Moldova in June
Wow! Tomorrow's June 1st, and starts my second to last month on the race!
We are headed to Moldova tomorrow. We got to go to Greece for 3 days for vacation, and it was beautiful.
I'm praying we are close enough to Chisinau so I can visit the ministry I did a short-term missions trip with in 2008.
My mind is starting to go more toward thoughts of home and what that looks like, so a covering over all the details of that for me, please.
I'm able to be totally present in ministry here, which is great. I am grateful for the Race and want to take full advantage of my remaining time on this venture- spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and relationally. Prayers for protection from the devil's attacks on that for me, my team, and my squad.
I am so grateful for the friendship, love, support, prayers, and time that has been given to me from home and all over the world. The global family of God is beautiful.
I thank God for you!
An abundance of love, joy, peace, hope, and blessings to you and over you!
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We are in Ungheni, Moldova working with a Vineyard church plant here. I love the pastor, Tudor, and his heart for God's vision in this city. Right now, the church is working on building a canteen for the homeless, a place where they can come to get a meal, shower, and a place to rest anytime during the day. Tudor also wants to have rooms for teens on the streets (mainly orphans who have aged out of the orphanages) to have a place to live and help keep them out of the sex trade and trafficking. This city is right on the Romanian border and a "gateway to Europe" Tudor said, so it is a high traffic area. Moldova has the highest trafficking in Europe and Ungheni has one of the highest rates in Moldova.
On June 1st, just a few days ago, many 16 year old orphans were released out onto the streets to fend for themselves. We have been praying and interceding on their behalf, and praying into the building the church is in, for God to expand the walls of the church to house these ministries. There is the remainder of the 4th floor the church is occupying now, and the whole 3rd floor they're praying for God to provide the money to buy.
We have worship and prayer in the morning and then go to ministry, whether it's hospital visits or painting in the church. We help with their night ministries, such as prayer groups and life groups, and will also be doing evangelism in the city center. Vineyard Ungheni is a small church right now with big visions to reach the people of Ungheni.
Please join us in our prayers for this ministry.
I'm doing well, struggling with sinus pain. All of us are feeling the effects of being in a new place, climate, weather, allergies, etc.
Prayers for strength, endurance, joy, health and wellness!
We are having a blast though! Really enjoying each other, as you can see in the video below. We have to do CnC's (challenges and celebrations) at the end of every month, which is usually a serious thing, but last month we decided to just be us! ;P
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=x79wZbzPoqk&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dx79wZbzPoqk
Love and big hugs to you all!
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We are finishing up in Moldova, getting ready to head into our last month in Ireland. It has been an amazing month here, and I am so grateful. I came to Moldova in 2008 on a short-term mission trip and really loved it. My hope for month 10 was that Moldova would capture my heart like it did five years ago. And it did. The people here are delightful and the countryside is so beautiful. My team spent our last two weeks in a small village between Ungheni and Chisinau doing a kids club. We lived in a team home (the village pastor family's home before they moved into their current home in the village); we drew our water from a nearby well, picked berries from our yard to eat and bake with (berry pancakes-yum!), had a summer shower (aka outdoor shower), used an outhouse, bought our milk and honey from our neighbor down the street, and had a beautiful countryside view from our front porch. Life was simple and wonderful. We had such a good time as a team enjoying our time together as a family. Our mornings usually consisted of daily chores, working out, and quiet time with Jesus; and our afternoons were spent teaching, loving on, and having fun with the village children and teens at our kids club. It was moving to see the eyes and hearts of children who already know the Bible stories open up to an invitation of a relationship with Jesus. It excited my heart for how God is going to use this generation in their homes, families, villages, and nation.
The pastor's wife taught us how to make cabbage rolls, a delicious, traditional Moldovan meal – that she picked grape leaves out of our yard to make. The pastor's daughter was our almost daily visitor, coming over to hang out, paint fingernails, and give Laura a make-over most days. 😉 We got the chance to enjoy city life and country life, we were given the time to build relationships with our contacts and church families, we got to pour into each other… and I am so grateful.
Month 10 ~ Blessed.
Month 11, Last month ~ Here we come.
Monica
