Upcoming Mission Journeys
Drochia, Moldova
May 21-31
Follow this team as they serve. Read their Team Blog.
Ialoveni, Moldova
Aug. 29-Sep. 6
Information meeting: Sunday, May 18th
4 pm
Brentwood Baptist
Application and $250 deposit due June 1
Help us start off the school year in a SWEET way as we build new beds for the 180 children living in this orphanage just outside Chisinau, Moldova.
Team members will be building beds, leading
worship, teaching in the classroom and hosting workshops for teachers and staff.
Note: This journey occurs over Labor Day, so you won't have to take an
extra vacation day!
For an application or more information please contact Stuart at
stuart@sweetsleep.org.
There's Still Time to Give the Gift of Sweet Sleep!
This mother's day you have the opportunity to help orphans in Sudan sleep
sweetly by giving to sweet sleep in honor of your mom.
But hurry! To get your certificate in the mail to your mom, call 730.7671 or e-mail
jon@sweetsleep.org today!
Want to help Sweet Sleep while you shop or fuel up?
You can show your support
of Sweet Sleep while shopping at Kroger!
Just buy a rechargeable Kroger gift card for $5 directly from Sweet Sleep (not Kroger or we don't receive the benefit) and each time you add money to
your gift card, Sweet Sleep will receive 4% of that amount at no additional cost to you! So not only do you simplify your monthly budgeting for
groceries and gasoline, you will be helping Sweet Sleep at the same time. If you would like to purchase one of these cards from Sweet Sleep, please
call us at 615.730.7671 or e-mail jon@sweetsleep.org.
SunTrust Promotion Extended
You can still help Sweet Sleep when you open a SunTrust personal
or business checking account through June 31st!
Just open an account and mention Sweet Sleep. Then, fill out the online form requesting
your
donation be made to Sweet Sleep and Sun Trust will donate $100 in your name to help provide beds for orphans! It's that simple!
For more info visit suntrust.com/mycause.
Note: When
filling out your request simply enter "Sweet Sleep"and leave the city blank.
Our Mission
Sweet Sleep exists to share God's love by providing beds to the world's orphaned and
abandoned children.
Sweet Sleep is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
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From Jen's Pen
Well friends, it has been quite a month! It feels like we just returned from Orhei
(because we did!) and we're already headed back to Moldova in a few weeks!
God did so many amazing things in and through our team. So much that I don't even think I
can express it in words yet. We were blessed on this trip to be able to take along Hannah Westphall, a documentary photographer based here in
Nashville. She took some amazing pictures along the way and since I'm still struggling to find the words to describe all God did in Orhei, I'll let
these pictures tell the story.
And now, its onto Drochia. This orphanage has held
such a special place in my heart since I walked through the doors just a couple of years ago. This orphanage, full of boys and girls most of whom
have
been sent there because of their chronic bed wetting, is a place in serious need of hope, of joy - of comfort and smiles. I can't wait to see the
faces of these children who will, some for the first time, find sweet sleep. We've loved Hannah's pictures so much, she's joining us in Drochia as
well. So read the blog, pray for our team, and consider how you will help change the lives of these children with us.
Sweetly,
jen
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A bed for every head: Sweet Sleep President and Founder Jen
Gash
presents a resident at Casa de Copii orphanage in Orhei with his new bed.
Follow Jen on her next mission journey to Moldova - May 23rd-31st. Check our team
blog often at http://sweetsleep.blogspot.com
Sweet Sleep's
New Website
Make sure to be on the look out for the new and improved sweetsleep.org!
Our new
website is launching in just a couple of weeks!
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Want to get your hands on one of these limited-edition Sweet Sleep Bobble Heads?
Be one of the first 2000 fans in the gate for Sweet Sleep's 5th Birthday Blowout and you
win! Tell your friends and be there early -- we'll see you there!
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Celebrate 5 Years of Sweet Sleep with the Nashville Sounds!
Join us as we celebrate 5 years of Sweet Sleep at Faith Night at the Nashville Sounds,
Friday, June 20th. A pre-game concert will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the game starts at 7:00. Discount tickets are available by calling the Sweet Sleep
office at 615.730.7671. For more information about this exciting event, contact jon@sweetsleep.org.
We also need volunteers to help at our Sweet Sleep booth at each of the 7 Faith
Nights!
If you are interested in volunteering at one of these Faith Night events, please e-mail
jon@sweet sleep.org.
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Sweet Sleep... Finally.
by Jon Merryman, Communications and Events Director
I, like Jen, find it difficult to express in words what God did in our lives and in the
lives of the children in Orhei during our trip this March. But I'll tell you how "Sweet Sleep" began to mean so much more to me one cold, April day
in
Orhei.
We had just finished building, installing and making 18 beds for a room of boys. It was
our first room of beds and I was anxious to see the children's responses. I told Jen and our team before we left that the two things that were most
out of my comfort zone were construction and working with children with special needs and this trip was both of these wrapped up with a
bow.
The children watched us intently as we finished their beds. It was about nap time and
they were so ready to see, touch, feel - to be tucked into their new beds!
As they came in their faces were so bright! They were giggling, grinning, drooling,
laughing... Some were rolling around in their new beds; some were sitting on the edge in disbelief. And then a fellow team member nudged me and said,
"Go sit by him." Pointing to a boy sitting on the edge of his bed rocking and swaying, not sure what to make of all of this, I sat down next to him
and just put my hand on his shoulder to see if he would relax. He was tensed up and looked uncomfortable. I looked back at my teammate as if to say
-
well, that didn't go well. What now! But then I looked at one of the boy's caregivers and shrugged my shoulders - asking this woman, who doesn't
speak
my
language, for help through my actions. She knelt next to us and helped me take off the boys shoes. We laid him down in his bed and when his head hit
the pillow, he released his tensed arms and legs, stretched out, smiled and was off to sleep.
Of course I knew how important these beds are to these orphaned children - I've heard the
stories from my son, whom my wife and I adopted this year from Moldova. But to see a child who may never have had a comfortable place to sleep
finally find rest... To see a child finally experience "sweet sleep" -- it was something I will never forget.
Our team provided 135 beds for the boys in this orphanage through our partnership with Kairos, a young-adult worship
service at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, Tennessee. Kairos
attenders also raise funds for beds for the other 137 boys needing Sweet Sleep
beds, which will be constructed and installed soon by the members of "Good News" Baptist Church in Orhei, our ministry partner in that city. Ongoing
ministry opportunities exist - such as finding ways to provide specialized beds and wheelchairs, special food for those who are bedridden, and more.
If you would like to help provide for these boys, please contact stuart@sweetsleep.org.
To read more of the Orhei team's experience, visit our blog at
http://sweetsleep.blogspot.com. Archived blogs are available with pictures
and daily insights along our journey.
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The boy pictured here was so excited about his Sweet Sleep bed that he hopped in before
we finished
making it! Notice he was so excited he kicked one shoe off, but not the other.
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Stuart and Sweet Sleep's President and Founder, Jen Gash, building beds in Orhei. |
Sweet Sleep Welcomes
Stuart McAlister
Vice President of Operations
Sweet Sleep is excited to announce Stuart McAlister as Vice President of Operations!
Stuart comes to Sweet Sleep from EMI Christian Music Group, where he served as
Director of Inventory Management for the last nine years.
Stuart became aware of
the needs of Moldova's orphans through EMI CMG's partnership with Sweet Sleep, which began in 2005. He was moved by the stories of these
children and felt called to get personally involved in ministering to them.
Stuart's first trip to Moldova was in June of 2006. He has
since taken numerous trips to Moldova and has continued to be a passionate advocate for orphaned and abandoned children around the world, serving as
Chairman of Sweet Sleep's Board of Directors from January 2006-March 2008.
Stuart is
originally from Denton, Texas and moved to Nashville with his wife D'Ann after their graduation from Abilene Christian University in 1990. Stuart and
D'Ann are members of Woodmont Hills Church of Christ and live in Franklin with their
two boys, Cameron and Evan.
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From the Heart
What it Means to a Child When You Serve with Sweet
Sleep
By Galina Tiscenco
When I first saw a "Sweet Sleep" team coming to Moldova, I thought that
they were the same as every team that had visited us. We had many teams
coming from the US -- they did Bible study and games -- but the Sweet
Sleep team was different... they brought us new beds! All the children
in the orphanage were so excited when Sweet Sleep came -- they loved their
beds - and they still do!
When I got my bed I was so excited because I like spending time
in my bed. I spent 8-10 hours in my bed most days, but my old bed was
so uncomfortable I never looked forward to sleeping. But
when I received my Sweet Sleep bed, I couldn't wait for the day
to end to just go to my bed, relax, think and sleep.
What impressed me most about Sweet Sleep was that the team members were passionate about
what they were doing. You could
see it in their eyes - they loved serving God and they loved
helping orphans.
Many
children in orphanages have been abused and need a
person who will show them attention and love. The children love playing with and spending time with the Americans.
Spending time with the Americans
who have come to Moldova these past few years on Sweet Sleep teams helped put
a desire in my heart to one day go on a mission trip myself. Now that I
am studying in the US, I have that opportunity.
In July, I am going
on a mission trip to Chicago with my church. I know it is not far from my home in
Tennessee - and most people think of going on mission trips to
countries like Africa, Russia or even Moldova - but I'm so happy to have
the opportunity to work for God in Chicago. I want to thank all of the
Americans who have served on mission trips with Sweet Sleep and encourage you to go, too! It meant the world to me, and means the world to the
children who need you.
To find out about how you can help change the lives of children in Moldova and
around the world with Sweet Sleep, contact stuart@sweetsleep.org.
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Galina Tiscenco grew up in Chisinau's Internat #2 orphanage.
She is now 16 years old and is living in Nashville with Sweet Sleep's President and
Founder, Jen Gash, while she attends school.
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