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)
