Learning more about Moldova

Monday was a quiet day. Spent much of the day reading and writing messages, my diary and blog. Quite hot outside, so spent most of the day in the Mission Cente. Sandy went to Helen's to help her with the home schooling which she enjoyed. There are a group of business men here from the States looking to work with OM in taking micro financing of Christian businesses to the next level of investment. We went with the Skirtons to their hotel where the kids had a great time using the pool, while I went to meeting in the hotel with the businessmen and a Christian MP, who shared about the political and spiritual state of Moldova. Too much info to put in this blog, but it is quite precarious as there as been no President for several years and the country is split between pro-European and pro-Russian factions, as Moldiva sits between the Ukraine and Romania. 2% of the country are evangelical believers. There are three out of 101 MPs who are believers but the Orthodox church has a strong influence over parliament. Most Moldovians are nominally Orthodox, but churches are pretty empty and it is mainly women who follow the Orthodox religion. He was a delightful brother who had at one time been President of the Baptist Union. After he left we all went to Andy's pizzas for a meal. Sandy sat with Helen and the kids while I sat with Matthew and the business guys. Again some very interesting discussions about Business for Transformation and what these guys are doing in various parts of the world. On Tuesday we went with some girls from the communications dept to a camp where churches in NL had provided finances through OM to provide a holiday for disabled adults and children. Met a wonderful disabled believer who has championed the cause of disabled people in Moldova and was the organiser of this camp for the disabled and their carers. Over 100 attended and the OM girls had to prepare a report on the camp fir the Dutch sponsors. The camp was a sort of ex-soviet holiday camp with small accommodation blocks, toilet & shower blocks a large refectory, a covered meeting area, swimming pools and sports facilities in the forest very close to the Transnistran border and river. In the evening all the team and visitors ate together at the Mission Centre and the prayer evening took a special form - every department shared what they were doing and we then prayed. It is very exciting to see what is being accomplished here in Moldova and how God is at work through all the ways that OM is helping and supporting the work of the local churches throughout the country. Awesome!

A Weekend in Moldova

My ankle has got infected.  Phil, an OM worker who is qualified nurse came over and checked it out. I need antibiotics and he dressed it and will look after it while we are here. Helen took Sandy & me to the Market and Supermarket.  Very interesting; wonderful selection of seasonal produce.  Bought a few items - butter, eggs for breakfast, wholemeal bread, fresh milk!  White baguette and sausage and cheese are already getting a bit tedious. Got back to Matthew & Helen's for lunch and we all got ready to go to the circus.  An interesting experience!  Matthew had an allergic reaction inside the big top and had to use an inhaler. At 4.00 the second half started but we left and Matthew had to stay outside, leaving Helen with five wide-eyed children.  Phil, the nurse, met us outside the circus and took us on a tram (2L each) to the centre of Chisinau where we visited the main sites of the city. Passed the Presidential palace and the Houses of Parliament, still surrounded with corrugated fencing since there were riots and massive destruction in both these buildings.There was a service going on in the main orthodox cathedral with the most magnificently beautiful singing and many people lighting candles, kissing icons and genuflecting, mainly women, young and old!  The cathedral had the most amazing artwork everywhere, the wall and ceilings all painted.  After leaving the cathedral we had a coffee in delightful coffee shop called 'Creme de la Creme'. Sandy even took a photo of the loo!  After some more walking and sightseeing we  ended up in a restaurant where we had dinner, which was really excellent.  Phil kindly took us by bus back to the OM Centre, (3L each) and saw us home before getting a bus back home. Sunday morning we had an early start. Matthew was picking us up at 7.55 to drive up north to town called Rezina. It was about a two hour drive. When we arrived the main road was blocked off and the police wouldn't let any cars across the main road to get to the church. It was apparently because they were expecting a cycle race coming through the town.  But we waked arriving at the building, or rather building site, in sufficient time for Matthew to touch base with the pastor, Virgil.   There is a hall with kitchen, toilets and a few side rooms finished, but the  main auditorium is a shell and the building has roof struts but no roof. There will eventually be rooms over the hall area. A church in Holland is helping to support the building work as there is no way the believers of the town could provide the funds, their offerings only cover local running costs, the pastor earns his living as a teacher and is not paid by the church, and the weekly food kitchen for children and the elderly is supported by donations from OM. The ladies who run that receive a small wage to help them make ends meet.  The meeting was their harvest thanksgiving celebration to which Matthew had been invited to speak.  About ninety people including children all in their Sunday best, the wives all wearing head coverings,  were crammed into the hall, some had come from tiny churches in surrounding villages. They sung songs from a song book, a mix of older hymns and newer songs, a couple of which we knew the tunes from some years back and so were able to join in in English. People brought their own song books if they had been able to afford to buy one. Many sang the songs from memory. Participation consisted of items: poems, songs performed by individuals or groups, short exhortations and prayers at various times for specific things such as the offering, blessing the harvest loaf.  I was given five minutes to bring greetings from ABC with an exhortation.  I spoke about God making things grow.   The Pastor's brother, Costel, who lives in Chisinau and is part of the church that the Skirtons attend, translated for me. The folk were responsive. Virgil's mother played the accordion for a group of three ladies from a village where she and Virgil's father lead a small church of about a dozen believers. Then her father, Virgil's grandfather, played the harmonica accompanied by his daughter. Because it was harvest the children did a presentation for about 30 minutes including poems, songs and a drama- all about different fruits and vegetables.   Matthew spoke from John 9 about the pharisees getting incensed about Jesus healing the blind man on the sabbath. He spoke to unbelievers about being blind and addressed the issue of legalism with believers.  Helen gave us the gist of what he was saying, although the children were finding it hard keeping still while dad was speaking after such a long meeting, and kept interrupting mum. Even after Matthew finished there were several more contributions and greetings from the villages. The meeting had been due to start at 10 am, but it was almost 10.15 when the pastor welcomed everyone and went on for about three hours. It was followed by a church lunch, but with so many people in the hall we had to stand at our places at the tables as there was no room for people to sit.  There was bread, cold meats and cheeses, tomatoes , peppers and cucumbers which are in season and bowls of chicken bits with potatoes, carrot and cabbage in a thin gravy, all very tasty not at all spicy. There were bowls of grapes and biscuits and boiled sweets to finish and a grape drink that they make themselves.  It was frustrating not being able to communicate with anyone except the Skirtons and Costel especially not being able to converse with the pastor. After the meeting and lunch we went back with a delightful Dutch lady from OM, who works with the church caring for children, for a drink and a chat before the long trek back to Chisinau. The journey went quickly for Matthew and me chatting about all sorts of deep issues in the front, but not so quickly for the wives with the five kids in the back! It was a long tiring day, but very interesting and after we were dropped back to the Mission Centre, we vegged out for the evening. During the night Sandy had to get up with the dreaded Village Tummy! A quiet day today. Nothing planned for the day so Sandy has gone over to Helen's to help with the home schooling and I have been reading, meeting a few people and writing this blog.

First two days in Moldova

We left for LHR at 06.00 Thursday morning and flew Austrian Airlines to Vienna and from there Air Moldova to Chisinau, (kish-in-ow) the capital of Moldova.  Matthew picked us up from the airport around 16.00 Moldovan time (2.00 pm in UK) and took us to his home.  The Skirton family (Matthew & Helen, Hannah10, Lydia 9, Rachel 7, David 5, James 3 and two dogs, have a good sized house within walking distance of the two OM properties, one with accommodation for the team members and several offices and the other, where we are staying, is the fairly new OM Missions Centre, where Matthew has his office. Helen home schools the five children.  We have a room with two sets of bunk beds and are sleeping on the two bottom bunks.  But it does have an on-suite toilet & shower.  It has been lovely and sunny high 20s C.   Had a meeting with Matthew and Michaela from the personnel department.  Have pretty full programme worked out for the two weeks.Then we had a tour of the two offices and met everyone who works in the OM Moldova team, too many to mention and too many names to remember!   This afternoon we went we went into the city with the Skirton family and booked places for the circus Sat. afternoon and went to a restaurant for dinner.  Interesting eating Moldovan cuisine, a bit different to anything we have eaten anywhere else- a cheese pie, sort of cabbage dolmas, soft sheeps cheese, a sort of long thin sausage but the fench fries and potato wedges with ketchup and the salad were the same as in the UK.    We are staying in a more expensive area of Chisinau, where there are some very large houses, but the roads are dreadful- so full of potholes or unmade. The Skirtons have a land rover but most of the cars have to have their suspension changed quite regularly!  Moldova has two main evangelical groups the Baptists and the Pentecostals. They can be quite conservative and legalistic compared to UK but in a land where there are many people who drink to get drunk and where alcohol is even more of a social problem than in the UK, most Christians are teetotal and do not conform to this world.  We had some induction time this morning learning about the culture here, what to expect especially in the more rural areas we will be visiting.  Tomorrow we go shopping to a large supermarket and go to the circus and.... 

Hi.  Welcome to my blog that I have started to keep in touch with folk at home while we are traveling.

We are getting ourselves ready to go off to Moldova.  Leave for the airport at 6.00 am Thursday morning! Have to change flights in Vienna as there are no direct flights from the UK.  Matthew is due to pick us up from the airport in Chisinau.