Where Much Is Given Much Is Expected

Chisinau Moldova has many beautiful parks in the downtown area. Hanging on the iron fence along the sidewalk along one of the parks was a photo display today. It was posted by several organizations that try to help the poor and vulnerable of Moldova. It captured moments in the lives of Moldavians. Yes,vulnerable Moldavians. Moldavians who struggle daily. The photos also captured my heart so I took out my camera and took pictures of the photos. I had many thoughts as I looked at photographs that depicted scenes similar to many we have seen in some villages. One thought was about just how blessed I have been throughout my life. I have never known these extreme struggles. My struggles have been much less obvious. It makes me remember the scripture that states "where much has been given, much is expected". I have been given much. Much is expected of me...to help my brothers and sisters on earth who have not been given as much as I. To lift those weary hands that hang down, to help the fatherless, the widow, the poor. Doesn't it say somewhere that "there will always be poor among us"? The poor and vulnerable are challenged terribly but we that have been given much are challenged also: challenged to see if we will share our bounty, care for and love the less fortunate, and help them to realize their potential as a child of God. I love the photos of the children who have happy moments with friends just like children do all over the world.

Our Baptistry Got Jazzed Up Today!

Our chapel has a detatched baptistry building. It is behind the chapel and across from the tiled courtyard. A while ago Elder VanWormer and I met with the Elders to do something in the font room and we were embarrassed at how poor a condition it was in. The gathering room for people to watch the baptism had been littered with items that should have been in a storage room:a wooden bench, poles,rolled up rug, etc. The change room stalls had no curtains, there was no rug, and a lovely built-in wall nitch had more storage type things in it:the vaccume cleaner, boxes, a broken mirror, etc. There were no rugs to step out onto from the font-just slippery tiles.

Elder VanWormer and I felt that baptism is such a holy ordainance that the baptistry should be clean and holy to reflect its sacredness.

We immediately put all the items into storage in the celler and cleaned everything up. Then we purchased a floral arrangement and doillie for the niche, a runner rug for the walkway, a wall mirror for the end of the walkway, rubber backed rug-mats for when you step out of the font, a mirror with a shelf for each stall, a hair brush for each mirror shelf, and yards and yards (actually it was meters and meters :) of white fabric to make curtains for the two stalls. Tonight Tom installed everything and it looks great! Can't wait for the next baptism...and according the missionaries there are 4 scheduled for next week!!

The front of our chapel at 41 Vasile Alecsandri, Chisinau, Moldova.

View of the back of the chapel and the tiled courtyard.

The detatched baptistry building, the courtyard, and the gate.

The font and room for those watching the baptism.

Tom mounting a mirror bracket for one of the changing stalls.

Ditto for the other changing stall mirror.

The new mirror & hairbrush. You can't see the stall rug we put in.

Hung the curtains.

Put flowers in the niche.

Waalaah...much better, don't you think!?!

Suggest a caption for this photo...

Elder and Sister Shumway came to Moldova to train Elder and Sister Kitchen on their Young Single Adult Center. We took the Shumways to Firladeni Village so they could see the "real Moldova". We saw lots of great things. Sister Shumway spotted these chickens on their "balcony" having a meeting of some sort. What would you caption this photo?

Frankfurt Germany Humanitarian Conference Was a Real "Swelling" Experience...at least for me!

Tom and I went to Germany for a 3 day conference in November. It was so awesome! We got great council from our leaders Blaine & Chris Colton, Elder Wirthlin, and John Mulligan. We were so excited to see the other 7 Humanitarian Missionary couples projects and what they are doing in their countries. Very inspiring. The morning of the second day I felt strange inside my mouth and I leaned over to Tom and asked him; "Does my lip look fat on the outside because it feels real fat on the inside?". His eyes got very big and he exclaimed "Oh my gosh, yes!!" He immediately got up and went to Elder Colton (who was conducting the conference) and explained that something was going on with my face. Elder Colton looked across the room at me and called Dr Swenson at the Area Office. He got me on the phone with Dr Swenson to help me figure out what was going on. We decided that the only thing I had taken out of the norm for me was some cold medicine I had purchased in Germany the day before. I was having an alergic reaction to it. So he came to the conference to look at the ingredient list on the pkg. He gave me something like Benedryl to stop the swelling and the itching. The photos below were taken at the very early stage of the swelling. It got much worse after Dr Swensons visit. My torso turned bright red and itched like crazzzzzy. Then my scalp would itch. Then my eyes swelled shut. Then my throat started to get congesty & scratchy. I went to church with everyone but the itching and swelling was focused on all the parts of me that sit. Ugh! We were supposed to catch our plane home to Moldova but Dr Swenson took me to the emergency room instead. They gave me some kind of super-duper all powerful IV drip that the hospital doctor promised would make it all go away by the time the drip was finished. When I was still bright red afterward he wanted to admit me but Dr Swenson didn't think that was needed.
Since we missed our flight it was decided we would stay for 2 days to clear this all up before flying. So the upside to all this itchy event was that Tom and I got to stay in the Frankfurt "Apostles apartment". How cool is that?! I got to sleep in the same bed as Elder Nelson and Elder Oaks...not at the same time of course!! About 24 hours after the hospital visit I was pretty much back to normal so we went winter cloths shopping...another upside to all this! Did I mention that the conference was great?

A Most Amazing Woman...and a Most Amazing and Holy Experience Helping Her

Back in October we met with Galina to see if her needs were great enough to need our help. Her story is here. On Dec 3, 2010 we assisted her and her 7 orphans. Take a few minutes to read her story then watch the slide show of our day helping her. Dorina, our translator, and I both agreed that we would remember the day we helped Galina for all eternity. It was truely a sacred and reverent day as we acted as Christ's hands doing what he would have done for Galina had he been there.I have to tell you about a woman we are going to help. She is amazing.

Galina is about 55 or so. She recently lost her husband in a work accident where he fell off scaffolding and died. She also lost her son in a car accident. She lives in an obscure village with only a pension that equals about $118 a month. She has been caring for a neice and 6 abandoned children (total of 6 girls & 1 boy). They are living in a house that has less than 200 sq ft heated-and NO that is not a typo it really is less than 200 sq feet! There is another unheated room that is partially used where she wishes she had a woodburning cook top stove installed so she could heat that room and cook there. She can't afford to pay the electricity for an electric cook stove. The 7 children range from 8 to 17 years of age. All the children sleep on two twin beds with blankets that are shredding (see photo) and have holes. They have no running water. All water is carried from a well. They wash cloths in a bucket and take baths in a metal tub they bring inside. (see photo). The only heat they have is a wood stove that they also use to cook on top of. (see photo) Since her husbands death she and the children have used up almost all of the firewood so they've been collecting dried cow manure to burn for heat this winter. (ugh!) She has been bottling fresh veggies on an outside wood cooktop. She stores the bottles in a root celler. As is typical in Moldova, she has a walled yard that she has chickens, geese, cats, and a pregnant dog in. She is growing most of their food. The outhouse is behind the woodpile. A couple of the children came home from school while we were leaving. They are gorgeous. They were clean, neat, and polite. They are all top students too. One girl about 10 came home all excited because she got an A on a paper or a test. I don't understand it but for some reason she got 10 lei (=86 cents) because of the A and she proudly gave it to Galina. They really love Galina and she sure is proud of them. A couple years ago she had radiation to treat cancer so she is continually concerned about the childrens care if something happens to her.

We are hoping to help her by providing 4 bunk beds so everyone has their own bed (imagine that!) with new sheets, pillows, and blankets and quilts. We want to have a wood burning cook stove built in her extra room. We are going to have enough wood delivered and stacked so she can cook and be warm all winter. Her refrigerator doesn't work so we'll get her one that does. Be sure to notice the big rock in front of the refrigerator holding the door closed in the photo. We have hygiene kits, towels, shoes, and sweat suits left over from the flood assistance we provided so we'll take those to these children.

This little "family" is so lucky to have each other. They are giving their all and we are so happy and humbled to be able to help them. She kept telling us about how she believes in God. She prays and said she "knows God listens because we have showed up today to help".

Galina made us promise to come back to share Christmas with them. She kept inviting me to live with them for 2 months guaranteeing that I would speak perfect Russian by then. She is so awesome that if there was somewhere for me to sleep I might have considered her offer!

A peek down into the root celler where she is storing her bottled food.

The shredding blankets they are currently using.

Source of heat and indoor "cooking".

The defective refrigerator with a rock to hold the door closed.

Galina and Nadia sitting at their outside table.

They raise their own meat: chickens, ducks. They have a goat for milk.

Igor just turned 10 years old. The puppy just turned 1 month.

At least it is "sit down" toilet! Most in Moldova are "squat toilets".

The galvanized tub they showed me when I asked where they take baths.

They bring it inside and bathe. They do laundry in it also.

The last of the firewood as of October 2010. Galina and the children had been gathering dried cow manure piles to use for heat for the winter. We saw what she had gathered. I didn't know you could burn cow manure for heat & cooking.

THEN...Friday Dec 3rd we gathered the items we'd purchased and the quilts we had made and headed through the snow to Galina's. It was so exciting and yet so spiritual at the same time. There was hugging contantly. There were smiles and laughter. There were tears. At the very end we did not take photos. Taking photos would have intruded on the most sacred part of the day. We stood crowded in their home with the family, Dorina (our translator & friend), friends of the family, and Elder VanWormer and I. We gave them hygiene kits in gift bags that were embellished with embroidered nametags of thier names and stuffed with hygiene items, MaryKay items, candy, and hot chocolate pkts w/mugs. Then when things quieted down I told them that I wanted to tell them 3 things. The first was that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them and knows them and knows their situation. He listens to them so they should talk to Him. Galina cried. I said that we were an answer to Galina's prayer to her Heavenly Father and that she was an answer to our prayer to find someone who needed our help. I told them that the second thing I wanted them to know was that WE loved them and it was such an honor to be allowed to serve them. Of course I cried then. Then I told them the third thing was that there was hope. They have hope for a better life. Christina was standing next to me and she put her head on my shoulder and cried as she thanked us over and over for helping them. She said how she had always been embarrassed to bring people to the house and she never had any new clothing before or a bed of her own to sleep in. She was so overwhelmed with gratitude. We all hugged. It really was a moment that is seared into my memory for eternity. Later as I enjoyed the afterglow of the evening I realized how Christina reminded me of myself when I was her age. All the feelings she expressed were the same feelings I had had at that time in my life and it made me feel all the more gratitude to Heavenly Father for allowing me to be a part of Christina's life in this way. It is amazing to know that Heavenly Father loves each of us so much and so individually.

What a turkeybutt!

We used to use the expression "what a turkey-butt" with our kids when they did something silly. Well kids...here is a real turkey-butt! We saw this gorgeous turkey crossing the village street and just had to get his photo but when we tried to get the photo he gave us the famous turkey-butt pose=in other words "get lost!"