ANOTHER PLACE OF VOLUNTEERING FOR THE LORD

 I hope I'm not boring you with my trips into the past.

We have been so blessed to be able to do some amazing things around the world.

This next trip was a different one for me.  Dave wasn't along for this one.

2 Other ladies and myself had been invited to go to Central Asia.  The country is Uzbekistan.  We were asked to do a daily program for the Children of the Field Workers in this Muslim country.  The workers were having their annual conference and chance to see each other and catch up (from all over the country).  There was no one and no activities for the kids.

Here we are ready to go..  that's me on the left.... quite a few years younger and many pounds heavier.

Our priority in going to Central Asia was to partner with Dan & Celeste and family whom Bethel Christian Church in San Francisco, CA supported  on a monthly basis.  We stayed in their home before we went into the mountains for the conference.

That precious little girl with the cleft palate is an amazing story all on its own.  I will tell about it at a later time.  This post is going to be really long as it is.

When we went to the mountains we were not told where we were going.  Much safer as the country doesn't look favorably on Christians.

Our "kids"

We taught on the life of Moses.  Old Testament was best so we would not be accused of proselyting.  Our lessons consisted of 4 episodes; Baby Moses, the Burning Bush, the Plagues and the Passover.  They were all developed through drama, music, games, crafts and very deep discussions and prayer.  God did wonderful things for these kids and it was a wonderful learning time for us as well.  They are so bright, fun and very aware of the challenges of being raised in a culture so different from their own.  Our theme verse was " CASTE YOUR CARES UPON THE LORD AND HE WILL SUSTAIN YOU "Psm. 55:22.

Baby Moses in the bullrushes

The boy in the red jacket was Moses (as the baby in the bullrushes)  You can see he loved his candy "pacifier".  What ever works, you know!

These kids were so funny and willing to get into the acting and singing.

They put on the Moses story for the parents on our last night there.

Moses and the Burning Bush

I found those pieces of faux fur in a yardage store at home and thought they would be perfect for the animal costumes.  Let's Pretend!

We made some key chains of the Crocodiles on the Nile.. This little guy had a speech impediment but we made friends and I became his Buddy.

Making Passover houses out of graham crackers and canned frosting.

I think they ate more than was on the crackers.

I just love this photo of the boy with his tongue out.  He really was working hard on his house, and them taking a nibble of the frosting in between.

We also made dioramas depicting the stories of Moses.

Let my People go!

Every thing we did and all of the "costumes" and goodies had to be brought with us in our suitcases.  Weight limit was 50 pounds for everything for each of us..  We were wondering what the customs people must have thought about all the strange things we carried.  Face masks plastic critters, tee shirts, paints, glue etc...

We were so grateful that everything passed and no questions were asked.

We did do a bit of sight seeing in the mountains too.

Visited an open air market.

Bags and bags of potatoes.

Naan is the Bread of Life

When we returned to our hosts home we did  some visiting of the interesting places around their area.

Our host Dan partnered with a local deaf school.  It was quite an experience to see the work being done there.

Speech  worker

The girls at the school performed some dances for us.

Yes they are deaf and followed things by the rhythms of the drum tones.

Toshkent is the capitol and so lovely with its ancient buildings and all of the mosaic work done on them.

Its all so exotic to see.  A very colorful culture.

The lady behind me is in her wedding dress.  She was buying some nuts and dried fruit for her wedding.

We tended to take photos of us off to the side so we could get the people in their outfits without being too obvious.

Its a hard life

Oops, I finally found the photo of the boys entertaining us with their dance.

They are all deaf.

Ok now back to the open air markets in the towns.

I don't think that that piece of gauze  will do much to keep the flies away...

Modern vs. old traditional dress

Now that's a Changing Room!

Not my choice for sure.

The food was really good and Celeste was explaining what each dish was.

Naan and HOT tea

Blue domes everywhere

One can still see the Russian influence in the drab buildings of the occupation.

I will leave you with 2 photos of a wedding get together.  The groom and his friend were on their way to the wedding.

Lots of noise and "manly" goings on...

I could go on and on but I will stop for now.

I have such warm feelings about this trip.  I know we had a wonderful time with the kids and their missionary parents.  All of us were blessed to be together.

Most of the "Field Workers" have had to leave the country due to unrest and persecution. They cannot get their visas renewed.  We need to pray for those left behind and pray that the seeds that were planted will grow and lives will be changed.