Adopted sisters journey home to Moldova to share God’s love

Jessica Colinger, age 17, prayed several years for an opportunity to return to her home country—Moldova. She dreamed of telling the orphans there about the faith and hope she had found and to let them know he had a plan for their lives.

Each year, Children’s Emergency Relief International scheduled a mission trip to Moldova to deliver winter boots to orphans. Every year, Jessica prayed she might go and that her younger sister, Julyia, would accompany her.

“I just knew it was something we had to do together, so I waited for God’s perfect timing and for us both to be ready,” she said.

But her Julyia was hesitant. “I did not want to go back, because I knew it would be incredibly hard on me emotionally. But, after much prayer, I knew this was the year God wanted me to go,” she said.

J.W. and Judy Colinger of Erwin, Tenn., adopted the sisters when Jessica was 6 and Julyia was 5.

An initial exploratory trip to Moldova with CERI, the international arm of Baptist Child & Family Services, left Colinger with an undeniable passion to help orphans in the struggling Eastern European country, he recalled.

On his second trip to Moldova, Colinger met a little girl who immediately stole his heart. He later learned she had two sisters and a brother. It didn’t take long for the Colingers to make the decision to bring all four children home with them to Tennessee. 

Jessica Colinger places boots on the feet of a young boy living in an orphanage in Moldova.

With three biological children of their own, Jason, Jennifer and Jared, now 35, 34 and 28, the Colingers added Joelle, Jacob, Jessica and Julyia, now 23, 18, 17 and 16.

With the support of a loving family and their home home, Calvary Baptist in Erwin, Tenn., the children grew in their love of God.

Joelle was the first to venture home to Moldova when she and her adopted father participated in a CERI mission trip in 2005. After seeing the impression the journey left on her oldest sister, Jessica eagerly waited for her chance.

Yet even with the support of their loving family, returning home to Moldova did not come easy for Jessica and Julyia.

“It was amazing to be there to love on the children, but it was hard to see the reality of it too,” said Julyia. “I know that used to be me, and I desire something better for these children.”

Despite the difficulty of the experience, Julyia and Jessica have every intention of returning to Moldova again.

“It wasn’t easy, but CERI provided us with a great support network, praying with us through every emotion we experienced,” Jessica said.

Each winter for the past decade, volunteers like the Colingers have spent their holiday vacations in Eastern Europe with CERI, distributing snow boots, thick socks, hats and scarves to orphans. The warm wear protects against painful frostbite common during the harsh winter months.

In addition to meeting the physical needs of the country’s children, CERI uses the trip to bring hope to an often-forgotten and sometimes mistreated population. At each orphanage, volunteers like Jessica and Julyia take turns sharing their personal stories and reasons for volunteering. 

Since 1999, CERI has provided more than 90,000 new winter boots and socks to protect the region’s most vulnerable. Dearing Garner, now executive director of CERI, led the first trip when he was pastor of First Baptist Church in Kingwood. For more information about CERI and its ministry in Moldova, visit www.CERIKids.org.