Clip from Mothers Shelter Program

This is a little clip of the program that the mothers and children presented for our group. It was a wonderful experience!!!

Hinson, Telford Christmas Project 2009

As many of you know, earlier this year we provided new beds and mattresses for a mother’s shelter in the northern part of Moldova. Drochia is 240 kilometers or 144 miles from Chisinau. It takes about 3 hours to get there. This center helps mothers who are recovering from abuse and human trafficking. Human trafficking is a major problem here in Moldova. Many young girls are taken out of the country for ‘employment’ only to find that they have been sold into sexual slavery. Others are rescued from extreme physical abuse, which is so common among former Soviet satellite countries. There is a saying here that, ‘when the man drinks, the wife weeps.’
We are so thankful to our family for the generous donations that they made. We know that it was a sacrifice for all of you. We asked the Chisinau Branch Young Single Adults to help us. And Elder and Sister Telford made sure that happened. The Telford Family also participated in this great service project. Their family back in California was very generous in providing money for this project, and we are grateful. We could not have done this without their help.
We arrived at the center at 12:30pm on December 23rd with 9 Young Single Adults, Elder and Sister Telford, the Hinson’s, Sister Vasylieva who was staying with the Telfords for a few days (14 people in the van). The mothers and children were waiting for us. They had been working on a little program for 2 months. Mom’s blog will give you some excerpts from their program. Also, a TV news reporter was present and Elder Hinson was interviewed. We understand that it was aired on a local station later on that evening.
It was a wonderful experience. Our family members were most generous. As you can see from the pictures, we had a number of items for each mother and child. The bag for each child contained a teddy bear, blanket, hats and mittens, coloring book with colored pencils, cars and a box of very special candy. The mothers received a makeup/hygiene kit which included shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, a nice makeup bag, a very nice scarf, and hand towels. We also brought 10 boxes of cookies (about 200 dozen) and 3 cases of oranges which are highly prized here at Christmas time. AND, because our family was so generous, we also were able to provide 5 new toilette’s for the center. These are very much appreciated items here. After all that, we had a little money left over. We used those funds to provide snow tires and a new battery for our friend Simeon at the Society of the Disabled. He has been disabled for years but does his best to provide for his wife and 3 daughters. We don’t know how he does it. Disabled people are not employable in this country and life for them is very hard. His picture is also included at the beginning of the post. The last 2 pictures are of new winter boots for a deserving sister missionary.
Rodna and I want to thank all of you for making this special project possible. These little families feel like the hand of God came down and blessed them. Your generosity and kindness is incredible to them. This is a Christmas that they will never forget. Truly, you have made an impact in their lives. God bless you all and Craciun Fericit!! (Merry Christmas in Romanian)
Mom and Dad (aka Nana and Papaw)

Winter has Arrived in Chisinau

Winter has arrived in Chisinau, Moldova. It has snowed in Chisinau for the last 3 days. The temperature today, ( Dec. 17th) is 14 degrees, and we had to get out and walk to District Meeting, go and pick up our renewed green cards ( so we can stay in this country), and of course go eat lunch with the Telford’s. This winter has started out allot colder than last year, and for Texas folks it really takes some getting use to. It takes twice as long to get ready to go somewhere because you have to put so many layers of clothing on, plus hats, gloves, boots, ear muffs, scarves, coats, etc. We will love the winters in Texas when we come home.

Worldmade Wheelchair Project

The Worldmade Wheelchair Project provided 355 unassembled rough terrain wheel chairs to the Society of the Disabled. The unassembled wheel chairs came via shipping container. Our project involved training disabled individuals to prescribe and assemble custom made wheel chairs designed for outdoor use. This project constitutes a ‘first’ in Moldova. Now, wheelchairs can be prescribed by disabled people for other disabled people. This is ‘people helping people’ in a most remarkable way. The training lasted 6 days and culminated with a big ceremony and celebration. The Moldovan Minister of Labor was present along with the Vice-Mayor of Chisinau. The President of the Chisinau District was also present.

School 145

School 145 is another kindergarten in Chisinau that was in great need of new tables and chairs. LDS Charities provided 18 tables and 108 chairs for this school. The children loved their new table and chairs so much the teachers said that when the parents came to pick the children up that the children didn’t want to go home, they wanted to stay and sit in their new chairs. We had such a good time at the closing ceremony for this school. The children put on a wonderful fall celebration with singing and dancing, and they asked Elder Hinson and me to participate. We learned a Moldovan dance. Great Fun!!!

Ziua de Chisinau

On October 8th Chisinau celebrated their founding day.  The city was founded in 1436 and they celebrate this day every year.  This celebration reminds me of our State and County fairs.  They close the main street in Chisinau (Stefen Cel Mare) and have vendors selling goods, displays of Moldovan life, bands playing traditional music, food (lots of Moldovan food), children preforming, etc. going on.  We had a good time walking up and down the street watching everyone enjoying the celebration.

Water Pojects signed in Colibasi, and Valeni

Elder Hinson and I just signed two more water project contracts for LDS Charities to provide clean water to the villages of Colibasi, and Valeni. We now have 4 water projects in the works, with one more pending. Both of these villages are in the southernmost part of Moldova. None of the village schools, health facilities, or public offices has running water in them. The homes in these villages do not have running water. Water is obtained from public wells, and is carried and stored in cistern located outside the buildings and retrieved with dip buckets as needed. When these projects are complete they will bring clean water to about 9,500 villagers. We are so excited to work with these two villages. They have worked hard to get their engineering designs completed, organize their water committees, and collect their money to implement these water projects. We are really helping people help themselves.

Fall in Moldova

We have enjoyed the beautiful fall here in Moldova. The leaves are just gorgeous!!! I had Fred stop on the way home from Ursoaia so we could take pictures. Have a Happy Fall!!!

Ursoaia Water Project

Villagers attending contract signing
Elder Hinson, Lydia (our NGO), and Mayor signing contract
Elder Hinson explaning contribution from LDS Charties
Mayor addressing villagers
Mayor took us to visit Ursoaia Kindergarten


We have started a new water project in the community of Ursoaia. Ursoaia is a village of 2,718 people in the southeastern part of Moldova. They currently use home cisterns for their water usage. We signed a contract for LDS Charities on Oct. 8 to bring clean water into the village. LDS Charities will rehabilitate the well, put in a new tank,replace all the old pipes,install new electrical system, and put in the main water pipe into the village. This village has not had clean water in their homes for 20 years. Now that the contract has been signed work should start next week. More pictures will be coming when we raise the tanks.

Peresecina Elementary School-New Windows

We finished our project at Peresecina elementary school by providing new windows for the Gym. This school is more than 40 years old, and the windows are old and unsafe. They use the Gym as the main gathering area in the winter months. This is their assembly area for the school. The new windows that LDS Charities provided will help keep the heat in the gym. Elder Hinson and I also saw a need for new soccer balls. When we visited the 1st time the students were playing with a thread bare soccer ball. Elder Hinson and I bought new soccer balls for the school. The highlight at the ceremony (completion of the windows being installed) for the students was to be able to sign their names on the new soccer balls. It was a highlight for us also to be able to see so many happy smiling faces with such a modest gift.

Balabanesti Ceremony

We just finished the closing ceremony for the Balabanesti School. This school currently has 80 children between the ages of two and seven. They have 4 classrooms with about 20 children in each room. LDS Charities donated 16 tables and 80 chairs. The Mayor's Office replaced several windows and doors at the school. The Mayor also initiated a project to provide running water in the school. The school staff and community had to clean, paint, and repair the facility. It was wonderful to partner with this community in bringing this school back into working condition.

Our Mission Transportation

The mission finally provided us with transportation. Just kidding!!! As we were driving up to one of our project ceremonies, a man was hitching up his horse getting ready for his daily chores. He was kind enough to let us take pictures in his wagon. Getting in and out was quite an experience. I think I will like my car much better when I get home!!!

Albania Humanitarian Conference

We arrived next in Tirana, Albania for our Humanitarian Conference. This small country is noted because of its love for Americans. They are extremely friendly. We saw George Bush Café and George Bush Boulevard. These people think more of our past presidents than most Americans do. It goes back to when Albania was struggling to become its own nation. It seems that the United States was the first country to recognize them as sovereign. Our humanitarian conference was 3 days in a nice hotel in downtown Tirana. The country is dry compared to Moldova. They don’t have big grocery stores. They have many small convenience stores that they use. Albania is a poor country by European standards and is like Moldova in that regard. We met with 5 humanitarian couples who serve in Albania, Serbia, Romania, Croatia and Slovakia. We all made presentations about our countries and what projects we were working on. The Area Welfare Manager, John Mulligan was there along with our Area Welfare Specialists, Elder and Sister Durrance. We were able to tour the local area and visited a rest home for some very needy old men and women. We also were taken to a school where “Roma” children are taught. These people are the gypsies of Europe. They are severely discriminated against. Their children cannot go to the regular schools and for the most part, all the adult men are unemployed. It is truly a terrible situation. The local missionary couple, Elder and Sister Snow do a wonderful job there.
Elder Causse’ from the Area Presidency was also there and we got to visit with him again. We were asked by the local Young Single Adults to make our Space presentation once again at a Fireside at a local meeting house. It was packed, with many investigators. The presentation went very well and Elder Causse’ made some concluding remarks. He was very complimentary to Rodna and me.

YSA Conference in France

On August 24th, Rodna and I flew to Geneva, Switzerland. We then traveled by auto to LaMoura, France for the YSA conference being held there. We got in about 2:00am and made our presentation at 9:30am that morning to about 300 young people. The resort was situated near the French Alps at a local ski resort. The area was green and beautiful. But not as beautiful as the French young people. They were happy, energetic, positive and very friendly to us. Our presentation on Space and the creation went very well. We made many friends there. Elder Causs'e of the Area Presidency was with us. He spoke to the youth the next day.

Berlin YSA Conference

Fred and I had the opportunity to go to the Berlin YSA Conference. Fred was asked to give his Space presentation, and do two workshops. The Conference was held at a beautiful location about 1 hour out of Berlin. During the conference we were able to tour Berlin and see many historical buildings and sites.

Amsterdam

Fred and I had the privilege of attending the YSA Conference in Amsterdam. Elder and Sister Kleijweg were wonderful hosts, and we enjoyed getting to know their family. Elder Kleijweg gave us a tour of Amsterdam, and we will never forget this experience. So many things to see, do, and eat!!! We fell in love with Dutch Stroopwaffels'. (They are caramel filled wafers that are Yummy!!!!) Thanks to the Kleijweg's for the wonderful memories.