We thought we were heading to Moldova for Month 10 but found out that we were actually going to a ‘new’ country called Transnistria! I had never heard of this place before and I soon found out that not a lot of people have! Transnistria is a small area In Moldova where the people are wanting and trying to form their own country. They have their own money, their own government and they speak Russia instead of Moldovan. The only downfall here is that the only country that considers Transnistria a country is Russia! So technically, we arrived into a place that doesn’t exist….just like Narnia!
As soon as we got to our house which was a construction site/ rehabilitation center for men; our ministry was in full force. We helped on the construction site where they are building a church, we taught adults English, and we helped with the youth group for the first 2 weeks. The last part of the month we planned, organized and put on a week long, overnight English camp for 53 Russian speaking students then turned around and did it all over again for 25+ Russian speaking students.
There was little time to sleep, eat, think or spend any time with Jesus! By the end of the month, I don’t remember ever being so tired! We had been doing 18+ hour days with little to no breaks! We were walking zombies as we got onto the plane for Ireland!
As we were drove away from our little Narnia, my heart was breaking! Yes I was tired and on the verge of an emotional breakdown…BUT….I didn’t want to leave!
God had placed us in this mystery of a land and had given us a community in Transninstria that we came to love and adore! The 10-12 men that we lived with took us in and treated us like their daughters! They loved us and tried to protect us in any way! They always had a smile on their face! None of them spoke English but communication was never a problem. They trusted us with their stories and how God had saved them! All of them had suffered from alcoholism and drug addictions. Some of them use to be homeless and even in prison. But now all are cleaning up their life and they want to serve Jesus and be men of God.
Our contact/translator/saving grace was an amazing woman of God. She treated us like sisters and was even busier than we were. We trusted us with her English classes and planning and organizing the English camp! She always made us laugh and always ready for a good time! She was a prayer warrior and spoke so much truth!
Our co-camp counselors were a group of youth from the church! These youth helped run our camp and were our translators for 2 weeks straight! They slept the same amount as we did and were just as busy! But they had to think in 2 different languages. We got to build a friendship with this group that meant the world to us. We got to see some amazing God loving youth serve on their summer break! These people are going to change the nations!
Our hearts were handed over to our kids at our camp! 95% of them didn’t speak English but that didn’t matter! The love for these girls and boys grew every day! It was hard to say goodbye
The list of people goes on and on!
Looking back onto the month, I know God had handpicked every person He put into our lives. He knew we were going to be worn out and tired so He placed people on our path that we could love and be loved on. He knew we couldn’t do it on our own and that was never His plan.
Transnistria isn’t an unknown land to Him. He loves those people just as much as He loves people in Italy, Thailand and in America! And for a month, we got to see these people as God would see them…beautiful people who love Jesus and believes that God is transforming their country for Him.
So keep an eye out because sometime in the near future you are going to hear the name Transnistria on the nightly news because God is doing some crazy things that will make a difference in our world. Narnia will become a real place
