Our partners in Moldova, Charlotte & Johannes, have sent us this update…please do pray for their ongoing work and for the exciting training opportunities ahead of the summer youth outreach camps.
Here is the letter from Charlotte & Johannes:
Dear Heartcry for Change
HE IS RISEN. IT IS FINISHED. We too have been with you in this Easter time, although the Orthodox Easter is still a month behind. But we know and celebrate His resurrection with all of you, and thank God for being alive in our lives and at work in people around us.
At the weekend we gathered more than 90 youth for a weekend of worship and training and while we were all experiencing the Holy Spirit move at the night service as we sang YESHUA, a young girl tugged at my elbow: “Charlotte, look! Someone has brought a little sparrow in a box, it looks unwell; I will pray it gets whole!”. I looked up to see a young woman with a little box with a sparrow. This reminded me of the prayer Rachel and Gordon prayed over the Girls’ Academy in 2019, when Rachel brought a painting of 3 young sparrows finding refuge, a painting now hanging on our wall. Last month we brought this same young girl to our shelter; she is only 12 but has been brought up in utter abandonment. It has been a joy to see her gain confidence and joy and for us to experience the bright young mind behind all the brokenness. He sees the sparrow!
In Girls’ Academy we have a new young school teacher as one of the “day mums”. She is a new Christian who came to Christ through our Sunday school. She often saw our older girls walking home from college and noticed one of them was a young girl who used to beg and ask for money at the local market. She mentioned to her husband that she would like to send her children to our Sunday school. “They have been able to transform the life of that young girl, I need this for my kids”, she thought. She later joined our weekly mother’s group and found Christ. Now she is a valuable worker in Girls’ Academy.
Three of our young women will graduate this year. We are so proud to say that they are top in their class. One will graduate business school, one is becoming a pharmacist and one a cook. We thank God for His miracle in each of their lives.
Both Johannes and Charlotte have been on trips to Ukraine. Johannes has been visiting pastors and leaders on the frontline, where a lot of bombing is going on. The war is very real in our region and we hear more and more sad news of fallen brothers, fathers and sons of our church family in Ukraine. We also meet a praying and vigilant Church that continues to spread the gospel tirelessly and which is standing in faith and prayer for their land. Charlotte visited Mikalaiv that was under siege for 7 months and where the church is doing outreach after outreach in the villages that have suffered Russian occupation. It was surreal to see how the farmers sow their fields in full mine detector gear and how children’s playgrounds have warning signs of mine danger hanging on poles. Also here the church is reaching out to youth and children with the gospel and with hope. Let us keep praying for peace .
Next week we will be training and training!!
The staff at Girls’ Academy will enroll in regular training on how to handle trauma and troubled youth. We see this as a huge asset that we are able to bring good Christian psychology and therapy to the table when ministering to young lives that have suffered great abuse and pain.
A training camp for 40 young mentors for summer camp will take place the 9-11 of April. The summer camps take place every summer in August and this is a place where we see many young lives surrender to Christ. We have in the last years seen a new generation of young mentors grow up, and are so thrilled to able to do this very needed training. It is a group from Christian Camping Ukraine who will do the training and we are really thankful to God for making this possible, partly also from thanks to your donations and one from another UK NGO .
We want to thank you for all prayer, support and love. We too are in prayer and intercession for the lost, for Israel and for the situation in Ukraine. We live in a strange and unsettled time but serve a God who sees the sparrow, who knows the hair on our heads and who is with us till the end of the earth.
Huge hugs and love,
Charlotte and Johanne
If you’d like to give towards the projects that Heartcry partners with in Moldova, please use the link below. No gift is too small and we are grateful for every single donation. THANK YOU!
Donations by BACS transfer in the UK – please note our NEW BANK ACCOUNT details:
Co-Operative Bank
Account name: Heartcry for Change
Sort code: 08-92-99
Account number: 67314917
IBAN: GB05CPBK08929967314917
SWIFT BIC: CPBKGB22
Credit / debit card gifts or Paypal…click the link to give in GBP £ or USD $:
CLICK TO DONATE TO OUR MOLDOVA PROJECT!
(If you’d prefer to give in $ rather than £, on the checkout page click “view basket” and change the currency selection on the top right.)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!