Home safe

On Saturday evening, we went to the home of the pastor who had been our host for the week. They served us a most delicious meal of chicken, potatoes and mushrooms in white gravey. Courtney, Gwen, Kathy, & Chuck
Bill, Rita, Curt, and the pastor in the back.Pastor's family l to r: His wife, son-in-law, daughter, and pastor Earlier in the day Saturday, we went out by a river in the country for a youth outing.

This came by several times..........

Some of the youth prepared this lunch for the day. Macaroni dish with a salad.

Very good............

The macaroni dish was cooked over an open fire.

Preparing the salad

I shared briefly.

On Friday, we did some sightseeing:

An ole Moldovan house. (Note the roof.) Gwen lighting candles in the cave.

Part of the monastery.

Gwen and I are standing out on the ledge. These are caves in the side of the mountain. The monk below lives in one of these.

We are in one of the caves and Courtney is looking at the items that this monk has for sale. He lives here by himself.

We are on our way to visit "Orheiul Vechi". (a monestery)

I arrived home safely this morning about 3:00 a.m. (Monday) Our flights went well. I had a close connection in Munich, but thanks to airport personel, we were able to connect with our overseas flight although we were only on the ground for less than an hour. Everyone should be home by tonight.

I hope you have enjoyed sharing in this trip. If perhaps the Lord were to speak to your heart about going on a mission's trip, please contact me about next summer. I'd love to take some of you along with me. It is life changing. The basic requirements are that you: love the Lord and want to share about Him, be flexible and open to other cultures, love people, and desire to help carry out the Great Commission. Until next time.....................

Sunday

I will be leaving to go home in a couple of hours. We've had 2 very busy days. Friday we did some sightseeing at a monastery, then went and had fellowship with a group of believers in Orhei which is about 45 km from Chinisau, the capital where we have been staying.
On Saturday, we went out into the country and spent several hours with the youth of the church. In the evening we had a final meal with the pastor that has helped us so much this week.
I do not have time to post any pictures this morning, but when I get home, I will do a final post with pictures of this trip and give you more details.


In July, David and I are planning to go to China. We will be working with teachers teaching them conversational English. It will be a 5 day outreach. Please be in prayer for this trip.
We will also be going to Washington DC for the CUFI Summit with John Hagee for 3 days. Our purpose will be to take a stand for Israel. We hope to meet with our senators and representatives.

Thanks for your continued prayers.
rita

Thursday

We went to the market today and passed out Bibles and did some shopping. Here's a lady looking at her new Bible.Some of the team passing out Bibles.

Chuck met this guy (a statue) and wanted to witness to him. But we think it is too late.

Another Bible..........

A little one with a Bible...........

Courtney handing out the pamplet.

Bill sharing with someone.

After lunch we visited a dentention center for children.

Going into the church for the mid week service.

Part of the congregation had their picture made with us outside the building. We had to be out of the building by 8:00 as they rent the building.

Team after the evening meal. James on the right side leaves to go home tomorrow.

It has been another fruitful day of ministry here in Moldova.

Thanks to all for your continued prayers and to each one that gave money for Bibles.

Wednesday

Tonight we had a "Girl's Night Out" here at our apartment. About 10 girls came over from the church. They washed and fixed hair, put on make-up, and had a lot of laughs. We all enjoyed pizza and salad. It was a memorable time that we will all remember for a long time. Here's part of the group on the stairs after all the primping. Gwen closed with a lesson on Ruth. Yummy salad & pizza!

Courtney working on one of the girl's hair.

Today we went out into the country to a village of about 2,500. We had lunch with some older folk. I think the local pastor said that he goes there once a month to minister to these people. There is no church in this village. You can tell these people have had a very hard life. They fed us a delicious lunch and were gracious host. Bro. James shared a brief message with them and we had prayer. We left them with some Bibles. Here's one of the ladies who cooked for us with one of the Bibles:

The local pastor brought them some more Bibles for outreach. We encouraged them to reach out to those around them. Can you imagine what it would be like to not have a church to attend? They just meet in their home in a very small group.

Some of the locals and our team about to pray.

We had turkey that was very good, a rice mixture wrapped in grape leaves, wonderful cornbread along with other things. Fresh cherries, too!

Local transportation in the village!

Kathy, Courtney, Rita, & Gwen

Giving the children some gifts. This was a very poor family. The kitchen sink was outside as well as the wood stove. They had two little rooms and the walls were made from old vinyl flooring. The pastor is working with this family.

This little girl has the Barbie doll I gave her.

Proud of her children's Bible. I also gave her a Barbie doll.

This little girl also has some serious physical needs concerning her heart.

Walking up to the area, we came across this little lamb laying in the grass. I was reminded of the story in the Bible about when Abraham went to Mt. Moriah to offer Issac as a sacrifice. And God provided the lamb. We need to remember that God is still providing whatever is needed.

It has been another blessed day here in Moldova. We are so blessed!

Tuesday

We got to ride the trolley today. Here's Courtney and Ramina (one of our interpreters). We start out each day with a special time of prayer and then plans for ministry.
Gwen and Courtney at lunch.

Kathy and Rita at lunch.

Here's lunch. The yellow is like our grits. They called this chicken, but Courtney and I both agree that they call everything chicken. The white in the bowl was sour cream. The other white is shredded cheese. (Their cheese here is wonderful!)

Courtney is making new Facebook friends. The teens here just love and have really accepted her.

At one of our cell groups today, we learned that the guys wash the dishes. Here we got it with our camera.

Courtney with another new friend.

Ministry at a cell group.

It has been an awesome day of ministry here. The momentum seems to be building each day. We visited 2 different cell groups. The first one, we divided into 2 teams and went to 2 separate places. The first one my group went to was young teenagers. Then at 6:00, we all met with young adults. It was a powerful time of ministry. Bill shared his testimony of being healed of cancer. Last July, he was dying, but today he is cancer free. Our meeting that was suppose to have been a couple of hours turned into 3. The presence of the Lord was so strong, real, and rich. We now realize why the enemy fought us all so hard in getting here. In my opinion, this one session was worth the trip.

James from Louisiana still has not received his luggage. This morning in our prayer time he spoke, "Luggage, I call you forth in Jesus name." This afternoon he got a call and he is to go get his luggage in the morning. I especially noted the specifics of his prayer.

Thanks to all for your prayers for us. We do not take this for granted. As we are blessed to be here in Moldova, our hearts still cry for an outpouring in our country.

One final note, in our first cell group with the young people, they had a prayer request that they needed a president for their country. I think they said they did not have one for a couple of years. I told them we would give them ours. One young man said, "No, thank you!" They seem to know what is going on. This was funny to all of us.
Tomorrow we're going out to a couple of villages.

Until next time.....................

Monday

Bibles.............for the children and adults, plus a smaller booklet for outreach on the street. This seemed the best and wisest use of our funds. Boxes of Bibles in the. pastor's truck

Going into a restaurant for lunch.............

We went to the mall............very nice and modern.

Street scene:

Boxes of Bibles in the church waiting for a stamp so interested people will know where and who to contact for help.







The beautiful colorful children's Bibles:

Some of the young folk posing with the Bibles: (Just having fun.)

One of the ladies in the church with a Bible. They were so proud and appreciative of them.

Leadership meeting at the local church. Teaching for about 2.5 hours.

Special prayer over the church leaders:

It has been a fruitful day of ministry here in Moldova. Thank you to each one that gave to the Bible fund. I wish you could be here to experience the thrill of getting the Bibles. Please know that these people are very grateful for your sacrifice in giving so their people can have their own Bible.