It's Craft Time!

We always love doing different crafts and activities with the children at the orphanage. The kids have had a blast with sidewalk chalk and that fun beach catching game with the Velcro mitts and ball. (Please let us know if this game has a name!) In fact, they were having so much fun that we are already completely out of chalk and the plastic mitts are broken in several pieces! After a quick trip to the local hardware store one of our teammates found a piece of rope to be used as a jump rope! The joy on these children's faces as they participate in these activities is priceless! Now we know what to bring more of next trip!!

One of our crafts this year was a puzzle. We had the children decorate a piece and we are putting it up as a piece of art in the counselor's office we are renovating! We cannot wait to see it on the wall! 

We have also decorated leather bracelets, made paracord bracelets, clay necklaces and spray painted shirts! The kids will have so many fun gifts by the time we leave thanks to all of your generous donations!

Pictures to come soon!

Arrival

Dateline: May 10, 2015 Hartsfield International 

Photo courtesy: Amy "Any" Gill

Just a quick check in. We all arrived safe and with all of our luggage. The exact whereabouts at any stop was interesting. While not well-rested we are nonetheless ready to go!

We're looking forward to all that God has in store for us.

In 6 Days...

The Millenium Cross - Skopje, Macedonia

Since I set up the blog I always get the chance to post the first post. As I left our last team meeting before we depart yesterday, I was filled with a swirl of emotions as well as a mind full of checklists and to-do lists.
My mind has settled into getting through a busy work week yet a few things have bubbled to the surface as we are about to embark. Thanks for letting me share them today.

May 10th has been marked on 13 calendars for a while now.
It's the day we, the 2015 GlobalX May Macedonia team leaves for Skopje. For several of us it's a familiar trip, for 3 on our team it is their first journey. Now they get to experience all that we have told them about for these last 3 months. I know our descriptions, our stories and our memories will not do it justice. I do know that as they work through each day starting Sunday, they will understand the ups and downs, the work, the kids, and that the total experience will engulf them. They will have a life-changing experience. I can't wait to see it.
That's a tall order you're thinking, right? Well, a friend told me that before I ever went on a trip like this. Now as I am ready for trip number 5, I know that each year it absolutely does change my life. Sometimes it's not obvious at first. It comes in a different way each year. Each is profound. Each time though it is in a way that has me wanting to go back. This year is not unique other than I think it's started even before we leave. I'll get to that shortly.

I also can't wait to be back in what is now a familiar city to me. I can't wait to see my friends: Nikola (Gale as he's known to me now), Anet, Matt & Sara, Goce, Denis, Alex and more, plus all the new faces that will become friends. I'm really excited to see my friend and "sister" who I met on my first trip (second too!) who now lives and works there, Elizabeth, or as she is now known: Elizabet (some things translate easily!). She is doing great work and is our direct connection to life there as well as the people of SoulCraft Church and the 25th Of May Institution, the orphanage we help support.

It was Elizabet who just a couple days ago shared some tragic news about one of the kids who we met back in 2011. In fact he likely was one of the first teens we met when we arrived.
A short time ago he "aged out" of the orphanage. The kids have to leave at age 18. 
For many of these kids it becomes an even tougher road, if they can't make it into University their prospects are few. Their options are limited. In this case the road was incredibly short.
Almir died of a drug overdose.
The news really hit me hard. We knew he was a kid who probably wasn't following all the rules and probably was even breaking some laws. Despite what we thought might be true, he was still friendly. I think enjoyed hanging around the group. He helped us with our work. He played basketball and soccer and ate with us. He's in photos with many of us from each year. This photo from 2011 is me and Almir. 

I don't know if the things we build or repair, paint or replace make a really big difference sometimes. I know it helps. It serves a purpose. Maybe through his loss we are already being prepared to devote our energy more to the word of Jesus and the hope that it brings than to focus too much on work. The work will get done, it always does. What I really pray for this year is that what we do, how we act or how we speak, that maybe collectively these things will spark a belief or plant a seed in the kids like Almir. A spark of hope. A seed that something better is possible.
For all my team both "old" and new, I look forward to seeing what impacts them, hearing their stories and sharing all the ups and downs in an experience like this. I hope to return having found some way to see that we made an impact with the kids, our fellow Christians in Macedonia and amongst our team as well.
I ask you to pray for us so that we might recognize not just how we can have an impact but that we find the peace in knowing we made a difference. A difference in a life.

For me I am already thankful that it is the opportunity to witness one life that will certainly change...my own.