You might not hear from me for a little while. I’ll be spending the next month in Moldova and I don’t know about internet access. Does this require a geography lesson? Just wedged in between Ukraine and its southern neighbor Romania, is a former Soviet Republic called Moldova. Click here for a little map.

I won’t lie to you. Before I came to Ukraine, I’m sure I’d heard of Moldova before, but didn’t pay attention. So I’ve been learning about Moldova on the internet. (There’s an obvious lack of English books on the subject here, maybe everywhere) Let me share a little of what I’ve learned. Moldova was part of Romania until it was swallowed up by the Soviet Union. Today it’s the poorest country in Europe. Though it became independent in 1991, it was the first former Soviet country to actually elect a Communist as its president (in 2001). Eighty percent of the men are unemployed and sixty percent are alcoholics.

Not very encouraging. Still, I’m the eternal optimist. I know that the glass is just a little more than half full no matter what the little lines on the side say. So I began searching websites that included “I love Moldova” and “Moldova is great” to get the other perspective.
Moldova is very green and very beautiful. They’ve preserved much of the forests that have all but disappeared in much of Europe. The people are laid back, and I’ve read that there “are few places on earth where people who don't know you, will slaughter five animals in honor of your arrival and invite the whole neighborhood to drink…” I won’t continue there because he goes on to tell what they’re drinking. :O)

Even the websites based on “I love Moldova” were usually formatted like this. “I love Moldova because it’s my homeland, but the problem is…” Funny that the more I read about how bad Moldova is, the more excited I am about going. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But hearing “don’t go there, it has nothing to offer,” makes me want to prove people wrong. I want to go to the places people call hopeless because I know I have hope to offer. Poverty and alcoholism won’t disappear because of our trip there, but I’m convinced it will evaporate for someone.
I’ll be working with a team from our base (the Discipleship Training School) who are on the outreach phase of their school. Someone has also arranged for me to go to a local church where I’ll be conducting five seminars on how to reach at-risk kids.

So keep me in your prayers. I’ll be traveling by train this week. I’ve still got seminars to prepare for and things to do before I leave, but it’s going to be a great time.

¶ 2:53 PM //

This picture proves how Oleg is developing. He is now grabbing toys when we hold them out to him. Thanks to Pam and Madi for mailing the package of baby toys. More pics coming soon.

¶ 2:23 PM //

Oleg giggles like a madman when you turn him upside down. You see the magic marker on his pajamas? That's deliberately there so that the pajamas will stay in this particular hospital wing. This picture is posted for the girl I met on Sunday who confessed she was an Oleg fan. You know who you are. The fever is growing...

¶ 2:10 PM //