JUST ONE MORE SHOE STORY

One of the blessings of Christmas is the fact that people serve others by giving of themselves, presents or service. This year some very special family and friends donated some money to a project, "SHOES FOR THE VILLAGE CHILDREN." We have on occasion been able to get out of the city and visit the villages. I know that we are serving a mission in Europe but it isn't like the Europe that you see in pictures or visit. This is a part of Europe that is literately fighting for its existence. The government is so corrupt Taitana's (the Mayor of Selemet) son was given the opportunity to purchase a new tractor with money given him from the government. He would have to pay little interest but with in 5 years he would have it paid off. The month after he signed they sent him a payment notice that he had to pay his bill, but he hadn't received the tractor yet. Then month 2 the same thing but this time was told that if he didn't pay that the government would take his land. To make a long and sad story short, he ended up paying the whole amount himself, because through the taxes and interest payments, the government hadn't paid a penny and he had paid full price. Thus he spent all the money on a tractor he couldn't afford and was worse off than before.

The government also gets money from other countries to help the villages, but the villages never receive any of the money. I could go on and on, but thank goodness the church Humanitarian services have been helping here. One of the villages the Kneib's took us to was Borceag. They have a thousand people in the village with no running water, no paved roads, no doctor and only one tiny store. If you didn't know Borceag was there you would never see it because it is totally hidden from view. They have lots of children wearing the same thing to school everyday and shoes with holes or sizes much larger than they wear. Our Christmas plea was for the participants to give a child some boots to keep their feet warm and dry. We ended up with fifteen pairs of warm fur lined boots and a warm pair of socks for each child.

These are a few of the children who received the shoes.They all live with Grandparents while their parents work in other countries. The one family(above) with three children are expecting a baby sister to arrive to live with them. Poor Grandma, another mouth to feed with no money coming from the mother. She only comes home once a year for a few days, this trip is to bring another child, she will be abandoned also.

One of the children, Dana, was so sad because none of the girls shoes fit her.  Ruslan told her that we would go and get some more shoes and bring them back. Oh, and she wanted them to be pink just like the boots that didn't fit. It took us a couple of weeks before we finally had the shoes to take to her.

Dana was thrilled with the pink boots and they even fit her. Not 2 sizes too big like the other ones she had on. They talk to the children and explain to them that they need to take care of the boots so next year someone else in the village can wear them.

This was a wonderful experience for us to see these humble little children get something they never expected and were so very grateful that someone they never knew would be so nice to them.  Blessed are those who receive without forgetting and give without remembering.

MYSTERY SOLVED

Those of you that have read the blog learned that we took shoes around to some of the handicapped people that Mehai had contacted to get their foot size. We experienced a unique mystery while doing this. 

Sister Gibson and Bray went with us to deliver the shoes. We went into the front door thinking that this little cubicle was the information place. We asked for the room numbers and showed her the names. She immediately took the paper and wrote down the room numbers next to the name. We started off.  The first room had a really nice woman, she loved the shoes and she had a good chat with the sisters. While there, a second woman had heard we were there and came into the room to get hers. She accepted the shoes and the Book of Mormon with a big smile. In the third room, we had the same success. The fourth room, a guy named Victor was at work. In the fifth room (#315) was a tall, large framed, man and very Russian.  He took the shoes and acted upset because the shoes were size 41 and he needed a 44. We quickly gathered the shoes and left a bit disappointed. The last was a man confined to a wheelchair and very grateful for the shoes.

We left and as we left we stopped by the window. We asked if they would give Victor his shoes when he came home from work. I ask them if someone in the care center could use the size 41, she nodded yes and we left. Well that was almost a success. 

Lee and I went down to the store and bought a pair of 44 so the man could get them faster that having Konstantin make a pair.

 A few days later we asked some Elders to accompany us since the man with the wrong sized shoes  was Russian speaking. We arrived at the center went to the window and ask for Eugene (the intended recipient) and they told us he was out front-we just passed him. We went outside and didn't see him, "Outside, they insisted", so we looked again and no Eugene. Then as we talked to the old woman, a man in a three wheeled wheel chair came in and she told us this was Eugene and we were shocked. This was not the man we met. This man needed a size 41. The old woman insisted that this was the right man with the name we gave them. We told them about the other man and they said, "he was and imposter, that this was Eugene." Well if that is the case we would like to have the size 41 back that we left here. They promptly gave us Victor's shoes and said that we had only left one bag not two. We had a discussion about the shoes they called the woman that we gave them to and she had only seen one pair!?!?

Well, we took Victor's shoes and explained to Eugene what had happened to his shoes and left to get him a size 41. We also found out through a phone call that Victor worked right by Konstantin's shop, so off we went to deliver Victor's shoes and order Eugene's.

Several days later we received a message that the shoes were done, hooray! They we beautiful and Konstantin had put a zipper on the inside to make it easier for Eugene to put them on.

Sister Gibson and Bray were happy to go with us since Eugene was Romanian speaking. We arrived and the man at the window was kind enough to let Eugene know we were there. He then proceeded to take us to his room (#315). Hey, wait a minute this isn't the way we went last time. Yep, room 315 and inside was Eugene so happy to see us and thrilled with his shoes and his Book of Mormon.

So mystery solved there were two wings in the care center and so our Russian friend was in his room but we had the wrong wing. LOL!!! Oh, yes we also found out that the window was not the information place, it was located on the other side of the building.  We had gone to the disinformation place!

Our Merry Christmas Shoe Story did have a HAPPY ending.

This Russian Man who is still living in the Soviet era and who lives in a village in the south ended up  with the size 44. He will put the shoes to good use!

THE HOLIDAYS ENDING 2014

WOW, what could be more exciting for the Christmas holidays than to have the unique experience of being here in Moldova. WHY? you ask is it so different well I will tell you. FIRST off we had the opportunity to celebrate Christmas on the 25th with 26 wonderful Missionaries.

Our Nativity at the Chisinau Branch Christmas Party

We had lunch with the Missionaries at Elder and Sora Flanders home.

They all love to have their picture taken!

I think Elder Feil over did it!

Another unique tradition in Moldova is that in addition to December 25th we also have Christmas on the 7th of January.  This is the Orthodox Christmas. OH, and if you think that is different we also have two NEW YEARS EVE'S. Needless to say we didn't have a lot of missionary activity during these two weeks. The city was sleeping for a few days before and after each holiday. We enjoyed it though because there wasn't much traffic on those days. New Years Eve is celebrated here much more than in the states. We had fireworks, M80's or something very loud going off all through the night. That is why missionaries are suppose to be in by 9:00pm.

Lee and I had some very heartfelt experiences with Elder and Sister Kneib the humanitarian couple here in Moldova. They invited us to participate in some Christmas activities with people they have done projects with. The Arts School director, Eina Bulat, here in Chisinau, had worked with the Kneib's at her previous school. She was in dire need of help so she called the couple who she knew would help her. The Art School was going to be shut down because the kitchen was regarded as unhealthy for the children. The main problem was they had 400 students and the refrigerators didn't work.  The LDS church not only came to the, but they supplied not ONE, not TWO, not THREE but FOUR large refrigerators for the school. Enia showed some of her gratitude with an invitation to a Christmas Program by the school. 

Another Christmas program that we attended was a Kindergarten where myself and five of the Sora missionaries helped Julia Gorgos (a member of our ward)who asked us if we could help make costumes for her grandson's class.  She didn't mention was just how many we would be making.

Just had to add this last video because this young man was awesome, He definitely captured the HEARTS of the audience.

We also had the opportunity to participate in the delivering of some shoes made by Constantin our

cobbler. He has been working with the Knieb's.  The church pays him to make shoes for the disabled, the poor, and needy. Mehai the director of the handicapped here in Moldova, decides who will receive the shoes.

 Mehai is the director of the handicapped in Moldova and is also the one who takes charge of all the wheel chairs that the LDS church donates here.  The chairs number in the thousands. They say there are about 80,000 handicapped people in Moldova.

They get the size for the shoes by drawing an outline of each foot and then Constantin makes some great looking and comfortable leather shoes for them.

Constantin and the Kneib's signing the papers.

This is a picture of the shoes he has made. You can give him a picture and pick out the material and he can make you the shoes you want. I will have him do me a pair of boots before I return home. They will be a ONE OF A KIND.

Shoes for the handicap.

Elder Bateman will surely need another pair of shoes before he goes home.

This sole shows some of the tourist places in London.

The Sister Bray and Gibson went with us so they could explain about the shoes and they also gave a Romanian Book of Mormon.