Ministry in Draganesti has come to a close; our remaining days involved heavy preparation for PVT (racers parents), compiling tracks, and then journeying to Craiova to pass those tracks out. During that mostly unsuccessful time, we spoke to Romanians without translators and were asked to cease passing out tracks by the politia! Needless to say thise without parents at PVT were passed to the wayside leaving our ministry rather unfruitful. This sadly caused my heart to be eager in leaving Romania. The past 5 days were spent in the beautiful city of Brasov. A picturesque old european city within ancient fortified walls, nestled in the carpathian mountians. We had some awesome unifying worship sessions as a squad along with fun times exploring the town with our new teams (yes, more team changes, haha).. Personally, I went out and say Draculas castle and enjoyed a meal at the formula pub. Which, as many of you know, racing has a special place in my heart. The pub had an actually Formula 2 car in it from a romanian driver, Mihai Meranescu. 3 days ago we made the 10 hour trip from Brasov to Chisanau, Moldova were the squad parted ways to go to their respective ministries throughout the country. But my team along with Marys’ are headed to no-where, a place fictitious to the known world. The un-recognized country of Transnistria!
It is a sliver of landinbetween Moldova and Ukraine. For 70 years this land has been run by the USSR; at the fall of communism, Moldova began to seek help from western europe and what is now the EU. In 1990, Russia decided they could not lose there gateway to the west (the territory of transnistria), so as we are told by locals, they hired moldovians to murder random pro-Russian citzens (now transnistrians) at a national ball. This caused a civil war to break out until 1992, when the un-recognized country of Transnistria formed and the violence came to a stand still. Today, this land is considered a “Frozen” conflict zone, a cold war. Moldovian, Transnistrian, and around 1200 Russian troops occupy this territory. The first thing we were told when arriving into this country is that the KGB runs it. They are apart of everything. Over 80% of the country’s funding comes from Russia, and everyone here naturally speaks Russian Being here is like stepping back in time. A well maintained statue of Lenin stands in front of their government building, and Putin is elevated to near godly status here. Saying anything to the contrary would be unwise. Every year on Feb. 23 they celebrate Soviet Army day! Crazy right? An article that i had read at debrief described the state of Transnistria well: “The people here are caught between nostalgic respect for Moscow and a misplaced hope for the EU.”
Besides my utter excitement to actually be in a modern day Soviet remnant country, what better place to do ministry and walk as Jesus walked than a place that is not recognized by the world! This month we are all staying in a halfway house; a place for men to recover from drugs and alcohol, or transition back into normal living as they come out of prision. Myles, Jonathan, Sam, and I are literally living and sleeping amongst in the same room, just thrown right jn the mix! Love it, no better way to disciple then to live life along side them and step into their shoes. Not only are we going to be Christ examples to these men, but a major part of our ministry with be building the church/ministry house with these men. We with also teach english class each night and partner up with their recent youth ministry launch.
As you may have gathered, being missionaries and evangelizing is not accepted much here. The Russian Orthodox church (state run religion) is king here, and all other forms of Christianity are viewed as occultic, I.E. Our ministry.We cannot openly evangelize, but if people ask why we have come we may freely witness to them! Please pray that God stirs the hearts of those He places in our path. That they may ask the questions on their heart, whether in english class, youth ministry, or other events. And pray that God will reveal His true self to them through us! This month is going to be an epic month of ministry, and I can’t wait to see what the Lord does amidst this stronghold! Thank you for all your continued support!
WR Fun Facts:
– Saying, “Yellow Blue Bus” here means I love you in Russian!
– Saying, “Godzilla” is close to, How are you in Russian!
