Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Blog Challenge. Day Five.: Where have I been?

I haven't been many places...but I have been to:

moldova.
A teeny-tiny country nestled between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova is the most centralized and concentrated hub for child trafficking. In a country that you can-and we did- drive across in one day, there are 69 registered orphanages. Partnering with Children's Emergency Relief International, in 2008 I served on a team from HBU to take winter boots for those sweet kids' feet and some Jesus love for their broken hearts. Between all of the teams, every orphanage was covered. Our team visited 12. 

This is Maria. The day we visited her orphanage, there was a terrible ice storm. It took us most of the day just to drive. By the time we arrived, all of the children were asleep and we had to wake them all up to size them for shoes. She was so excited. 

Bodan was my favorite. Out of the whole trip. If I could have just met one kid, it would have been him. He was at the same house as Maria. When I got to him, he was still half-asleep. I handed him his new socks to hold while I took off his old, worn-out shoes and holey socks. I took a pair of the new ones from his hands (they each got two) to put on his feet. He kept trying to give me the other pair, and when I finally helped him understand that they were his to keep, he got big tears in his sleepy eyes and gave me the biggest hug I've ever gotten. He was beside himself when he got his boots. 

I haven't been many places...but Moldova was a good place to go. It was dirty and smelled horrible. I got a huge wart on my hand from touching all those feet. I got so sick halfway through and would jump out of bed in the morning and get dressed and be at the breakfast table before my team leader could tell me to go back to sleep. My eyes were opened to what it means to be the hands of Jesus. He is not physically, in-the-flesh on this earth. But He is in our flesh. His acts of washing feet and caring for the oppressed should not be lessened...but continued in exponential, far-reaching ways. I saw God provide boots in the perfect size.....when he had gone through our truck and counted our inventory so many times. He kept our van on the road when we spun out on the side of a mountain. 
He did miracles for us. He did miracles in us. 


1 comment:

Kristi from Pioneer Living said...

definitely one of the most amazing, humbling experiences. like, ever. i still am in awe that God allowed us to witness Him working in some of the most powerful ways. thanks for the trip down memory lane. miss you hannah!