Women's Day

      On Tuesday,March 8th, we celebrated International Woman's Day, which is a none working holiday in Moldova. . In Moldova, it is a day where women are honored with flowers,compliments, dinner etc....  Yeah, not to shabby :)  For Women's Day at the home, we went to a pizza shop to celebrate and eat.  It was a blessed time. Most of the women and the staff came to celebrate. People dressed up.  One of my friends said, it is a day on which you should beautiful,which I translated as you should look beautiful and be kind, after she made a gesture to not hit your husband.  After the pizza, we headed over to the home to have ice cream and cookies.  All the women were smiling and enjoying themselves, it was wonderful to be a part of.  After the home, we were invited to an Accordion concert at Organ Hall which was packed out.  The hall is beautiful and the concert was excellent:.  I never new Accordions could be used for different styles of music even Jazz, amazing.

me and Anna at the Pizza restaurant

Organ Hall

I could get used to actually celebrating Women's Day!!!

Visiting the Village

     On Saturday, we went to the village of Beltz and visited with our friend Igor's family.  This is one of the few times I have been to the village, since I have been back in Moldova, and I was really looking forward to it.  The villages in Moldova tend to be rural.  It is common to see horse and buggy on the roads, farm animals everywhere, rolling hills, and all kind of fruits and vegetable plants.  Right now, the village we went to is covered in snow so we didn't get to see most of that.  We took a Rutiera ( big public transportation van) from Chisinau to Beltz. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get there and are van driver was not wasting any time :)  We got there late morning, and I was taken back by how beautiful the village of Recea is.  When we got to his house, his family was waiting for us, and we were able to spend a little time talking before we were served with a feast.  Igor's family has ducks, chickens, pigs, and a really cute dog.  I was able to meet all of them when I went to the bathroom in the outhouse.  I loved it!!!  So Igor's mom prepared us a wonderful meal with about six different dishes.  When it first came out, I was almost in tears at the hospitality.  Everything was amazing, and I think we ate and talked around the table for about four hours.  During lunch we talked about where were from, our parents, weddings, and America.  I also got to meet Igor's niece who is two years old and adorable.  She loves to play and would randomly yell about things.  She is beautiful.  It was so nice to meet his awesome family and spend time in the village.  I am always blessed by the sincerity and hospitality of the people in the village.

 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 

not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 

distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 

Roman 12:10-12

Celebrating Beauty

     We recently celebrated one of the girls birthday's at the home.  Sometimes when I am at the home, I just sit back and stand in awe of what God has done in their lives.  This was one of those times.  On birthdays, we usually have a lot of food, we sing a birthday song in Romanian, and then we usually sing Happy Birthday in English.  One of my favorite times is when we put the girl in a kitchen chair and lift her a number of times.  They usually end up screaming or taken over by laughter; I love it.  For this particular girls, birthdays bring up a lot of sadness from the past.  Earlier in the week she was really nervous about being celebrated.   When her day came though, she let  us celebrate her and what God has done in her life.
     She came to our home fearing for her life.  In the beginning, she would not talk very much, and she was terrified of going outside.  Today she is full of joy!!!  She often greets us at the door ready for a hug and an opportunity to feed us.  On the way to the home Wednesday, we saw her outside.  She was going to get some bread for her party.  She is no longer afraid to go outside.  She is no longer afraid to show her feelings.  God is moving in her life and I am so moved.  She is perhaps one of the most courages people I have ever met.

Joel 2:25,26

So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, 

      The crawling locust, 

      The consuming locust, 

      And the chewing locust.

      My great army which I sent among you. 

        You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, 

      And praise the name of the LORD your God, 

      Who has dealt wondrously with you; 

      And My people shall never be put to shame. 

Thoughts on teaching

     I woke up this morning wanting to know how I was going to present the topic of smoking to the ladies.  I had been praying for a couple of weeks about the delivery, the subject matter, my attitude, and for understanding  for the women.  Working in a place where I don't know the culture, how things will be taken, what can trigger a trauma, and how much they no about the subject matter can be extremely challenging. I constantly find myself asking the Lord for wisdom and love, and that my words would be full of grace. He has been so faithful.
     This afternoon I spoke about smoking and addiction at the home.  I was reluctant to tell the girls ahead of time what we were talking about, because I knew several of them would not come( I did anyways).  Although all the girls did not attend, the majority did and I was grateful for their willingness to confront this difficult topic.
      Sometimes I look at these women and I know that people around them find their lives hopeless, often they find their lives hopeless.  It is easy to believe that they can never change, but it is simply not true.  I see everyday that with God in their lives, they are changing. They are also seeing it.  He is not put off by their struggles or addiction. This morning I was reminded of how God freed Israel from slavery to the Egyptians.  He showed me that  He is not interested in partial healing or deliverance for these women, but He wants to completely heal them.  There was nothing partial about it for Israel.  It was complete!  I ended up presenting the topic from that viewpoint that nothing is to hard for God, and His love does not change because we struggle. He can and wants to deliver them.  The atmosphere when we ended the class was sober but good.  I am so thankful for His faithfulness.

Chinese Lantern Festival

     Tonight the kids at our school celebrated the Chinese Lantern Festival, and Jessie and I were invited to join the festivities.  They are currently studying China.   Our apartment was transformed into the festival complete with lanterns, a skit, Asian cuisine, and lantern lighting. Everyone had a server who would serve them their drinks.  I was served by one of the girls at the school. She was adorable in her Chinese dress.  I actually new nothing about the Chinese Lantern Festival until tonight.    
What we learned:

• The Chinese Lantern Festival is a ancient tradition
• It marks the end of the New Year holiday
• Solving riddles are often a part the tradition (We all had to solve a riddle in order to get a hand made lantern)

   When we went to light lanterns outside, it was snowing and the first lantern would not fly.  We tried another lantern that was heart shaped, and it actually flew.  It was a lot of fun!!! These kids are such a blessing from God.  Everyday they bring so much joy to our apartment.

 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 15:19

Homemade Lanterns

This was a dragon the kids made for the skit.  It was impressive.

Different flavored rice flour balls.  The garlic and soy sauce one had a nice kick.

Market Madness

  Monday Donna and I took off to shop for groceries.  Shopping for groceries in Moldova is no small feat and is really quite enjoyable.  One of my favorite places to go is the Central Market or any market.  Central Market is located in downtown Chisinau and is filled with different vendors. The market is huge, outdoors, and has multiple sections with different specialties (i.e. vegetables, clothes, bread, dairy etc...)  When we arrived at the market, we got lost in the exciting atmosphere.  People were everywhere, the sellers were calling out from their stands, the pace was fast, and multiple languages were being spoken.  We met several lovely people. Elena, the kiwi lady, and the man selling the lemons were just a few.  What I love is that at all of these stands we got into wonderful conversations with them about family, friends, and where everyone is from.  Elena was a woman selling farm cheese.   Some of her family lives in the States, and she finds it very challenging and expensive to live in Chisinau,  By the end of our conversation with her, we were encouraging her in the Lord and we hope to visit her again soon.  She was so grateful we stopped to talk to her.  I was so grateful she gave us her time and was willing to open up to us.     

      One of the most comical aspects of our conversations and shopping is that we were all speaking different languages.  Donna is learning Romanian.  I am learning Russian, and all conversations tended to include a little bit of English.  It is comical because our language is progressing, but we are no where near where native speakers are. So each person we met had to have quite a bit of patience with us, and thankfully they did.  We laughed a lot because of the language challenge, and we got to know some pretty kind people.  We ended up spending a little over an hour in the market and successfully purchased all our fruits and vegetables.

Tollhouse Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

     This afternoon Jessie, Donna, and I thought we would go to the home and try to do something fun with the girls.  Our plan was to make chocolate chip cookies. They do not sell chocolate chips in Moldova, but I have heard multiple people at the home say they really like this American cookie.  So I had some chocolate chips, and figured we could enjoy them together. [ It has been really cool lately, God has been opening up more opportunities to spend quality time with the ladies.]  When we arrived, the house was like a wasteland.  So we began to collect the stuff we needed hoping girls would join. One of the staff members quickly told us we would need to double the recipe because everyone would want these cookies.  It was no problem to double the recipe, but I think something or somethings got missed :)  It was most likely the baking soda.  We ended up with about five people making the cookies including one of the kids, and it was hard to keep track of what went in and what did not.  All that to say, that the first tray of cookies took about 25 minutes to cook.  Yeah, they are a 12 minute cookie max. After we added more flour baking soda and increased the temperature on the stove, the second tray took the right amount of time, but they were the chewiest chocolate chip cookies I have ever had.  By the end, all the girls were downstairs.  By the time we left, all the cookies had been eaten.  I guess they weren't that bad.  Oh the joys of baking.
     It is so amazing to see what God is doing in these womens lives.  At the end off cookie making, the house was filled with chomping, singing, and laughter.  So good!!!
   I am really looking forward to this coming week.  I am going to be teaching on some difficult topics, so I could use some prayer.
Also, if anyone know why the cookies were so chewy and also hallow, I would love to know:)