so long Transnistria…

I am currently in Bucharest at debrief.  I have been thinking a lot about the past month in Transnistria.  I think it was my favourite month thus far!

 

We left our contacts last week.  It was first sad to leave the young teenage boys who we have been with everything day.  In particular there were 4 brothers who really reached my heart.  They would come to the church afterschool everyday and stay until their curfew of 10:00pm.  On the weekend they would stay all day.  They didn’t even get sick of us!!  

Our friends 🙂

 

 

Even though they didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Russian, I felt very close to those boys.  Each day we would hang out with various children who came to the church.  We played sports, games and laughed a lot.  They were all so joyful and loving boys.  I really can see that God is working in their lives even if they do not know Him yet.  I can see them being a great example for other children in the area.  

 

 

 

I think our main ministry was to our contacts this month.  Andrew, Oksana and their 2-year-old child Samuel are awesome!  It was incredibly sad to leave them.  Andrew is a 26-year-old pastor of the small church.  Our month was spent getting to know him and his family.  He was our friend who we shared life stories with and learned from.  One of my favourite days was when we had a bon fire by the river and hung out and heard Andrew’s testimony.  It was very encouraging.  Being honest and sharing with others is so uplifting an true community.  I love it!!

 

 

 

This past month I have been learning a lot about humility.  I want to be a humble servant but I haven’t really understood what that meant.  I always thought that meant that you can never talk about yourself and you always put yourself down.  NOT TRUE.  Being humble is putting others before yourself and knowing the gifts that God has given you and you can have confidence in that.  

 

Andrew was a great example of a humble person.  He was constantly serving us in any way that he could yet at the same time not putting himself down or at a lesser status.  He has the desire to serve as Chirst while also knowing and having confidence in how God has made him.  He has full trust in God’s plan for his life.  It was very encouraging seeing his confidence in Christ!

 

We also spent a lot of time with his parents.  They also are servants for Christ.  We went over to their house for a small group with youth.  They are such loving people who love to hear about others’ life stories in Christ.  They created such a safe and encouraging environment to share in.  They are such loving people.

 

The parents and I at my surprise birthday party!!

 

 

I hope I will be able to see Andrew and his family sometime again.  They all had such an impact on my life.  They were exellent examples for me and I know they are exellent examples for the people they know.  They are true followers of Christ.

 

We leave for Swaziland tomorrow.