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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