From Raleigh to Russia: With Love

by Lynn Cowell, RTF Guest Writer

Sunday morning church can be predictable in many churches in American.

Music. Announcements. Sermon.

But on one Sunday, the announcements caught the ear and heart of Jordan Water’s mom. Their church was hosting children from countries with extreme poverty and they were looking for one more family to step up. Jordan’s mom, Pam, knew they were that family.

That summer with Artem was just the beginning of a new passion for Jordan and her family. After weeks of loving on this little boy and experiencing the heart break of sending him back home, Jordan and her father, Keith, decided to visit Russia on Jordan’s Christmas break.

She spent two weeks in Belarus visiting four orphanages that were so cold inside she never took her coat off!

“The children were dressed in rags; the boys often in girl’s clothes and vice versa. The smells of the orphanage were overpowering; the children smelled so untaken care of,” says Jordan, “but they were desperate to be touched, to be hugged, to be kissed, to be loved that it brought me to my knees in tears as I hugged them 10 at a time.”

Over the next couple of years Jordan would visit Russia, meet new children and then come back to Raleigh, looking for a family to host each child.

On her last visit, a very special little boy named Sasha captured her heart. “I came back from that trip and told my parents that I was going to be Sasha’s host parent. This decision made my parents very anxious. It is over $1800 just for the plane ticket to get here and they knew that was a lot of responsibility for a teenager. I knew that if God called me to do it, He would supply everything I would need.”

The Lord supplied all of Jordan’s need and last summer she was “mommy” for a ten-year-old boy.

When I asked Jordan if she struggled with the amount of responsibility and the lack of “me time” the she would have obviously missed, she responded, “Honestly…yes. This absolutely was a struggle for me. I was so exhausted at the end of every day. Though the tears would come and go; the smiles, laughs, and memories we were making quickly wiped away my selfish tears! I would definitely say this was a summer I spent maturing, practicing patience and learning to obey God.”

Have you ever had your heart stirred, but felt fear to step out and do something that was uncomfortable?

Jordan encourages us. “Look for opportunities to volunteer and get involved in life changing organizations that are in your community. It is not easy to step out of our comfort zones and play an important role in society, but we can do it! You don’t even have to leave your city to find people, families, and communities that need love and support.”

Want to get involved? You can check out the American Belarussian Relief Organization at http://www.arbo.com. Would you like to help, but feel that you may not be able to host a child for an entire summer? You could change the life of a child by becoming a sponsor through an organization such as Compassion International. These ministries help to meet the nutritional needs of child while at the same time sharing with them the love of Jesus. You can find out more about them at http://www.compassion.com.