Whenever we come to work with a missionary contact and there
are kids we always call them “OURS”. We will see them walking down the street
or at the store and immediately yell those are ours!!!… We automatically go in
to “mommie mode” and just completely take them on as our own. We make sure they
go to school and make them wash their hands before we eat. I think we may take
it to the extreme sometimes, but we just can’t help it.
Coming into our ministry this month in Moldova we didn’t
really know what our main focus was going to be but throughout the month it has
been quiet evident. Every night a group of boys come to the church where we are
living and just hang out and play cards and volleyball. There are 3 brothers
that come to the church every night, literally they never miss a night. If we
have been gone for a few hours we will come “home” to the church and they will
be sitting outside on the side walk in front of the church or playing with kids
in the field across the street and completely drop what they are doing to come
meet us to hang out with them. And these aren’t actually kids, they are 16,15,
and 11. They are in the middle of 11 brothers and sisters and let’s just say
their home life is far from perfect. The one 11 year old and a younger sister
are a part of the feeding program here at the church for underprivileged
children in the community.
Since the boys are here from about 3pm until 10pm every night
and sometimes from 12pm to 10pm. So that means most nights they don’t even eat
dinner until then, if even at all. We really wanted to do something special for
these guys so we decided to take them bowling on Saturday. We took the three
brothers and one of their friends who comes to the church quiet often, and none
of them had been bowling before. (We were thinking it was going to be like
bowling in America where people who don’t have any money go bowling. We were
wrong!!) We walked into the bowling alley and let’s just say it looked very
similar to P-Diddy’s basement…… There were chandeliers and waiters walking
around in tuxes. It was insane. At that moment we realized why none of the boys
had ever been bowling. The boys were so pumped. Yet they are all teenage boys
so they didn’t really act that excited. They kept it under wraps pretty well. The
night wasn’t over yet though, we all headed back to the church and ordered
pizza. The boys ate until they couldn’t eat anymore, each of them were making
the “throw up noise” and laying on the pews because they were so stuffed. We
decided it was a successful night, so then we threw in THE QUESTION, and asked
them to come to Easter service. THEY ACCEPTED. WHOOT WHOOT!!!!
We were all in the sanctuary at 8am bright and early. I may
or may not have played a few rounds of Tic Tac Toe with the younger boy to keep
him awake, but the other boys were listening J.
In my mind, huge success! We were having a Easter program for the kids after
church so of course we invited all the boys to come back for an Easter egg and
candy hunt, eggs tosses, and relay races and afterwards we were all going to
play volleyball. My team and I went inside to change clothes and eat a little
something before the game and that’s when it happened. I heard the church van
drive off but I didn’t really think anything about it. Our translator came
running in to let us know Dorik (the middle boy and my favorite)
had broken his
arm while trying to do some soccer kick in the air. The pastor had taken him to
the hospital. We all thought “oh ok, ehh broke arm, he will go get a cast and
be back within an hour to watch us play”. Dead wrong. The pastor came back 2
hours later, ALONE, to let us know he left Dorik at the hospital. What? He is
15?
The doctor said because it was such a bad break and because
of the possible swelling that Dorik was going to have to stay in the Hospital
for 3 DAYS. We don’t speak Russian so we really didn’t
have any clue what was going on. We all hopped in the church van drove to Dorik’s
parents flat and his dad met us with two bags of clothes and some jars of some
type of food I’ve never seen in my life. We were going to take him some stuff
he would need for the next three days. So let’s get this straight. He is 15,
his parents obviously don’t have the money nor can they leave all of the other
10 children to go into town to see him, so he is at the hospital alone…….. I’m
CRUSHED.
Our team decided on the way to the hospital to grab him a
few snacks at the store and some juice because our translator told us they didn’t
really feed the patients there. So we get to the Hospital, and when you think
of “hospital” don’t think of what we have in America PLEASE. This kid is in a
room all alone, no T.V., no family, no book, no magazine, nothing, just him, some
white walls, and some empty beds. He immediately sat up and we saw his HUGE gorgeous
brown eyes start to water. He was so shocked to see us. This kid, who we have
spent every day with for the past month, couldn’t believe that we came to see
him and bring him clothes and gifts. We all chatted and prayed and just kind of
loved on him for a little while until we had to leave.
Ugh as we left all I wanted to do was stay there and keep
him company. Our contacts assured us that he was ok, because he is a 15 year
old boy??? but I was crushed and STILL
AM. I compared to him to my little brother who is actually way older than
him and how I could never leave him alone in a horrible dump of a hospital like
that, or even one in America for that matter…….. So now it is like 9pm and his
brothers are sitting in the sanctuary playing cards. His parents are at home
with their other children that range in age from 4 to 9, while Dorik is at the
hospital by himself. We have another church service in the morning and then
after we all plan to go sit with him for the rest of the day and play cards.
I don’t really know what I want to come out of this blog…. I
know that this kid has basically nothing and no one….. I don’t know how his
family is going to pay for a 3 day hospital stay…… Maybe I’m writing this just
to let everyone know that if it comes down to it I want to help pay for his medical
bills? Who knows how it will all play out. I will keep you guys up dated to let
you know if I need some donations and how to get them to me, and if so, I hope
that God moves you in whatever way you feel necessary.
