Brrrrrrrr!

Oh good! Looks like I can post photos again... and here is a photo of "my" corner, the one nearest my house. You can see the trolleys and the mini-buses (rutieras). I take the #17 trolley to the OM Centre in the mornings. It is about a 20-minute ride and then I switch to the number 178 rutiera to get all the way to the Centre. I have decided to opt for the trolley bus whenever I am able. Most of them are pretty ancient but there's more chance of getting a seat, they're cheaper, and the stops are pre-determined so there's no stress about whether you won't be able to get the vehicle to stop where you want it to. It stops at every pre-designated station. Less stress - more relaxed me.
So, winter has truly arrived with -18 temperatures and the like. Glad I have warm clothes, hats, scarf, boots, gloves, etc.! In spite of the cold, I enjoyed walking back and forth to church this morning. Yes, I have found a home church right in my neighbourhood. It is a 20-minute walk and this morning in the snow, it was quite lovely. Some of you have been asking about my job description. Now that my first three months of language learning and cultural orientation is over, what is it I am supposed to be doing. Or as my mother asked, "When do you start being a real missionary?" In spite of the fact that I am in the northern hemisphere, I think the image of jungles, huts and pith helmets still prevails in some people's minds. In fact, I would like to think that I have been a "real missionary" ever since I got here. If a missionary is one who brings the good news about the love of God and the grace of Jesus Christ, I hope that I have been doing that even before I got here. It's just that now I have to learn how to do that in another language and culture.
Learning the language continues to be a major responsibility as eventually the majority of my time will be spent in teaching and training. In which case, knowing the language is slightly helpful. :-) For now, though,there are quite a few things where knowing the English language is a big asset, and that is where my responsibilities lie initially. I will be working for about 60% of my time in the Public Relations department where I am in charge of all forms of communicating to the English-speaking world about our work here in Moldova. That means I put together our newsletter 'Moldova News' (let me know if your church would like to receive some copies - and how many!), a 4-page glossy newsletter with stories and reports about OM Moldova. I also am gathering all the necessary information for our website to pass on to the web designer. I send out a prayer update every week, with prayer requests from team members, and I keep a finger on the communications with foreigners coming from other countries for our Global Challenge or Global Action programs, although Claudia is the one directly responsible for those communications.
We also publish a prayer bulletin monthly that is sent out to about 700 churches in Moldova with prayer items from all over the world printed in Romanian on one side and Russian on the other. I am responsible for choosing the items for prayer, which I glean from many English news bulletin sources, which are then translated into Romanian and Russian. Ana, a Moldovan team member, pulls it all together, chooses photos, sends it to the printer and mails it out. We want to encourage Christians to have a broader vision of the needs of the world and of our responsibility to pray for the whole world.
The other 40% of my time is in the Personnel and Training Department. For now that means I sit in on meetings and planning for new programs we are developing. I also teach English two mornings a week to some of our Moldovan Global Action team members who are required to learn English, as well as some computer skills. (No, I don't teach the computer skills!) When our Challenge into Missions program starts in March, I will be leading a Bible study and a seminar for the leadership level of the program. And later in the year I will be teaching a course on missions to the (Moldovan) team members who are preparing to be involved in cross-cultural missions. It's nice to have several books of curriculum on my desk that I have to become familiar with so I can teach it. It's also nice that the material is in English! Along the way, it looks like I will also be doing some mentoring and pastoral care and later on I will be able to do more travelling around, visiting our various teams in the villages to provide pastoral care and encouragement.
I know it all sounds a bit complicated but it is falling into place and when I thought about it the other day, I realized that I am doing all the things I love to do. I am writing, teaching, mentoring, pastoring, learning a new language, and will be able to do some travelling and pastoral care. It doesn't get much better than this, and I am so thankful to the Lord for how He has blessed me!