Once upon a time, Team No Doubt and A-Team were sent to a faraway land called Transnistria, a pretend country in Moldova along the Ukraine border (only Russia recognizes it as its own country). We called it Narnia, since it wasn’t technically a real country. Our mission there was manual labor and teaching English. During our first week, we lived in an unfinished Family Life Center. It was a large construction area, and because it was located near a military base, we weren’t allowed to be seen leaving or entering the area, and we couldn’t speak English near the gates. One day, some government inspectors came by to check out the building project, and we had to lock ourselves in our room and not speak for several hours. While the situation was a bit frustrating, it also provided me with the opportunity to watch 4 episodes of Lost. And it makes for a good story.
Left: Family Life Center site; Right: the orphanage we worked at the majority of the time
So anyway, it was decided that our services were no longer needed there (in order to protect the church and the work happening there), so we were sent to live at a nice, spacious orphanage. We spent our days rotating between working at another orphanage (painting and cleaning) and teaching English at the church. I enjoyed getting to go to the English classes because it allowed for us to make friends and have good conversations with the students.
English Class
Honestly, last month is not near the top of my favorites list. But I did learn a lot about how entitled I often feel. When I got frustrated about not getting to shower several days in a row (because we only had 1 shower and certain times we could shower), or getting fed the same thing over and over again (soup and potatoes), or having to pack up and move last minute one night, God reminded me that He doesn’t owe me a shower, or a diet with variety, or even a roof over my head. I have no right to those things, but He gives me those things because He’s good and gracious and loving. I also learned a lot about honoring and respecting our hosts by doing the work they give us, no matter how pointless it may seem. There were multiple days at the orphanage where all we did was sweep the floors over and over, and then watch as the dust settled back on the floor for us to sweep another time. It felt pointless, but we did it to honor the requests of our hosts. And I was reminded throughout the month that we always have a choice to “buy in” to ministry. We have a choice about what kind of attitude we have.
The day we left was a Sunday, so we went to church one last time that morning. The Pastor called us up on stage and thanked us for our work. We even got certificates and goody bags! I was blown away by the gratitude of the congregation and the love we felt from them. We only saw the majority of them during church on Sundays, yet they treated us as if we were old friends. It was such a blessing, and made all of the frustrations from the month totally worth it.
