By Bailey Starnes
The theme of our mission team's trip to Moldova seemed to be the sovereignty of God. Because of political unrest, we were not able to enter Transniestria or perform our initial mission like planned. But God had other plans.
Bailey Starnes, a student at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, with a Moldovan orphan.
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At first, I had lots of trouble surrendering my plan and accepting the Lord's. We went on with our week, singing, playing and loving on hundreds of precious orphans. The blessings came so fast I could barely journal about them all fast enough.
Children's Emergency Relief International has a program for orphans aging out of the orphanage called the Transitional Care Program. This is a sponsorship program that allows people to support the orphans so they will have a chance at a normal life after graduating from the orphanage. At the end of the week, our team got to go to the CERI office and see firsthand how the Transitional Care Program worked. Every Friday, the Transition students, ages 16 to 20, attend a Bible study where they are able to fellowship with other kids in their same situation, and more importantly, where they go to learn about and worship the Lord.
What a true blessing that we got to go and see how the Lord rescues these orphans from the streets or from the high risk of being sex-trafficked.
Moldovan orphans in prayer during the Go Now Missions team program.
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For me, this was such a real picture of God's love. I got to see, firsthand, a group of about 40 teenagers passionately worshipping God. After being in the orphanages all week, showered with blessings, overwhelmed with sadness, and moved by simple smiles—this image of worship was so humbling for me. All the young kids' faces I had seen all week stayed with me on that Friday evening as I worshipped with the Transitions kids. I couldn't help but see hope for all the precious faces that were burned in my heart from earlier in the week. I also couldn't help but see how God so graciously had this plan for us the whole time.
Bailey Starnes, a student at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, served in Moldova with Go Now Missions.
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