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