Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Moldova Mission Day 10 Monday 15 October



Moldova Blog Monday 15 October
Well this is it. The Mission is over, our time in Moldova has come to an end – all we have to do is come home. However in Moldova it’s never as simple as that. The rains in the night had made it impossible to get a vehicle up to Nina’s house. What a sight it must have been  the six  of us carrying our bags and suitcases down muddy slopes slipping and sliding, scaring the geese and chickens all to the sound of dogs barking at us as we slowly made our way down the hill.

We had a quick visit to the new Chicani church centre an old shop being converted into a multi purpose church community centre in the centre of town. At the moment though its little more than a messy building site yet the ideas and possibilities are bursting out of every brick .

Next was a final debrief with Mark and Mari and then the journey home began.  Mark’s VW transporter has been having steering problems and was not fit for the journey which meant we made the 2 hour trip to Chisnau in 2 cars. 

Lunch was at the incredibly unlikely  brand new shopping mall ‘Mall-Dova’  Whilst walking around this modern shiny new shopping centre boasting world famous brand names, the contrast between the capital and Brinza could not have been stronger. If you were to just visit Chisnau you would experience a modernizing pleasant European city, however I think to truly visit Moldova you need to see places like Brinza, Gotesti or Chicani – that’s how most Moldovans live – the real Moldova.
 
A quick goodbye to Mark, check in and flight to Vienna and were on our way home. Amazingly we managed to make the 15 minute flight transfer only to find that our London connection was 15 mins late.
What thoughts rolled through our minds during the two hours back to London and the four hours from London to Torquay. We were missing our families yes but also sad to be leaving Moldova. It felt like a different 8 people were coming home.

We gave a lot  through the week but received even more and learned a great deal from the Brinza church and our Moldovan friends.  There’s something so special being amongst people who in material terms have so little yet our so spiritually rich. The Brinza church doesn’t seem to let details such as lack of money or resources stop it from initiating new outreach and mission programmes and providing for social and pastoral care for the community around them. God clearly does provide.

We also learned a great deal about submission and in particularly submitting to the host culture. So it seems odd to us that the men and women sit separately and the women cover their heads in a service. But that’s the culture and we are guests there, it was not for us to challenge them especially when there were far more important things going on.   

Churches like Brinza believe that Christians really should stand out and make a difference – this seems to fly right in the face of our ‘ Christians are normal people’ approach that risks leaving any distinctiveness at all. In Moldova  Christians don’t drink or smoke and after a week we began to understand why after hearing story after story of lives being wrecked by alcohol fueled violence of men who had nothing else in life.
I believe we have all seem God and work in us and around us this week – I pray that all 8 of us will be able to hold on to those memories and keep them close to us as we return to the normality of Torquay life.

I can’t speak for the others on this one but for me there is something so special and unique about the Eastern European Evangelical church, the window of opportunity is open and while this is so pastors like vasile in Brinza, Mark in Gotesti and even Endri in Tirana, Albania are being raised up to meet the opportunity.
We said our goodbyes at 11:30 pm at the bus stops on Lymington Road as we all returned to our homes and families pleased to be home and yet………






Graham



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