yeah, so this one is quite embarrassing:
Yesterday, after arriving here in Antioch, Thomas asked us all to give him our passports. I instantly feel fear grip me as I realized that I had left my coat on the bus that we rode here which had my passport in the pocket. I ran out of the hotel and to the bus station where I frantically explained to a man who spoke English what my problem was. He most calmly said, "you come from Samsun? I know where that bus is. Follow me." The bus had not left yet!
I found the bus and my coat and passport were there. I was relieved but so mad at myself since I have been obsessive-compulsively checking to make sure I have my passport at all times. Now, I am the only one of the team to have misplaced it. Everyone was surprised that it was me to have that happen to because they know how much I have been aware of where my passport is. Oh well, it had to happen to one of us at least once after all this traveling, right?
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Saturday, February 25, 2006
bird flu--smird flu
Ok, so I have just arrrived in Antioch, Turkey a few hours ago.
What an experience to get here! As a result I just took my first shower in 7 days breaking my previous record! This is going to be a lengthy blog, but well, well worth it when you read what has happened to me the past few days, so dig in and enjoy!
So here is what happened on the way to getting here:
We were supposed to leave on a bus from Yerevan on Tuesday at 4pm, but got a call that something with the bus driver was not working out and we would need to wait until 11am the next day to leave. Well, then on Wednesday morning we got a call that-no, we would not be leaving that morning and possibly not even that evening...it was so frustrating because we kept packing and cleaning then unpacking and having to go buy groceries etc...
On Wednesday at about 2pm we got a call that indeed we would leave that day but not until 10:30pm. That was ok by me so long as we were finally getting closer to Israel!
We got to the bus station and got our places on the dirty but spacious enough bus...that is when the realization hit that, despite the abundance of "no smoking" signs stuck to the bus windows, Armenians do not have to observe such signs and proceeded to chain smoke the ENTIRE 37 HOURS!
It was the worst the first night because for some strange reason, the bus driver did not think working the ventilation system was important for us non-smokers (who far under-numbered the smokers...we would have lost a fight against them for sure). Mariska (my bus seat mate) and I even resigned to sniffing our mandarin peels in order to combat the smell...I may have contracted the black lung from that trip, but I will need more time to be sure.
So when we got to the Armenian-Georgian border, that's when the fishiness began. Our bus leader (a glamorously dressed large lady) would not allow the Georgian officials to seal our baggage area. She insisted that we had nothing illegal but refused the seal (which would have to stay on until we got the the Georgia-Turkey border). We ended up waiting 8 hours at the border for the new shift of officials to get on duty who could search our stuff.
Surprise, surprise! They found a lot of vodka and cigarrettes that were going to be sold in Georgia. Once that was confiscated, we were on our way...that made us quite happy.
So you would think our troubles would be over, but no, oh no, once we got to the Turkish border it got only more strange. We crossed the border fine and didnt even have our stuff searched through thouroughly as we were warned would happen. In fact, we had just started to pull away from the border when a fight amongst the passengers broke out. Apparently someone had been hiding in a special compartment inside the bus and came out! He had been hiding in there being smuggled for over 24 hours! What the heck?!
Everyone was all yelling and what I wouldnt give to know what all they said (Emas couldnt translate for us since it was in Armenian and not Russian). We still do not know what all it was about even now. All I can say is that the guy stayed on the bus but another woman who seemed to have nothing to do with it was taken off and did not return...curiouser and curiouser.
The wonderful thing about the bus ride was the prayer that broke out before getting to the Turkish border. The woman who was taken away had been feeling some head pain and so Bas prayed for her. Then a man heard us talking about Jesus and said he wanted prayer to stop smoking and to make more steps in life to live closer to God. Then two girls who were traveling to be "go-go dancers" started talking to us. One re-dedicated her life and the other accepted Christ for the first time! whoa. All the while Joe was playing worship music on our team guitar. The entire atmosphere on the bus completely changed and I even forgot about my black lungs for awhile...God is amazing the way He works through the most bizarre of situations and places. who knew?
I must say that I did not shed even one tear when we reached Samsun, Turkey to change buses. But, in sync with the way the bus trips were going, we were delayed from leaving at 3pm to 10:30pm. That meant we had 12 hours to kill in Samsun (we got there at 10am).
This is where something really started to happen:
First, we decided to enjoy the view of the Black Sea by going out on a pier and having our quiet times, listening to music, talking, and even sleeping in our sleeping bags. On the way to the pier we met a guy who invited us to watch some soccer practice at a near-by field. We decided to go and watch. It ended up being for the professional soccer team. The guy we (there were 10 of us hanging out together) met, then invited us to have tea with him afterwards. We spent time eating cookies, talking, and drinking tea next to a pond at the soccer center. We played some worship songs for him and his friend, and when we said we needed to go, we asked where we could find an internet place. He said he could take us to one in the soccer bus, but we didnt want to trouble him so said we would find one on our own. Then someone (I will keep him anonymous for his sake) piped in that we were going to go eat first. Of course, this guy was so hospitable that he immediately offered to take us all out! We tried to refuse, but he would have none of it and called for a reservation somewhere on his cell phone.
Imagine, me in my dirty, nasty, stench-filled clothes, unwashed hair, and body that had not seen a shower in days going by reservation to a restaurant with a professional soccer player! whatever!
It was such a great time. The place we went was not overly fancy. It was a family run place with live music and great, great food. What a treat. We spent our last hours before leaving on the bus there with him enjoying the food and music. The musicians were such talented guitar players and really interacted with us. Emas even got up and did some...err, dancing? It was entertaining for us all at least!
We got on our new bus refreshed and well-fed...ready to conquer the next leg of our journey. This bus was like nirvana after the first. It was larger, more comfortable, had no smoking (for real!) and even had a bus steward aboard to serve us tea and coffee! Thank you Jesus!
Well, it took all my internet time to write this book for you all...that means personal emails will be coming another day.
love you all and will be seeing many of you soon!
What an experience to get here! As a result I just took my first shower in 7 days breaking my previous record! This is going to be a lengthy blog, but well, well worth it when you read what has happened to me the past few days, so dig in and enjoy!
So here is what happened on the way to getting here:
We were supposed to leave on a bus from Yerevan on Tuesday at 4pm, but got a call that something with the bus driver was not working out and we would need to wait until 11am the next day to leave. Well, then on Wednesday morning we got a call that-no, we would not be leaving that morning and possibly not even that evening...it was so frustrating because we kept packing and cleaning then unpacking and having to go buy groceries etc...
On Wednesday at about 2pm we got a call that indeed we would leave that day but not until 10:30pm. That was ok by me so long as we were finally getting closer to Israel!
We got to the bus station and got our places on the dirty but spacious enough bus...that is when the realization hit that, despite the abundance of "no smoking" signs stuck to the bus windows, Armenians do not have to observe such signs and proceeded to chain smoke the ENTIRE 37 HOURS!
It was the worst the first night because for some strange reason, the bus driver did not think working the ventilation system was important for us non-smokers (who far under-numbered the smokers...we would have lost a fight against them for sure). Mariska (my bus seat mate) and I even resigned to sniffing our mandarin peels in order to combat the smell...I may have contracted the black lung from that trip, but I will need more time to be sure.
So when we got to the Armenian-Georgian border, that's when the fishiness began. Our bus leader (a glamorously dressed large lady) would not allow the Georgian officials to seal our baggage area. She insisted that we had nothing illegal but refused the seal (which would have to stay on until we got the the Georgia-Turkey border). We ended up waiting 8 hours at the border for the new shift of officials to get on duty who could search our stuff.
Surprise, surprise! They found a lot of vodka and cigarrettes that were going to be sold in Georgia. Once that was confiscated, we were on our way...that made us quite happy.
So you would think our troubles would be over, but no, oh no, once we got to the Turkish border it got only more strange. We crossed the border fine and didnt even have our stuff searched through thouroughly as we were warned would happen. In fact, we had just started to pull away from the border when a fight amongst the passengers broke out. Apparently someone had been hiding in a special compartment inside the bus and came out! He had been hiding in there being smuggled for over 24 hours! What the heck?!
Everyone was all yelling and what I wouldnt give to know what all they said (Emas couldnt translate for us since it was in Armenian and not Russian). We still do not know what all it was about even now. All I can say is that the guy stayed on the bus but another woman who seemed to have nothing to do with it was taken off and did not return...curiouser and curiouser.
The wonderful thing about the bus ride was the prayer that broke out before getting to the Turkish border. The woman who was taken away had been feeling some head pain and so Bas prayed for her. Then a man heard us talking about Jesus and said he wanted prayer to stop smoking and to make more steps in life to live closer to God. Then two girls who were traveling to be "go-go dancers" started talking to us. One re-dedicated her life and the other accepted Christ for the first time! whoa. All the while Joe was playing worship music on our team guitar. The entire atmosphere on the bus completely changed and I even forgot about my black lungs for awhile...God is amazing the way He works through the most bizarre of situations and places. who knew?
I must say that I did not shed even one tear when we reached Samsun, Turkey to change buses. But, in sync with the way the bus trips were going, we were delayed from leaving at 3pm to 10:30pm. That meant we had 12 hours to kill in Samsun (we got there at 10am).
This is where something really started to happen:
First, we decided to enjoy the view of the Black Sea by going out on a pier and having our quiet times, listening to music, talking, and even sleeping in our sleeping bags. On the way to the pier we met a guy who invited us to watch some soccer practice at a near-by field. We decided to go and watch. It ended up being for the professional soccer team. The guy we (there were 10 of us hanging out together) met, then invited us to have tea with him afterwards. We spent time eating cookies, talking, and drinking tea next to a pond at the soccer center. We played some worship songs for him and his friend, and when we said we needed to go, we asked where we could find an internet place. He said he could take us to one in the soccer bus, but we didnt want to trouble him so said we would find one on our own. Then someone (I will keep him anonymous for his sake) piped in that we were going to go eat first. Of course, this guy was so hospitable that he immediately offered to take us all out! We tried to refuse, but he would have none of it and called for a reservation somewhere on his cell phone.
Imagine, me in my dirty, nasty, stench-filled clothes, unwashed hair, and body that had not seen a shower in days going by reservation to a restaurant with a professional soccer player! whatever!
It was such a great time. The place we went was not overly fancy. It was a family run place with live music and great, great food. What a treat. We spent our last hours before leaving on the bus there with him enjoying the food and music. The musicians were such talented guitar players and really interacted with us. Emas even got up and did some...err, dancing? It was entertaining for us all at least!
We got on our new bus refreshed and well-fed...ready to conquer the next leg of our journey. This bus was like nirvana after the first. It was larger, more comfortable, had no smoking (for real!) and even had a bus steward aboard to serve us tea and coffee! Thank you Jesus!
Well, it took all my internet time to write this book for you all...that means personal emails will be coming another day.
love you all and will be seeing many of you soon!
Monday, February 20, 2006
nobody's business but the Turks
I just got back from the small town of Artik today.
Our team was split and I went w/ 5 other on a 2 hour marshutka (little buses that I am quite familiar w/ by now) to the town.
The weather was quite arctic (yea, yea, I know. It's a horrible joke, but I am my mother's daughter) , but we managed to stay warm by living next to the space heaters they provided for us. We stayed in the church and were involved in quite a bit of ministry including:
youth services, sunday school, church service, and boarding school program.
It was seriously one of the biggest highlights of the entire outreach for me. The pastor had quite the sense of humor and would tell us several jokes...however, relating to Armenian humor is quite another thing and we found ourselves "sympathy laughing" several times.
I have still not seen Mt. Ararat and am sad about that. I guess I probably did see it since it was clearly visible on our ride to and from the village, but I didn't know I was able to see it...someone on my team told me he saw it after we had already gotten back today...grr.
Artik is high in the mountains and the ride there was so, so beautiful= snow covered moutains surrounded us.
Tomorrow at approximately 5pm we will leave for Turkey...I am in awe of that. We will be traveling by bus (and NOT a sleeper bus) for 2 days, so I am mentally preparing for that.
At least I will be relatively clean. We did not have anywhere to bathe in the church in Artik, so we went to a sauna in town where we could take hot showers for free if we bought lunch from the cafe next door...it had been nearly 6 days since I had been able to bathe! (the last time had been in Tbilisi!) I am getting used to being a dirty girl, though I long for my clean days again...all in good time, eh?
more from me from Turkey if I get the chance, otherwise you will be hearing from me from the warm climate in Isreal...how I long for warmer days!
~michelle/moosh/hannah
Our team was split and I went w/ 5 other on a 2 hour marshutka (little buses that I am quite familiar w/ by now) to the town.
The weather was quite arctic (yea, yea, I know. It's a horrible joke, but I am my mother's daughter) , but we managed to stay warm by living next to the space heaters they provided for us. We stayed in the church and were involved in quite a bit of ministry including:
youth services, sunday school, church service, and boarding school program.
It was seriously one of the biggest highlights of the entire outreach for me. The pastor had quite the sense of humor and would tell us several jokes...however, relating to Armenian humor is quite another thing and we found ourselves "sympathy laughing" several times.
I have still not seen Mt. Ararat and am sad about that. I guess I probably did see it since it was clearly visible on our ride to and from the village, but I didn't know I was able to see it...someone on my team told me he saw it after we had already gotten back today...grr.
Artik is high in the mountains and the ride there was so, so beautiful= snow covered moutains surrounded us.
Tomorrow at approximately 5pm we will leave for Turkey...I am in awe of that. We will be traveling by bus (and NOT a sleeper bus) for 2 days, so I am mentally preparing for that.
At least I will be relatively clean. We did not have anywhere to bathe in the church in Artik, so we went to a sauna in town where we could take hot showers for free if we bought lunch from the cafe next door...it had been nearly 6 days since I had been able to bathe! (the last time had been in Tbilisi!) I am getting used to being a dirty girl, though I long for my clean days again...all in good time, eh?
more from me from Turkey if I get the chance, otherwise you will be hearing from me from the warm climate in Isreal...how I long for warmer days!
~michelle/moosh/hannah
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
HERE IN ARMENIA
Well, I survived yet another 16 hour train ride. We are getting good at the traveling, let me tell you. For some reason though, the trains have been getting less and less comfortable as we go along. This last one, I was crammed into a miniature, stifling hot room with four others while the smells of sewage and fish wafted under our noses the entire ride...I was happy to inhale the Yerevan city air after we arrived.
Yerevan has a very small city feel to it (I think there are only 1 million who live here). It is not as pretty as Tbilisi due to the lack of the mountains, but our contacts are very kind and humorous people.
Today they (our contacts=YWAM workers for the Armenian base) took us to visit one of the first churches in Armenia (which was the first Christian nation). We were supposed to see Mount Ararat (I hope I am spelling that correctly) from the area, but it was so densely foggy that we could not probably see further than about 500 feet in front of us...we have some nice postcards of what our view should have been though.
And guess what. The snow followed us yet again! What is up?!
I left Georgia wearing a sweater and entered Armenia only to need to bundle up into my coat and long johns again! If there is snow in Israel, I am going to cry.
We are staying in a house that we have to ourselves. It is a nice place, but less comfortable than what we have been spoiled with thus far. We have COLD running water at certain hours of the day, no shower (sponge baths!), no beds (thanks again for the sleeping bag, Dad!), and basically no pots or pans to cook for 16 people. We are coping though and I am happy to be stretched, actually. It builds character, right?
On Friday morning, I will leave with 5 other team members to go to a village. We will be doing various ministry there including: preaching, giving testimonies, skits, and children's programs. We will be there for four days.
Oh, and travel dates have changed for us. We will leave Yerevan on the 22nd and travel to Turkey via Georgia (due to polictial strife between Armenia and Turkey). We will take a train to Georgia (hip, hip, hooray!) and then take a plane to Turkey and arrive on the 27th.
God worked a miracle for us to get plane tickets from Turkey to Israel. First of all, you have to apply to get the tickets on Turkish Air to Israel when you are traveling in a group. Armenia does not provide any communication with Turkish Air which meant we had to get our tickets the DAY we left Georgia (we did not find out that we couldn't get Turkish Air tickets in Armenia until 2 days before we left Tbilisi). Inge (one of our staff) "happened" to see a travel agency that deals with Turkish Air while walking down a street in Tbilisi (very few agencies in Georgia deal with them), so she went in and had the agent communicate a request to the airline for our tickets.
It took some time, but the agent got a positive response (we even got a group discount) and he started to print out the tickets...that is when their computer system crashed. All was wails and woe until it got back up and running (just in time, of course--they were closing soon) and we now safely have our tickets to Israel!
Oohh, I forgot to mention that since it was such short notice to buy the tickets, the staff didnt have enough money on them. The ATM's only let you take out up to a certain amount, so they had to scurry about collecting bank cards from us team members to scrounge up enough cash to buy them. Once again, we had just enough money when the limit was withdrawn from the cards.
Hmm...seems like Someone is really looking out for us. I am not surprised--not after all I have experienced on this outreach. What a God I serve!
So the general consensus is that all is well here with the team. We are persevering (which is not hard for me since I am really loving this trip), but also anticipating our return to Amsterdam (which will be the 11th of March).
Please pray for us! And pray for Armenia that God will be known as a personal God and that His Holy Spirit will come to rest upon them strongly.
more from me later...probably from Israel, but who knows?
~Michelle/moosh/hannah
Yerevan has a very small city feel to it (I think there are only 1 million who live here). It is not as pretty as Tbilisi due to the lack of the mountains, but our contacts are very kind and humorous people.
Today they (our contacts=YWAM workers for the Armenian base) took us to visit one of the first churches in Armenia (which was the first Christian nation). We were supposed to see Mount Ararat (I hope I am spelling that correctly) from the area, but it was so densely foggy that we could not probably see further than about 500 feet in front of us...we have some nice postcards of what our view should have been though.
And guess what. The snow followed us yet again! What is up?!
I left Georgia wearing a sweater and entered Armenia only to need to bundle up into my coat and long johns again! If there is snow in Israel, I am going to cry.
We are staying in a house that we have to ourselves. It is a nice place, but less comfortable than what we have been spoiled with thus far. We have COLD running water at certain hours of the day, no shower (sponge baths!), no beds (thanks again for the sleeping bag, Dad!), and basically no pots or pans to cook for 16 people. We are coping though and I am happy to be stretched, actually. It builds character, right?
On Friday morning, I will leave with 5 other team members to go to a village. We will be doing various ministry there including: preaching, giving testimonies, skits, and children's programs. We will be there for four days.
Oh, and travel dates have changed for us. We will leave Yerevan on the 22nd and travel to Turkey via Georgia (due to polictial strife between Armenia and Turkey). We will take a train to Georgia (hip, hip, hooray!) and then take a plane to Turkey and arrive on the 27th.
God worked a miracle for us to get plane tickets from Turkey to Israel. First of all, you have to apply to get the tickets on Turkish Air to Israel when you are traveling in a group. Armenia does not provide any communication with Turkish Air which meant we had to get our tickets the DAY we left Georgia (we did not find out that we couldn't get Turkish Air tickets in Armenia until 2 days before we left Tbilisi). Inge (one of our staff) "happened" to see a travel agency that deals with Turkish Air while walking down a street in Tbilisi (very few agencies in Georgia deal with them), so she went in and had the agent communicate a request to the airline for our tickets.
It took some time, but the agent got a positive response (we even got a group discount) and he started to print out the tickets...that is when their computer system crashed. All was wails and woe until it got back up and running (just in time, of course--they were closing soon) and we now safely have our tickets to Israel!
Oohh, I forgot to mention that since it was such short notice to buy the tickets, the staff didnt have enough money on them. The ATM's only let you take out up to a certain amount, so they had to scurry about collecting bank cards from us team members to scrounge up enough cash to buy them. Once again, we had just enough money when the limit was withdrawn from the cards.
Hmm...seems like Someone is really looking out for us. I am not surprised--not after all I have experienced on this outreach. What a God I serve!
So the general consensus is that all is well here with the team. We are persevering (which is not hard for me since I am really loving this trip), but also anticipating our return to Amsterdam (which will be the 11th of March).
Please pray for us! And pray for Armenia that God will be known as a personal God and that His Holy Spirit will come to rest upon them strongly.
more from me later...probably from Israel, but who knows?
~Michelle/moosh/hannah
Saturday, February 04, 2006
the twenty minute forever
Ok, so the plan was to take a nice little twenty minute hike up to the prospective property for the future base of YWAM Georgia...it's funny how twenty minutes morphs into one hour fifteen minutes of slipping around on muddy, slushiness in the biting cold wind...going up a steep hill, too. Can you tell I am trying to demand your sympathy? It truly was not horrible going up, but since everything I own is dirty, I did not have my hooded sweater on and the wind was whipping into my ears giving me a bad headache--that is when we were asked to pray for the property while walking around it.
Let's just say that prayer was not the first thing on my mind at that time. I do want very much for Dennis and his family to be successful here and for the YWAM base to grow, so I was able to get some good prayer time in after all. The Kiev team was with us also, and we had a good time sliding around with each other in the mud on the way down.
I was so happy to be back "home" at the hotel with a nice cup of tea in my hands, too. You see, tea really is the nectar of the gods. There is no time when it is not appropriate.
Oh, and here is something funny:
The first lady here is Dutch and Bas is absolutely determined that we will meet her and have a tea time with her followed by prayers of blessing for the country. He actually has several leads going for this so we will see if that happens...
We have not really started ministry here per se, so I am not sure what we will do on a more regular basis for the next 10 days we have here...we leave on the 13th by the way.
We had a team meeting this morning with prayer and a time of sharing frustrations. I do not have any personally, but it was good to hear what others are struggling with. We are a typical family with the petty quarrels and such going on so it is always good to check in with each other and see how everyone is doing.
I went to the Swan Lake ballet last night...remember how I went in Amsterdam? This one did not really compare as far as skill goes, but it was still quite lovely and I was glad to have the experience (and for only $4!).
Oh, guys I must go because my time is up. PLEASE email me! You know I love to hear from all you lovely ones!
Let's just say that prayer was not the first thing on my mind at that time. I do want very much for Dennis and his family to be successful here and for the YWAM base to grow, so I was able to get some good prayer time in after all. The Kiev team was with us also, and we had a good time sliding around with each other in the mud on the way down.
I was so happy to be back "home" at the hotel with a nice cup of tea in my hands, too. You see, tea really is the nectar of the gods. There is no time when it is not appropriate.
Oh, and here is something funny:
The first lady here is Dutch and Bas is absolutely determined that we will meet her and have a tea time with her followed by prayers of blessing for the country. He actually has several leads going for this so we will see if that happens...
We have not really started ministry here per se, so I am not sure what we will do on a more regular basis for the next 10 days we have here...we leave on the 13th by the way.
We had a team meeting this morning with prayer and a time of sharing frustrations. I do not have any personally, but it was good to hear what others are struggling with. We are a typical family with the petty quarrels and such going on so it is always good to check in with each other and see how everyone is doing.
I went to the Swan Lake ballet last night...remember how I went in Amsterdam? This one did not really compare as far as skill goes, but it was still quite lovely and I was glad to have the experience (and for only $4!).
Oh, guys I must go because my time is up. PLEASE email me! You know I love to hear from all you lovely ones!
I be in Georgia
Hey everyone,
Ok, so I will give 20 bucks to whoever can guess where I am now...
Obviously not Uzbekistan...Turkmenistan? fat chance-the visas would take far too long for us to get...Azerbaijan? nope, been there, done that already!
Georgia? Yup.
I am now in Georgia. We had to leave Uzbekistan on very short notice once we discovered that there was only one flight to Azerbaijan that we could take during the time our visas were valid for Uzb. We flew in and spent the day in Baku. It is actually a very pretty city and we were able to see the Caspian Sea. It is too bad we could not sail over it as originally planned, but I am happy to be here.
I no longer have to write in code which is a nice relief for me. I got so tired of trying to come up with replacement words...it just got in the way. Those of you who know how I write emails know that I just shoot out whatever comes into my head, so the whole code thing really slowed me down.
We are in contact with a man named Dennis here who is pioneering the YWAM Georgia base with his wife and three children. There is another YWAM team of 10 here from Kiev. We will meet with them tomorrow night and have a dinner altogether at our place.
We are staying in a very lovely place by the way. I love Tblisi and Georgian people so far. They are very animated and friendly. Our hotel is way up on this hill overlooking the city...amazingly beautiful.
I dont know how many of you heard, but Russia cut off a lot of the gas supply to Georgia. We were fortunate enough to come the day (yesterday) that the gas was turned on so we have both heat and hot water! praise God for that one. It would be even better if we would have realized how to turn on our hot water for showers this morning! I was quite refreshed to say the least.
I am not sure what our ministry will be here yet. Dennis is going to get together with our staff today and talk that over. I know the other team is involved with orphanages, so I dont think we will be doing that.
Today is a free day, so I slept in and tonight we may actually watch a movie all together at our place which has a VCR. It doesnt seem real that we are blessed with such a beautiful place to stay.
I will briefly write you about my time in Uzbekistan.
Our ministry was going to be working at a government-run orphanage for disabled children. Since our stay was cut short, we were there only two days=one was orientation, the other was ministry.
Let me say that the orientation day really disturbed me. The orphanage had an NGO by the name of CAFE (central asia free exchange) working there. The leaders of CAFE were American Christians. They were doing what they could to change how things were done in the orphanage, but it is a slow and frustrating process for them. I saw so many things that just about broke my heart. Many of the children were extremely emaciated from the severe food shortage and lack of nutrition in the little food they did receive. I saw everything from water on the brain, to schizophrenia, to blindness, to malformed limbs, to children who beat themselves, to downsyndrome. Most of the children are kept in bed every day almost all day long...
I was so shook up the first day that I was not sure if I ever wanted to go back...I just didnt know how I would be able to handle it. But the next day was ok for me. I spent most of my time with just two different children. I sang to them, fed them, played with toys with them, or just sat and rubbed their hands while praying for them. I would look into their eyes and see what they were supposed to be...as whole children...as healthy children. I prayed for the Father to point them out to me in heaven, where could see them free from pain and the confines of that terrible institution.
I dont know why some children end up in such horrible conditions, but I am so glad that people like the CAFE people exist and that I could be there to help in what I could rather than live my life in ignorance to the existence of those children.
I will never forget that place, and I plan to pray for them daily. Please pray for them too if you think of it.
The other not so lovely thing for me about Uzbekistan was that I got food poisoning. I have never had it before, and it laid me out for two days. The only good thing about it was that the lady in the house I was staying at was such a beautiful person. She cared for me like she was my own mother, constantly checking on me and giving me health-reviving remedies (some I simply was too scared to try and refused to accept). I am still battling some queer stomach issues, so if you would pray for that I would be forever grateful.
The family I stayed with was so wonderful. They were just extremely giving people. Inge and I (the others stayed at other's homes) were well fed and given tea every two minutes. The couple spoke English pretty well, so we were able to learn a lot about the people of the country, the corruption of the government, and the concerns of their church. I truly wish we had been able to stay longer and enjoy being with them more. If you ever plan on being in Uzbekistan, let me know and I will put you in contact with them!
Our train ride from Baku to Tblisi went relatively smoothly until an hour outside Tblisi where something went wrong in the engine or something. We had to wait about 2 hours which was not so fun, but not terrible either. We got here safely and met our contacts with no trouble, so we are quite happy.
I would love to hear from any and all of you.
I am praying for you, so please let me know what all is going on with you so I can pray for it.
much love,
Michelle/moosh/hannah
Ok, so I will give 20 bucks to whoever can guess where I am now...
Obviously not Uzbekistan...Turkmenistan? fat chance-the visas would take far too long for us to get...Azerbaijan? nope, been there, done that already!
Georgia? Yup.
I am now in Georgia. We had to leave Uzbekistan on very short notice once we discovered that there was only one flight to Azerbaijan that we could take during the time our visas were valid for Uzb. We flew in and spent the day in Baku. It is actually a very pretty city and we were able to see the Caspian Sea. It is too bad we could not sail over it as originally planned, but I am happy to be here.
I no longer have to write in code which is a nice relief for me. I got so tired of trying to come up with replacement words...it just got in the way. Those of you who know how I write emails know that I just shoot out whatever comes into my head, so the whole code thing really slowed me down.
We are in contact with a man named Dennis here who is pioneering the YWAM Georgia base with his wife and three children. There is another YWAM team of 10 here from Kiev. We will meet with them tomorrow night and have a dinner altogether at our place.
We are staying in a very lovely place by the way. I love Tblisi and Georgian people so far. They are very animated and friendly. Our hotel is way up on this hill overlooking the city...amazingly beautiful.
I dont know how many of you heard, but Russia cut off a lot of the gas supply to Georgia. We were fortunate enough to come the day (yesterday) that the gas was turned on so we have both heat and hot water! praise God for that one. It would be even better if we would have realized how to turn on our hot water for showers this morning! I was quite refreshed to say the least.
I am not sure what our ministry will be here yet. Dennis is going to get together with our staff today and talk that over. I know the other team is involved with orphanages, so I dont think we will be doing that.
Today is a free day, so I slept in and tonight we may actually watch a movie all together at our place which has a VCR. It doesnt seem real that we are blessed with such a beautiful place to stay.
I will briefly write you about my time in Uzbekistan.
Our ministry was going to be working at a government-run orphanage for disabled children. Since our stay was cut short, we were there only two days=one was orientation, the other was ministry.
Let me say that the orientation day really disturbed me. The orphanage had an NGO by the name of CAFE (central asia free exchange) working there. The leaders of CAFE were American Christians. They were doing what they could to change how things were done in the orphanage, but it is a slow and frustrating process for them. I saw so many things that just about broke my heart. Many of the children were extremely emaciated from the severe food shortage and lack of nutrition in the little food they did receive. I saw everything from water on the brain, to schizophrenia, to blindness, to malformed limbs, to children who beat themselves, to downsyndrome. Most of the children are kept in bed every day almost all day long...
I was so shook up the first day that I was not sure if I ever wanted to go back...I just didnt know how I would be able to handle it. But the next day was ok for me. I spent most of my time with just two different children. I sang to them, fed them, played with toys with them, or just sat and rubbed their hands while praying for them. I would look into their eyes and see what they were supposed to be...as whole children...as healthy children. I prayed for the Father to point them out to me in heaven, where could see them free from pain and the confines of that terrible institution.
I dont know why some children end up in such horrible conditions, but I am so glad that people like the CAFE people exist and that I could be there to help in what I could rather than live my life in ignorance to the existence of those children.
I will never forget that place, and I plan to pray for them daily. Please pray for them too if you think of it.
The other not so lovely thing for me about Uzbekistan was that I got food poisoning. I have never had it before, and it laid me out for two days. The only good thing about it was that the lady in the house I was staying at was such a beautiful person. She cared for me like she was my own mother, constantly checking on me and giving me health-reviving remedies (some I simply was too scared to try and refused to accept). I am still battling some queer stomach issues, so if you would pray for that I would be forever grateful.
The family I stayed with was so wonderful. They were just extremely giving people. Inge and I (the others stayed at other's homes) were well fed and given tea every two minutes. The couple spoke English pretty well, so we were able to learn a lot about the people of the country, the corruption of the government, and the concerns of their church. I truly wish we had been able to stay longer and enjoy being with them more. If you ever plan on being in Uzbekistan, let me know and I will put you in contact with them!
Our train ride from Baku to Tblisi went relatively smoothly until an hour outside Tblisi where something went wrong in the engine or something. We had to wait about 2 hours which was not so fun, but not terrible either. We got here safely and met our contacts with no trouble, so we are quite happy.
I would love to hear from any and all of you.
I am praying for you, so please let me know what all is going on with you so I can pray for it.
much love,
Michelle/moosh/hannah
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