A Precious Moment

Throughout our time here, we have had the privilege of meeting many social workers, orphanage directors and workers. Following a visit one afternoon to a local orphanage, the assistant director asked me if I would help her do something - tell her eight year old daughter she was adopted. I was absolutely thrilled as adoption is kept a major secret in this country.

On Tuesday morning, she came over to meet us at Mercy Foundation and for two hours I talked with her about her daughter's story. We made a timeline of events in her daughter's life, events that she has never mentioned to her. I heard the story of her daughter's birth, how she was taken to an orphanage after just a few days and of her adoption at 18 months old. I heard her story of how she came to adoption and the wonderful journey it has been for them both. I heard her struggles and fears about telling her daughter the truth and what may happen when she does. During our conversation, I clearly understood from what she said that her daughter has pre-verbal memories of the time at the orphanage because she makes vague references to it. I told this adoptive mother, it is time to give words to those vague emotional memories.

I have never experienced such an unfolding of a story. I listened to the heart cry of an adoptive mother who wants to do the right thing for her daughter. I saw so clearly the immense relief felt by this Kyryz mother when we were finished. This precious adoptive mother cried and told us, "I know I haven't told her any of this yet, but I feel so free, like a major burden has been lifted." What a joy for us!

On Wednesday, we had our weekly social work training and she came in. Her expression on her face reflected deep gratitude. Because she had others around her, I didn't get a chance to talk with her, but I know she did or soon will do the best thing for her daughter.

I wanted to share this here, so I wouldn't forget this special memory. These experiences don't come every day.

We have a short four weeks left and David and I are praying that God will continue to use our time here to the maximum.

Thank you for all your continued support and prayers...the journey continues

Back to School Party with the Tokmok Kids

In April, we met the kids from the Tokmok orphanage and absolutely fell in love with every one of them. The Wright family invited us along on their weekly outings with the kids and when they left at the end of July, we kept going. Twice a week, David, Natalia and I go over to the orphanage - one day to work on crafts, and one day to work on English. While we are with the kids, David spends time talking to them individually.

With school starting, we won't be able to see them as much as we do now, so we had a back-to-school party with them last week. We walked with them nearly a mile to a children's playground, took all 14 of them to lunch - only shasleek would do - and then went back to the orphanage to begin decorating their photo albums.

While out with the kids, Bekah and I took many, many pictures of each one and had them developed and ready to put in their albums today. The kids were absolutely delighted at their own pictures. Those pictures, many of which are below, tell the story of an absolutely fun day. One of the workers joked with us when we got back, "You all come so full of energy when you come to be with the kids and look tired out when you leave." That's true in one sense - we give it our all with them while with them. It one of our most favorite places to be!

Enjoy the pictures....

On the road to the park...Dennis, the young man in blue, is the spiritual coordinator for the orphanage.

L to r, a young man in the park we didn't know, Victor, age 7, Dema, 8, Dennis and Nastya, who is 12.

There are just four girls at the orphanage - in the front, Azat and Angelina, and in the back, Anya and Nastya. Of course, Argen, far right and Maksat, in the back, had to get in the picture, too!

Azat, Albeck, 11 and Colya, 15

Bekah and Dema

Two young brothers, Albeck, 11 and Maksat, 13

Dema and Victor

The kids were excited about shasleek...

Dema kept telling us he wasn't hungry...but ate two full plates of shasleek, (meat kabob's), five watermelon slices, lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, but he wasn't hungry!
David really enjoys visiting with these fun-loving young boys...They have just finished a very big lunch and are getting ready to return to the orphanage for more activities.

From Invisible to Visible - David's Weekly Perspective

Jayne and I had the privilege this week to see a vision come into reality, from the invisible to the visible. Several years ago, Elder Yang, the founder of Mercy Foundation in Kyrgyzstan, saw a need for an institution of high learning. This institution must be built on integrity and educational excellence. The facilities, staff and equipment must be the best they can be.

On Friday, August 22, I sat in a classroom at this institute watching the students come in for student orientation. The vision has become a reality and now a new story will be told and lives will be changed

For the past two months, I have met with the staff at the Institute sharing core values and leadership principles. In one of these sessions I talked about vision. I shared that a vision...

1. Comes to life in the mind and heart of a person.
2. A vision often comes out of one’s own experiences and history.
3. Visions, of the good sort, always adds value to people
4. A true vision will miraculously attract resources from many sources

Such is the story of the vision for the Professional Institute of the city of Tokmok in the country of Kyrgyzstan.
Elder Yang addresses the faculty and new student body of the Professional Institute on Friday, August 22.

David is addressing the staff of the Professional Institute just before orientation began an hour later.

Students gather on the steps of the school preparing for orientation.

Bekah meets Altynai and her new roommate.

John Clark (in the blue shirt) and Camilla have been instrumental in guiding the staff and faculty in the creation of this new institute.

A Healing Moment

Allow me to share an amazing story about a young boy, around 12, who lives in an orphanage here. The orphanage director, quite concerned about him, asked me to talk with him. A month ago, I began meeting with him on a regular basis, asking him questions and then listening to the answer.

I heard a tragic story of loss, brokenness and trauma that had created much anger and hurt in his heart and mind. We talked a long time and then I asked him if he would allow me to ask God to take all the hurt and pain away. “Yes,” he said. So I simply asked him to feel all those emotions that he carries every day and then we would ask the Lord to take them.

He did this and I asked the Lord to take them. He looked up at me and told me he felt them leave. The Lord also had spoken a word to him. For the past several weeks I have checked with him on how he’s doing. Peaceful and calm, he reports.

During our most recent visit, I asked him, is there anything you would like to share with us? “Yes,” he said, “thank you for making my pain go away.” I quickly told him it wasn’t me, it was the Lord. I told him to always remember that God is real and knows our needs, is present with us and speaks to us.

We rejoiced with him concerning the fact that his pain was gone. Like all the children that we see regularly at this orphanage, this young man has captured our hearts. They all carry the pain of rejection, abandonment and trauma at some level. We truly count it a privilege to touch one life at a time.

This incredible young man represents so many youngsters living in orphanages throughout Central Asia.

Bekah's Journey Begins

Very early last Wednesday morning, David, Nastya(from Bekah's host family) and Valera, the Foundation driver, were at the airport to pick up Bekah Gibson.

Bekah is a young, 23 year old student from Treveca Nazarane University, where she is completing her Master's degree in Counseling. We have known Bekah since she was about eight years old and are so excited to have her here for a few weeks. She has had numerous international mission experiences, so this is nothing new to her. However, in an email she wrote to us just before she came, she told us, "there is a mystery in my heart about Kyrgyzstan." Perhaps God will reveal that mystery to her while she is here.

Nasta, left and Bekah....a 5:30 AM arrival at the Bishkek airport. Bekah will be staying with Nasta and her mother, Elenya, who is vice-president of the Foundation. They live in an apartment just above us.

We wasted no time in putting Bekah to work. After a little rest following her thirty hour travel trip, she joined us at the Tokmok orphanage, where we teach English twice a week. While here, she enthusiastically agreed to handle both the English lessons and crafts with the kids. I just get to go and love on the kids and she gets to do the work.

Each youngster took their turn at introducing himself to Bekah.

Victor is one who captures everyone's heart when they come to the Tokmok orphanage...actually all the children do!


A game of "around-the-world" with the English alphabet.

On Thursday, we just began working with the kids at the Orlovka orphanage on lifebooks. We are so excited to be able to do this with them. Bekah will work with the same three girls twice a week as they record important information about themselves, their families and their history in a book they can keep.



Bekah will work with these three youngsters for the next two weeks as they write their lifebooks.

This is the first time the children have had the opportunity to work on the lifebooks. Last year, Lynn and Ruby Johnston trained the staff on this needed tool. They have been wanting to do it since that training and are so appreciative of the time given to help them accomplish it.


Friday, we had the opportunity to join the Foundation people at the mountain camp for a weekend retreat. It was a fun time for all of us and gave Bekah a chance to meet many more people. She speaks Russian and that has been so helpful for her to connect with kids and adults, alike.

David shares with the Foundation staff at the weekend retreat.

Natalia, our translator (and much more than that) and Bekah are becoming good friends.

A game of water ballon volleyball....

...we lost

in the mountains...

We have planned many activities for Bekah while she is here, but they are only plans. We want most of all for her to hear from God on what He wants her to do, to see, to hear, to experience.

Thanks for sharing our journey....

Meeting New People

Last Friday turned out to be an amazing day of meeting new people in Bishkek, spending time with them and seeing how their lives touch and change others.

Before we even left Tokmok for the day's trip to the capital, David had already spoken at the Professional Institute,visited with the orphanage director at the Tokmok home and counseled one youngster there. While he was with them, Nastya, a young adult from the Foundation helped me with English classes. Then off to Bishkek...

After a meeting with the assistant to the Minister of Religion, which is a story for another day, we wanted to take our friend and Foundation attorney to lunch at a place called "Fat Boys."

Natalia, Jengish, Altynai and Ylan, far right, the Foundation attorney, enjoy ice cream after a great lunch. More about Jengish and Altynai below.

Jengish

Before they left, Bekah Wright, one of John's daughter had prepared a gift for a young man by the name of Jengish, and we delivered it. What we knew about the ministry of this incredible 25 year old expanded as we talked with him. He is currently with Teen Challenge and moving next week to work with Youth for a Mission. God has called him to one of the most difficult ministries there could be - ministering to the homeless. Jengish is the oldest of three boys and is responsible for the family. He is extremely proficient in English and a gifted photographer. He was asked by his mission organization to take a position as photographer for them, which would mean he could travel all over the world. He turned it down for two reasons - his ministry to the homeless here and his responsibility to his family.

We thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with this phenomenal young man. To learn more about his ministry, visit his blog - jengish.blogspot.com. You will be extremely touched by his pictures and ministry. He is responsible for raising his own support for his new ministry work with Youth for a Mission. Raising funds in this country is nearly impossible. If you are interested in how you could support this energetic young man with a bright future, let us know. We will send you to the right place to do so.

Altynai and Meeting the Brothertons

Altynai is a beautiful nineteen year old with a bright future. However, just months ago, her future looked grim. The Wright family met her and her brothers and sisters at the Orlovka orpahange, where they had moved after a very difficult family time.

Her story and her desire to go to college was posted on John's blog a few weeks ago and Jeff and Lisa Brotherton, adoptive parents coming here for their new daughter, felt called by God to help support her. Altynai registered last week as the first student to enroll at the new Professional Institute in Tokmok. She hopes to become a translator. In spite of her poor school attendance over the last few years, this remarkable young lady scored in the top 4% on standardized testing of graduating students for the entire country. Her entire school bill will cost about $1,400 a year...what a small price to pay for changing the course of a beautiful life. She is still in need of funds to complete the $1,400 bill for the 2008-09 school year.

Lisa Brotherton shares the story behind her gift to Altynai. The Brothertons are on their referral visit to meet their new 3 month old daughter at the Bishkek baby orphanage.

Jeff, Altynai and Lisa

Not only did we get to meet the Brothertons, but also Kimberly, (in the green) another excited adoptive mom on her first visit to meet her two -year-old daughter.

Meeting all of these wonderful people was a reminder to us that God has called out people from all over the world to meet the needs of the homeless and orphaned. The people we met on Friday are doing just that at great financial and emotional sacrifice to themselves. They would never call it that, but we know and we saw. What an encouragement to us to continue to see God at work through the lives of His people.

Thank you for taking the time to follow our journey...

David's Weekly Perspective - A Visit to Mountain Villages

Greetings and thank you for following our journey. Each day is new, different and exciting. This past Thursday, August 7, I had the opportunity to go with John Norquay and Hynmanuk, his translator to visit some mountain villages.

John and his wife, Shirin, have a ministry to the poor, C.P.F. International, and they coordinate their effort with the local social services administration.. They have been delivering food to the very poor in very difficult places for over five years.. They take not only needed nutritional items, but personal items, toys for the kids and winter clothes.

Winters are brutal here and very frankly, many do not survive. The homes are not well built, they are in gross disrepair and impossible to heat. To buy coal is prohibitive in cost. John told me of one man who went to find firewood with his wife and daughter. The husband came back, the other two did not- they froze to death. When you hear stories such as these, your heart breaks. As I mentioned, winters are harsh here and unfortunately, this story is often repeated.

Here are some sights from the mountain villages...

There was no one home here, so we left their food package in plain sight for them to see when they came home. There is little work here, so they were probably out trying find something to either eat or sell.

The kids saw us coming and ran out to us. John is on the left, Hynmanuk, on the right has been a great help to John's ministry.

I took this picture while I was sitting on the floor in their one room house where eight people live. I was on the floor eating bread that had been prepared for us as these two cuties looked down and smiled.

This is the home of the two little girls in the picture above. You will notice to the right there is construction using mud bricks with straw. The house which they presently live was damaged by an earthquake and they are trying to build another one.

A bachelor lives here and is always so apprecitive to receive the bag of food which includes floor, rice, pasta, cooking oil and other grains.

This lady and another family live in a home that by all accounts should be condemned. It is unsafe, however, as bad as it was, it was very clean.

This is a beautiful family with very little, but have a lot of love. They are afflicated with mental and physical disorders for which there is little or no help. When we came the father was fishing. Fishing here is not recreational, it is an attempt to survive.

As we were driving to a village to deliver another sack of food, we passed this cart. John recognized them as the ones to whom we were taking the food. We stopped, visited a while and gave them the supplies. As a passing thought, I jumped on the cart and sat with these beautiful people just before they continued their journey to go to work in the field.

Time has gone quickly

It doesn't seem possible, but we have just 50 days left. Time has gone quickly and God has, indeed, given us opportunities beyond what we could have imagined.

When we return, Jayne will begin her speaking and teaching schedule-pretty much filled up to March, 2009. Her newest book, the updated version of The Whole Life Adoption Book, was released while we were here and it is getting good reviews. She, along with 5 other authors, have been working long distance - a very long distance - on a new book dealing with parenting traumatized children and the impact on the family. It will be released next spring.

I'm not sure as to what I will be doing - that is not yet revealed - except to say that I will be resuming my teaching responsibilties with Masters International School of Divinity with a seminar in Virginia Beach. Some other additional trips are planned.

In a very few short days, Bekah Gibson arrives. We have many things planned while she is here. She will have many opportunities to be a part of and involved in the ministry here. She will have such a positive presence and impact here. Watch our blog as her story unfolds!

Again, thank you for following as our journey continues....

Отдыхать

Я хочу отдыхать. We hear that a lot now that it is August. It means I want to rest. We say that same thing...I need a vacation! A group of friends from the Chinese Church all decided they needed a rest. They planned a one day trip to Lake Issykul and we went along on Saturday. It was a great day of time with our new friends and a way to see more of the country. The lake is about a three hour drive one way from where we live and it was an enjoyable drive there. It was a time also to escape the 100+ temperatures that are a part of most every day now.

Here are some pictures of our "mini vacation."

Lilly, center in yellow and her sons have become great friends. James, her husband, is the acting director for the Professional Institute. We have also come to love Daniel, Edna, Xenia and little David, from Malaysia, who are ministering to children and families at the Foundation. Richard and YaLing, in the back center, from Singapore are also new great friends and are serving at the Foundation and where ever asked.

Natalia, our translator, her mom and little cousin, joined us for the day. I really tried to give her the day off...not asking her to translate for us so she could just have fun. I know they all did!

Carmel rides are not usually something you see on our beaches, but you do in Kyrgyzstan. No, we didn't do it.

David looking out at the lake, just before we boarded the boat for an hour excursion.

David and I took an hour boat trip around a portion of the lake. We understand that this lake is the second largest salt water lake in the world. It is surrounded by beautiful, snow-capped mountains. This is a shot of those mountains from our boat.

This is another long distance picture of the lake and the beautiful mountains. They had all types of water rides, including this wind surfer and jet skis. For a few hours, we forgot that we were in a land of such tremendous poverty and need.