October Penance

I must apologize. I was kidnapped. Borne away from blogger by the seduction of Facebook. All my facebook friends have seen photos and had updates that many of my faithful blog readers know nothing about! I repent in dust and ashes... or, at least in a flurry of blog updates to get you up to speed.



You heard about the wedding, but you missed Corinne's birthday party. You saw photos of the park but you didn't accompany me on Stefan cel Mare street on the day of the civic holiday. So let me share with you some of the highlights from October:

October has been a pretty busy month, with Thanksgiving and all. In Moldova they don't celebrate Thanksgiving on a certain date as we do in Canada. Rather, each church chooses a Sunday in late September or early October to thank the Lord for the harvest. I didn't want to totally miss my Canadian Thanksgiving so I filled my apartment with the best aroma imaginable by making pumpkin pie. It was so good!



Besides Thanksgiving, October is also a month of birthday celebrations. My sister's birthday is October 16 - Happy Birthday, Beverly!

and my friend Corinne's birthday was on October 17. In true Dutch fashion Corinne invited me and some of her friends and neighbours to her home for her birthday party. We had a great time. Corinne had made a delicious Dutch soup - kippa suppe - and we all enjoyed that and birthday cake and a true Moldovan celebration. Moldovans are very earnest in their offering of birthday greetings and very devout even in their celebrating. Several of the women came with poetry to recite or read and flowers to present, along with a blessing. At one point in the evening we sort of played a game - 'Name the Psalm' - as one of the sisters recited entire psalms and then asked us to say which one it was! I knew a couple of them, where they were from - but I certainly couldn't have recited them like she did.





Corinne's birthday is also the same day she celebrates the birthday of her closest friend and canine companion, Silas. So even he had a gift or two to open.

During my visit to Corinne we went one day for a walk in the woods. It was a lovely fall day and the path was covered with newly fallen leaves. Silas had a great time exploring in the forest as well.







In October there is also a municipal holiday celebrating the anniversary of the city. There were all kinds of festivities in downtown Chisinau and I went down there with Natasha and Viorica and a visiting Brit and a visiting American! It was all about dancing in the streets!










Last Sunday I travelled with a couple of people to the village of Anenii Noi. Natasha was making her presentation in the church there, seeking to raise financial and prayer support for her upcoming journey to central Asia. She is shown in the picture below with another girl, another Natasha, who used to work with our team as well. That young woman is working with the church there, reaching out to young women and to the elderly. Another young woman who went through our training program is now working with her church and reaching out to street people. Such a blessing to see good fruit from the work we are doing....