journeys

I just left Sarah, my girlfriend, and Scott, my roommate, at the airport here in Nashville (Sarah center, Scott perched between us. The girls to the right are on the trip as well). They are on their way to Moldova for an 11 day mission trip through our church. Moldova is nestled between Romania and the Ukraine and is the poorest nation of the former Soviet Union. Thousands of children live in orphanages there until the age of 16 when they are released by the state. 70% of girls are sold into the sex trade within their first year on the streets. 70% of boys turn to organized crime and of those, 10% commit suicide. Our church is sending three teams this year to three different parts of the country. There is tremendous hope in the gospel of Christ and I ask anyone who is willing to pray for them to do so while they are gone.

For further info, just follow the link to the team blogs on the right.

"If you get rid of the yoke from those around you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking, and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like the noonday. The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry. Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the resorer of streets where people live." - Isaiah 58:9-12