Our team spent the day at Internat 2 today. We were allowed to program from their large but cold and drafty cafeteria. Still, it was great to reconnect with so many familiar faces…odd to be there and see so few kids – maybe 20 and mostly boys.

Most of the girls there were older and close friends with each other:  Viorica, Nina, Tanya and Alina, if you’re familiar with them. Alina had paid to take the bus to see her sponsor Jason. All of these girls are prime candidates for Grace House and Viorica will be joining us this June. It’s very difficult to overstate how humble, bright and precious they are…think Willy Nelson’s “Angels Flying Too Close To The Ground!”. One of our team – Buddy Newsome – is a former canine cop and used to dealing with the toughest and hardest of society, but he was in tears over them. I’m convinced that God will be using him in a mighty way through JMI in the near future.

This evening we prepared to say goodbye to Stephanie Dykes, who has to leave a few days early to get back to teaching school. Steph had approached this trip with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, concerned that it might be the last time she would see Adele, the girl she sponsors in Falesti and who will graduate this year. Through her own tears, she told us how incredibly meaningful their relationship had become, something you will see for yourself in an upcoming video we will post. Stephanie is now determined to go back and fundraise in order to ensure that Adele has a place of her own in Grace House!

The evening concluded with a chance for all our team to hang out with the Grace House girls. What amazing young women they’ve become in these few short years! We’ve recently had one of them – Alina – get married to a great young man, and Doina and Elena are engaged. As any parent, we feel the impending sense of loss and concern over their departure, but are gratified that they have successfully crossed the bridge over the most dangerous waters of their lives.  Now they will enter the next part of their journey with life skills and a foundation in the faith. More, they have experienced what it means to have the love of a God-family, a love that endures and will continue to express itself through their children someday. And that, friends, is what it’s all about for JMI!

Posted in Winter 2011-2012Tags: Christmas, internat 2, moldova | by stevedavis No Comments

It’s Friday in Moldova and I’m suiting up in anticipation of making my surprise appearance to a room full of orphans in Falesti.

My first experience as a European Santa imposter came on Thursday when our mission team visited the orphanage in Drochia. That morning, as we were doing “ice-breaker” activities with them, at least 3 little girls responded to the question, “If you could spend a day with anyone, who would you choose?” with the answer, “Father Christmas.” Suddenly the gravity of my little part in this brief and happy charade has begun to hit home.

As I make my auspicious entrance into the door at the back of the room and kids begin to become aware of my jingling presence, the excitement mounts and is electric. At this point, I sense their interest is directed toward my jolly old soul rather than the sack of gifts I’m toting over my shoulder. I know that most of them recognize the eyes behind the beard because they’ve known me for years now, but I still feel the sense of newfound celebrity.

With the help of a few of my entourage of elves I begin to pass out the assortment of gifts our team has carried across the ocean.

With every gift I hand off, I am struck by conflicting emotions:  the joy of giving that is matched, at least momentarily, by the anticipation on their faces versus the queasy feeling in my stomach that our gifts, once opened, won’t deliver on the full expectation of their impact. And since I, as Father Christmas, am the delivery agent, I sense that my celebrity status is now in real jeopardy!

In retrospect, I wonder if this experience is the bittersweet bread that we force-feed our Lord on a daily basis.  Is He the gift we crave or are we more interested in what He has for us in His promising bag of gifts?  And how must He feel knowing that, even the most satisfying of those gifts will fade in importance over the years, perhaps ending up in the warehouse of our discarded, once precious memories?

Playing Father Christmas is teaching this dimmest of disciples how shallow the stream of my faith runs and how wise is the Father who yearns for us to love Him more than we love what He can do for us!

- Steve Davis

Posted in Winter 2011-2012Tags: Christmas, moldova | by stevedavis No Comments

This morning we visited a new orphanage to us in Balti – Internat 7.  It’s director has been there for 17 years and was extremely welcoming and interested in our programs. When I asked her how the initiative to reintegrate kids with families was affecting their population of children, she replied that it hadn’t much. They have a camp they send their kids to in the summer near Balti and she was interested to hear about our transitional living programs.

Following lunch we went to a shelter for children in the city. These are kids who are orphaned, abandoned or runaways from families or foster care homes. The goal is to reunify them within a year. Failure to do so would require that they be placed in an orphanage.

One of the more serendipitous things of this or any other trip happened at the Shelter. As I was greeting the kids on behalf of the team and asking them if they knew where Tennessee was and our connection to country music, I decided to sing a few bars of a George Strait song. Predictably they didn’t have a clue. Someone in our group suggested Elvis, so I did my impersonation for them (which was dead on, by the way). A moment after I finished, an older boy sitting near a computer attached to a boom box began playing Jailhouse Rock. Immediately some of our group began dancing with some of the kids and whatever ice might have been in the room was shattered!  As I lost all control of the moment, it occurred to me that prophesy had been fulfilled because, truly, “Everybody in the whole cell block was dancin’ to the jailhouse rock.”

We left Balti and arrived back in Chisinau around 6:30 just ahead of Dana Shockley, who just flew in to complete our merry band. After a great dinner, Jennifer Kelly, our team leader, put us to work wrapping presents. It seemed that this too was something of a miracle akin to the loaves and fishes because our supplies seem to be multiplying instead of dwindling!

As usual on New Year’s in Moldova, we were serenaded through the evening with fireworks. Tomorrow we visit Internat 2!

Posted in Winter 2011-2012Tags: Christmas, elvis, moldova | by stevedavis No Comments

Yesterday (Dec. 29th) our Christmas in Moldova team completed our first full day in country by visiting the orphanage in Drochia in the north. It is unseasonably warm for this time of year, meaning that it is comfortably cool in the afternoons.

Drochia is a new orphanage to JMI and one that I first visited about 10 years ago. There are about 175 children on campus during the school year and most of the roughly 42 kids who were there waiting on us were those who are true orphans or have been abandoned with no family member with whom to spend the holidays.

The Director greeted us outside to give us a brief rundown on the orphanage. The Drochia orphanage, she told us, is assigned for children who have special needs such as epilepsy, emotional problems related to impulse control and bed wetting. I remembered from my previous experience that electro shock therapy was used there as a treatment option. Her description of the children made things appear ominous as we walked the hallway toward the meeting room, but once inside, it became clear to me that these kids were every bit as lovable as any of the others we have known.

After introducing ourselves, we split up into small groups to get to know the children better. We offered questions for them to respond to such as:  If you could be any animal what would it be?; if you could spend the day with any person, past or present, who would you choose and what would you ask them?; if you could receive one wish, what would you wish for?; and if you could trade places with anyone alive, who would that be and why?  One of the funnier responses to the trading places question came from an older girl who said, “Justin Bieber’s girlfriend.” One of the more poignantly common responses to who would you spend a day with was “my mother or father.”

After crafts, Jason Cruise gave a devotional while Stephanie Dykes, Dave Shurson, Holly Boutwell and I stuffed the gift bags we had for them. I then donned a Father Christmas suit (the Eastern European Santa Claus) and we passed out the bags and other gifts before singing a few Christmas carols and departing.

Since our second destination cancelled on us due to there being few children left on campus, we had time to return to the team house after lunch to rest, wrap gifts for Friday, purchase fireworks (thanks to another generous gift from CAT FINANCIAL) and make a “Metro” run for the next day’s stocking stuffers.

Tonight’s reflection time included the observation that one young girl had arrived at Drochia to be admitted while we were there that morning. She sat in tears outside the meeting room door at first and one of our team was told that she had been abandoned and would likely spend the rest of her childhood there. That was a sobering reminder of an experience that most of those children shared. Though the celebration we were bringing was inadequate in the context of that kind of misery, we were grateful to allow her a moment of respite from the thought of how her life was being forever altered.

Posted in Winter 2011-2012Tags: Christmas, Drochia, moldova | by stevedavis No Comments

On Thursday, June 30th, a group of people from all walks of life came together and headed out for a small country in Eastern Europe called Moldova. While we traveled over there together as a large group, once landing in Moldova 13 of us would split off from the main group and head several hours away to be on our own for the week. For some of the people in our group this was a return trip, but for several of us it was the first time. Going over there, with the exception of one person, everyone in our group was completely unknown to me. But now we have returned home as a family, united by this experience in ways that can never really be explained, but will always remain in our hearts.

Our mission was a simple one: we went to put on a summer camp for a group of orphaned children who were living out in the woods because they had no where else to go. Our summercamp would consist of a week filled with music, recreation, arts and crafts, life skills classes, and Bible studies. Much like what you would expect to see at a Vacation Bible School, only we were doing it in a place that didn’t have running water or electricity. Those in our group who had been there before were really excited to see the children again, as many of them had kept in touch over the years.

I’ll admit that I really wasn’t sure what to expect at first, but I was soon surprised by these children. Many of them have experienced more heartache, despair, pain, and rejection in just a few short years than most of us will see in our entire lives. Yet they have some of the most loving and giving spirits of anyone I have ever met. They didn’t have much, but they were so eager to share with us, and in many cases give away, whatever they did have. It was truly heart warming.

Growing up in the church I was always taught that we are all God’s children, and he loves us just as a father loves his child. This is something that I never really understood until I had children of my own. I remember holding my first child one day and thinking that I finally understood, that the love I felt for her had to be the same love God felt for me; that I finally knew what it meant for a father to love his child. A few days ago I realized that I was wrong. What I felt was only the beginning. It was only a small part of something much, much greater.

On Friday, July 8th, at 4:45 in the morning we left Moldova, our lives forever changed. It’s hard to put into words what happened to us over there, but I can honestly say that a part of me will always be there and I will never look at life the same. All of the things we seem to chase after in this world, our careers, our finances, homes, vehicles, social status, all of these things go away when you look into the eyes of one of these children. When a dirty little barefoot girl in ragged clothes throws her arms around you and looks up and smiles, you see the world in a different light. When looking into the eyes of these children you will see the true meaning of life. You will see love. Not money, or prestige, or power, but love.

Those in our group who had made this trip before warned us that once we got back and told our story, most people would not understand it as we do. They were right. You can not be told about this experience, you can only go through it. It is not something that can be accurately explained with words or pictures, it is something that has to be felt. It is something that has to be lived.

This will not be my last trip to Moldova. In fact I consider it to be the beginning of a new chapter in my life, one which will bring me back to this country and these children many more times. I went over there hoping that God would work through me to help these children in some way. Instead, God worked through them to change me.

Multumesc, si Dumnezeu sa va binecuvanteze.

Eric Cobb

Falesti Team

Posted in Summer 2011 by stevedavis No Comments

I wanted to write down some things about my trip to Moldova this year while they are still fresh in my mind.  Hopefully, these thoughts will be coherent, in spite of jet lag.

I went on this trip, despite the fears involved in leaving Nora for so long, with a desire to go and serve those sweet children in Moldova.  And, as always, what I poured out came back to me 100 times over.  I had butterflies in my stomach walking down the hill into camp for the first time, wondering what it would be like to see my kids again after an absence of three years.  We walk down a somewhat paved road into the middle of camp where there is an awning with rickety benches underneath.  It is surrounded by the shabby 8×8 huts that the children live in during the summer.  I was looking around for Grisa, and finally saw him come out of a cabin back under the trees.  We made eye contact, and started to make our way toward each other, first walking, then running, and I finally ended in a crushing bear hug that literally lifted me off my feet.  The last time I saw this boy in 2008, he was about shoulder height and skinny as a rail.  I had to stand on my toes to throw my arms around his neck this time, and each time I started to release him, he just held me tighter.  After a few minutes (literally), I finally heard him sniffing and realized he was crying.  I was absolutely blown away.  First of all, you just don’t see 16 year old Moldovan boys cry.  And after such a long time away, it floored me that with nothing but letters from me as his sponsor, he was so moved by seeing me again.  I wish I had a video of that moment.  It would speak so much more than these words.  But God was there, and I truly felt it.  I knew then, in a new and tangible way how crucial sponsorship relationships are for these children… and for us.  Grisa and I were nearly inseparable for the rest of the trip.

I was so thoroughly impressed by Grisa the entire week.  I saw a young man who looked out for those who were smaller than he, who was courteous to me and the other women (he was constantly opening doors for me and leading me through, or offering his hand to help me), and who was a natural leader among his peers.  He helped us keep some of the rowdier boys in line. He set an example in worship and small groups by listening to his leaders and being involved in the conversation.  He even led our whole group in a worship song one night!  Looking back on all of this, I know that it is truly a reflection of the hand of God on his life.  Grisa has been in the orphanage since he was nine years old, and has had no father figure to model the life of a godly man to him.  As my sister said to me in one of her letters, where great miracles are needed, great miracles are provided.  And the Lord has indeed worked a miracle in this young man’s life.  He is now in the capital city in our Boys2Leaders program where he will go to college, be mentored and discipled by other men, and learn to take care of and provide for himself.  I can’t wait to see what the Lord has planned for his life, and I am both humbled and grateful to have been allowed to be a small part of that plan.

None of my other sponsored children were at camp this week, but our amazing national director in Moldova (and my sweet friend), Alina, told them we would be there, so Igor and Vlad caught a bus on their own and came to camp for the last three days!  It was so fantastic to see them both.  They had both grown so much as well, and Igor is getting pretty good at English!  I had the best week just spending quality time with my boys, and marveling at how much they had changed over the past three years.

Due to some frightening things going on with the government, many of the children that would normally be in the orphanage are being farmed out to family members or foster families, whether they can afford to take care of them or not, unfortunately.  We only had about 25-30 kids instead of the 80-100 I was used to seeing.  It was hard seeing so few of them there, and wondering where the others were, but having such a small number also enabled us to spend a ton of quality, one-on-one time with the kids who were present.

Our group and our translators had the opportunity to take all the kids out on the town one day.  Our wonderful drivers picked the kids up in our vans and we met them in town where we proceeded to go watch Gnomeo and Juliet… in Russian.  It was fantastic.  The kids were concerned that we wouldn’t understand what was going on, but I think most of us picked up on the plot. =)  Then we went to a pizzeria close by, and had a long line of tables pushed together, from one end of their patio to the other.  And we sat down as a family, Americans and Moldovans, kids and adults, and we broke bread together.  Well, it was pizza, but it was amazing.  It really was like sitting down to a family meal.  The kids were so well behaved, and we had a great time just sitting and talking and laughing together.  Perhaps it was unwise of us to go straight from pizza to their amusement park, but we did it anyway!  I would compare it to a carnival that you would see in the mall parking lot here.  My boys somehow convinced me to get on a ferris wheel, which was terrifying.  The rest of the rides were a blast.  We had our hands in the air on the “roller coaster;” we zoomed around on the swings, and some of us were brave enough to ride the gravitron, which spins you around and around really quickly.  Some of the kids got a little sick after riding it, but they all had the time of their lives that day.  We did too!

I could go on telling stories forever, and I would be happy to do so if you ask me about it!  But to sum everything up, I would say that we really saw the value of sponsorships during this trip.  The seeds that were planted through some of our first sponsorships (mine started back in 2006), are truly beginning to bear tangible fruit.  It is incredible to look at these kids, who have had the love and support of a committed friend for the past several years, and wonder how different their lives would be without it.  I don’t know what Grisa would be like, but looking at him now makes me absolutely confident that even if I can’t go out and change the whole world, it matters that I am playing a small part in changing one life.   It is so humbling.  God doesn’t need me to accomplish his mighty works, but He allows me to be a part of something amazing, something bigger than myself, and my life is the richer for it.  My friend, Alva, and I were talking one night about our sponsor children who showed up unexpectedly at camp (her girl came alone from several hours away without even knowing exactly how to get to camp!).  The ways of the Lord are marvelous.  We went to Moldova, hoping to see our kids, and to be able to pour our love out on them.  We arrived to find that they were just as eager to get to us, and pour out their own love into our lives.

“…you will fill me with joy in your presence…”  ~Ps. 16:11

Amanda Sanfilippo

Falesti Team

Posted in Summer 2011 by stevedavis 1 Comment

Today was our last day at Internat II.  It was very emotional to say goodbye to our Moldavian friends! I know there was a bittersweet ache in the hearts of the children and team members as we hugged, cried, prayed together, then loaded into the van.

It has been very beautiful and inspiring to be a part of what God is doing in the country of Moldova! Relationships are being made, needs are being met (spiritual and physical), and leaders are being brought up. Christ’s love is shining through!  And I’m very proud to be a part of a church that takes seriously the call to reflect it!

In Christ,

Jason Watkins

Posted in Summer 2011 by stevedavis No Comments

It is the sixth day!  The kids at Internat 2  bring us energy more and more everyday.  Their smiles are contagious!  One smile that I have attached to belongs to a boy named Timotei.  My heart melts when he sits in my lap and wraps my arms around himself tightly.  There is NOTHING more meaningful than the touch of a loving child holding you close.  Our new camp anthem is, “Oh Happy Day!”  I feel like today was certainly a happy day for everyone.  Morning bible study was great with the kids.  In the evening we returned to Internat 2 for music, pizza, hugs, smiles, and fun.  The kids are really starting to open up and are finding special places in people’s hearts.  God is doing great things in this place. John 14:18 says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Abbey Watkins

Chisinau Team

Posted in Summer 2011 by adriennecasey No Comments

It’s the fifth day now here in Moldova! We are having an amazing time with the kids at Internat 2 (orphanage)! Yesterday we got up at six and went out to Internat until lunch time, then we were at Jesus Savior Camp until 10 o’clock. We then ate a great dinner made by Aurika around 10:30! We are thanking the Lord for giving us the energy to get up early the next morning to head out for Internat again!

While with the kids I know everyone is able to see that the Lord is with us! We are now adjusted to the time change! We are also getting to know each other better, traveling with each other everywhere. This is an amazing place to be, the kids love to see the “Americans!” This is a life-changing experience, and the life stories are just amazing! I know if it were me I wouldn’t tell anyone this stuff, but these people have so much courage and know God is here! Tonight at Jesus Savior Camp we had a big concert for our last day there! All of the people loved Clemency and their songs! Even though it was all in English they knew most of the words.

At Internat in our bible study groups we have been talking about the stories of Daniel! They are having a very big impact on everyone! I would like everyone to keep one kid in you prayers because yesterday after we left Internat he was hit in the head with a rock, and he had his head wrapped up and he must have started having problems with it because we had an ambulance come pick him up earlier this morning. After lunch half of us went back to Internat while the others were at Jesus Savior Camp they asked if he was back yet and the kids said no and haven’t heard anything back yet. We are now settling in getting ready for bed! Noapte Buna! God Bless and Thank you for your prayers!

Josh Townsend

Chisinau Team

Posted in Summer 2011 by stevedavis No Comments

There is something very special about worshipping our God halfway around the world where the language of our mouths differs greatly but the language of our hearts are in unison with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The day started with a visit to Jesus Savior Baptist Church here in Chisinau. Considered to be the largest Romanian speaking Baptist Church in Moldova, the time was filled with encouraging teaching and a baptism service of nearly 40 individuals, not to mention the songs, hymns and a special greeting to the people of Chisinau from our own Jeff Simmons. Because of the longstanding relationships that have been built here in Moldova it was more like visiting family than a foreign land.

It isn’t always easy to find a lunch spot for a group our size but Andy’s Pizza was ready for the challenge. Yes, some of the pizzas contain mayonnaise and looked a bit different but most had the look and feel of our favorite comfort food from home. Getting comfortable at Andy’s, however, was not an option and we were soon back in the vans on our way to Internat Two.

The ride into the countryside was a little smoother than the pothole filled streets of the city but turning onto the single lane dirt road to Internat Two quickly announced another change. What was once probably a quaint Soviet era vacation spot is now a more dilapidated summer home for the 120 plus children of Internat who have not been dispersed elsewhere for the summer. Today offered us a brief introduction to the youth and teens we will work with this week. There are those who remembered our team, others who jumped at the chance to make a new friend and still others who seemed to wish they could blend into the background.

Late in the afternoon our vans were once again loaded up and headed back to Jesus Savior Church and while the music of the church is spectacular our very own band, Clemency made their Moldova debut with How deep the Fathers love and How great is our God. It was inspiring to watch as a few of the church choir members sang along in English. Jason, Paul and Jake represented us well.

After yet another amazing dinner we find ourselves at 10PM, recapping the day and talking strategy for tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow night for updates on our first day at Internat Two and afternoon/evening at Jesus Savior youth camp.

Posted in Summer 2011 by stevedavis No Comments