feel free to email me or whatever if you feel called to support these kids financially or through prayer or however. God knows they need it.


Love and Be Loved

Pictures

My little room on the train. 11 hour Train ride, $3 - Not bad.

View from my current room in Chisinau, I will soon move to another city, Orhei.

Little Market

Across the street from where I am staying.

Finally here!

Arrived in Chisinau, Moldova today, January 9th. The trip has been pretty adventurous so far. Everything went very smoothly up until I got to Bucharest, Romania; where I had the pleasure of meeting possibly the best con artist in the country. My flight got in a few minutes late, causing me to miss the train to Moldova. Luckily I was greeted by a kind man who I would soon spend the next 3 hours with driving through the Romanian countryside.... I got ripped off; is what happened. I got ripped off bad and didnt even know it until today. It's all good. Ive made my peace with it at this point. No big deal. Really - its totally cool. Dont even care. Anyways, I ended up hanging out sitting at some sketchy train station for 3 hours after I left the cab. Across from about 6 men who kept looking at me as if I was a Thanksgiving turkey, and they had not eaten for a little over a month. Haha. Thank you Lord, for keeping me safe throughout the entire trip!! The train was sweet! Paid about a tenth of what I gave the cab driver, to go probably 10 times the distance. That was definitely an awesome experience; an old rickety train ride through rural Eastern Europe. I will post some pictures after I pull out this internet usb thing. I cant fit both that and my camera cord in at the same time.

It feels great to be back in Moldova. On Wednesday I will head to the city of Orhei, where I will begin teaching English at the orphanage during the day, and the church during the evening. I forgot to bring all my teaching supplies. I will also be helping to build a transition home for some of the older orphans. Oleg (the guy Im working for) told me today that he would actually like to split up my 5 or 6 months between here in Moldova and Istanbul, Turkey. Which I am definitely OK with. For a while now I have been feeling that God is trying to tell me something about Turkey. Day dreams, dreams, thoughts, flooded with Turkey. I have never been there and know nothing about the country, except that I need to go there. So I was incredibly stoked when Oleg mentioned that he would need me over there; because there had not been any discussion of that until today!

I will spend most of tomorrow with Oleg, planning out the rest of my time here. I will have more information for you guys either tomorrow night or the next day. Good news is that there is WI-FI here. So all of you who have an iphone or ipod touch can text me for free, when I am in range of wi-fi of course. If you dont have an iphone but do have a smartphone, you can download the app called, WhatsApp, and text me for free on that as well. Maybe you dont want to text me at all, thats cool too. I appreciate all the prayers and support!


Love and Be Loved