Tuesday, July 2, 2013

This is My Moldova



     Here I sit, a few days out from Ethiopia, sick as a dog....This gives me time to rest and think though. Resting is not something I excel at by any means. So as I sit here, my mind is able to drift in and out of the woven patterns and dusty cobwebs of the last 6 months. Just mere months ago I was taking off for my first overseas trip, and now I am on the brink of another.

     In all the hustle and bustle of traveling, it would seem easy to forget the things placed on your heart. Moldova, and it's people, have been branded into my heart so I may never forget. My desire is that you too, would come to know them as I have. In order to manifest this desire, I asked some of my friends to write about what Moldova is to them. There is a darkness there, yes, but I believe there can be more hope if we all take the time to simply listen and acknowledge their existence. This is Peter's story:


Hello y'all

I was born in Russia but I live in Moldova within 38 years. My name is Peter. I'm married and have 2 daughters.

I work a lot with US teams translating to them in different country sides, visiting different villages, seeing lots of people, listening lots of stories. I started to translate in 2001.

Our country has awesome nature and people are very hospitable to strangers over here. The main religion here is orthodoxy. There are people, who consider themselves to be believers, following traditions only. People hear about God but don't know Him personally. There is difference to hear and to know.

We have many Evangelical organizations over here but there is a huge field of non believers as well. Our goal isn't only bringing Gospel to non believers but also making disciples. Unfortunately, there are some obstacles for reaching people.

Most of our nonbelievers, as everywhere, have only one goal and that's materialism. But there is a huge difference from other countries. Our people can't reach that because of lack of work places all over the country. Good diploma will not give you a good job and that's why people are leaving the country, I'm speaking about our young and young adult's generation. Some, who can't leave it trying to reach their goals by criminal tendencies. Our country is well known because of sex traffic and black market (internal organs). There lots of children, who are left by parents trying to survive in different orphanages. I just mentioned about some obstacles we have over here.

Believers need to make up something new for get attention of such people. I also wanna tell you God is doing miracles over here working in hearts of people giving them salvation. I can't describe that by words because there aren't such words, which are able to describe them.

God is good and He never leaves us or forsakes us. I'm glad I live here because living here I should rely on Him everyday having no assurance at the future, without regular job. I can testify that God is always with my family and me, even if I think a situation is terrible, He brings me through it giving a joy and a peace. Peace, which can't be described by words. He has His time and He is always on time, He is never late.

Remember, we can ALL help to bring hope and healing to Moldova. It is accomplished one small step at a time.

With love,
Michelle

1 comment:

  1. Michelle - thank you. I got home yesterday after a month in Canada and have been really struggling with all the little annoying things about living in Moldova. I've just been reminded that I'm blessed.

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