Snowy Babushkas

"WHIRLWIND" is one word to describe the past week. Just a few days after my last blog post, I was slowly waking up (and not wanting to get up I might add), and I heard someone walk in my doorway. Once I gained the energy to turn around one of my teammates said to me, "Hey, did you see the SNOW?!" I immediately jumped up to look out the window and saw a blanket of white across the apartment complex. That day was an exciting one with our first of many experiences with snow in Moldova. 

Last week we had our usual, but of course not ordinary, English Club and Salvation Army outreaches. Due to the snow that week, we only had one English Club meeting, but it was a great start. There were probably 6 or so kids that were ready and excited to learn. Our lesson was on animal names. You can guess how much fun that is for kids around the ages of 7-10! 

Honestly the snow really is a blessing to ministry. We have made lots of new friends by throwing snow at each other and even going sledding (unfortunately this day I was sick so I couldn't go). The team will be using these types of outings for sure when we want to spend time with our new Moldovan friends.

On the 16h the team split for church ministry. My team went to a church in a nearby village called Lucesti to attend a small church there. Our driver, the pastor of this church, told us lots of information about this village and the church that we were going to. Like many places in the Cahul area, the young people are leaving to find a better life. In this particular church there is one young family, which unfortunately couldn't attend this day because they were visiting their ill son in the hospital. Knowing all of this we walked in to the church, ready to meet some new faces. As soon as we walked in the small meeting room, all we saw were pews filled with babushkas (grandmas in Russian). The pastor really wasn't kidding about there being no youth in Lucesti! The service was so cool to be able to pray and worship with the babushkas and understand their heart for ministry in their village. 

In closing up that week of ministry, it's safe for us to say that it is extremely important to build relationships and minister to the youth here. You may see this repeated a lot in my blog, but it really is true! There are many children with their hearts and hopes shattered for their future life. Giving them hope and something to look forward to in life is important so that they can help grow their community instead of having to leave it like so many have done. 

In Cahul, our ministry is not limited to planned  events and church meetings. We often see our friends on the street and are able  to talk to them or sometimes even see opportunities to help random people on the street. For instance, we were walking around town on our day off when we saw a woman lying on the snow. It was a very strange sight actually, since obviously this weather is not meant for taking naps on planter boxes on the sidewalk. We quickly ran to this woman (who had probably had a few drinks and was unable to move off of the ice and snow). She didn’t really respond, and still didn’t move a muscle. Long story short, with some help from some nearby women, we were able to convince the ambulance to pick up the woman and take her home. In all of this, one man was kind enough to stop to pick her up to carry her to the truck. It was a great shock to us that people didn’t really want to help. It’s people like these that need to hear the message that we have come to say. People are meant to be valued, not ignored.

Please keep us in your prayers as we build relationships in this city. Next week we are putting together a VBS for kids in a nearby village. All of us are also VERY excited to be having our remaining team members come to us from Kyiv this week. Blessings to you all, and Merry Christmas from Moldova! :)

Victoria

New Home, New Places, New Faces

3:28 PM

After a fairly long bus rides and tricky border crossings we finally made it to Cahul on Tuesday afternoon! We were greeted by one of our contacts and were taken to the places that we are going to be staying for the next 2 months. Overall Cahul gives a very friendly and inviting small-town feeling. 

Thursday was our first day of ministry. Here in the Cahul they have a few churches that we will be working with. On this particular day we went to Salvation Army Church to help decorate for Christmas and work with the kids there. Salvation Army works with kids who are a part of difficult family situations; some are orphans or are having a tough relationship with their family. Most likely we will continue to prepare lunch, play with the kids, or help them with their homework. Those of us that speak English have a great opportunity to help some of these kids with their English homework!

Later on Thursday the team walked over to Emmanuel church for the youth meeting. Our first night of youth was pretty different from what we will normally be doing. It was a discussion about family dynamics and why there is often conflict between generations. This church speaks Moldovan, so for our team we need everything translated from Moldovan to English, then English to Russian! Sometimes it can be pretty funny when I sit there and realize how many times the same statement is said, but it different languages. With all of these languages also comes many cultural differences. Being in Moldova I have been learning much more about the cultural dynamics even in our own team.

Friday was more of a practical day, since we needed to get a few things done about housing and other things. One thing we did do was walk around and observe the people here in Cahul. What we have been told (and noticed) is that much of the youth here have left, looking for better opportunities. This means that youth ministry is very important and helpful work to build up future generations that will benefit and spiritually nourish this community. 

Saturday the team split; one half went to an English Club in a nearby village and the other to a different village where a church is building a kids camp. My group went to the camp. The four of us came expecting to plant trees, but we hadn't thought about the frozen ground! I think we all learned about how to work hard and get covered in ice and mud. It was a pretty fun and tiring day!

Sunday the team split again. Each half went to different churches, some to preach and some to say their testimony. It was a fun Sunday and good start to the weekend (we have Mondays off from ministry, this will be our weekends :] ). 

I'm looking forward to continuing ministry with the churches and contacts that we have met so far. Some things to look forward to are English Clubs and VBS and lots of other things. Please be praying for our team in ministry. Relationships here are really important, so some of us need to learn how to be open and outwardly friendly to just anyone here. It even means a lot to these people to have someone say hello or give them a gift (Moldovans LOVE gifts!). Hopefully I will be able to update you all soon, luckily there is internet to update my blog here in the local cafes! The girls on my team are very blessed to get a permanent apartment to live in for the remainder of our time here. So thankful for the people who made it possible for us to rent this apartment. Keep us in your prayers,

Victoria

The End and the Beginning

12:33 PM

The last couple weeks have been pretty crazy. With Thanksgiving, English Club and Outreach preparation I've had my hands full with a lot of stuff! Thanksgiving was an exciting event, mostly run by the Americans on the base. We had all of the essentials: turkey, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, casserole, and even homemade pies. Everyone pitched in with what they could to get the meal cooked for almost 60 people! Despite a few complications with cooking the turkey in the ovens we have here, the meal turned out to be a success. And yes, most of the decorations still haven't  been taken down. :) We started out the night with, of course, the dinner. Later on we wrote on pieces of paper what we were  thankful for. These pieces of paper were hung on our "tree" which was really some branches put in a vase. It was actually a very pretty decoration to add to the room. The Titus team (another ministry in YWAM) had any Americans or Canadians tell those who didn't know what Thanksgiving was about the meaning of the holiday. I think that everyone had a great time learning about the importance of remembering what we are thankful for! 

English Club-teaching words

 We had our last night of ministry at the English Club on Wednesday. The club asked us to teach a song to the members as kind of a going away gift. The team decided that "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" was an appropriate song for this occasion. So we mustered up the courage and sang this song for the club, including the hand motions. It was pretty comical, I wish you all were there to see it. Thankfully some of the members joined in with us to learn the words and hand motions. The church blessed us afterwards with Dominos pizza (it's in Ukraine too!) and gave us lots of Ukrainian candy to enjoy (for those in the states, they sell this brand in stores, you just have to look for it-Roshen candy made in Kyiv). I was so thankful for this opportunity to help the Ukrainians learn my language. I am looking forward to doing something similar to this in Cahul, Moldova!

Here's that video I promised you guys. It is the video of the original drama that we made to teach others about the dangers of human trafficking. Hope you enjoy watching this. We take the audience through one of the ways that people are deceived into forced labor, specifically sex trafficking. A girl has a normal life, normal relationships with friends, family and her boss. One day a man comes and convinces her of a better life, but it is not what she thought it would be. We will be doing this drama sometime when we are in Moldova, and I will be taking more videos of ministry soon!

I have been attempting to learn more about photography for the project we will be doing in Cahul. This picture above was an accident, it proves that I have a lot to learn yet I may have the potential to make a good photo! 

I should be able to post more updates while we are on outreach. I'm almost packed and ready to go to Moldova tomorrow night. Please keep us in prayer for the border crossings and traveling time. We make a stop in Chisinau, Moldova before we head over to Cahul. Looking forward to a great trip and wonderful outreach! 

Victoria