Mission Trip video

A brief look into our trip, enjoy:

Ribbon Ceremony

What a day!

We started at the special needs baby home to deliver donations and wheel chairs. We met a man named Peyton who has been in Kaz 14 years working with disadvantaged people. 2 years ago he began his work with the special needs home. This man is seriously Jesus in the flesh. His heart is incredible and he touches everyone he meets, especially the children.

The doctor wanted to give us a proper "reception" for the wheel chairs so during the Victory Day celebration the kids were having they introduced Stacy and I. We then moved the children from their old chair to their new one. It was a perfect start to the day. While we were there we learned that it is the goal of the workers to teach people to be more understanding and open to children with special needs. These kids live at this orphanage until they are 14 and then move to a mental institution. It truly was a wonderful baby home and we could certainly tell they do care.

Next we to a foster home and met with Andre. Andre is a man that works with orphans who are about to age out of the system. The house they were living in burned down about a month ago and now the kids are constructing a new one. It is Andre's goal to teach them life skills before they are on their own.

The ribbon cutting for the ceremony was at 2 pm. Otto from R.E.A.C.H made a speech, the orphanage assistant director spoke, and I spoke. We then cut a red ribbon and took pictures. Two Hearts was presented with a certificate that says:

"Public Fund REACH would like to express our sincere appreciation to "Two Hearts for Hope" for their dedication to the orphans of Kazakhstan. They have given their time and energy and have shared their love and resources with many children. As a result of their commitment, 350 orphans at the Zhanuya Orphanage in Almaty have received a long-awaited playground; many other children were clothed; and literally thousands have received gifts. Their dedication is to be commended. We would like to wish them and their families' good health, prosperity, and success in all of their endeavors."

The best part of the ceremony was when we were cutting the ribbon and the children were chanting "Spa-ci-ba" (thank you) over and over again. The tears were certainly flowing. When the ceremony was over we handed out ice cream to all the children.

To put into words what it felt like to stand back and watch the children playing is difficult. This year has been full of so many different emotions and trials to overcome. There were times when we thought this playground would not happen and to see this dream complete was overwhelming.

After the ceremony Stacy and I went to bring a beggar a wheel chair. We were asked to bring one for this man that Otto at Reach passes each day and has become friendly with. The man has leprosy and can't walk. His mother in law carries him to the street corner each morning and brings him back each night. He told Otto a few times that his dream was to have his own wheel chair. The look on his face when he pulled himself up and sat in the chair was amazing. He looked so proud and kept asking us to take his picture so he could see what he looked like. People on the street came up to us and wanted to know what we were doing. They could not understand why Americans would care about 1 Kazakh beggar and come all the way to Kaz to help him. One step at a time we hope to change the world.

The night ended when we had the Reach team and their families over for a backyard BBQ. We sat around and told stories of the week and just cried for about an hour. Lives were changed this week. Friendships that will last a lifetime were made.

I wish I could find the emotions right now to sit down and truly express all that we are feeling but we are so exhausted it is hard. When we get back home we will sit down and write more.

Tomorrow is our last day in Kazakhstan. Boy did this week fly by!

Playground complete

Today we finished the playground two days ahead of schedule! Our team is awesome! We had so much help from children too. Wow-we are just amazed.

This morning we had to finish hanging the monkey bars, bridge sides, store front, and other side parts. We also had three truck loads of gravel delivered that we had to spread under the playground.

Stacy and I went to baby house 3 to deliver donations. It was incredible to walk back into the directors office almost three years to the day when we were there to meet Josh. She was very thankful for all the donations and medical supplies we brought.

We also signed some paperwork to begin the process of being a registered organization in Kazakhstan. This should be completed in two-three months.

The team atmosphere here is great! We are enjoying our time together so much. We have laughed and cried together many times and know our friendships will be life long.

The internet here is still slow but I will try to upload photos tomorrow from the office.
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Playground at the start of day 1

Here we are on day 2 about to start.
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Playground assembly-Almaty City

Monday May 3rd

Today began construction on the playground. We split up our team into three groups. The first two groups were on the playground in the morning while group three went inside the orphanage to do crafts and play with the kids. After a fabulous lunch of chicken, potatoes, bread, and salad provided by the orphanage cafeteria, the groups switched. We also had 4 additional people from Kazakhstan helping us. Throughout the entire day the children were watching us and this afternoon some of the older kids came over and decided to help out. It was an awesome experience to be building alongside the children.

Today we dug holes, set poles, mixed and poured cement, assembled slide, bridge, tunnel, climbers, roofs, rock wall, and tic-tac-toe panel. We are very excited at the progress we made on day one and think that the playground will be completely assembled by tomorrow or Wednesday morning at the latest. We will still have to fill in the dirt and gravel around the playground.

The teams that went inside to play with the children brought stickers, Wikki Stix, bubbles, and t-shirts to paint. The children were so excited to see us and came running over asking to be picked up. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same, especially seeing the older children. Knowing that some of those children have been there since 5 is so hard to imagine. This orphanage is very well taken care of. The children have great classrooms for school and it is very neat and orderly. The grounds are clean and the director seems to take a lot of pride in her orphanage and the children.

It was awesome to see the playground in person and know that we ALL did this together. It is just amazing to see the year of hardwork and dedication in person. Our team is just fantastic. Each person brings something different to this experience to make it one we will all never forget.

After our day at the orphanage we went back to our house and had dinner. We have a Kazakh woman that cooks for us and last night she made plov. Plov is a rice dish with veggies and meat, it was so yummy!

We are having some issues with blogger and can't upload pictures right now. We will try again tomorrow.

We did it!

In just under a year we have fully funded our Playground Project! A great big THANK YOU to every person that helped support our dream. We knew we could do it with our great supporters!

We certainly look forward to sharing with you all how HOPE changes lives! 1 month and 3 weeks to go!

The playground is delivered!!!

The playground has been delivered to Kazakhstan! We are halfway through our fundraising goal!

Please consider making a monetary donation, purchasing an ornament or calendar to help us reach our goal so we can construct the playground in May!

Mission Trip

We are excited to announce the dates for our 2010 Mission Trip! We will be traveling April 30th through May 9th to Almaty City where we hope to build our playground at the Children's Complex! If you would like more information on joining us on this life changing trip to see first hand God's work, please contact us at info@twoheartsforhope.org