We have been playing the “You know you’re in Moldova when…â€� game quite a bit since we have gotten here. It is such a change from Haiti and the Dominican Republic in so many aspects. From culture to food to environment and ministry to weather, we are walking on ground that is new to us. I have enjoyed our first week here in Cornesti, Moldova. It took us 48 hours of continual travel by plane and trains to get to where we are from Ireland and it has been worth it. Our contact is an enthusiastic visionary who has a very busy schedule for us, but the work we are doing is a good change of pace. We spend our mornings visiting homes in the area, venturing about the town and countryside, and following the Lord’s lead in things. Yesterday we were walking and a truck unloaded a huge..hugeeee.. pile of corn in the middle of the road and we ended up moving all the corn for the man and his wife and then they ended up feeding us lunch and welcoming us into their home. One day we were walking and stopped to talk to a man out in his yard, and he welcomed us in and gave us a bag full of peaches and picked grapes from the vines that covered his sidewalk. We enjoyed a good snack and chat with him and were able to get to know him and pray with him. So, our mornings are full of different stories depending on the day…and filled with lots of fruit we pick all over town J The afternoons are filled with children’s ministry. There are two very hardworking young women who head up the planning and teaching that I have gotten to know and encourage. We play games with the kids in the area and do a snack time of sorts. Yesterday, the kids built a fire, pretty much just for the heck of it and to cook potatoes. Its really a time to love on the kids in the area and give them some much needed personal attention. Life here: My team is currently living and working with another team of 6. All the women live together in a house..it kinda makes us think of what it would be like in the Cold War times with our set up and everything. The guys are living with our contact and his family. We eat meals at the church, often with the children from the shelter that is housed at the church. A few You know you’re in Moldova when…. Moments to share a taste of life… You know you’re in Moldova when… ….you have 20 pictures of people holding a blind chicken ….you find yourself eating lunch in a strangers house after unloading their corn …you can eat your way through town picking fruit …you hold it as long as you can to avoid the outhouses …a snickers bar makes everything better …you find yourself dancing in a market with Moldovian women ….the kids climb on the roof and scale walls and its totally normal and okay ….the flies are the new form of mosquitoes …teammates compliment each other and how nice they look after they shower
