A Letter from Becky Loyd:

This December, we will be traveling to a small country in Eastern Europe called Moldova, which sits between Ukraine and Romania. Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe and more than 13,000 children (birth to 16 years) are in orphanage institutions.

Over the past 6 years, Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin, TN, has developed relationships with 3 orphanages, and has sent teams twice a year to do summer camps and winter activities. My first trip to Moldova was in the Summer of 2007, and since then, I have been back each summer, and am looking forward to going for my first winter trip. I'm really excited because my sister, Susan, is going to join me this Christmas!

In 2008, I began serving on the board of a non-profit ministry called Justice and Mercy International (JMI). Through this non-profit we began a sponsorship program to aid these orphaned and abandoned children. They are the most at-risk children in the poorest country in Eastern Europe. Regardless of how bright these children are or how much they can achieve educationally, their chances to survive, much less become truly independent, are in doubt. Without a family, home, or social support system, they simply cannot produce enough income to support themselves. They will, in all likelihood and through no fault of their own, become anonymous crime statistics or be trafficked into sexual slavery. Our sponsorship program connects sponsors with these children to allow them to become advocates for their sponsored child. A $35.00 a month gift provides seasonal clothes, hygiene supplies, school supplies, and access to medical and dental care beyond the basic (and very limited) services that the government provides. JMI also provides in-country staff who can receive and deliver emailed correspondence between children and their sponsored child.

Our first sponsorship drive in July 2009 led to more than 100 children being sponsored, but there are many more who are waiting, and others we haven't even identified yet.

We will be leaving on Sunday, December 27th and will be spending two days at each of the three orphanages where JMI is currently working: Falesti, Straseni, and Internat 2. At each location we will be purchasing and wrapping gifts for the orphans.  We will photograph and interview children to add to our sponsorship program who are spending Christmas at the orphanage because they have no extended family to spend the holidays with. We will also spend a day at each orphanage doing crafts, games, and other activities to help them celebrate Christmas. Steve Davis, the Executive Director of JMI, recently wrote about his experience last year:

JMI’s annual Christmas trip to Moldova has become one of the most meaningful weeks in my life. To catch that flight to Chisinau is to leave much of the madness that Christmas has become here in the States and rediscover the essence of the original event, without all the self-serving over-expenditures, commercial hype, and family angst.  

If I sound like Mr. Grinch, it’s only because I’ve found something infinitely more worthwhile. I realized it on our first Christmas in Moldova, about seven years ago, when we wrapped gifts for the orphans of Internat 2. As we individually handed our gifts to the children, no one moved a muscle to tear them open. About 100 kids sat in stunned silence on their gymnasium floor, intently focused on their presents. Finally, after much encouragement, they all began to slowly and carefully unwrap their gifts, mindful not to tear the paper. Most of them didn’t even unfold their gifts of clothes, but looked at them and gently slid them back into the Christmas paper.  Later we were told they wanted to open them again the following day - Christmas morning! We also were informed that these were the first presents those children had ever received.  Even the wrapping paper was a gift to them.

Last year’s trip was memorable in another way. Arriving in Moldova just before New Year’s, we decided to purchase a few fireworks and surprise the children at the Straseni orphanage. As the movie we were showing was concluding, a few of us snuck out the side door and set up our meager display of three fairly large items. I remember being a bit embarassed that we couldn’t afford a more respectable showing, but when the children were directed to the window and we lit off our fireworks, you would have thought it was the grand finale in New York City! And as we gathered our belongings to leave, the Assistant Director profusely thanked us.  She remarked that Christmas for these children was always hard because they knew their friends were celebrating with whatever family they had and, when they returned from the holidays, always came back sharing stories of the fun they had. “This year,” she said, “our children without families will have their own stories of joy to share!”

That’s what I love about Christmas in Moldova. In the middle of bitterly cold weather and among young lives that have known only profound bitterness, love, peace and joy can be kindled around the warmth of relationships and our common Savior’s birth! 

In His love -
Becky Loyd