This is actually a story from a year ago when Sue and I went to Moldova in the summer of 2010, but I realized I had never posted anything about it:
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One of my most precious memories of growing up is the time I spent summers at the
local art gallery taking pottery classes. In the summer of 2010, I was able to share some
of that joy with a group of children in rural Moldova.
Our church went on a missions trip to a small village in Moldova, near the
Romanian border. Our primary goal was to work along side a local pastor and the OM Moldova team
in a children's program for the week. We were considering what else we could do in this program to
bless the children and share the love of Jesus with them. I remembered sharing my love of pottery and clay through a couple of classes with the children in our local church, and how much they loved it. We were unsure of where to get quality pottery clay in Moldova,
so we decided to carry the clay along with us. Getting a pair of 50lb boxes of
clay on two flights and through customs was, to put it gently, an interesting challenge, but we did eventually get it
in.
There were around 100 children participating in the program, so rather than
try to deal with all of them at once, we split into smaller age-specific groups
of around 15 to 20. With help from our Moldovan translators, I was able
to teach the children some basic exercises and shapes, and then let them use
their imagination to create what they wanted. It was fun to watch the
excitement of the children as they were at first frustrated, but then began to
get the feel of working with the clay. The pastor was able to borrow a small
kiln from a local school, so we were able to fire many of the pieces the children had made to make
them more permanent.
The pastor also introduced me to Peter, a local potter, and we spent time sharing together. Since we hadn't used up all of the clay with the
children, I was able to give a 25lb block to Peter to bless him and his
work. The OM Moldova team was then able to take another block of clay with them
a couple of weeks later to a similar children's program at a church in another
small village. The pastor's wife there is an artist herself, and was very
appreciative of the clay, since she was finding it difficult to obtain quality clay
there to work with.
I would like to return at some point with the team to the village in Moldova.
One of my dreams is to take a smaller group of some of the older children and
spend some some more concentrated time with them, to see them get beyond simply
making a shape to the point where they can express a little of themselves in
their creation. After all, the oldest Potter in the world is God Himself. He
formed Adam “out of the dust of the earth”, and made Adam “in His own image.”
He has passed that same spirit of creativity and expression on to us, if we
take the time to discover it.
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I have not yet been able to return to Moldova, but I am thankful I have been able to pursue that dream in Hungary. The LORD only knows where I will be able to take my clay next...
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