The Last Week in Chisinau

This week has been incredible. There are no other words. i was very thankful that I got invited to the BBQ for Victor's birthday. It was awesome to see the simple happiness of it all. It was a good reminder to me that the things that are truly important are the PEOPLE that you surround yourself with. At the end of the day, this is what is really important. And of coarse, it is always so much fun to play football (aka soccer). Even though I am not a good athlete it was still a great time! Oh, and of coarse, the food was good. We had sausage, pork, and salad. Only the understanding of salad here is different than that of in America. here, salad basically means any assortment of veggies that have been put in the same bowl. Maybe some cheese or mayonnaise. Yes, mayonnaise, if anyone has seen Pulp Fiction, think of the scene where Jules and Vincent talk about eating fries with mayonnaise. Same idea here. Only, they put mayonnaise on everything, not just fries ;)

On Monday all of the OM Moldova staff, including the staff from Rezina and Paiku, went on another BBQ. This time however, it was an event called Run for the World. It was a way of raising support for the children's outreaches in Africa. Since I had late notice and no supporters I ended up "taking pictures of others running for the world" other people "cooked for OM." It was great fun and I got to meet more OM people. Every time I meet a new person with OM my instinct is to say "they are so nice." Always true.

Tuesday was a day of prayer and fasting. No food for 24 hours. I thought I would get super hungry, but it wasn't that bad. It started at 6 on Monday night and went till 6 on Tuesday night. Afterwards, Ashley, Sharron, Marcel, and Ester went to Andy's Pizza. Note to self: mayonnaise and corn on pizza is not that bad.

Thursday, after my lessons, I walked into the room and Ashley was going stir crazy and wanted to get out of the room. Why not? It's Moldova? Why sit on your bum and do nothing? So, we went into town even though we basically know how to get to number one. We had a Rutierra map and a phone. We figured we could figure it out. And, we did. Mostly. Some lady came up to us when we had called Lily to figure out which way McDonald's was. Well, we didn't really want to go there, but we didn't know where else we could get food. However, this lady told us about a nice Bistro down the street. It was pretty cheap and delicious. Ordering really was a challenge to my intensely limited Romanian, but we got food. This is what counts. That and getting on and off the rutierra.

Yesterday, Ashley and I went to the market and got some food and legit Moldovan bags. After shopping, we decided we should learn how to count. So, now we do. BWUAHAHAHA. More short termers from America showed up from Atlanta, Georgia. They will be going to a village today.
I am a little sad that I will no longer be working with the same people, but I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me during the outreaches. For Love Moldova A, I will be on a construction team. People arrive on Sunday and the intro day is Monday. From now on, my updates will probably be in between outreaches.

Hope you all are having a blessed summer!

Baby food? Nope, just juice...

La cruce...they are all over the place

the big red r=thing is the rutierra. AKA bus, pul=blic transport. whatever you wannna call it.

the restraunt we ended up eating at

Pavel and Al running for the world.

I guess it's okay for the Moldovans to play cards?

this is the view outside my window

From left to right Claudia, Olea, Viorica, Danu, and Pavel (front). At Viktor's birthday

at every .5 killometers we all stopped to pray.

Practical Work Day :D

I guess yesterday needs it's own post all together. It was a "practical work day" for the OM staff. It was a lot of fun actually! I love seeing all of the staff together in one place and watching everyone interact. I am so blessed to be provided with yet another example of true community. Since Sora Maria is on vacation (holiday) this week there haven't been any community meals together in the mission center and I truely miss it! However, seeing everyone work together to paint the missions center was incredible! Although my room (one of the places that was painted) still smells like paint. It was definately a good time to connect with every one.

I am looking forward to this next week. This weekend I am going to a picnic tomorrow as well as attending church on sunday. Then, on Monday, another picnic!!! Tuesday, however, will be very different since it will be a day of prayer and fasting (monday at 6 till tues. at 6) I am actually looking forward to it. Please keep me in your prayers.

thank you everyone!

Zoo, hair dresser, and doors...

Wow, it has been a while since I updated everyone! I am so sorry, but it feels like yesterday I was sitting down to write up an update. Well, since I last wrote I have moved locations from the 51/4 office and apartment buildings to the Missions Center. Brooke, the girl who came for sports ministry ended up going home. Please keep her and her family in your prayers! Brooke was only here for less than a week. However, this week Ashley moved in, which is part of the reason why I moved to the mission center. She is here in Moldova to do hair! She just graduated cosmetology school and wanted to bless the OM staff and Moldavian people by giving free hair cuts. Yes, I got one :) Her and I got along very well and was sad to see her leave this morning. She is going to a village, Razina, to serve the people there till next Monday.

As for teaching, it was a crazy week last week and definitely caused me to be very very flexible. My students can be very forgetful that they have lessons haha. Or they just forget to tell me that they cannot make it. However, I am fairly flexible and it does not bother me. 

This last weekend The Jones family invited Ashley and I to the zoo. I went, I mean how often do you have a chance to go to the zoo in Moldova? It was definitely interesting. Lets just say there was a house cat on display. in the same cage as birds...Interesting...I was also able to babysit the Jones kids on Thursday, I don't know where they get all there energy! Can i have some? Well on the way to their house we took the rutiera (bus). When we got on Ashley closed the door, but the driver didn't take her money right away and gave her a strange look. When she sat down I heard Sharon tell her "He's mad because you didn't slam the door." I don't know why that made sense to me, but when we got off i made sure i slammed it. He was not very happy. I really need to get my hearing checked! Yeah, Sharon actually said "he's mad because you slammed the door" OOPS! well, on the way back to the missions center, we got the same exact driver. ugh...talk about unlucky. At least I now know how to say "i'm sorry" in case it ever happens again (him being the driver, not me slamming the door). 

Anyways God has been teaching me so much this summer and I wish I could share more, but I still need to process it and I honestly don't know what else to say. Thank you for your continued prayer and support :)

If you want to check out my pictures so far, here is the link. It should be visible to everyone, for now, so feel free to check it out. 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150178930480870.311642.553950869