These thoughts are from Philip Cameron who directs and operates the work we support in Stella’s House…

Reasons to Rejoice… Reasons to Act! by Philip Cameron

I have wept twice this week! Once with tears of joy, and once in sadness. We have been stuck in Moldova because Customs wouldn’t release our container of gifts and a new van.

The shipping company put the name of our organization in English not Romanian – Customs says it must be Romanian, the shipping company says it’s not important… and between them they have eaten up two weeks of our lives so far. Two days ago, after seemingly endless back and forth, we finally cut through the red tape and got the container. The joys of communism! But let’s get to what’s important…

One of the girls who lives at Stella’s House is Constantia… Her father was murdered when she was four, her mother was a hopeless drunk who would willingly sell Constantia for a bottle of vodka. Taken in and out of orphanages, Constantia can hardly read, but when we opened Stella’s House, she was with the others as they all went to church for the first time. She heard the Gospel and gave her heart to Jesus!

In all of my years of ministry I’ve never seen anyone with a greater hunger for God than this beautiful Moldovan girl. At age seventeen, she spends most of her waking hours learning to read from the Bible. She is presently visiting our home in the States, and I have her enrolled in an English program for a few months at Auburn University Montgomery.

Just before we left for Moldova, Constantia asked Chrissie and me a question. She said in broken English “When I am little girl my mother take me to church and priest do this…” She took her thumb and made a cross on her forehead. “But I am little baby and not understand what he do. I read about Ion Baptist. He baptize Jesus, I want same.”

So, a week past Sunday at the church of my dear friend, Pastor Rusty Nelson in Huntsville, Alabama, beautiful Constantia followed Jesus to the waters of baptism. They sent me a picture which I have included here. I held it and wept tears of joy. This gospel works!

Last night I spent a couple of hours talking to some of the girls here in Stella’s House. One of them, Raisa, has been leaving Stella’s House on the weekends to go back to her impoverished village. When I heard of this I was greatly concerned. One main question ran through my mind… Has she found a boy?

 
Raisa (left) and her sister, Irina

At sixteen, these lonely hearts, abandoned and starved for affection all their lives, are susceptible to anyone showing them attention. So I spoke to her last night and gently approached the subject as to why she had been gone so often. He younger sister Irina, who also lives in Stella’s House and who speaks very good English, interpreted for her sister.

They have a twenty-eight-year-old sister who is a widow, and she lives in a hovel in their tiny village. She has no money, no electricity, no heat, no food and is living at the brink of extinction. Last week we had three feet of snow. Temperatures plunged to way below zero. This young widow sat in the dark, in the cold… alone! Where had Raisa been going? She had left the comfort of Stella’s House to sit in the dark to keep her sister company. As they spoke to me, one telling, one interpreting they wept… so did I.

I had to leave Moldova for a few days to attend our annual board meeting at New Hope in Scotland. On the way back I bought a Newsweek magazine in Amsterdam. I read an article about the happiest (and the unhappiest) countries in the world. Denmark came first, but in all the nations of the earth, the article stated that one country was consistently last in all categories across the board… Moldova!

A friend who recently visited here made an amazing statement. This brilliant surgeon said as he walked the streets of Moldova, “There were no smiles, only vacant eyes.” Dr Davis stated that the happiest people he met in this country were the girls of Stella’s House.

We feed more than their stomachs, we fill their hearts with the love of Jesus. Every time I come to Moldova, the realization crashes upon my heart that we are standing between heaven and hell. Our efforts, prayers and struggles are all there is between so many and total loss.

Chrissie and I are leaving now to drive through the snow to find that sister of two of “our girls.” We will pay her cut-off electricity bill, find her some wood for her little stove and bring her some groceries. And before the misty cold night envelops her tiny village, this young widow who has never met us up until now, who has only heard of our love through her sisters, will hear today that Jesus loves her, and that He cares!

Construction of Stella’s House II was held up for a time by the brutal cold snap that paralyzed this country. The weather has broken in the last few days and each day as I visit I see the changes being made, and I am desperate for the day twenty-five young girls can walk through those doors, out of loneliness, abandonment and fear, and into… home!

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I arrived in Moldova a few days ago, and, in so many ways, I felt like I was coming home. When I left a few weeks ago, we were experiencing all kinds of delays with completion of the construction work and getting the container with all our furniture here. We were way behind schedule and I wasn’t able to see everything finished and the house being set up ready for use.

My daughter, Melody, stayed behind and took care of all those things. I knew I was leaving the job in capable hands, but I was so disappointed not to be there at the end. So, you can imagine my excitement at the thought of coming back and finally seeing everything for myself.

The girls had already moved in and it was a truly incredible experience to see them already making themselves at home, surrounded by hope, love and the prayers and best wishes of so many precious friends.

We bought a new computer from a local vendor and began using a software to teach the girls to speak English. It seems to be a great way to do it, and with homework and other things to take care of, it’s clear that we will need to get about 3 more computers. They are a bit expensive in Moldova and not really the latest technology, so it looks like we will have to try to get the computers in the U.S. and bring them next time a team comes over.

But it is so exciting to see this process at work. I don’t think it has really hit any of us yet just how big a change has already taken place. God is at work in these young people, and I am eagerly looking forward to all that He is going to do as more and more lives are touched by the miracle that is Stella’s House.

 Stella’s Opens!

Yesterday, I was privileged to see the culmination of many months of prayer and sacrifice on the part of so many people, as we celebrated the official opening of Stella’s House in Chisinau, Moldova. The girls have been living there for about two months now, but this was the big day as dignitaries from the government of the Republic of Moldova and the U.S. Embassy joined us for the official launch of this vital ministry.

The U.S. Ambassador to Moldova, Michael D. Kirby, cut the ribbon and expressed his appreciation for the excellence of the facility and the importance of the mission of Stella’s House. I was delighted, too, to hear his wholehearted offer of any assistance the U.S. Embassy might be able to provide. Ambassador Kirby was joined by the head of the Consular Section, Mr. Marlin Hardinger, and other members of the Embassy staff.

From top left: Philip chats with Ambassador Kirby. Ambassador Kirby cuts the ribbon. Some of the current residents of Stella’s House, along with some who will move in next year. Ms. Valentina Cojocaru, Philip, and Ambassador Kirby.

Among the Moldovan officials present was Ms. Valentina Cojocaru, the Minister of Education responsible for all the orphanages in Moldova. I was almost blushing as Ms. Cojocaru literally heaped praise on our organization, making sure everyone knew how much she and the Moldovan government welcomed our help for the children. When speaking of the orphanage in Cupcui which we recently rebuilt, she spoke at length about how excellent the facilities are now. “It is the best orphanage in the whole country,” she stated.

It really was a special day and I was so pleased that so many of these very busy people took time out of their schedules to celebrate with us. Ambassador Kirby was supposed to be there for about twenty minutes, but ended up spending over an hour with us. He seemed especially to enjoy chatting with the young people and learning about their lives and the future opportunities that they now have because of Stella’s House.

So many other things could have happened to these kids, so many dangers lay ahead, and I can only thank God that they now don’t have to face those horrific possibilities. Needless to say, my heartfelt thanks, too, go out to everyone who prayed with us and joined with us to make Stella’s House a reality.

Now we can look forward to the future. We’re going to expand Stella’s House “to the max” to make sure we can take care of as many young people there as possible. We are also being asked to help the many other children in orphanages throughout the country. We have already begun to do that, starting in a large orphanage in the town of Straseni. This orphanage holds over 650 children and they badly need a new heating system and the replacement of hundreds of broken, rotting windows before the worst of Moldova’s brutal winter arrives.

Keep praying with us as we continue the effort to change these kids’ lives. We will certainly keep on bringing help and caring for their physical needs, and I’m praying that through the amazing door of opportunity God is giving us, that we can also bring them the good news of the Gospel in a more powerful, more impactful way than ever before.

Above: Part of the orphanage facility at Straseni, and the condition of most of the 377 windows there.