Pig Snout Soup

One never knows what will be in the soup. At missionary training school we were warned not to be surprised to find a chicken's beak or feet in the soup. And sure enough one day in a village we were served chicken, not in a soup but just as pieces of meat. And on the plate were the chicken's legs and feet. Not attractive at all but we laughed as we watched the Moldovan guys pick them up and tear off what little bit of meat was on them.

So the other day we went to Nisporeni to visit one of our outreach teams. Their meals were being generously prepared by members of the church and so we joined them for lunch. We had lovely bowls of cabbage soup, with a few bits of meat. One girl claimed she had a pig's ear, which is generally a delicacy in Moldova. Afterwards I was passing through the kitchen and one of the girls called me over to have a look in the soup pot. I kid you not - this is what was there. We had just enjoyed pig snout soup! Don't you wish you were here to enjoy the epicurean delights of Moldova?

Before we enjoyed lunch, though, we had gone with the team to watch them present a program for a local kindergarten. These are government-subsidized day programs for very young children. They were so little and soooo cute! Our team sang some action songs and the littlest wee ones made a valiant effort to follow the actions. There was a play presented with a moral and a spiritual lesson, a puppet show and a magic trick and another song rounded out the program. In all of this the team had freedom to present moral lessons that were also including spiritual truths about a Creator who loves each person unconditionally. I'm sure that in each presentation these teams make in various kindergartens, precious seed is being sown as children hear of God's unconditional love for them and of someone named Jesus who loves every parent and every child.