Day Five

Women and Children's Crisis Center

Our relationship with this groundbreaking center has been phenomenal.  The reason we formed this team was for this day!  When we invited Tanya Goldbeck to return to Russia with us, it was for her gift in helping lost children.  Along with Tanya, Angela Pickering completed the team.  The director had invited teachers, doctors, and therapists from all over the region to meet Tanya and Angela. 

They spent the day with a room full of professional women as they taught hands on techniques to reach the child who has suffered neglect and abuse.  Tanya had written a booklet and we had it professional translated and printed into Russian.  We purchased the center a DVD player and instruments for each child to make music.   Angela provided the center with classical music to help open the minds of the troubled kids so they could hear the message.

Tanya gave them teaching kits with all the tools she uses in her practice.  As a lay person, parent, and grandparent I was amazed at how a child can be lead into sharing their hurts with 3 stones, a balloon, or a musical instrument.  After 10 years of watching hardened directors glare at us, it was so exciting to watch the ladies taking part in each fun activity. 

Later the director told us the Russian way is to sit for 4 hours in a seminar and listen to someone drone on and on.  They were never given handouts or tools.  The ladies had the time of their lives. At the end the entire team joined and I had the privilege to pray over the knowledge given and received that day.  Again, God has given us favor to walk into a government origination and pray in the name of Jesus.  Many seeds were planted that day, inside and outside of the building.

One of the highlights was the tea Mary Ann, Laurie, and Barbara prepared for the ladies.  Our ladies made cream cheese sandwiches, they all wanted the recipe. Susan White made sugar cookies in the shape of hearts.  She decorated them in Russian with the words from Tanya's lessons, Peace, Order, Trust, Healing, Purpose, and Happiness.  She wrapped them in cellophane and tied a ribbon around each one.  They were beautiful and a treasure to the ladies, I am quite sure they will never be eaten.

Jordan White loving hand carried the cookies her mom crafted from Beaumont through Paris onto Moscow to the center in Vladimir.  She loves to tell the story how she was searched at each security checkpoint, 3 times!  We told her she did look shifty!

Russia is a soft spot for Jordan as her great-grandfather came alone from Russia to America at the age of 16.  Jordan was 16 when she visited Russia on her own.  We donated a cherry tree in honor of the Kobrin family and Jordan presented it to the director.  Irina, the director, is tenacious to say the least.  We loved it when she ran into the fresh dirt garden in heels, hose, and dress to bend down and cover the roots of the cherry tree with Jordan.

Ministry was going on all over the building in one form or another.  Tanya and Angela were teaching, Stephanie, Sue, Richard, Alyssa, Jordan, and Jennifer shared their life experiences with 2 abused women.  The ladies were moved to tears as they listened to the stories.  As I said earlier, about the home visits, it touches the Russians hearts to know Americans have the same disappointments.  The testimony comes in the peace we have obtained through Jesus Christ.  The group prayed for the two ladies as the director joined. 

Bud and Joseph spent their day showing God's love by weeding and planting the front entry of the center.  As the team completed their time with the ladies, they joined Bud and Joseph in the garden.  It was beautiful and an improvement to the weeds and stones they replaced.