The second half of our ministry in Moldova was great. We were able to keep in
touch with our contact from the first half of the month and heard of several of our
prayer requests being fulfilled by God. God always provides for the work He wants
to get done. It was such a blessing to hear of His provision to the church in Leova.
Our ministry the final two weeks was in a village in the southern tip of Moldova.
Our village was very small—around 250 people—and it seemed as if we had gone
back in time. To get milk, you found a cow. If you needed a certain type of vegetable,
you bought it from the neighbor that grew it or traded it for whatever you grew.
We spent a lot of our time just getting to know the people and most of that time was
over meals in their homes. They were extremely precious people and would barely
let us work to serve them. We had a chance to help them work on their church
building that is still very much in process of being built and some days we picked
peaches in the fields with the rest of the villagers.
The villagers that hosted us were members of the small church that we lived in.
The married women in the village always covered their heads in church and none
of them wore make-up or earrings and the men and women sat on opposite sides
of the room during the service, which is common in almost all Eastern European
evangelical churches. It was great to see the people of this church practicing their
traditions but not being held back by them. They didn’t judge us for not being as
traditional in our way of worship but accepted the different ways and forms of
worship. They truly loved and served one another in the church and also depended
on one another. These people had such an honor and respect for the Lord and
worshipped Him so beautifully. During almost each prayer of thanksgiving before
the meals, someone would be brought to tears in thanksgiving for what a great God
they had.
These people didn’t have much financially but they gave their very best to God and
to us. They gave us the best beds, pillows, and blankets from their homes for us to
use.
The pastor of their church had disappeared a few months ago with money that
had been donated for the church building and a man in the church had taken on
the role of pastoring the church. Not only did he serve the church every Sunday
while feeling very inadequate, but he went the extra mile of giving all of his profits
from his peach farm and sunflower farm to help complete more of church building.
This church was a great picture of a community of believers coming together and
realizing the importance of a covenant community. It was a great blessing to be a
part of this community for a few weeks. I want to thank you all who have made my
ministry possible this year!
