Bine ai venit la Moldova! Welcome to Moldova!

Spring is here, Easter is here, and my daughter is here!!!
What a joy it was on Wednesday evening to greet my daughter Marah at the Chisinau airport, along with several of my team-mates who came to help welcome her. After 16 hours of travelling – from Vancouver, Canada – she was pretty tired and is still catching up on her sleep and dealing with jet lag.
I spent the day on Wednesday buying a car. Praise God for providing me with a very good used car, a friend to help with the purchase of it, and a mechanic to care for it! It took all Wednesday afternoon to change registration of ownership, get the environment test done, go to the notary to do up a contract regarding the ownership of the car, buy gas, and then rush to the airport, arriving barely in time to greet Marah. In Moldova, a foreigner cannot own a car, so what happens is that a Moldovan buys it and then you make a contract allowing you, as a foreigner, all the rights of ownership and insurance, etc. So now I am the proud semi-owner of a 1990 Ford Sierra, with all the privileges and responsibilities that go with it. Finally I can go some places!
So today, Saturday, Marah and I took advantage of my new-found mobility and drove with a group of people (connections through International Women’s Club) to a village in Anenii Noi. There the community had prepared a cultural festival so it was a wonderful opportunity for both Marah and I to experience traditional Moldovan culture. At the entrance we were greeted with bread, salt and wine, the traditional symbols of Moldovan hospitality. After a series of speeches and welcome there were some traditional dances and songs performed and then an opportunity to sample wonderful Moldovan food and to buy crafts made by local people. The food was amazing and Marah seems to like ‘brinze’ (sheep cheese), and sarmale (tiny cabbage rolls) and the delicious cheese bread that was shared. She even said the mamaliga was ok, in small amounts. She also got to join in as the women spontaneously started dancing in a circle – it was great! We bought each other tiny trees, pretty decorative trees made of wire and beads. On the way home the trip was a bit longer, firstly because we got a bit lost at the beginning, and then once we found a road back to Chisinau (a different one than we came on!), I kept stopping to take pictures, because I could. We had another woman with us, who works with Peace Corps, and she also enjoyed the opportunity to take pictures.
Spring is bursting forth and at some places the vivid green was breathtaking as we drove through the countryside of what was known as the breadbasket of the Soviet Union. As beautiful as the scenery was, none of us were particularly appreciative of the bumpy roads we find in most parts of the country. The highway wasn’t too bad, but in the city the potholes in the streets are atrocious and you have to weave down the street to avoid huge ones and sometime play ‘chicken’ with oncoming cars in order to avoid the worst of the potholes on narrow streets.
This is Easter weekend, in Canada, at least. Here in Moldova Easter is celebrated next weekend. But for those of you who hail our Lord’s Resurrection tomorrow, may you be blessed with the joy of His victory and the peace of knowing that His death has obtained forgiveness of sins for all who put their trust in Him and receive His loving grace!
The Lord is risen! Alleluia!