As I am packing up to leave to go to our next country, I find myself not wanting to leave here. The past month we have been in the small town of Ocnita in Moldova on the border of Ukraine. We are staying with Andrei and Larisa Luca and their two kids. The Luca’s are Moldovian superheroes! They do so much for their community and are changing the lives of so many by showing and sharing the love of Jesus.
Much of the community here is Orthodox and the community is in desperate need of Christ and His love. There is a high percentage of prostitution in the community and many children and youth have been abandoned by their parents and are living with grandparents or siblings, many of which are in verbal and physical abusive situations. Many people are living in darkness, not knowing the light and love of Christ, however, Andrei and Larisa are changing this! They are a breath of fresh air in this city and are bringing so many to Christ. Although they don’t have a lot, what they have they share with others. They have taken people in and are parent figures to many.
Andrei and Larisa have been married for 9 years (and we were lucky enough to be able to share in their anniversary celebration this month)! Andrei is a middle school history teacher as well as the pastor of The House of Prayer. Larisa is a stay at home mom and spends much of her time reaching out to the youth of this town.
I have never met anyone who works as hard as Larisa and Andrei work. The Lucas are continuously on the go. There is no running water here so when Larisa gets up, she goes and gets buckets of water from the well, heats up water for a bucket shower and some coffee. After a shower, she does a load of laundry, but because there is no running water, she washes her clothes by hand and has to make multiple trips to the well to get enough water for washing and rinsing the clothes in the buckets. She then hangs them up to dry. She makes dinner for her kids and then works out in the yard, whether it is carrying the chopped wood into the shed for heating their house in winter or weeding the garden. Larisa has been very sick with bronchitis the past week and has even had to go to the hospital a couple times. She can hardly breathe, but still, she does not rest. She continues washing her clothes and working at the church.
The Luca’s provide a Bible camp after school for the kids in the community. Many of the kids come from non-Christian homes where they are abused and neglected. At the after school Bible camp, the kids and youth play games, learn Bible stories, and learn English. They are able to socialize and play in a community that is non threatening, loving, and rooted in Christ.
Larisa and Andrei also frequently make home visits to the houses of the children and youth that go to their church and Bible camp. Many of the youth come from abusive homes and some parents think that when their child goes to the church, they are selling their bodies for sex. Larisa and Andrei talk with their families and explain to them that they are going to church, Bible camp, and learning Bible stories, and English. It often takes many visits to the same home to get the families to understand and allow their children to go to church. Andrei and Larisa fight for these kids, everyday!
When Andrei is not teaching at the school or helping at the Bible camp or leading Bible study, he can be found playing soccer or basketball with the youth of the community. He goes and just hangs out the them. The kids respect him so much and look up to him as a leader and also a friend.
