“If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” Psalms 139:9-10
Photo credit: Tyler Shugart
After two weeks in Chisinau, our team felt that God was calling us to go to different cities in Moldova. We gathered and prayed over our map of the country, asking God where He wanted us to go. At the end of our meeting we decided that God was calling us to two different cities. We had a little over a week left in Moldova, so we would only go to each city for a few days.
The first city we were headed to was called Rezina, Moldova. It is the poorest city in the country. (Moldova is the poorest country in Europe.) We felt that God was calling us to walk the streets and pray over the city.
We looked on the Internet for places to sleep, but there were no hostels or hotels in our budget. On a leap of faith, we bought bus tickets anyways. We packed up our tents, sleeping bags, and packs and headed to Rezina.
Photo credit: Larisa Aleksandrov
We arrived in Rezina around 2pm. We were homeless… again. We had no idea where we were supposed to go, so we decided pray and “Ask the Lord” before every decision. For 3 hours we walked around the city with our packs, praying.
Around 5pm, our team decided to split up. Half of our team sat down with all of our bags, while the other half continued walking to another section of town. I was sitting with two other teammates, Melissa and Stephanie, and our bags. I pulled out the guitar and started messing around. After a few minutes a group of teenagers walked up, and one of the boys asked if they could play the guitar. I felt uncertain, but through their broken English and our sign language, I wasn’t sure how to say no. The boy put the guitar over his should and my first thought was “If he turns and runs, that guitar is gone.” I couldn’t have caught him if he decided to steal it. Right as I was having this thought, I begin to see Larisa, Cody, and Tyler walk up. Relief flooded though me.
Larisa began to talk to the group of teenagers in Russian. They ended up being really nice kids. One of the first questions they asked was “Where are you sleeping?” Larisa began to tell them that we didn’t have a place to stay, but we had tents. In a shocked expression, they told us it was too cold to sleep outside. With nowhere else to go, it might have been our only option. Larisa asked if they knew any place we could pitch them. They led her to a place in the woods we could pitch our tents.
We had a place to stay, but they were right, it was cold, REALLY cold! We had already begun to pull out all of our layers from our packs. I had 2 pairs of pants on, a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt and two jackets, two pairs of socks, a hat, and gloves. I was still cold. We were hoping to find a warmer option.
Photo credit: Larisa Aleksandrov
During the day, we had heard of a hotel, but we knew that it was probably out of our budget. We thought we should at least check it out. We tried called a taxi, but they were all busy. In order to warm up and get some dinner, we decided to wait in a nearby restaurant. At this point, it was about 7:30pm.
We went into the restaurant, sat down, and within 2 minutes, a woman sitting at the table behind us began talking to us in perfect English. We found out that she was a teacher, and she worked with volunteers from the Peace Corp. After talking for a little while, she said, “It was so nice to meet you. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.”
Larisa mentioned that we didn’t have a place to stay for the night and asked her if she knew somewhere we could stay in our budget. (Just a reminder, our budget is $5 per person per night.) Our friend asked us to give her a few minutes, and she would see what she could do. When she hung up the phone, she said, “Okay, I have a three bedroom apartment for you.”
Are you kidding me? It was that easy?
After dinner, her husband led us to our home for the night. It was a very nice, fully furnished apartment. It was nicer than a lot of other places we have lived this year.
I probably should have been surprised, but I wasn’t. God has been providing for me this entire year. He never fails. He always comes through.
Photo credit: Tyler Shugart
“Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior.” – Hillsong United
