Orhei Retirement Home Needs Help!

We visited this home for elderly residents in Susleni Village north of Chisinau. They need so many things. They don't even have enough bowls to serve their residents at the same time and they don't have plates at all! They only have 1 mixing bowl and a couple pots because they were brought from the homes of the cook and her serving staff. The residents eat in their rooms or in the hall because there is no central dining room. However, they are working on creating one-but can only make progress on it as people or organizations make donations. We plan to bring then a steel food prep table, a steel triple sink, a refrigerator, all kinds of dishes and utensils, a bunch of pots,pans, bowls, knives, kettles, etc. We'll add photos when the project is completed so you can enjoy the before and after photos.

Olesea's Family Gets a Home Today!!

Can't wait to go inside! Shade trees and flower beds at the entrance.

The garden area/yard is in front of the house. The house sits sideways on the lot.

The family really loves their new home even though it needs a ton of cleaning.

The largest of the 4 rooms is quite lovely.

Victor climbed his new tree!

Elena Barlow succeeded in gathering enough funds to buy this home for Olesea and Uri and their 4 boys. They moved in today. The home cost $2,000 US dollars and it includes 4 rooms, running water to the yard, electric, telephone, a wonderful root cellar that had bottled fruit, compote and vegetables, a huge grape vineyard they can harvest and sell, many outbuildings, a rabbit hutch, fruit trees, some furniture, a summer kitchen with a gas stove, and even a dog house with a little dog for the boys! The neighbors are absolutely terrific: on one side is a widow doctor and the other side is Lidia's (our NGO) sister. Both of these neighbors are donating clothing, food, furniture, bedding, and friendship to Olesea.

By American standards this house might at first appear to be disappointing. By Moldovan standards it is in Olesea's words "a miracle." They have an outhouse, running water to a faucet in the yard so they don't have to carry buckets of water from the community well, a gas stove to cook on, lots of out buildings with possiblity of raising animals, plenty of room for gardening their food, and some good climbing trees for the boys. The pet dog was a surprise for them to enjoy. The house definately needs cleaning and some repairs but if they are willing to work they will have a wonderful Moldovan home and as an added bonus they can harvest the established vineyard and sell the grapes for money.

We are grateful to have participated in obtaining this house for Olesea. Many others donated and we thank each of you profusely on behalf of Olesea. Elena sacraficed much of her personal funds, Elena's friends helped with generous donations, and Martha Burke came through with the final $200. It is hard to imagine that only $2,000 could buy such a wonderful home; so little to us Americans and yet so very much to the average Moldovan family. Your donations have blessed this family tremendously. Thank you!!!

Check out the slideshow of their new house and the boys discovering it...

Embroidery Machine on Operating Table

Dumb Dumb Dumb...I wasn't thinking as I plugged in my 110 sewing machine plug into the 220 outlet. Immediately heard the "death pop". I cried to my friend Hripsime about it and she had her son Senik and her electrican husband Sargese take it apart to see if it can raised from the dead. Here they are operating on it.

Since I was 1/2 way through sewing the 30 totebags for Zgurita school Hripsime was kind enough to finish embroidering the rest of the bags for me! She just got a new machine and I got to be her very first client.


Just heard last night that after replacing the transformers that had exploded that the computer on my machine came back on!! Yeah!! Now they will try to replace a broken part inside then it might actually resurrect and be put back to use. Bless you Dr Sargese!! Bless you Dr Senik!! You are miracle workers! I love you! I love you!

New Whiteboard for English Classes

We bought a new whiteboard for the missionaries to use during English classes and the mission president to use during zone conferences. President Lundberg mentioned last zone conference that he hoped to someday have a whiteboard that didn't fall off the chair it was propped up on. Now he has it!

Zgurita School Closing Ceremony was Great!

Zgurita is located in northern Moldova just outside of Drochia and has about 235 students. The desks they were using were over 55 years old and were so small that the bigger or older children had to have blocks attached to the legs so they could even fit under them! We joked that the desks and chairs were older than most of the people in village. They recieved 55 larger desks with chairs that were spread out to 8 classrooms. They especially liked the idea of being able to hang their school bags on the hook on the sides of the desks. 6 teachers got new desks and chairs also. A couple of the teacher desks had been held together by tape and contact paper-can you imagine??!?
I ordered totebags from the internet then embroidered the village name and various school clipart designs on them. The bags were filled with teaching supplies and given to 28 teachers and the librarian. The teachers recieve a very meager salary and then have to buy ALL of their teaching supplies themselves. They asked for things like chaulk, pencils, and poster board. They were extremely grateful for the abundance of items that were in their bags.

The Peace Corp volunteer, Vince Lambert from South Carolina brought us to this village. The NGO, Valentina Colesnic is a well loved community leader who also helped us come to Zgurita. We presented them with Moldovan flags and pins for being such "true Moldovans" with servants hearts serving the people of Zgurita. They are awesome people!

The children performed a concert for us. They were darling to watch.

And of course the totally scrumptous food prepared for us made me offer to the cooks to come live with us in America so they cook every day for us!

My Favorite Photo This Week

We are beginning a project to help a senior home in Orhei. This lady was just endearing to me. Thought I would share her photo.

Sasha Opens His Mission Call with YSA

Drum roll please.......

And he is going to....St Petersburgh, Russia!!!!

I think President Aiken was even more excited about the assignment than Sasha!!

Sister Kitchen and President Aiken celebrate and start reading the fine print :)

Everyone gathers to share in the excitement.


Sasha is so ready to report to the MTC in Utah in April 2011.
He such a Saturday's Warrior!

Alina is a Family History Pioneer

Alla and Alina-two of our favorite people! Alina (on the right) is about 20 yrs old and is the Relief Society leader in the Balti Branch. She is setting the records as the first person in Moldova to do some of her geneology work, get it submitted, and go to the temple to do the ordinances for them. The very first! We are so proud of her!

80 Cinnamon Rolls for Branch Conference

Got the wild hair idea to make cinnamon rolls so since I never do anything except on a big scale I made 80 for after Branch Conference on Sunday. Kesli Aiken made some cinnamon twists too. I was supposed to make small rolls but I couldn't figure out how to make them small. I used the last of the brown sugar sent from Kathy VanWormer and started into the brown sugar bag from Julia VanWormer-do you see the bag in the photo?

The cinnamon rolls were VERY well received! It was a nice reward for all the folks that stayed for all 3 meetings because those that left early didn't get any. Sweet blessing for those who "endured to the end!"



After making 80 cinnamon rolls and having my hands in so much brown sugar I finally realized how to discribe the snow mixed with dirt that we walk on every day. It has such an unusual texture and color. Today I found the most accurate description: it has the definate texture of brown sugar. MMMM

Ion has "Come Unto Christ"!

Victor Ceban had the honor of baptizing Ion as he joined the fold of Christ. What a wonderful spirit they both have and they add so much to the branch.

Darling Hats & Boots for Hincesti Women's Shelter

Lilia from the Chisinau Branch donated about a dozen darling baby and toddler size hats. And we also had childrens boots that were too small for the Brindusa children. So we took the hats and the boots and gave them to the children at the Hincesti Womens Shelter. Most of the children were napping when we got there so we were not able to get very many photos.

Our 33rd Wedding Anniversary

We decided to go to the London Steakhouse in Chisinau to celebrate our anniversary. We had seen the huge banner/billboard/sign at the corner of Bucharest and Tighia so we went there. We went through the stonewall entrance to find a parking lot and an athletic stadium of some sort so obviously the signage was just advertising for the steakhouse. As we sat in our car at the entrance way we tried calling some English speaking friends to see if they knew where it was located but no one answered their phone. So Tom decided to GPS it. Guess what...it said we wereALREADY at the steakhouse! So we backed up and asked the gentleman in the little guardshack (they have them EVERYWHERE) and he pointed to the entrance of the steakhouse. It was a very subtle wood walkway that ran along the inside of the stone wall. We never saw it! The food was great! They even had a "real" porterhouse steak! And nicest of all was the waiter spoke English!

Brindusa Center for Children at Risk

How fun to help these children!

Their bunkbeds were literally swaying back and forth when we got there. Their wardrobes had the doors off and some shelves missing. The playroom had a sofa falling apart and the 30 chairs had no backs on them. The lights in the kitchen didn't work, and two faucets were coming apart. The stove couldn't be used because they couldn't afford the gas. The refrigerator no longer worked right. The dining tables were swaying nearly as bad as the bunk beds.

So....Elder VanWormer and Elder Kitchen and Jacob (from Suren and Sona's family) did a MAJOR repair on the beds and wardrobes. Major! There is a picture below of a boy straddling two of the beds after the repair and the director said he could never have done that with the swayness of the beds before the repairs.

And...we replaced the 8 yr old, pee'd on, torn, mattresses, pillows, sheets, and blankets. They got 30 new chairs, 4 dining tables with benches, an electric stove they could afford to use, 2 faucets, 4 light fixtures, 2 sofa's, toys, craft supplies, hats, and boots. The Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Chisinau made slippers and wonderful fleece blankets that the children really loved.

The Brindusa Childrens Center in Hincesti Moldova

The wardrobes with doors off and shelves missing.

The chairs with the backs broken off. Dangerous wouldn't you think?!
Elder Kitchen and Elder VanWormer repairing the 26 bunkbeds.

The Relief Society's wonderful fleece blankets being delivered.

The first nap in her fixed bed, new sheets, new mattress, new blanket, new pillow.

This could not be done before the beds were repaired...they would have leaned too much!

Ruslan was baptized! A shy young man about 26 years old.

We also heard today that Sasha has put in his mission papers. Senic has returned from his mission in Urkraine It is a great time for the Young Single Adults in Chisinau.

Irina Sunny

We were asked to check on Irina. She had aged out of the boarding school/orphanage and had exhausted her resources of places to sleep and had no money, clothes, or food. Marc Barlow, from the U.S. was willing to sponsor her if her situation was as truely desparate as he was being told. This is a photo of Irina after we told her that Marc had agreed to sponsor with a minimal monthly sum.
This is Irina after a nights sleep on our couch. The coat was given to her from a friend who is pregnant and couldn't fit into it any longer.
Irina came to the taco party we had for the missionaries at the Aikens house. She had never had a taco before. She is so shy. We love her already.
Irina went to our project for the children at the Hincesti Brindusa Center. She helped carry things in. Since she had lived in this kind of setting while growing up it was a nice project for her to join us on. That night we got her settled into her very own bed at a student hostel. We got her blankets, pillow, hygeine things, a phone, towels, pots/pans/ dishes. She is a very special person who has endured much and yet remained sweet and tender. She has been coming to church so we are hoping she can be "adopted" by the members and finally have a family.