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