What Do You People Do?

Here we are in Transnistria               
(it’s a country, sort of, within Moldova) and we're about ready to complete our fifth month of what has been the greatest adventure of our lives.

These are some things we’ve done this month:

• Spent the first week of the month in a Brasov hospital with our teammate, Sara
• Said goodbye to Sara, who returned home to the states due to illness
• Now as a team of 5 members, we’ve changed our name to Team Go For It (see future blog regarding the meaning behind the name)
• Worked each day from 12-16 hours
  • Example: Wednesday, November 14^th
    • 7:30am – Leave the house and walk 10 minutes to a bus which takes us to Tiraspol for ministry
    • 8:30-10:30am – English club with adults
    • 11:30 – 3:15pm – Walk to construction site and shovel/dig dirt
    • 4:30-5:30pm – English club for youth
    • 7-9pm – Worship band practice at church
    • 9-11pm – English club for young adults
    • 11:30pm – Walked to Pastor Yuri’s house to sleep for the night
• We've ridden in public transport vans with curtains, while angry grandmas tell us to be quiet
   

                         
       

• Taught English to middle-aged Mary Kay consultants.
  • The women made our male squad leader describe his ex-girlfriend, using personality traits we had taught them in English. After describing her as too strong, one of them asked, “So you dated a man?”
  • After explaining what being a vegetarian means, one of the Russian-speaking women asked, “How long do they live?” LOL!

                           

• Taught English to youth and young adults, ages 10-25
• Learned about Communism in Transnistria and its ongoing effects here
• Dug a trench and shoveled dirt on property owned by the church, which the government cannot know is owned by the church

                                     

• Chatted with members of the KGB
• Tried crossing the Transnistrian/Moldovan border without a passport                     
• Attempted to sleep through a 24-hour prayer marathon going on in the next room of the orphanage where we live. Rather, twenty women shouting, singing, and speaking in tongues. The most accurate depiction we’ve come up with of the sound is a mixture of a large bee hive, a mosque, and yodeling.
• Ate cake that tasted like birdseed, or meat, depending on who you ask
• Used a squatty potty in the church bathroom that smells worse than you can imagine

                                   

• Ran/danced around the church sanctuary in circles during a Thursday night worship service
• Witnessed a 75 year old man jumping up and down in Nikes, praising God during church
• Sang and played guitar with a Russian-speaking youth group worship band, as well as three Sunday church services (11am, 2pm, 5pm). When we arrived for practice on Sunday morning, we became the leaders because 3 band members were ill.

                    

• Planning to cook a Thanksgiving feast for 25+ people on a budget of $3.50 per person