Saturday in the Park

Being a lovely fall day on Saturday, and having one of our new recruits - Denise - as a houseguest, we decided to go for a walk in the nearby park.

It was so lovely and many people had decided to do the same thing, taking advantage of the cooler but still comfortable weather to enjoy the beauties of God's creation.

There were families and mothers with babies and young people with various wheeled conveyances but mostly it was just a peaceful stroll.

On this Thanksgiving weekend, even though I may be missing the magnificent fall colours we enjoy in Canada and the turkey dinner with all the fixings around the table with family and friends, this was a special time of just appreciating God's creation and all that He has given me. This may be a poor country economically but the wealth of its beauty cannot be calculated.

A Rainy blessed wedding day

So last week was Eugen and Dana's wedding in Slobozia. It was truly a Moldovan experience! They had hoped to have the wedding outside and so the inside of the church was all set up for the meal and festivities afterward. With the rain and all, everything had to move into the church and so we sat there with the food spread before us as the service got underway. There was barely space between the tables for the wedding party to walk down the "aisle" but they were all lovely in any case. Getting from the parking space across the muddy street to the church was the first challenge. But Dana and Eugen appeared to just be happy that the day had finally arrived and everyone was rejoicing with them in the beginning of their life together.

Hannah, Lydia, and Rachel were junior bridesmaids - so lovely in the dresses that Natasha had made for them!

Rafael escorted Dana in, and his son Philip was the ring-bearer.

The day didn't start out too well for me. I was supposed to take a carload of people with me but as you may remember, Rosie doesn't like the rain and last time she was in that part of Moldova she broke down and had to be towed home. So, before we ever left Chisinau (thankfully!) Rosie just stopped running. I managed to pull off the road before the engine completely died and ended up travelling, along with my passengers, in the team van to the wedding. Cozy but we got there.

There was lots of food at the wedding. I mean the table were full from the time we first sat down and by the time the ceremony was over and we were able to eat, we were hungry. So people start eating and filling up. Then Corinne leans over to me and warns me - there's more food coming; this is just the appetizers. Sure enough before too long there are plates of hot meats and stuffed green peppers and sarmale and clatite - all the best of Moldovan fare. Delicious but by the end of the time, I was certainly stuffed! It was amazing how the girls who were serving were able to squeeze between the benches and tables to bring all these platters of food to set before us.

A Moldovan wedding is a fairly spontaneous affair with lots of opportunity for anyone who wants to contribute something to the program. Some recite poetry, some sing , in this case some of our guys even did a little drama about Dana and Eugen. People are invited to make remarks or bring greetings and they had a great MC who even had games in which the guests participated. The bridal party were asked to come up with ideas of what makes a man a man and a woman a woman. There were some very interesting answers such as, "a woman knows how to iron", and "men like football"... you get the drift. One lovely moment in the celebration was when the pastor invited a couple from the church who had been married for 50 years to come to the front and share their secret and give some advice to the newlyweds. That was pretty special and then Dana decided to honour the woman by giving her the bridal bouquet. Later, the dear lady came to Dana and returned the bouquet to her so that she could throw it to all the single ladies who were hoping to catch it!

By the time the eating was all done the sun had come out and so it was possible to continue outside with the cutting of the wedding cake and taking of photos. Everyone wanted to have their picture taken with the couple and so they did. I'm still waiting to get picture that someone took of me with the newlyweds. It really was a lovely and joyful day! Congratulations, Eugen and Dana!

Harvest Time

I just came back from a visit to Paicu, a small village in the south. Every year they have a harvest festival and every year Tamara has invited me to come. This was the first time I was able to make it. The young church invites the whole village to a thanksgiving service and then a harvest feast. The women of the church worked all night the night before preparing all kinds of Moldovan delicacies - salads, potatoes & chicken, stuffed green peppers, clatite (a kind of crepe), wafer biscuits with honey - it was all lovely and delicious. Somebody in the village had donated grapes - lots and lots and lots of grapes - and I brought a big bag of leftover grapes home, as well as a bag of fresh tomatoes and a couple loaves of bread that weren't used. Harvest season in Moldova is really quite wonderful. On the way home today there were many roadside fruit vendors with watermelon, squash, grapes and tomatoes. Truly God is to be thanked for the abundance of the harvest.

And at the same time as the village has shared the physical blessings of the harvest, they have planted the seeds of the gospel - generosity, compassion and caring, hope, the love of God, and the word of God.

"As the rain and snow come down from heaven,

and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." - Isaiah 55:10,11

This morning as I led a Bible study on John 17 with the women of the church, I encouraged them to continue to do God's work of making Christ known, sharing His word, praying for those in their sphere of influence, and reflecting the glory of God in all that they do.

A chance to good to miss:

On the way home today we saw this sight and it was too good not to share with you. I was glad that Kate was with me to jump out of the car and go running to snap this photo. The driver thought she was crazy: "My car broke down - what do you expect me to do!?!" I never cease to be amazed at the ingenuity and practicality of Moldovans. See folks, I shouldn't be worrying about Rosie and whether she'll start or not - I should just get myself a horse!

Romance Capital of the World...

... too bad the romance wasn't mine! Well, never mind - it was the next best thing: I was invited to co-officiate at the wedding of my dear friend Emma. She and Alan had decided that they wanted to get married in the most romantic city in the world. I was so privileged to be a part of their special day! Not only did I get to be with them but I also met some more of Emma's family members, as well as Alan's parents. Emma comes from a large Italian family and it was fun seeing these wonderful people together - so vibrant and full of life and love and laughter.

On the day before the wedding, after we met with the pastor at the American Church in Paris, where the wedding was held, I spent the afternoon with Emma's brother Paul, and his wife Barb. We did one of those hop-off/hop-on bus tours and had a great time together. It was so nice to be able to see the sights with someone else to share them. Driving past the Place de Concorde we noticed that Emma was not the only bride getting married that weekend!! Can you count the brides in this photo?? We got off at the Champs-Elysees and had some lunch at one of the many cafe/restaurants. Later we ended up at the Eiffel Tower and went all the way to the top - what a view! One of the things that for some reason surprised me about Paris was how flat it is. I never really had thought about it before but somehow didn't expect that. The only real hill is Montmartre and I didn't have time to go there... oh well, next time!

The wedding was on Saturday at noontime (very approximately!!!) and the reception wasn't until the evening so in the in between time I went and saw a few more things, including the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. What a huge museum!!!

In the evening I was back with the family for the celebration together and we had such a nice time. It was fun to get to know the sister who lives in Ireland with her Danish husband, and the other sister and the aunt who came from Italy and the friend who came from England. Alan's parents had come from Toronto and Emma's brother and wife came from Manitoba. Paris is a beautiful city for an international gathering like this!

Now, I must mention somewhere in here that there was also a certain amount of frustration in my otherwise beautiful weekend. You may know that I studied French for a total of 9 years in school and university. I used to be able to speak it passably. I know the grammar. I have a reasonable amount of vocabulary. But in many ways French is similar to its Romance language cousin, Romanian. So I spent the weekend totally tongue-tied, twisting the tip of my tongue in circles trying to untangle the sentences that came readily in Romanian but one excruciating word at a time in French. Travelling on the Metro and the bus I found myself painfully putting together the correct French-only sentences and questions in my mind that I might possibly need, stumbling to find a pronoun or a verb that jumped headlong in Romanian into my mind but refused to show itself in French! Tongue -tied, I was - and so relieved to return to Moldova where I can actually put sentences together all in one language at a time!!

On Sunday I spent most of the day on my own visiting the Notre Dame Cathedral and the bookstalls nearby. I found an English used-book store there called Shakespeare & Co. (?) and went in to buy a copy of Victor Hugo's novel about the Hunchback, of course. It was an awesome store and I also found a very special book for my grandchildren but I won't say here what that is. (Marah, you and yours will just have to wait!) Anyway, the store put me in mind of John Doull's used bookstore in Halifax. The woman at the cash was obviously a native English speaker so I asked where she was from. I was expecting the usual answer - the United States but she totally took me aback. "Nova Scotia", she said. I was dumbfounded. Can you believe it? Turns out she knows my friend John Doull and she worked also in the Box of Delights bookstore in Wolfville, which of course I am familiar with. How cool is that?

Before meeting up with all the wedding people again I went on a boat cruise on the River Seine. It was lovely seeing all the sights of Paris from the water - so many beautiful buildings and so much history and lovely music to go with it. One of the most delightful things I saw en route was the people dancing on the quay, apparently a common past-time in Paris at this particular spot. Paris is definitely a romantic city. (Mr. Right, if you're out there, just put yourself in this picture and let me know - I'd be willing to go to Paris again!!) After the cruise I met up with the wedding crowd, including the new bride and groom, and we all went to an Italian restaurant to have supper together. It was a nice way to finish up a lovely weekend in Paris.

Love Moldova

From the time I returned from Canada, I have been visiting teams who came to participate in our summer outreaches. In the course of the summer over 120 individuals came from many different countries. There were a lot of Dutch folk, as well as British, German, Swiss, American and even a few Canadians! Before each outreach we would conduct an orientation day and at the end of their two week outreach we would hold a debriefing day. These were part of my responsibility, as well as visiting the teams in between time.

In the villages, the teams had many different kinds of experiences as they worked with the churches there and stayed in the homes of the local believers. One team arrived in a village late one evening, hoping for supper, only to be informed that the first order of business would be for them to build themselves an outhouse! Such is the life of a missionary! (So glad I have never yet been required to do that.) Here is a photo of the outdoor shower that same team had the privilege to use that week.

But in spite of the challenges of basic living, the teams all came back with stories of how God had worked and of what they had learned during their time. It is always heartening to have at least 2-3 young people who are seeking God's direction in their lives and who come back from the outreach saying, "I believe God is calling me into missions." This is one of our goals in conducting these outreaches, as well as the primary goal of bringing God's love and mercy and hope to the people of Moldova.

In one village where I visited, the team was doing practical work as well as running a children's program for 140 children!! The women of the local church were feeding all these children each day. We were there for one of their closing programs and the children absolutely packed their current building. The church has already almost completed a new building that will have space to hold the children and also their parents and families!! We were very impressed by the vision of the pastor in this small community, who also preaches at 2-3 nearby mission points.

There was another group that was very large, consisting of a youth group from Holland. Along with our OM team members, they worked with a local church to run a children's program in the local park, and to build a playground near the church. When you see the state of the park where they were meeting with the children, you will appreciate that a new brightly-painted playground will be greatly appreciated. One of the highlights for this group of young people was that two of the group members committed their lives to Christ in the course of their time here. There was great rejoicing and these two young men were eager to testify to their new faith in Jesus.

Unfortunately on my way back from visiting one of the teams, Rosie, my car who had just returned to me from the repair shop, decided that she hadn't had enough attention. She wanted some more new parts and she wasn't going anywhere until she got them!! Sigh... we did eventually get home that night - Albina and I - but we left Rosie in Causeni to eventually be towed back to her own personal mechanic in Chisinau who apparently is the only one who can keep her on the road, as long as I keep paying for the parts!

This week I am going with my team to our annual team retreat so I won't be around for a few days. Thanks for stopping by to visit - please do feel free to leave a comment!

Summer Scenes

In Moldova

Summer is a lovely season, with fields of sunflowers everywhere.












This is the time of year when we host many foreigners who come on short term mission trips to help with outreaches in the villages.

As part of my role in member care, I am responsible to visit the teams while they are on outreach so I do more travelling around Moldova in this season.
In this photo you can see Katie washing dishes while Snejana helps and Dana supervises. Good work, Katie! Notice the bucket next to Dana, which someone used to bring the water from the well in order to wash the dishes. Also, notice this is a typical church in Moldova, with a mural on the front wall.










The children are always enthusiastic as these foreign visitors who speak English come and do all kinds of activities with them, teaching them new games, telling them Bible stories, and showing them the reality of God's love.




Our team members lead the outreach teams and do the translating for the various aspects of the program. The teams go to a village for a week, staying either in the church or with a family, and work together with the local pastor and church to meet the needs of the community.


One morning in Milesti Micii, I watched as the outreach team led the children in warm-up exercises. Everyone seemed to be having a great time!

In Canada...

While in Canada on vacation I was able to spend a bit of time with my mother, who has made a good recovery from her surgeries and is doing quite well. Some of you have asked about her, so I wanted to share this with you. Thank you for praying for her! She is certainly in the Lord's hands, and continues to be an encouragement to me.

After a few days in Toronto, I was off to British Columbia with my son Ben. Arriving in Vancouver, we picked up my daughter and her children at the bus station and headed off to beautiful Vancouver Island. The ferry ride was lovely after the long hot wait in the van!

We had a lovely few days on the island, visiting some beaches, doing some swimming and playing and enjoying the summer weather.

The children really enjoyed Uncle Ben's presence and he was always playing and laughing with them. Alejandro taught Ben how to do Spiderman 'webs', and Ben taught Ali all kinds of fun and boy-type stuff.

After our island vacation, we picked up Josh in Vancover and headed back up to Kamloops, where we celebrated Eliana's first birthday!