Surpriza!

When you live in a foreign country, sometimes things are not as you expect them to be. Sometimes, due to poor or uncertain communication things happen seemingly out of the blue. Or sometimes you expect something based on your own cultural background and the experience here turns out to be totally different. More than once we have found ourselves saying SURPRIZA! when something unexpected occurs.
Take this morning for instance: This morning I went to church, expecting a normal worship service, as anyone would on Sunday morning. Well, it was Independence Day in Moldova, so first I had to get past all the blocked-off intersections.
Apparently there was going to be a parade or something. I couldn't turn up the street I wanted to go on as the police were directing people elsewhere - ever have that happen to you? So anyway, I figured out how to get where I was going even though I had to take a big detour from the route I was planning. So, I get to the church a half hour late. The friends I planned to meet had already gone in, of course. I've only been to this church for service once before and I'm sure there weren't this many cars here the last time. Gee, maybe it's a revival or something...
I found a parking space and as I walked to the entrance of the church I noticed a car with ribbons on it. Hmmm... looks like a wedding car... then I walked into the church and - SURPRIZA! - it's a wedding.
I had been told previously (but had forgotten) that sometimes weddings in Moldova are conducted as part of the morning worship service. This seemed odd to me but in the course of the service this morning, it all began to make sense. Especially it makes sense that a Christian wedding should be conducted in the context of the church family at worship. It's not a private party but a public commitment. In spite of the fact that when I first entered, someone was preaching in Russian, by the end of the service I was quite comfortable and quite impressed. The Russian sermon was only the first sermon; the Romanian-speaking pastor preached a wonderful sermon a bit later on, after the band played its whole repertoire, someone recited poetry, and several people sang solos. It really was a loving wedding and a wonderful service of worship - my friends agreed too.
Now tonight I have Dana and Esther staying overnight at my house so we can drive Esther to the airport early, early in the morning.
Esther is from Austria and she has been with us for a few months but now is going to the OM orientation conference and then Missionary Training School. Like I've said before, there is always coming and going on our OM team here. Lately, the concern is whether people will be able to come once they go, because the visa laws have changed. Even our field leader had trouble getting back into the country when he came to the Moldovan border today. Stay tuned for more on this subject... In Moldova you never know when there might be a -positive or negative - SURPRIZA!

Watermelon & Wanderings

Before I came to Moldova I had heard that they eat a lot of watermelon here in the summer. Now I know it is true. For about 50 Canadian cents you can buy a delicious, juicy ripe watermelon to slurp to your heart’s content. At various spots along the highway and at random spots throughout the city, people park their truck or their wagon-load of watermelons day by day to sell. Today I bought one on the way home and ate a quarter of it as soon as I got home! I also bought another melon that I’ve not seen in Canada. It is a golden colour and similar in texture to a cantaloupe and the taste is a cross between a cantaloupe and a honeydew melon. Very yummy.

It’s been a good week and a good weekend. During the week, along with my colleague Ivanir, I had the opportunity to go to one of our outreach sites to encourage the team that were running the program there. How we do VBS in Moldova is very different from what I’m familiar with in Canada. Basically, a team of our young missionaries go into a village, usually working in partnership with the local church if there is one, and spend the first day inviting children to the daily program. They hand out flyers to all the children they find hanging around and go door to door to invite families to send their children to this program. The next morning any number of children show up and participate in crafts, songs, games, sports, face-paintiing and balloon animals. They enjoy Bible stories and puppet shows and a delicious lunch and drinks as well. As well as hearing about the love God has for them, they experience the care and interest of these missionaries who do what they can to demonstrate to each child that he or she is precious in the eyes of the Lord. Many of these children live in homes with an alcoholic parent, or in a home where their own parents have gone abroad to work so they are staying with grandparents, aunts or older siblings. They don’t have daycamps to attend or nannies to care for them every moment, or parents who take them on road trips or to the beach or cottage; so for the most part, during the summer, a lot of them are just passing the time each day without any direction.

At the day camp we visited there were about a dozen kids on the first day and 30 by the end of the week. Members of the local church were part of the team working with our OMers and that church will do the follow-up with families who have been contacted. I was talking with another one of our missionaries today who told me about a community where they did an outreach, with a short-term mission team that came from the US. They expected about 25 children to show up for the program but when she went on Wednesday there were 85 children there!

This morning(Sunday) it was my privilege to go with some team members to the home church of two of them, which is about 2 hours’ drive from Chisinau. These two young women were giving reports of their mission work to this sending church. The rest of us supported them with our presence but also had a song prepared to sing when we were invited, and one of the other girls gave her testimony. (I am gradually learning to be prepared for these ‘spontaneous’ invitations.) As the leader of the group I made a few introductory remarks, in Moldovan, in front of the church… and was told afterwards that I am speaking their language well (well, at least they could understand what I said!). It was nice afterwards to be invited to a family’s home for lunch and to sit under their grape arbour enjoying the shade on a hot day.
Having got up at 6 a.m., when I arrived home I laid down for a nap, which lasted 3 hours! Ahhhh… Sunday afternoons….

Moldovan Wedding

Last Saturday Ianosh and Mariana got married. Ianosh is one of my team members and this was a wedding that I had reallly looked forward to. I only actually attended one part of it as Moldovan weddings are fairly drawn out. The day before, the couple went to the magistrate and got 'legally' married. On Saturday morning, they had a Christian wedding, with their church family and friends all present for a 9 a.m. ceremony (which actually didn't start till about 9.30 a.m.) We had a reception at the OM base and then they carried on to the more traditional family wedding wanted by the bride's parents. Had I gone there I would have seen some of the more tradional (Orthodox) components of the wedding. But I only went to the first part.

Shall we gather at the river?

Last Sunday I went to a baptism. Eighteen people came as new believers who wanted to begin their Christian life with this public profession of faith. Baptism is a wonderful symbol of what Christian life is all about. We come to God in repentance, asking for forgiveness for our sins. Because Jesus died, was buried, and rose again from the grave, we can be forgiven and made new, with a purpose for this life and a sure hope of eternal life. Baptism doesn’t make this happen but it symbolizes what God does in our hearts. Going down into the water symbolizes our death to self. Rising out of the water symbolizes rising to a new life, forgiven, cleansed, and empowered by the Spirit of God.
This baptism occurred at a lake outside a town in southern Moldova. People who came to go swimming or boating that day may not have expected to hear the gospel preached, but it was preached – and dramatized by these baptisms. There were sermons in both Romanian and Russian. When the preacher spoke Russian, one of my Moldovan friends translated into Romanian for me. (Imagine! I used to need things translated FROM Romanian, now it’s TO Romanian.)
It was a beautiful and special day, and celebrations were held in heaven and on earth. “there is joy in the presence of God over one sinner who repents…”. Praise the Lord!

Poland revisited

After my sister and niece flew home from Vienna, I continued on my journey solo. First I went up through Slovakia and a corner of the Czech Republic to Poland. (lots of stamps in my passport!!)

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to return to Poland, where I left a corner of my heart when I visited for the first time in 2003. This was my third visit, and the welcome was equally as warm. As well as having the opportunity to worship with the church there, I also was invited to preach. Then in the following days I visited with several of the people who had been involved with the ESL camp we had conducted. And of course, to visit with the Rogaczewski family is always a blessing. After a wonderful time visiting there, I headed home in my trusty little Ford and arrived in Chisinau three days later without incident. OK... well, maybe a slight incident involving Romanian police and radar...but my car was getting anxious to get home and we were almost to the border of Moldova.

If it’s Monday, this is Vienna

(a continuing description of our European travels)
And so we did arrive! The drive from Budapest to Vienna was like nothing compared to the first leg of our journey. In fact, as we drove westward, the roads had improved increasingly until the patchwork, unlined, pot-holed roads of Moldova and the construction-ridden routes
through the mountains of Romania were but a dim memory. The glory of the European Union is first seen in its roads and then in the ease of crossing borders.
Arriving in Vienna we found our way to the hotel and another reality struck me, that I had forgotten about: Austria’s language is German, one I once knew in my years of academia. By the end of the week I had refreshed my memory enough to use simple questions and sentences in shops, having sequestered my Romanian language skills to a backroom of my brain. (This is not an easy feat – the first couple days there were many sentences begun in German and finished in Romanian, resulting in a few odd looks.)
When we arrived we each made a list of what we wanted to se and do in Vienna. Oddly, all of us wanted to have the famous Sachertorte at the Hotel Sacher, so we did that at the beginning and at the end of our time.
It was a birthday party, after all!Couched in between those memorable chocolate experiences we toured the city, toured Schonbrunn Castle, saw Stephensdom. (Bev and I even went up the tower!) We also saw Belvedere – a castle and art gallery where Gustav Klint’s “The Kiss” is displayed. I saw some Rembrandt and Rubens at the Kunsthistoriche Muzeum (Museum of Art History); Bev explored the Vienna Woods, and Jenni also checked out some of the Art Nouveau. I think the highlight of our week was the Mozart concert we attended where the musicians were in period costume.
I also went to a concert at Stephansdom on Thursday evening to hear the Toronto Children’s Choir. They sounded beautiful and it was fun to say hello to Andrew afterwards, a youn man who was in my Sunday School back at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto.
Our summation of Vienna is that it is a beautiful city but it’s really all about music (and art, too) not about buildings. And we just couldn’t seem to get enough music. (not cheaply anyway). It was fun sharing such a time in Vienna with my dear sister and niece. Early on Saturday morning I dropped Bev and Jenni at the Vienna airport and I continued solo on to Poland. Watch for my further adventures, coming soon….

Jenni & Nimrod discuss their favourite things about Vienna

Beautiful Budapest.... again!

I still love Budapest. We were blessed to be able to stay at the Reformed Seminary at an economical price and even secure parking for the car. We did the whole sight-seeing bit – bus tour, explored the castle district, cruise on the Danube – and I learned a few more things about this beautiful city, guarded by Lady Freedom up on the hill of Buda.
It’s language like no other I know but thankfully enough people speak English to get by. I could hardly believe this is the third time this year I have been to Budapest! Bev and Jenni enjoyed seeing the sights and it was fun for me to have someone with whom to see them.

Friday Night in Transylvania

As you know, for the last two weeks I had the joy of being accompanied on my vacation by my sister Beverly and niece Jenni. They came all the way from Canada to visit me in Chisinau and then to travel with me to Vienna, a city none of us had previously visited. We planned to leave Friday morning and hoped to get 2/3 of the way across Romania by nightfall. The drive through Romania was quite lovely. On first crossing the border (a fairly complicated process with the first inkling of the challenge various currencies would be!) we headed north to Iasi (pronounced yash). We passed through small villages where Bev and Jenni got some sense of the simplicity of life in the country that seems from another era altogether: wagons and horses, grass-cutting with scythes, people carrying buckets of water from the local well.
Iasi is more advanced, though – a nice city/university town where we stopped for lunch. Then in my trusty little Ford Sierra, we began our trek through the Carpathian Mountains. We stopped to see one of the Romanian monasteries, Humorului, which was a lovely oasis of peace with well-tended garden, ancient frescoes on the walls of the chapel inside and out and a sense of constancy in a changing world. Outside its walls, though, we were swarmed by vendors at the first indication of interest in any of the lovely handcrafts and goods displayed for sale to the tourists who come to see the monastery.
As we proceeded through the mountains we managed to maintain our schedule in spite of the incredible amount of construction underway. In some places there were lights (sometimes ignored!, but not by us)to regulate long single-lane stretches of construction, but sometimes there wasn’t even a flag-person! The driving was definitely a challenge.
As night began to fall we decided to make the push to get to Bratitsa to stay overnight. Then suddenly in the dusk on the crest of a hill before us we saw ‘Dracula’s Castle Hotel’. Jenni and I had seen this on the internet and thought it would be a neat place to stay. How pleased we were to see it there! We booked into an apartment/room with a view of the mountains that was awesome. Throughout the trip we had nothing but sunshine before and after, but that night in Transylvania we could watch a spectacular lightning storm over the mountains from our ‘castle’ windows. Even so, that Friday night nothing (and nobody!) disturbed our sleep in Transylvania.

Back to Reality, again

Hello, all! I'm back... back to my own apartment, my own computer, my own bed...and in the morning I'll be back to work. The last few weeks have been a wonderful adventure and I've already written something about some of it, which I will start posting tomorrow along with appropriate photos. For now, here's a pic of my sister Beverly, my niece Jenni, and me at Schonbrunn Castle in Vienna - just to prove we really were there. Thanks, Bev & Jenni, for a great time - and Happy Birthday, Jenni!!! Love you lots!

Somewhere in eastern Europe...

Greetings, friends!
No photos this time as I am just grabbing some moments on a friend's computer to let you all know that I am still alive and well, despite a paucity of prose on my blog. I have had a vacation with my sister Beverly and niece Jenni that took us through the mountains of Romania, the highways of Hungary and the awesomeness of Austria. We had two lovely days in Budapest followed by several touristy castle-crawling, museum-meandering days in Vienna - with Sacher torte at either end of course. After they flew home to Canada I continued my journey up to Poland, where I am currently visiting my Rogaczewski friends - and having a wonderful time, of course. I will be home this weekend and will fill you in with more details and photos at that time. Please keep me in your prayers as I travel home alone in my trusty little car.
God bless!
Barb

European Birthday Bash

Greetings and salutations, dear readers! I am now officially on vacation and my sister and niece have safely arrived from Canada. We are having a great time!! Before my official vacation started, though, Beverly and Jenni came and presented a puppet workshop at our OM base, which was enjoyed by all the participants. Bev and Jenni are really wonderful teachers (like mother, like daughter) and they make a great team.
They not only taught how to use puppets and present puppet shows for ministry purposes but after lunch they taught people how to make puppets. There were more puppet arms and heads lying around than I’d ever seen before. I was also pleased that Bev and Jenni had a chance to meet and interact with the people who are so near and dear to my heart.
For the last two days I have been giving them a wee taste of my life here in Chisinau. We went downtown to the Artists’ Square and to the central market, which is bright and alive with fresh fruits and vegetables now that the growing season has begun. Jenni and Bev really enjoyed the experience but we were very glad to take some time to relax at a sidewalk café after our afternoon adventure. I should mention that prior to going to the market, we all went to the bank. B & J had to cash some travellers’ cheques and hence they had their first experience of service and public relations in Moldova. It took much longer than they expected and the need to stand in line three consecutive times to accomplish one transaction didn’t seem to make sense to them. In Moldova, it is normal.
Also – of course – for the first time this week there was no hot water in my apartment. I was hoping it was temporary but when my landlady came by she said that we needed to plug in the electric hot water heater because there is no hot water – not just in my apartment but anywhere in Chisinau! I asked for how long and she said it was indefinite. I asked why – she smiled and shrugged her shoulders and said – ‘This is Moldova!’
Before I came to Moldova more than one person had told me about the underground wine caverns here that you can drive through in your car. I have been wanting to see them ever since I came and this morning we did indeed drive through underground streets lined with thousands of bottles of wine and huge barrels of wine. Milestii Mici was an amazing and extremely enjoyable experience to share with my visitors, even though driving in the narrow caverns was somewhat stressful. The caverns were originally limestone mines but now are used to store the most valuable commodity Moldovans have to sell – wine.
Tomorrow, Jenni, Beverly and I will be leaving on a road trip through Romania to Hungary and then eventually to Vienna in Austria. As I write, Jenni is researching our route tomorrow and we are planning to be driving through ‘Dracula’ country in Romania, as well as seeing some very interesting monasteries. A couple days in Romania, a couple in Budapest and then almost a week in Vienna and Bev and Jenni will be returning home with wonderful memories and lots of interesting stories. I will carry on a bit north to Poland to visit friends there before I head alone across country back to Moldova. It will be a great time and I thank you in advance for praying for our safety as we travel.
Oh – I forgot to mention the basis of our visit together this summer is a big birthday party. Each one of us – Bev (October), Barb(November), and Jenni (July) – will observe a birthday this year that ends in a ‘0’ digit. I’ll leave you to guess which digit is the first for each of us but of course the first digit in Bev’s age is greater than mine! So this memorable trip is our celebration of birthdays for which we will not actually be together. The party is here and now! Life is good.

Back to Reality

I’ve been back in Moldova for four days and am still jet-lagged from the 10-hour difference between Vancouver and here. Transferring your body from one time zone to another in the course of 17 hours is brutal. Coming to Moldova the first time occurred in increments: Toronto to Amsterdam; 2 weeks later, Amsterdam to Budapest; a month later 2 days train ride from Budapest to Chisinau. So doing that same journey, plus the difference of distance from Toronto to Vancouver… well, it’s a different ballgame and my adjustment is challenging.
Combined with that is that it is HOT. The temperature in Chisinau has been in the low 30’s, which I could handle in Toronto when I had an air-conditioned house. But here with no air-conditioning – and still jet-lagged – there’s not a lot of energy coming forth from me. So please forgive me if my blogging is not yet up to speed, and if I haven’t posted the wedding pictures I know you are all dying to see. I am struggling to catch up on the work I have to do and already this morning got caught short when I showed up late for a Bible study that I then discovered I was supposed to be leading!! Such is my first week back at work.  Oh well, I will continue to rely on grace and trust God for the strength to get into the swing of things. Sorry if I am complaining and whining, dear reader. I trust you, too, will forgive me this once.

Wedding photos

Does this bride not look unstressed? She was awesome!



Marah and Dan - happily ever after, by God's grace!

Ten Days in Canada

A bit about my trip: I stopped in Toronto for a few days en route to Vancouver, much to the surprise of many of my friends. But that gave me a wonderful opportunity to see some of the people who are so special to me. I had a lovely day to spend with my mother, and then a day with my son Ben, who helped me in my storage locker to find the things that I have really wanted to have with me here in Moldova. Surprising Doug & Jane on their 50th wedding anniversary was fantastic,
and showing up at my church on Sunday to be welcomed by lots of hugs and kind words, was also fantastic. And lunch with “the girls” on Saturday was really fun as they had no idea I was in town. I felt very loved and appreciated after my time with them and I was so blessed by the hospitality of my good friends Harold and Heather. I also got to see Sarah, who was here in Moldova last summer, and she loaded me up with Canadiana gifts to bring back to the dear ones here. They have been distributed, appreciated and our friends send salutare, Sarah. Domnul sa te binecuvinteze! In fact, last evening at our prayer meeting I led the second half and made a presentation about Canada so everyone prayed for Canada, (I read your letter as promised, Sarah, and we prayed for you) and they all received gifts from Canada. We also prayed for the mission team who will be coming from YP next summer... and for every province and territory of Canada!
So, how was the wedding, you ask? It was wonderful! My week in Vancouver absolutely whipped past, but not without some great times with family and friends. Just to see Josh again after a whole year was so special – and he is doing well. And to have my family all together - the joy of every mother's heart! Visiting with my brother Bob and his wife Jan was great. They not only had us for a meal on their boat one lovely evening, but they also hosted the wedding rehearsal party in their lovely backyard. Of course, the wedding rehearsal went longer than expected (they always do!) and Marah and I and our passengers were late – and we had the burgers for barbecuing!- but nobody was too upset. By then we had friends Eric & Vicki from Nova Scotia, Karen from Toronto, Marah’s high school friends from Toronto, and cousins Kelly and Christa from northern BC all with us,
as well as Dan’s mother Susanah who had arrived from Spain, so it was quite a gathering. I love weddings for the opportunity to bring family and friends together – where there is always laughter and love and caring.
The hero of the week, in my mind (apart from the lovely bride) was cousin Jenn.(Second from the left in this photo of the Fuller cousins.) She was the one to call if we needed information, help, or someone to get something done. Jenn is the woman! She said at the wedding reception that she has adopted my kids – even feeds them!! She has been a tremendous support for Marah ever since Marah moved to Vancouver and this week I saw how amazing she is. Thank you, Jenn!!
The day of the wedding went by pretty fast. The afternoon was spent at the hair salon and by the time we were ready to head out time was disappearing quickly. Finally on the way to the hotel to get dressed and go to the church, Marah got a phone call from Eric reminding her to bring the marriage license! “Mom, we have to go back!”… so we turned around and went back. Long and short of it is that the guests were invited to a 6.30 pm wedding that started at 7 pm. Not bad, I say. (But I won’t tell you all the things that were not done until the absolute last minute!)
At the reception, Ben had his debut as Master of Ceremonies, even gracing us all with a performance of two of the songs he has written. The DJ had great music and there was lots of dancing… just a nice evening. Marah was beautiful. What can I say? As a bride, she had handled the whole week very well – not stressing out unnecessarily, enjoying the people who had come to visit, and getting done the things that were absolutely essential. I was/am really proud of her. Dan is blessed to have her by his side. Dan was a quiet encouragement too – being the steady, laid back, easy-going guy that he is. And I think and pray that Marah and Dan will be very happy together.

Canada & back

My daughter is married! Congratulations, Marah and Daniel! I have been to Canada and back and now am safely once again in my cozy apartment. I will write more once I have had some sleep. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for these events.
Wow - Vancouver was beautiful! and it is hot in Chisinau.

Romania in the Rain (and in the sun!)

Wednesday evening we arrived back from our retreat. We had a great time in Romania, once we all got there. There was a bit of difficulty initially due to new visa laws that require Moldovans to have an invitation in order to enter Romania. Some of the Moldovan team members had left Thursday evening on the bus, only to be turned back at the border. They arrived back at the OM base early early in the morning, not knowing if or how they would be able to get to the retreat. Fortunately, OM Romania were able to quickly put together an invitation and fax it to us to take to the border. So the bus travellers tried again (this time successfully) and those of us going in cars also headed out. Because of the various adjustments we made, we didn’t need to take my car, so I was able to sit and enjoy the journey through beautiful Romania
The OM base in Romania was located in a quaint, lovely small town, Ghimbav, near Brasov, right in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains.
As well as Bible teaching (led by our team leader and myself alternately), prayer and worship, and fun times together, we also had some outings to the nearby mountains – rain or shine. The children had fun in the stream at one mountain spot we went. A local guy was catching crayfish to cook up. The children held crayfish, grasshoppers, frogs, and who knows what else that day?
The day we went for a picnic up in the mountains it started raining just as we finished eating. People still had fun while we waited for baby David to have his lunch before we left. This OM team really is a big family, with adults and children and aunts and uncles and even this soon-to-be grandma!
The trip back went smoothly on a lovely clear day driving through the beautiful roads of Romania. We saw many people working in the fields, often hoeing by hand, or ploughing with a horse; and people riding along in their horse-drawn carts. In Romania, and in Moldova, people often stake their animals – cows, horses, even goats - by the side of the road. The one very noticeable thing about Romania was how smooth and well-kept most of the roads are. When we crossed the border to Moldova yesterday, one of the first confirmations that we were really home again, was that the roads were awful once more. Praise God!

A Place to Party

Last week it was Claudia’s birthday, so we had a birthday party at my place. I even bought a table for the occasion – so here we are: Claudia, Dana, Brandy and I around my new table covered with the pretty tablecloth I bought in Budapest.

Rolling to Romania

Good evening, everyone! I thought I would post a quick note just to let you all know that I won't be posting for a few days as we are going to Romania. It is time for our team's annual retreat and we will join the OM Romania team at their base in Brasov. I understand it is in the mountains of Romania and very beautiful so hopefully when I return next week, I will have some beautiful photos to share with you. We expect to do some walking/hiking in the mountains and I am told maybe we can do some shopping in Brasov. It won't all be fun and games for me, though, as I will be leading two of the four Bible studies during the course of the retreat. I'm all ready and set to go early in the morning. We will begin from the OM base here, at least starting in a convoy to make the 12-hour journey to our destination. Please keep us in prayer for the travel itself and for the time together in Brasov, that we will all be refreshed in every way, and get to know one another better as fellow team members. Some of our team have been in Romania for a awhile already so it will be great to be re-united with them.
I am also going to post this picture that we took last Sunday.
Quite often after church on Sundays a few of us go out for pizza. here's the group I went with on Sunday. An interesting thing about Moldova pizza is that quite often, they put corn on it!!




And... this is June!! Already!! This is the month my daughter gets married! Wedding plans are in full swing and starting to fall in place. One week after we get back from Romania, I will be leaving for Canada! Look out, here I come!!

sorry it's been a while...

I guess I've been pretty busy lately. Part of it was that I had a cold - battled it for a couple weeks and eventually realized it had developed into a sinus infection. But that's all fine now and I can't claim illness as my excuse any longer. But when I try to figure out what I've been doing, not really sure. I did arrange a farewell celebration for our team-mate Victor, who has gone off to be a missionary in another country. Then I went with the group who saw him off at the airport one evening. There's always people coming and going. We have a new recruit here from Austria and getting her established in her program and in the team, is one of my responsibilities. I have also been working at arranging my schedule to allow time for preparation for a couple Bible studies I have led, for some sharing I was going to do, and for co-leading the Bibles studies at our annual team retreat coming up next week. So I guess it's fair to say that the time I have usually spent writing on my blog is starting to be used for preparation time for doing some of the teaching I love to do. Yesterday morning I led a study on Ephesians and on Sunday I went with Matthew to some village churches where I was able to share a word of testimony and sing a song. I do enjoy getting out to the villages and seeing a bit of the rural life in Moldova. Here's an example of the roads in the villages. I was just as glad not to be driving on Sunday!
But I am always happy to come back to my own little apartment where I can close the door, put up my feet, put on some music and relax.
One of my favourite responsibilities each week is leading our little Global Action group - a core study program that I am leading 3 girls in. So on Friday mornings I bring them to my apartment so we can drink coffee, eat muffins, and share in our Bible study. It's a very special time and Marah refers to these girls as my 'wannabe' daughters. They're not my Marah, but they are still pretty special.
Speaking of Marah, wedding plans are coming along - even half a world away. There was a bit of a glitch when someone somehow got my credit card number and started stealing money from my account. RBC Visa got right on it so, praise the Lord, I am not out any money but it's pretty unsettling to have this kind of scam defraud you of oodles of money without them even having the card itself!! So paying wedding bills has been put on hold until my new card arrives by courier. (I keep thinking of Tom Hanks, FedEx and the soccer ball, and wondering if and how the card will ever get here. The same is true, actually of my plane ticket to Canada - it is coming via courier. Five business days, they say. Wonder what that translates into in Moldova time...)
That's the other thing recently - there's been a lot of contact back and forth with family and friends in Canada. My sister and niece are coming to visit in July and I am trying to find a cheap and easy way for them to get here from Vienna. You wouldn't think that would be so complicated - but it is!
Also, Jenni went to my storage locker to get me some books which she will bring when they come this summer. In doing so, she had a visit with my son Ben. I was really delighted to receive this picture of Jenni and Ben.

Just in case (10 essentials for travelling in Moldova)

When you are asked to drive someone home for their mother’s funeral, you really should stop and think before you jump in the car. There are certain essentials you need for any trip and certain essentials you might need if you end up staying somewhere overnight when you didn’t expect to. This weekend I thought I was driving for three hours, dropping someone off, and driving back again. So Saturday morning I headed off, forgetting that a 3 hour drive on Moldovan roads can last many more hours, especially if every time you ask someone at the side of the road for directions, they ask you for a drive to that place (or nearby…) and somehow their directions take you on a different route than you had intended. But after all, what are backroads for but to explore!? So – here is my list of the 10 essentials for travelling in Moldova (even short trips):
1. Boots – I get an A for this one. As I was leaving, it was raining in Chisinau and so I did the math – spring + rain+ Moldovan village = “glud”, or Moldovan mud – lots of it! Walking in the funeral procession down a side “street” of a tiny village, I was very glad I had remembered not only my boots but shoes to wear when it was sunny. When I got home, I just left the boots in the car – you never know!
2. Map – after our adventurous trip to Odessa I discovered that I had a map of Moldova that was much better than the one I bought for 70 lei. This was very helpful driving to Paicu last week and then again this weekend heading down the same road and beyond.
It was also helpful as I was picking up the girls I was taking with me. On Thursday I had driven to Orhei, which is the other direction, and had it in my head we were going in that direction. Checking the map before I left, I realized we were going in the complete opposite direction; a good thing to know. Also, after we had our friendly assistants giving us directions (see above), the map helped us to make sure we were still on the right track.
3. Toothbrush & paste – a simple thing, and thankfully my travelling companion had toothpaste, but as I brushed my teeth with my finger out back by the rabbit hutches
this morning, after 24 hours without, I was grateful at least for the toothpaste! (I will also include in this category other personal items such as wet wipes, deodorant, and clean underwear.)
4. Water – I score full marks for this one too. I had been battling a cold so was drinking lots of water all the time anyway, so I made sure I had some with me. Not that they don’t have water in Moldovan villages but we have always been advised not to drink the water from the wells here – and that’s where they get it, straight from the well. However, I took great pleasure in partaking of the cherry compote (basically homemade cherry juice) we were served!
5. Brush & mirror – For some reason I often forget to put my brush in my purse. After sleeping, not to have a brush can be a problem – and even if I have a brush, if I don’t have a mirror I could do worse with the brush than without it. So I am going to purchase a small mirror to keep in my purse, along with my brush.
6. Headscarf- If it’s a Saturday night and you are staying overnight in a Baptist home, chances are you will go to a Baptist service on Sunday morning.
If you’re the only woman without a headscarf you might feel out of place, especially when they welcome their guests and invite you to share a testimony or a song or some poetry. Thankfully I did have my headscarf, though Liuba, my travelling companion, did not.
7. Something always ready to share in a worship service – In eastern Europe there is no such thing as a backrow Baptist, nor any hope of a visitor remaining anonymously hidden in the back row. Rather, visitors are ushered to the very front row and expected to share something (at the VERY least to bring greetings from their home church) with the congregation. I keep forgetting this. Liuba didn’t have a headscarf but she did have a poem at the ready in her Bible so she got full points for being a well-prepared guest in that aspect. In spite of my cold I decided, in desperation, to sing a song. During the first sermon, and then even the second, instead of listening attentively I spent the time trying to choose which song I would sing and trying to figure out if I knew the words and if I knew how to explain the English words with my limited Romanian vocabulary. Liuba said I did good – I hope so!
8. Bible – What kind of missionary goes anywhere without a Bible??! Well, I did. And not only did I have nothing to read before going to bed last night, this morning in church when I might have simply shared a Bible verse, both people I was sitting next to had Russian Bibles, so I couldn’t even find a Romanian Bible to read from. I was grateful that the hymn book was in Romanian, even though all the hymns seem to be somewhat doleful in their tone. They fit in well in the funeral procession this afternoon when the Baptist sisters were singing hymns enroute and as the procession stopped for a Bible reading at every corner we passed (much to the annoyance especially of truck drivers impatiently waiting to pass the procession).
9. Stickers – OK, well maybe not an essential, but a definite boon when there are children around. In the home where we stayed, there were two delightful children – Daniel, 3
and Viorica, 6. They took a real shining to Liuba (actually all children do – she’s like that) and during church they just wanted to be close to her once they returned from their Sunday School class. As well as poetry, Liuba had stickers in her Bible (yes, she had her Bible – a much better missionary than I!).
The children were absolutely thrilled to pieces to have these wonderful ‘Jesus Loves Me’ stickers to show to everyone. I thought, "Now there’s something I can ask my friends at home to send in the mail that won’t require a parcel and that will be a treasure for some Moldovan children."


10. Camera – Full marks for me here, too. I grabbed my camera as I went out the door, grateful that the batteries had been recharged. You, my friend, are enjoying the benefits of the fact that I took it with me. Southern Moldova was absolutely gorgeous and on the way home, after a sad but satisfying weekend, Liuba and I took lots of pictures, stopping every time we saw another breathtaking scene, or cows in the road, but not when we saw someone looking for a lift! We made it home in just over three hours. Took us 4 ½ to get there.