I have been in the US for 2 weeks now, and it has been a whirlwind of seeing friends, family, moving, and job hunting. I have barely had anytime to even check my email, but I now have time to put down some thoughts about my summer.
I want to start of by giving thanks. I want to praise God for the way He moved this summer in Moldova. He brought 7 amazing girls to the Grace House, took them out of desperate situations, and gave them an opportunity that will bless their lives forever. I know that my presence this summer at the Grace house could have easily been someone else, but I do know that God did use me to love the girls at Grace house, and to help them connect.
Lena, Marina, Olga, Jazgul, Doina, Alina, and Natalia are incredible young women. Each is completely unique, and beautiful in their own way. I love when they are laughing together, and I love it when they support each other in hard times. The girls moved into the house in waves, and with each new girl, she would ask if they went to the same school last year. The girls were that well connected to each other, that it seemed like they knew each other for years. They accepted each new girl with loving arms, and they accepted me in the same way. The girls really cared about me, and they could easily see if something was wrong, and would ask if I was ok. Though we did not speak the same languages, I feel like we got to a point of being comfortable communicating and being around each other.
Being in Moldova for an extended amount of time is completely different than a mission’s trip that lasts for a week. In the past it is an emotional and spiritual overload, and you come home just wanting more of that same experience. I did have the expectation going to Moldova, that it would be an extension of that previous experience. Usually the biggest challenge for me is the physical demands of the trip, but I adjusted to the time zone, and got plenty of rest, so the physical demands were not the challenge. I experienced other challenges adjusting to the culture, loneliness, insecurity, and spiritual warfare. Thank you to all who prayed for me while I was gone, I really don't think I would have made it without your prayers.
Through those challenges I learned that God can do great things, even things don't go as planned! I also gained confidence in who I am in Christ, and what God can do through me. I never would have thought that I could teach English or Computer without a translator to trafficking victims, and they would stay engaged during the lesson. God also used these challenges to humble my heart, and to submit to His will.
I think the overall major lesson that I learned while I was in Moldova, was that this is real life. I know that sounds obvious, but when you only experience a place for a week a two each year, it seems like this far off distant reality when you come home. Leaving the orphanage in Falesti, after a week of loving on my sweet sister Daniella was particularly difficult for me. I was still in Moldova, and it was more real to me that she was still alone, at the orphanage 3 hours away from where I stayed. Human trafficking became much more real to me, when I was placing the hands of victims onto computers keys, and trying to show them how to type. It was also a major reality check when one of my students decided to go back to familiarity of her pimp and trafficking, and I didn't see her again. The intense poverty of Moldova became real me when the girls at the Grace House were afraid we wouldn't have food the next day, and hearing their stories of times they passed out, because they weren't nourished. The desperate situations of these girls became real to me, when I learned that one of their mothers tried to sell her and her sisters when she was younger, and when one of the girl's cousins has been trafficked.
On the other hand, the reality of the good that God has done in Moldova has become much more real to me. When Lena tells her testimony, and shares how her life was changed by hearing the testimony of a man at camp who had the same story as she did, I know that we come to Moldova for a reason. Seeing the amazing things that Beginning of Life is involved in by reaching 10,000 high school students to talk to them about preventions of aids and trafficking, and having one of the few rehab centers for victims of trafficking gives me hope. Meeting my new friend Elena who works with trafficking victims, and hearing about the many other organizations that are committed to stopping and caring for this tragedy, reminds me that God is working in so many ways I don't see. Doing a village camp in Moldova with Moldovans shows me that there are those who care for their own people. Hearing my friend Eli talk to his best friend Jesus, affirms that some kids are really getting what a personal relationship with Christ is.
