Tri for Tamara

Olivia Bourgeois is organizing this fundraiser.

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I was fortunate enough to meet Tamara on my mission trip last year while in Moldova. We have since stayed in very good touch and she has continued to keep me informed and in awe on all that she is doing in her country. Tamara lives in the southern part of Moldova in the tiny village of Paicu, which is less than 500 people. She was born in this village but moved to the capital when she was older to begin working for an organization called Operation Mobilization. She then returned back to the village of Paicu in 2003 once she felt God’s calling to plant a church where she grew up. She immediately began praying over a piece of land to build a church on for days in a row. The price was extremely high, yet after some prayer, was brought down unreasonably to an affordable price. As a single woman in her early 30’s, she figured out a way to buy a piece of property and organized the whole process of building a church and home on this piece of land. As soon as we arrived to Paicu, she shared her testimony and heart with us. I cannot even fathom half of the things she has been through; from being abused by her own father to then being kicked out of her own house once becoming a Christian. Yet even with all of this opposition from her father, Tamara still chooses to bring food to her father every single day. She also runs the whole church; feeding the elderly and delivering them food every day, running a kid’s program and feeding them after school, leading family ministries and planning date nights, organizing bible studies and prayer groups, and leading nights with the youth to cook and learn about Jesus. WHAT! The only way a single, 35 year old woman can do this is through Jesus. Since I've returned home, she has built a greenhouse and even begun construciton on a children's shelter. However, her major need and heart right now is to serve the elderly in her village. The weather conditions are brutal in the winter and the homes that they are living in are not suitable for them to keep warm. Just the other day, they went to deliver food to a man and found him dead in his home. It is a sad situation but Tamara has a dream of buying a home next to the church and renovating it with central heat for all of the elders to live in. She currently visits and feeds 12 elderly in her village every day and 4 have already been baptised because of this ministry! The house costs 6,000 euro, which is $6,549 usd and she will need a little extra to install a heater. I am currently trainin for my first Half Ironman triathlon on April 10 and want to use this race as an opportunity to bring awareness to all that Tamara is doing. This has been Tamara's vision for a long time now. She has the heart behind it, so let's join together and "TRI" as a body of Christ to give her the hands and feet to turn this dream into reality.