Chisinau Ministries

Our time in Chisinau has almost come to an end! We only have two more days before we leave on Sunday. In the short amount of time we have been back here it has been jam-packed, complete with visiting new friends, celebrating birthdays, and visiting an orphanage with a ministry titled Stella's Voice. This ministry has a special place in my heart because while I spent some time in Europe God began shaping my heart to be compassionate toward those involved in human trafficking, but when I got back to the states I quickly got involved with school and a job and couldn't focus on actively fighting against it. However, I found ways through my school classes to deeply research this topic and raise awareness at my school, complete with media coverage. I thank God for this! During this time my sister found out about Stella's Voice, an organization that takes in girls and boys who age out of the orphanges' here in Moldova who are at high risk of getting trafficked. Once they arrive at their house (either Stella's house for girls, Simon's house for boys, or Providence house for orphans and single young moms) they are given a community, spiritual growth, food, education and other various undertakings until they graduate University, then they can support themselves and be on their own. I was very interested in volunteering with them over the summer but in His sovereignty, God had other plans, which were better than what I could have imagined. However, He is always faithful and even though I came here to do an english camp, we have been lucky enough to spend some time at Stella's house, on tuesday and thursday.

And tonight we will be hosting a youth service where we will share our testimonies, give a sermon and play some games to get to know some of them. I cannot wait! Tuesday we got a tour of the main house (they have expanded to four houses with two more and a church building under construction!) and talked for a long time with one of the girls who has been there for three years, God has brought so much healing to her, her story was truly touching. The daughter of the founder happened to be there as well, so talking to her we got some valuable information. It was nice to hear an american accent! Thursday we spent the day at Providence house (in a village an hour and a half away from Chisinnau) helping at an orphan camp they were hosting. The camp consisted of games, meals, a program and random activities. On the way back we stopped at a war memorial celebrating those who sacrificed during world war 2, it was beautiful.

On wednesday we celebrated one of the staff girls birthday! Her name is Zina and she was the director of the Speak Out Project but she is also the girl I am staying with. God has blessed her with many gifts and it has been a joy getting to know her and to be serving Christ together. I will miss her! In Moldova is is traditional on someones birthday that they cook for friends and family and throughout the day everyone comes over randomly and celebrates. Everyone kept saying they don't know why they keep up this tradition because the birthday person is always stuck cooking and cleaning up after everyone leaves-usually very late) Zina's apartment is now full of cake and flowers. In the middle of the chaos we managed to steal away and go bowling for a little bit. It was so much fun!

As I said earlier, tonight we will be doing ministry with Stella's Voice and tomorrow we will meet with some of the students (whoever can come) we met during camp at a nearby mall for the last time. Please pray for us as we speak and share what God has been doing in us with students tonight and as we meet with more students tomorrow, that we will stay strong until the vey end! Thank you <3