Answer: Cornesti, Moldova!
What’s Moldova? It’s a country! And, contrary to what we’re learning may be a popular belief; it is NOT a tropical island. It’s a nation sandwiched right between Romania and Ukraine over here in good old freezing cold Eastern Europe. It's okay, I didn't really know Moldova was a country, either, until like 5 months ago.
Facts about our month:
-There is not gas or running water in Cornesti.
-There are a few wells, and some stoves; otherwise…
-We do not have showers except once a week at the "sauna" (that's also a bar…) in the next town over.
-We do not have heat…and it’s about 40 degrees or so on average? Or maybe it just feels that way. Someone Google it and let me know, we also don’t really have internet.
-One does not wear shoes indoors in Moldova. Ever.
-One does not make direct eye contact in Moldova.
-Young women do not sit down outside where it’s cold, that will make us infertile.
-We do not have toilettes. We don’t even have squatties, we have holes in the ground with sheds built around them. They smell awesome (getting me prepared for India? Or maybe Africa?).
-There are about 30 flies in my bedroom right now. This is normal.
-Team WALDO is paired up with two other teams on A-squad totaling us at 6 men and 13 women (holy, that’s a lot of missionaries in one tiny town, batman!)
-The 19 of us are divided between 3 houses, I'm in a two-room house sharing 1 room with 6 other women.
our bathroom
our house and our puppies Jack and Jessie (aka my two new best friends)
our bedroom
You could say it’s going to be a rough month.
But then there’s our contact, Vitale, and his incredible vision for Moldova. Vitale is the head of a mission called Sinai 30, which he began after he received a vision to plant 30 churches in the surrounding communities here in 30 years. He’s 6 years in, he has a base church here in Cornesti, has planted smaller church communities in 5 surrounding villages, and has 3 missionaries out right now from his church (Their names are Serge, Alexander, and Alex – PLEASE pray for them). Moldova has decreased over 50 percent in population in 10 years because the people here are hopeless, but it’s SO clear when you hear about Vitale’s vision that God has a hope and plan for this nation.
The farm pigs
the field we cleared in a hail storm
part of Sinai 30's farm
the other side of Sinai 30's farm, it extends quite a ways beyond the animal pins on in the middle.
the chicken coop I swept poop out of for an hour in the rain.
Emmanuel Church: The base church that Vitale planted in Cornesti. Emmanuel church consists of two church services per week, a shelter to house orphans, a farm that they hope will bring the mission to a place of self-sufficiency in the future, and multiple outreach and kids programs. It’s truly incredible…and the best part is that they’re doing EVERYTHING they do directly to fight and prevent human trafficking. They take in orphans and work with street kids and students and have a farm to sustain the mission, but also to teach the kids discipline and life skills, and it’s working, and God’s multiplying it. It’s beautiful, and it breaks my heart in crazy exciting ways, and I’m beyond excited about ministry this month.
my squadmate, Jake, heading to the farm
So, back to when I said you could say it’s going to be a rough month…in many respects, this WILL be rough for me personally. I don’t function well when I’m cold, I’ve never been without heat or running water for 25 days straight, and I’m legitimately doing manual labor in poop sometimes…but Vitale, Sinai 30, and Emmanuel Church are all SO exciting to me that I cannot wait to dive into this. It’ll be hard to live without the things that keep me comfortable, but they’re also things that help me to curl up into myself – this month I don’t get to do that.
This month I am solely dependent on Christ for my comfort, and God’s so faithful.
These are exactly the kind of conditions people scoffed about and imagined when I tried to tell them I was going on the race because they didn’t think I could survive it – but God trusted me enough to let me try.
I don’t want to spend anymore time standing in a church in America with my arms raised singing songs about how God is my sustainer, my refuge, my strength, my comfort, and all I need without KNOWING that I’ve relied on Him to be all of that to me.
I sought this,
I prayed for this,
I begged for this,
I raised support for this,
and God has provided me this beautiful opportunity to draw near to Him.
Thank you, Papa.
In other news: We will only have internet access on Mondays, and only from about 12pm-5pm-ish our time…so, basically, the middle of the night in the US…which means I wont really get to talk to anyone back home this month; which brings me to an immediate prayer request: My momma. My mom is fighting the fight of her life right now, and I know and believe that it is part of this plan for our wonderful relationship that I not be next to her to hold her hand through this, and I know and believe that Jesus has beautiful, sweet, new things to show my mom through this season, but I miss her. For being 22, I have an amazing relationship with my mom and I know it’s hard for her to not have me there, even though she knows I’m where I’m supposed to be. It’s hard for me to know that it’s hard for her, so please keep her lifted up. Specifically pray for her as she has two more chemo treatments, and pray for her heart because this month is going to be hard for both of us to not have any real ability to communicate excluding weekly emails.
Mom, I love you, and you’re beautiful inside and out. Thank you for teaching me to be strong and for letting me be independent, thank you for pushing me and holding me, thank you for fighting for me, and thank you for fighting for you.
