Christmas Outreach in the Philippines: TM Helps Over 300 People!

Thank you to our supporters who have helped TM Philippines! Below, you can see some pictures of their Christmas outreach. They distributed food and clothing to over three hundred local people. Please pray that the truth of the Gospel would be fruitful and that those who were blessed by the outreach would come to know Christ! Happy 2018 everyone!

Christmas Soap and a Prayer Meeting in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, our ministry partners and team had a blessed Christmas. Please continue to keep Pastor James and our partners in your prayers for 2018. Know they are also praying for you! 

The church sings Christmas songs on Christmas Day to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

The children were so excited to receive a bar of soap for Christmas! That's right - a bar of soap. Even such small items and ways of helping are greatly appreciated by our partners! They are deeply blessed and encouraged to know that you, as a part of Ting Ministries, are helping and praying for them as they continue to share the Gospel. In the new year, may you consider being a sponsor or helping one of Ting Ministries' current projects.

In Bangladesh, our partners and those helped through the support of Ting Ministries held a mass prayer meeting for Ting Ministries, our family, our work around the world, the orphanage home we are building in Bangladesh and pastors support  for 2018.

We hope you will prayerfully consider how you may help our pastors, orphanages, and ministry in 2018. Our partners faithfully pray for the ministry and together, we - our board, our TM missionaries and those they help, alongside our faithful supporters - help make a difference for souls around the world. 

To give a gift this new year or become a sponsor, you can: contact us at tingministries@comcast.net or:

1. Mail a check to Ting Ministries, 29 East Poplar Street, Lebanon, PA 17042

2.Use our PayPal buttons on the side of the blog. Please note what you would like your gift to go towards. 

Thank you!

Sasha Speaks on Special-Needs: "I Didn't Start Out Normal to Begin With"

View the complete original post on Sasha's blog. Titled: Going Down This Road: The Priceless Reality of Leaving Normal Behind

Thanks to some great friends, I got the opportunity to see Priceless, the film that was popular last year. It is the story of a man named James who unintentionally gets involved in the lives of two sisters, Antonia and Maria, who are being trafficked across the country. When he realizes what is happening, part of him wants to ignore his part in the atrocity. But a voice keeps calling him back until he can no longer ignore what he must do. James, along with the help of his newfound partner, Dale, an older man hiding a past of his own, set out on a harrowing mission to free the sisters and shut down the trafficking and prostitution in the area. While some plot points of the movie are dramatized for the sake of film, it is based on true events and stories of human trafficking survivors - and this knowledge adds all the more depth to the characters' plight.

Photo Credit: www.pricelessthemovie.com

Going Down the Road...of Special-Needs Adoption

There was one part of one conversation that stood out to me in the movie. Dale tells James about what he will encounter if he chooses to rescue the girls.

"If you go do this, it's all in. You go down this road, the things you'll see, the things you'll do - you can't go back to normal life again. It'll change you."

"I didn't start at normal to begin with." 

This. This is the reality of special-needs adoption. 

Any adoption is a compassionate commitment to a child. Yet, I think nothing changes a person as much as special-needs adoption, both when travelling to bring the child home and later, when the trips are done, the rescue mission complete, and you settle into a new everyday routine.

I traveled to Ukraine in 2014 amidst the EuroMaidan protests to bring home two of my sisters from a дом инвалидов (literally translated: Home of the Invalids, ie. special-needs orphanage). Looking back, Dale's words to James could have easily been said to me, both then and even now.

Sasha, if you go to this orphanage, it's all in. When you step in those doors, you will always carry part of it with you. You will dream it, write about it, talk about it - until all your friends are sick of it. But you will keep screaming for those who cannot, even when it seems like no one listens and you are so tired. Still, you will carry it with you and keep on.

You go down this road, lined with dying children, lonely souls who have never been touched....the road of advocacy, with hundreds of pictures of children whom you will never meet, but who grab your heart. You will weep over some and wonder what it is that has pricked you heart so deeply for those you never met.

My sister Lina in Bulgaria

Weighing 12 pounds at 5 and a half years old.

the things you'll see...blind children tied to their beds...teenagers the size of four-year-olds, graying skin stretched over the skull of a boy only a year older than you, with deep, hollow sockets...

the things you'll do... I remember holding hand of a seventeen year old with a shaven head. I stroked the top of his hand, but even this gentle movement did not bring comfort to him. Instead, his eyes clouded and his face winced in pain. Or, how I was approached by translator when we came into the room. I heard one voice chattering in a room full of forty children and found out what the boy was saying through our translator. "Sasha, he says he wants the pretty girl to come sit next to him." So I sat and smiled and kept the company of a boy who was my age, with pale skin, a gaunt face, and bristly short hair trapped underneath a mound of comforters. At that time, he could still talk and smile and his laughter brought smiles to everyone else.

***

The reality is, when you embark on a journey of special-needs adoption - you can't go back to normal life again. It'll change you, whether you are prepared or not, whether you think it will or not. And most likely, even if you are prepared, it will change you in ways you never planned.

What is normal life anyway? Do you mean that other families have parents who have weekly date nights? Or have annual vacations? I often find myself forgetting that most other families don't get a row of children in diapers ready for the day or down for bed every day. Or that I'm the only family I know with six daughters who can't walk independently, some who will need lifelong care. It's not normal, I suppose, to have to help almost all your sisters eat all their meals, because their special-needs make it hard or impossible for them to do so themselves. The time spent in doctor's appointments and wheelchair fittings is more than usual.

No, it's not normal. 

And it most certainly is changing me. Yes - it is a process, every day. I don't think I will ever reach the point  of saying I am done being changed by what I've seen or my sisters' lives. I recall different moments from my trips at different times, some memories more emotional, more stirring than others. I can close my eyes and picture myself back in the дом инвалидов and the weight of the experience still makes me cry, four years later. 

And each day, my sisters teach me about selflessness, patience, and compassionate understanding in a deeper way than I could ever learn on a missions trip. I watch more Peppa Pig and Paddington than most of my peers and have learned to do my work amid constant interruptions. I am teaching English to my teenage sister and sign language to another. All while being a honors student at Bucknell University, double majoring and looking into graduate programs. And, after all, isn't a child's life worth much more than the cost a fancy vacation which will come to an end?

No, my life as an adopted sister is definitely not normal - it's so much more exciting than that!

Adopted from a Russian mental institution at 17 months old because of my mild Cerebral palsy, I, like James, have had my own journey.

So, you see, I didn't start at normal to begin with. It is amazing to see how the Lord is weaving my story together with those of my sisters and how my own adoption and disability has prepared me for their needs.

Some may look down this road and decide, as James could've, it's not for me. 
I wouldn't blame them. As Dale says, you gotta do what you gotta do. Family is important. 

But, he also says, if you are hearing a small voice inside of you saying, don't forget - listen to that Voice. 

The road of special-needs adoption is long.
It's filled with equal measures of joyful blessings and painful lessons.
But any heartache is overshadowed every time you think of the rescue - once seemingly impossible, now complete. A life given a new chance.

This is the priceless reality of leaving normal behind.

                                               Lina this Christmas, home for over 5 years.

Christmas Eve Flooding in the Philippines - Urgent News!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Ting Ministries hopes you are having a blessed time with family, friends, and loved ones. Dear friends, today we got a message from our ministry partners in the Philippines - they, along with the local orphanage, were hit with extensive flooding in the last couple of days. Now, they need to prepare extra food and supplies for the children in the orphanage. Friends, we ask you tonight if you would be able to donate ANY amount to help the orphanage! Not only would it help meet the unexpected need, but imagine what a testament it would be to the Lord's provision on Christmas Day! To help the orphanage and our TM Philippines family, go to the PayPal on the side of our website. (One for domestic and one for international friends of Ting Ministries). Please specify: Philippines Flooding Thank you all and Merry Christmas! May you be filled with the peace of Jesus Christ as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and Father to the Least of These. James 1:27 Isaiah 9:6

Olyvia, Sasha, and Avigayil (from the Philippines)

Christmas 2017 in the Philippines

Ting Ministries wants to help our ministry partners celebrate Christmas with over 300 kids! Would you consider donating a few dollars so they can purchase Christmas gifts for these children? A little bit will go a long way and these kids would be so grateful to receive a gift of their own. If you are interested in helping this project, please:

1. Send a check to Ting Ministries, c/o Brian Carpenter, 29 East Poplar Street, Lebanon, PA 17042
2. Or, donate through the PayPal at the side of our website. 

Please specify for Philippines Christmas

Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Pictured: Some of the kids who will receive presents...

Meet Rafi: "I have a dream to be a doctor....but my dream will never come true"

Meet Rafi! This young boy dreams of being a doctor one day, but because he has to help his family in the fields, he worries his dream to help others will never come true. Read his testimony from Bangladesh.  

Testimony:

"My name is Rafi. I am 12 years old. I am the youngest child in the family. I have two brothers and two sisters. They all are already married. My father has a crops field (slash and burn cultivation). I spend my whole day in the crops field and help my father. I studied up to grade two before but since my father is very poor, he could not send me to school in the town, though he still wants me to study very much. I have a dream to be a doctor someday. But I can never be a doctor with spending the whole day in the harvest, and my dream will never come true. I am very sad that I could not continue my studies anymore. I think may be working in the harvest field and spending my whole life in the bush is my fate. I also love to play with my friends a lot. My favorite sport is Volleyball. But I do not have time to play . Since morning to evening, I have to help my parents. My parents love me very much.

I am a very lonely boy. Though I have some friends in the village, I could seldom spend time and play with my friends, because I always need to work. I believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God and my Savior. My parents are not yet believers. I came to know Jesus Christ through our pastor. I want to study more and want to learn more about Jesus. In the future I want to become a evangelist teacher so that I can teach and tell about Jesus to those who do not believe in Jesus."

If you would like to give a one time gift or sponsor Rafi, contact us at: 

tingministries@comcast.net 

Or, use our PayPal at the side of our website or send a check to: Ting Ministries, 29 East Poplar Street, Lebanon, PA 1702

UPDATE: 12/18/17: TM Bulgaria Christmas - Thank You & 13 Outfits Still Needed!

Update: 12/17/17

Bulgaria Christmas Child Update: Clothes for 13 KIDS STILL NEEDED!

Dear Friends of Ting Ministries - Thank you so much for following our Christmas project this year. We are collecting new/gently used articles of clothing to bring to orphans in a rural Bulgarian orphanage. Thank you to those who have donated either new/gently used clothing or money towards a new outfit! Through your generous support we have over outfits for over half of the children! Thank you for helping share the love of Jesus in a tangible way to these children, some of who will never get the chance to be adopted into a family.

If you want to help it is NOT TOO LATE! There are still 13 children who need outfits. We will be purchasing the rest of the items in country, when our director travels to Bulgaria next month. Please consider how you can help! A suggested donation for a complete outfit is 100 dollars, but any amount you are able to contribute is appreciated, getting us one step closer to our goal!

Please pray for these children as they receive their gifts. Pray they would not only know the love of people here, but most importantly that this gift would open their hearts to the love of their Heavenly Father. We hope receiving this gift will not only meet a physical need, but that it will stay with them for years be a part of them coming to know and trust Jesus. Thank you for your part in caring for the orphan!

Please see the HOW YOU CAN HELP Section, below the original post (separated by ***).

Original Post

Ting Ministries: Upcoming Bulgaria Trip and Christmas Clothing UPDATE:

Our director and administrator will be travelling to Bulgaria in about a month to oversee how our ministry work is progressing. As a part of the trip, they will be visiting several orphanages to see how Ting Ministries can be a part of helping the children, some of whom will never have the opportunity to be adopted. In particular, we are visiting a very poor, rural orphanage which has asked Ting Ministries for help.

You may be aware of our Christmas Gift Drive to help collect new and gently used outfits for the children in this rural orphanage. Our plan is to provide each child with a new outfit (shirt, jeans, coat, hat, gloves, scarf and shoes). We are pleased to have received enough to provide outfits for about 15 children!

**********************************************************************************************************
HOW YOU CAN HELP:

We will be purchasing this clothing IN-COUNTRY to lessen the cost of shipping and travel. If you would like to help, there are several ways you can give:

1. Ting Ministries PayPal (on our website, www.tingministries.blogspot.com) Please note: for Bulgarian Rural Orphanage
2. Write a check to Ting Ministries c/o Brian Carpenter and send it to our headquarters: 29 East Poplar Street, Lebanon, PA 1702

The children we are helping have never had nice outfit of their own, which is very stigmatizing and damaging to their self-esteem. Not only will an outfit provide for a practical need, it will help them feel a sense of worth and most importantly, it will show the love of Jesus to these children! This will be something they will remember and that may draw their hearts to come and know Jesus!
Please help us show these kids that they are loved by others around the world and by their Heavenly Father!

See our Events Calendar!

You can stay up-to-date with Ting Ministries as we travel and speak on our Events Calendar!

In Case You Missed It - Recap of Our Night for Orphans with the Celtic Martins!

In case you missed it...

Ting Ministries Presents

The Celtic Martins & A Voice for Orphans

A big thank-you is extended to The Celtic Martins for coming to share their talents with Ting Ministries and the audience. Keep reading to see a short video of their performance! 

Executive Director of Ting Ministries, Brian Carpenter, shared about God's Word and the orphan. Graduated from seminary with his Masters in counseling, Brian has a passion for fulfilling the calling of James 1:27 - the core verse of Ting Ministries. He believes that getting into the Word is the key to a transformed life in Christ and that is what allows us to care for the Least of These.

Hannah and Sasha smile for a selfie! Sasha spoke about issues of identity in adopted children and families and the healing Christ can bring to these questions. She also sang and closed the night with a dramatic prose performance of The Boy from Baby House 10. This is the story of a boy with Cerebral Palsy who was adopted from Russia, by John Lahutsky. Check out and follow her on her blog: www.natalyacarpenter.blogspot.com

Director Stephanie Carpenter with Hannah and Ellianna. Stephanie spoke about Ting Ministries' work in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Ukraine, Bulgaria and more. To learn about current needs and how you can help, please see Our Projects.  One of our top projects right now is to build an orphanage in Bangladesh. There are currently 30 village children who have nowhere to go and the cost to build a place where they can sleep, eat, and go to school is less than 5,000 dollars! Our partners have also asked for help to purchase a motorbike for safe travel, and pastor sponsorships.

Learn how you can help Ting Ministries's Christmas Child Gift Project. We need outfits, warm gloves and shoes! You can sign-up in the spreadsheet here.

 Angelina and her friend Molly having fun!

Thank you to our friends in Bangladesh who shared their love for Ting Ministries halfway across the world! 

Here's a short clip of the performance by The Celtic Martins. Enjoy!

Thank you again to all who came out in support and to learn more about Ting Ministries and the plight of the orphan. Thank you for everyone who helped in set-up, clean-up and providing desserts!

God Bless!

TM Bulgaria: Christmas Child Gift Program!

Update: The trip was a success! Thank you to those who were following and supporting us in prayer. Look for more updates about our work in Bulgaria in the future.

Sign Up to Participate in TM's Bulgaria Christmas Child Gift Program! 

Sign up in the spreadsheet here. 

Are you looking for a new way to bless others this Christmas? Do you want to teach your children in a new way what it means to give and help others? Or, are you not sure what to give someone? Consider donating a gift in their honor and help Ting Ministries! This year, we are helping a rural Bulgarian orphanage by providing gifts and needed items for the children. Imagine having to wear someone else's junky, hand-me-down clothing, and never having something to call your own. How humiliating and discouraging this would be - but this is exactly what many orphans have to experience. This Christmas, we want to share encouragement and the love of Christ through donating gifts to these kids and teenagers.

Ting Ministries is collecting the following items: lightly used/new clothing such as jeans, leggings, long-sleeve shirts and sweaters, underwear, socks, coats, and shoes. You can sign up for a child below and purchase the items and send them to Ting Ministries. Or, if you prefer, you can donate towards the cost of a care pack and Ting Ministries will purchase the items (Suggested Donation per child: 100 dollars).

Some of the clothing will be sent to Bulgaria and other items we will deliver personally when the director of Ting Ministries takes a trip this winter. Please contact us at: tingministries@comcast.net with any questions!

Bulgarian countryside

Not Only in Word, But Also in Deeds: Masha and Marichka

From our partners at Bible Orphan Ministry.

"Do you see these beautiful young ladies? At first glance, they seem to be happy, enjoying meal and having a great time... Yes, they are enjoying food for the first time in a few days!!! Can you believe it??? When I asked them what you ate in the morning? We did not have breakfast today. What did you eat yesterday? Nothing. How about the day before yesterday? Only tea ... It's terrible! How you would feel, if you are a young mother expecting a baby? 

Marichka (in pink) and Masha, two girlfriends and are going through a very, very difficult time now... They share not only their clothing but also joy and problems. Marichka should give birth to a baby girl in January. Her baby does not feel very well. Bad medical tests. Later we will know more details. Her belly is so tiny that you can not even tell that she is pregnant at all... And this is on the 7th month!!! Marichka often starves... In a month she has nowhere to go! Masha is already homeless! Today we just met with each other by a miracle! This is another story. But anyway, if we had not met, Masha would have spent the night in the street today! And maybe even one more night, two, a week, a month... It's very cold, windy and rain. In some parts of Ukraine it is already snowing! Can you imagine this? The young lady all alone and hungry on the street? What would have happened, if it had not been God's mercy to this precious young lady? Even scary to imagine ...




We found a temporary housing for Masha. But we do not know what to do next? How to be? We just can not leave these abandoned children on the street! Both girls do not have winter clothes and a lot of necessary things. They are both feeling cold today and now! And for this reason they got sick. Marichka needs medicines to ensure that her baby girl will be healthy. She tries hard and she needs help. A young mother loves her darling daughter and worries about her. They worked some time ago and earned 25.00 uah per day($0.90)! Yes, Yes! 25uah per day($0.90)! This is less then a $1.00 !!! They quit this job because it's not enough to eat at least once a day!!! Can you imagine what they feel these days??? Hungry, barefoot, without necessary clothing, cold, lonely, without hope, disappointment, 
fear.

Both girls were crying today...could hardly hold back tears so as not to burst into tears. Our hearts are broken. Thousands of thoughts in the head. What to do? How to be? Now the tears running down the face. Pain. A terrible pain for these orphaned children... It tears your heart into a million pieces... 

Dear friends, we need the mercy of God!!! Please, pray with us about these two precious souls!! Pray that God has blessed and revealed to us His will. We have some thoughts on how to help these two sweet young ladies, but is there a will of God in this? If not, then God would show us and open other door. Pray that God will send funds to buy the necessary clothes and food for the first time, while Masha will find work and Marichka as well. Since she is expecting the baby, we are not sure that she will be able to work. God already answered to many your prayers! 

Will you help please to show the love of Christ to these poor and lonely souls, not only in words but also in deeds? That they are not alone, that they are precious and loved? To give them hope and their hearts would opened to Jesus Christ, where they can find rest for souls, joy and grace. Every donation is precious and greatly appreciated!

One time gifts for food and medicine or monthly sponsors of 30 or 60 dollars welcome! 

To send gift of love through PayPal: tingministries@comcast.net
or send a check:

Stephanie and Brian Carpenter
Ting Ministries
904 State Drive
Lebanon, PA 17042
USA

Please, leave a note "For Marichka or Masha". 

Thank you very much! May God bless you!

The CELTIC MARTINS & a Voice for Orphans!

Ting Ministries Presents:

The Celtic Martins&A Voice for Orphans

The Celtic Martins and Ting Ministries:

Come enjoy the incredible gifts and talents of the Martin family as they share their uplifting and toe-tapping music! During the evening, you will learn more about Ting Ministries's growing ministry work in Bangladesh, Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Philippines, China and the USA. Come find out how you can help orphans around the world while staying right here, through this local and hands-on ministry fulfilling the call of James 1:27.

Hope to see you there!

Details of the Event:

Save the date - Come for a night of great music and fellowship!

Date: Saturday, November 18, 2017
Location: Fairland Brethren in Christ Church, 529 W. Penn Ave., Cleona, PA 17042
Time: 4-6 pm
Coffee and desserts, entire event by donation - NO tickets needed!
Learn more about the Celtic Martins and Ting Ministries at:
www.celticmartins.com
www.tingministries.blogspot.com

Can You Take Them: A Ting House and Indigenous Children

Pastor Mark tells us: "My wife and I are here in an indigenous tribe visiting the orphans and children. We are looking for more partners to sponsor children to schools. Please pray that God will doors of opportunities. These children are mostly illiterate and only 18% are going to formal studies. Most of then are living in mountainous and remote places."

Pastor Mark with the indigenous children

Also, Pastor Mark took another trip to Marawi, where he was met by thirty orphaned children. Those in charge of the relief center asked him: Can you please take them? Pastor Mark's heart was broken. Friends, Pastor Mark would love to take these children back with him to Zamboanga so they could go to school and experience the love of a family. However, before this would be possible - we need a place for them to stay. We need your help to build a children's home, a Ting House, for children like these. Pastor Mark and his family would welcome them, but until we have an additional home in Zamboanga, these children have nowhere to go. Please pray for the Lord to provide the funds needed so we can carry out the mission of James 1:27: To care for the orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

If you would like to give to the cost of a Ting House for the Philippines: 

Donate on the PayPal button at the side of our website or write a check to: 

Ting Ministries

904 State Drive, 

Lebanon, PA 17042

Please specify: Ting House Philippines

100 percent of your donation will go to the Ting House, with nothing taken out for administrative purposes. All our work depends on the help of our generous supporters. Please consider how you can help today! Thank you and God bless.

TM Bulgaria: Our Partner's First Trip to Pleven!

Our partners at Caring for the Fatherless are on their first trip to visit Pleven, Bulgaria. Our partner has taken several feeding specialists with her to help the orphanage staff. They are visiting the orphanage to look at the conditions and start the beginning stages of the the TM Bulgaria Auntie Program.  Our daughter, Lina, is from Pleven and we are pleased to be able to help the children who are still waiting for families. 

TM director, Stephanie and the TM Administrative Assistant Sasha will be travelling to Pleven in January with a team of volunteers to further observe the impacts and workings of the Auntie program, provide supplies and see what further needs we can help meet for the benefit of the children. While we are there, we will also be visiting an older children's home, and our friends at Bulgaria Street Dogs and Cats, an animal rescue Ting Ministries supports. (You can find them on Facebook under this page name). 

Please pray for the Lord's continued hand of protection over our team and blessing as we work to bring aid to the orphan. Thank you!

For information on becoming a sponsor for the Auntie program, please visit our page: Become a Sponsor Sponsors are urgently needed! There are many ways to help including: one time gifts, full, and partial monthly sponsorships. Please contact us at: tingministries@comcast.net if you would like to become a sponsor today!

Happy Birthday Olyvia: Wishes and Reflection

Happy Birthday Olyvia!

Olyvia just celebrated her birthday at the beginning of this month. She was adopted from Ukraine with her sister Rachele in 2014, when she was 9 and a half. Her only physical special-need from birth is a mild form of spina bifida.

Now, she is 13 years old. A teenager! Below, you can see Olyvia and Becca, her new friend from church! Becca is a week younger than Olyvia.  Please, let that sink in. 

Most people when they meet Olyvia remark, "Oh, how cute is she! Is she about four years old?" No. She is a teenager. She should be in middle school, playing sports, having sleepovers, and going to birthday parties for her friends.

The treatment and neglect of children in her Dom Invalid (orphanage for special-needs children) was so horrendous, her body shut down and simply stopped growing. Termed failure-to-thrive Olyvia's body simply stopped growing due to lack of care, touch and nutrition. In Eastern Europe, this is the norm for orphans with disabilities - not the exception.

Olyvia and Rachele's adoption opened Brian and Stephanie's heart to Ukraine. Today, we are parnters with Bible Orphan Ministry and Shelter Friend  - Ukraine. Read about our partners' work here.

At Ting Ministries, we are dedicated to raising awareness about the plight of special-needs orphans around the world. We are blessed to be Olyvia's family and honored to be her Voice and a Voice for the thousands of Voiceless orphans still waiting for their families today. 

Happy Birthday to our  Солнышко (Sunshine)! Мы любим тебя!