Thank you Heartcry friends for your support for the Moldova projects and your contribution towards the winter aid initiatives. 50 tons of coal and food parcels were distributed to 500 families to cover the winter months. We continue to be amazed at how much is changing in the lives of those we have had the privilege to invest in. In spite of significant Covid restrictions, the work in the community and villages has continued as the team have adapted. We have received the following update from our partners and below there are also edited highlights of testimonies from some of the residents of the Girls Academy.
So here is the news from Charlotte and Johannes:
Thank you for your support of the winter help programme. We were able to give help to 500 families and it was a huge support in some really desperate situations. Some visits still move us deeply: Like the 80 year old granny looking after her 60 year old completely paralyzed and mentally ill son. She has no support system and has been doing this since he was born. We also met many young families in deep need for a touch of God into their hearts and soul. We pray for God to heal the land.
We continue to see a hunger for God in young people…God is moving especially in the prophetic and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Last Sunday I heard the testimony of young girl who liked to hang out with the wrong crowd. She came to our Christmas gathering, was baptized with the Holy Spirit and has since been a real disciple of Christ. A young man came right from the streets and sat praying: “God if you are real then reach out to me” A very young teenage girl stood up and said: “I see Jesus standing and his hands are reaching out to you. He calls you!” The young man gave his life to Christ. A young leader gets very specific words of knowledge about sickness and bondage and we have several confirmed healings.
In the winter many young Roma kids started to come to our Sunday School and we have started an ABC reading class two times a week. Anastasia, one of your young girls, is also helping and we see good progress, even some of the grown ups have joined in. May God bless this initiative with a new generation of literate Roma kids!
We are starting up one more business this month. This is will be our “Coffee House 2” in Briceni, where we will help a young man start a small business of his own. We got funding and a loan that will get us started and we are excited. With the Coffee House Riscani, our Lunch House (a school buffet) and our sewing room, this will be our 4th endeavor. We hope to grow in the future and create jobs and not least change mindsets to encourage the youth to “own the land”. Our vision motto is: “Do good. Make it better.”
Charlotte and Johannes
Testimonies from residents of the Girls’ Academy (some photos have been withheld to protect identities)
Alexandra
My name is Alexandra, I am 14 years old. My testimony is that when I was not yet with God my life was terrible, at home my sisters and I were often abused, my mother was very cruel and therefore she often beat us. With out God my life was so hard that I thought that I was not needed or loved by anyone. But after I found God, my life turned upside down. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and can pray in other tongues. I also prayed for a very long time for my parents so that their hearts would soften and that they would stop beating us. Since then when we have gone home for visits,
our parents have been different, and not harmed us. And I believe that God has heard my prayer. After all, as he said in John 14:14, whatever you ask in my name, it will be given to you. I also did not want to go to Art school because there was a teacher who did not like me. Charlotte encouraged me not to give up, she said I had talent. When the time came for me to enroll there again, I didn’t want to go there, but went there anyway, something deep in my heart a voice said not to fear, that I had to trust God, and indeed they changed the teachers and I was very happy. I want to cheer you up that you have to completely trust God and not doubt him and not be afraid of nothing.
Maria
My name is Maria I am 12 years old. I was born in a small country called Moldova. In my early childhood I would dream of a good family. I have no dad, and asked myself many questions about what my dad might be like. I would look at my fellow school mates and would envy them and their good families. I would often be left in a house of an elderly woman who was practicing black magic, and I was scared. I would have terrible nightmares. From an early age, I would witness how grownups would get drunk, do drugs and get into fights. At times I would be locked up in a cold house alone with no food, alone with my cats for days. Once I desperately prayed to God to please give me food. My cat suddenly appeared from an open window with whole Salami in its mouth. I think this was the hand of God answering my prayer. In the school I was not a good pupil, but I went because I had no food at home and I was thankful for the free school lunch. The elderly woman did not love me and always punished me with a big stick. She told me I was a burden. One winter day she took me down to the police station to give me to an orphanage. I was frightened and fell on my knees begging them to find me a good family.
That evening in February my life changed radically to the better.. They brought me to Charlotte’s girls’ home. Here I came to know about God. In my childhood I would be dragged to churches and monasteries. But I hated it. I was scared of the people dressed in black robes. In my new home I was given a family and friends. In the school everything changed. I now like to learn and am doing my homework. I have read the whole children bible and I know that God is a loving daddy and there is no one like him. When I grow up I want to be an accountant. I also want to serve God and tell people about him. I am praying for my mummy that her life also will change and if you want to support me in that prayer I will be grateful. I send you blessings.
Anastasia
My name is Anastasia and I am 15 years. I grew up in a very dysfunctional family. My parents are drinking too much. My mum would let her anger turn into aggression on me and my sisters beating us up. I found a hiding place in books that I read. In the early school years I would envy other school friends because their parents were not drunks and they were not subject to domestic violence. They lived in better homes than me. My sisters and I would often be bullied and called many names. In a summer camp I came to
know Charlotte and she decided to drive us home from camp to check on our house and came to know my parents. With her help our family started to make some progress to the better, but many problems still remained- In the 7th grade I changed school and I started to live in Charlottes Girls Academy. In the new school I was welcomed although some of the guys like to tease me. Living in the new home I also came to know God and we started to pray for our parents who have started to make small but visible changes
I like to go to school. I know I have a teaching gift, because I am now helping out in our Church Sunday school and in the ABC reading ministry for Roma kids. I dream of becoming a teacher or a nurse. I also want to serve people around me with what I can. I send you many blessings and love
Ekaterina
My name is Katya, I am 17 years old. Today I want to tell you my testimony. I was born in a family of beggars. My parents always told me when you grow up you will be exactly like us. You will do as we are used to, you will ask for money, drink, and steal.
Then I met Charlotte and she told me about who God is and I was wondering if God really created me and if he want to give me a wonderful life? Did he die for our sins, did he heal the sick?
People around me did not expect anything from me and thought that I would never change. They thought I would never be able to read or write. Charlotte decided to send me to school. At first it was not easy for me. It was hard for me with the teachers.
Charlotte took me into the Girls Academy. I have lived with them for 7 years. I have changed and grown a lot, despite what happened in the past. All people are surprised and greet me, many don’t recognize the little beggar girl from the market place. Today I am a Christian, I am a leader of the children’s ministry. I have proven to people that with Gods help I have achieved my goals. I encourage you that you must believe with all your heart in the one who gave you eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him would not perish, but had eternal life. John 3:16
Luminitza
Hi My name is Luminițza, I want to tell you about what the Lord did in my life, I met the Lord at the age of 10. During this time the Lord did many miracles in my life, one of the most memorable is, that the Lord freed my mother from Alcohol, I prayed for her for a long time, I thought that the Lord did not hear my prayers. But then my mum was offered to go to Teen-Challenge center where God helped her get rid of Alcohol addiction, and in that Center my mother received the Lord and was baptized. In my life the Lord changed many things that I thought would never be change.
I was very shy, but He has made me more confident. This year I received the Holy Spirit, and I began to speak in
tongues. My father died at the age of 10, I was quite traumatized , and like any child that age I needed my father’s love, and I always looked for this love in other people, but in vain. I began to pray, and at one point the Lord told me that he was ready to give me the love I needed … only I should be ready to receive it. After I prayed I opened my eyes and felt a love I had never felt, the Lord came into my life, changed my thoughts, now I see, I think differently. I am very happy that the Lord has given me a house where we are 10 girls, and I thank the Lord for Charlotte, Carina who are always ready to listen to me, to love me and to encourage me. There are still many things I need to change but I know that everything is possible in the Lord.
Heartcry for Change is an adventure of faith and all of what you see is done in partnership with amazing people on the ground supported by many individuals and churches around the world who help us financially. No gift is too small and we are grateful for every single donation. If you’d like to give towards our work, please use the link below. THANK YOU! 😀
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