Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Is Someone Going to Fix that Lady's Roof?

The last post told of an elderly Roma lady in Moldova who had serious holes in her roof. Someone responded by asking, "Is someone gong to fix that lady's roof?"
Is that someone you?
You could join us in praying, the next two weeks, for a solution.
You could come to Moldova and swing a hammer (or whatever Pastor Petru Ciochina has in his hand there).
You could move to Moldova and help develop employment there.
You could donate funds (Holmes/Van Rheenen Programming) and let us know that they are going specifically towards this lady's roof.
I'm curious to see what God--and you?--are going to do.


Thursday, May 10, 2018

Every Mother's Child Deserves a Meal


Sunday is Mothers' Day in much of the Western world. This lady's story is particularly fitting because she has never been a mother. She lives in a Romany village in Moldova, a country with a really minimal "old age pension." So minimal, that without the help of adult children, ordinary village women like her are almost certain to live in poverty.
Last October I was able to go with Pastor Petru Ciochina and his wife Olesea as they picked out items for food packages and as they delivered them. Each time they deliver food packages, they choose 10 different community members most in need. This lady lived in a home as neat as a pin. Flowers bloomed from the inside windowsills. A crocheted rag rug graced the floor in the entrance way. She herself had carefully combed and pulled back her hair. She was as clean and well-groomed as she could make herself. What she could not make was repairs to her roof. 

As we stood in that entrance way, I could look straight up through one hole in the ceiling to the rafters on through several other holes in the roof to the blue sky above. The lady thanked us for the food package with manners as gracious and pretty she was. We could not fix the holes in her roof. Thanks to the Texas Hunger Offering, we could supply a bag of staples chosen to see her through the next month and beyond.
We thank the Texas Christian Life Commission. Their offering to combat hunger makes programs like this possible. Want to know more? Check out their Mothers' Day Offering. Might be just the gift your mother--or a non-mother like this woman--is looking for!