It was my team’s first day in Octina, Moldova and we were just finishing a tour of the main roads and market place of the small village of 9,000 people. We were a couple of blocks away from our home when we passed an older woman carrying multiple grocery bags. I turned to Andrei and Larisa, our hosts, and asked if we could help her carry the bags. They asked in Russian and she insisted she did not need help. We continued walking and soon stopped to talk to a well known friend of Andrei and Larisa. The older woman passed us again, this time speaking to us as she passed. Larisa told the woman we were from America and this was our first day in the town. The woman quickly said something and dropped her bags and ran back to another pile she had left behind. As she was walking away Larisa translated to us that the woman wanted to give us some peaches. As she came rushing back with a bag full of peaches, we insisted on helping her carry her bags. She eventually gave in and we walked and talked with the woman for two blocks. We learned the woman's name to be Tamara.
We came to a side street and she put her bags down and told Larisa this was far enough. We attempted to carry the bags all the way to her house but it soon became clear that she was living in very poor conditions and did not want us to see her home. It was unclear if she even had a home at all or if she was living in an abandoned building. We stayed and spoke with Tamara for another 45 minutes learning bits and pieces of her story. Her husband had passed away some time ago and her two children lived in a different city, making her life very difficult. We mostly listened to Larisa and Tamara speak in Russian while bits of the conversation were being translated.
Below is a picture of our ministry contact Larisa, my teammates Julie and Aubray, our new friend Tamara me and her dog.
The streets become dangerous at night so we said goodbye to Tamara, making plans to see her again in the near future. As we were saying goodbye, Tamara grabbed me close and began kissing me on the cheeks and then as I tried to pull away she smacked a wet one right on my lips. In an attempt to not offend her I just let her kiss me and prayed I wouldn’t get sick. I can joyfully say I am not sick and can’t wait to see our new friend, Tamara again.
