Tuesday, April 5
I was reminded of The Secret Garden today. I read the book (for the first time) this past fall with a class of third and fourth graders at school. There’s a scene at the beginning of the book when Mary Lennox is riding in a carriage across the moor, on her way to live with her uncle. It’s dark and cold, and the carriage is bumping its way along the road. The moor is described as a gloomy expanse of nothingness. Our van ride reminded me of this. We traveled from the capital city of Chisinau to our ministry site, about an hour and a half away. The road was something between paved and gravel, and as we bumped along I took note of the surroundings. The sky was cloudy and still. Along the roads, we saw few houses, and many of the ones we saw seemed vacant but under construction. They didn’t seem to be new houses, but older houses with missing doors or windows and little evidence of life. We saw a few places that looked like businesses. We passed one place that looked like a fruit orchard of some kind and a vineyard that looks like it hasn’t been in operation in years.
Yesterday we were given a cultural briefing about Moldova by our contacts at World Team, the umbrella ministry under which all the teams are working this month. On many levels, Moldova is a place of struggle and perceived “hopelessness.” Once considered the “breadbasket of the Soviet Union,” it is now the smallest and poorest of the former Soviet republics. It is also one of the most densely populated. Despite this dense population, many young people are moving out of the country. The population has declined from 6 million to 3.6 million people in just ten years. Because of the lack of jobs and opportunities, many young people are leaving, going to school and working elsewhere and sending money back to their parents.
If there is one word to describe the spiritual atmosphere in Moldova it would be “DYING.” Ninety-eight percent of Moldavians call themselves Russian Orthodox, but even that is just a label. Churches, with their beautiful exteriors, rich wood floors, and ornately-decorated ceilings are not walls from which radiate the love and redeeming message of Christ’s grace. They are pillars of tradition in a community, visual reminders of a spiritual history that does little to bring redeeming love to this part of eastern Europe. The church buildings are reminders of the belief that, just as the church building is beautiful before God, so must the people who enter be beautiful and clean before entering into the presence of God. The idea that we are sinners saved by grace has been overshadowed by the message that God is a God a judgement, and we must earn our way to salvation. A personal relationship with our Savior is replaced by traditions and so-called symbolic acts of worship. Tradition is held in equal esteem to the scriptures. People will cross themselves when passing by a church with no concept of a relationship with Jesus. It’s just tradition.
We arrived today to the church where we will be staying. The pastor and our contact, Slavic, speaks no English, so we have a translator for the month. Vicky has studied to be an English teacher and has a passion for kids. She hasn’t been able to find a job doing what she loves, but she is now working as a translator. This is her second time staying with a World Race team, and did she come prepared! Although her “only job” is to translate what we say, she brought along all kinds of teaching materials – and brilliant ideas – to use with the kids. We’re so excited and thankful to have her with us this month!!
arriving at our ministry site for the month
Our ministry site is quite a blend of worlds, which is the best way I can put it. We are staying in the church building (shown above), which is new and very nice. The floors are heated, and there is running water. We’re back to bucket showers this month, but with no drain on the floor, I guess it will be a game to see how much water you can keep IN the bucket and OFF the floor., because whatever goes on the floor will have to be mopped up somehow. This could be interesting.
There’s a lot of mud here. Pretty much, there’s no grass or pavement or plain dirt. Just mud. Everywhere.
Today was cloudy and gloomy. I read over the orientation guide for Moldova (entertainment can come in a variety of forms on the Race), and it said, “The sun shines an average of once every second day.” What kind of statistic is that?
Oh, sunshine. Please come soon.
Yours truly,
Erin
