Greetings from Moldova! For those of you who don’t know where Moldova is (that’s ok I wasn’t entirely sure myself)…it is a baby country of only 2 decades nestled between Ukraine and Romania. We arrived in the little town of Cornesti on Friday. The living conditions here are definitely different than what we experienced in Romania. We are living in a 2 room house with 7 girls in one room and a man, his wife, and 5 month old in the other room. The outhouse is a hole in the ground and we are currently waiting to hear info. on the location of the buckets so we can shower…I have to be honest, this part freaks me out a bit. This town doesn’t have heat or running water so we’re learning to live without those luxuries as well.
The ministry we are working with, though, is absolutely incredible! They are a church with a vision to plant 30 churches in the surrounding villages within the next 30 years. The ministry is actively working to become a self-sustaining organization so they have built a farm, complete with chickens, pigs, and “beavers” (which we think are really muskrats…I’ll let you know when we eat one for dinner!) to aid in this vision.
Along with the church and farm, they have a shelter for human trafficking victims. I have had the opportunity to get to know a few of the girls in this shelter and I already adore them. It’s so amazing to realize that everything we do this month is going to be helping victims of human trafficking whether it’s harvesting tomatoes, cooking for those in the shelter, sewing, teaching English, or simply building relationships with the girls and boys.
Please be praying for unity this month as we work alongside those here at Sinai 30 as well as for the country of Moldova (see below for more information on the country itself). Our contact, Vitale, has asked us to pray for the multiplication of the beavers (yes, that means exactly what you think it does) for their farm to grow so if you would like to join us in that prayer as well, that would be wonderful. : )
*Pictures will follow soon…with our limited Internet access I couldn't get them to upload.
Facts about Moldova:
-”To be Moldovan is to be Orthodox”
-In other words, religion is a tradition that is a part of their culture, not necessarily a part of their daily lives
-This is a country with a slavery mentality–slavery to fear, tradition, etc.
-There is a huge gender disparity where women are 2nd class citizens and spousal abuse is not uncommon
-There is a lot of superstition in this culture…
-Women can’t sit on cold concrete or they risk infertility
-People shouldn’t get caught in a cross breeze or they will get extremely ill
-Don’t look someone directly in the eye for long periods of time
-Take shoes off before entering a house
-Number one European country for international sex trafficking
-Number one country for alcoholism
-Poorest European country
-1/2 of the population has fled the country in the last 10 years
