marching on in moldova-WE DON'T QUIT!

Dear everyone,
here I am again, sitting down late at the computer to attempt to fill you in on details that have become daily life to me now. Yes, I feel like I am finally getting use to being here, and today I even called Rezina "home".
It is so hard to not be able to share all the details. Every day has it's joys and it's frustrations at times, but always some reminder that God Almighty has put his fingerprint on it. Everything there is to share would not fit in these pages.
Let's see...this past week we had a week of being stretched a little bit, as we had only 5 of the usual 8 team members in Rezina, and almost all of the same outreaches to be involved with. So, being short staffed, it meant that each of us had to work a little harder, and give a little more, and maybe do more things than normally were required of us. For me, this meant teaching a Bible story-the first time I have since being here in Moldova this year-among other things. We learned a lot as a smaller team, especially about trusting God to strengthen us when we were weak, and to see spiritual opposition as a reality. It seemed like everything happened this week that could, and many times we just could not understand why. But, God was faithful to remind us of His goodness, in spite of what our eyes could see. In the girls apartment, the heat stopped working for a few days, among a few other minor things that decided that this week was the time to fall apart. :)
We delivered some food packets this week in the Rezina area, to some elderly people, and spent some time visiting with them and hearing their stories. It is often sad to hear what they have been through. One woman is bedridden, and had been for the past two years. Her husband had been an invalid from 1968-2008, when he passed away. She cared for him all those years herself. 40 days after his death, she had an accident with a ladder, and broke her knee, and injured her head pretty badly, causing damage to her eyes. She was hospitalized for a time, but now is in bed at home. She gets very fearful when the woman that helps her goes home for the night, and leaves her alone. We encouraged her by reading scripture, and talking about Christ's love for her. She cannot see well enough to read the Bible. This is one of the many stories from our house visits this week in Rezina. On Wednesday, in the village of Cineseuti, I was again part of a small team visiting homes. We met with a woman who had grown up in Siberia. She now lives in Moldova, and cares for her grandson. She lives off of a very small pension, and in her case, this pension is divided between two families-not very much to live on. In the valley where she lives, there is no source of water, which is a hardship, because water is used for everything. Imagine how often you use water during the day: drinking, cooking, cleaning, washing laundry, taking a bath, etc. In most places in Moldova, there are wells for water, but here, in the valley, there is nothing. They have to walk uphill 400 meters to find the closest water source. It is a big job, but I'm sure they are grateful that it is downhill when they come home with the water! I am not sure how often they have to make trips, but the can they use to transport it doesn't seem to be very large.

Praise and prayer from Rezina-
Friday night, our pastor, Brother Virgil, stayed late at the church preparing for sunday service, and was there until after 11pm. A woman of about 30 years, stopped by the church because she saw the light on. She was on her way to commit suicide, she told the pastor. He was able to talk to her, and ended up bringing her home to stay the night with his family, and her plans never came to pass, thanks be to God. Sometimes we never know why God allows us to be at a certain place at a specific time. Often He may have someone waiting, that needs a helping hand, or a touch from God to turn them from the darkness into the light. Please pray for this woman. Her name is Tanja. Pray that she surrender her life to God, and find hope in Him.

Remember Pastor Virgil in prayer as well. Being a Pastor in Moldova can be very challenging, and taxing, and he gets no breaks, as our team does.
Other pastors that we work alongside are as follows. Please remember them in prayer as well as their villages where they minister:
*Ciniseuti_Brother Anatol
*Papauti_Bro.Gheorgh
*Pripiceni/Gordinesti_Bro. Mihai
*Saharna_Bro Alexei
* Glenceni_Bro. Igor
*Mateuti_Bro. Grisa

Miscellaneous prayer needs from Rezina:
-some team members need financial help
-Transit team:a group is coming to Rezina at the end of March
*pray as we prepare for their arrival, and plan for their stay here
-an elderly sister in the church is very sick with cancer. she wants to be able to visit the church one more time before she dies. pray for her husband as well, who has faithfully cared for her.
-our team: unity, love for one another, and order. much has been shaken up lately, and we are still trying to settle back into a normal routine again.
-local business: a shop just recently had a terrible fire, that must have occurred overnight, and was electrical. It was a big loss! We used this shop to purchase food for the food parcels we deliver, as well as for personal use. I am not sure about the full extent of the damage, or whether there were any people injured, but I can imagine such a big loss to the owners themselves, already living in a poor country.

On a lighter note, I went food shopping again in Chisinau, the capital city here, and found it much easier than last month when I felt absolutely lost. I am glad to see some improvement!
As far as language goes, I have noticed that I am catching on to more things that I hear in conversation. I think I am getting closer to understanding, though speaking will come a little slower. I know that I need to try harder to use the words that I know, and it will help. It can be very intimidating, but I am determined, and I have such awesome friends that are helping me, and challenging me to learn.

Yesterday, 8 March, was 'Women's day' in Moldova, a government-recognized holiday for all women, though very similar to Mother's day in the USA. The guys of our team made us feel really special with a presentation and a meal in our honor!

March 1 was Moldova's official 1st day of spring, and it seemed like it would be so, but then we had another fresh fall of snow this past Friday, and it is forecasted that we will get heavy snow this week...well, Spring came and went I guess!

On a personal note, I have been blessed by God more this past week than in most of the time I have been here. In the midst of a trying week, he showed me how close He was/is. Today, through the words of a new song, Where You Go, I'll Go, God spoke to me, and reminded me that all I need to see is His hand, and be sure that I am holding on tightly to Him. I don't need to see the future, or anything that is ahead that He has not chosen to show me yet. I just need to hold on to Him, and be content with that. If everything else is dark around me, but I feel His hand holding mine close, I have nothing to fear or worry about.

During a devotion this week, one of the guys on my team asked us what we were created for?
To glorify God. As he shared passages on this truth, I began to picture the earth being filled with the glory of the Lord. How can this happen? If we were created to bring glory back to God, then everyone that has chosen to allow this glory to flow through them will be returning that to God. Since the body of Christ is all over the earth, then the earth is being filled with the glory of the Lord! Every time another heart and life is committed to the Lord, that person begins to send glory up to God...can you picture it? Glory rising up to God from the earth that is full of His glory manifested in the lives of saints around the globe.

In closing, please remember me in prayer, along with the former mentioned needs.

-language study
-a steady focus on God
-building relationships with people
-my future in missions

Thank you for your support and for standing behind me in prayer!

photos from top down are as follows:
1. half-frozen waterfall in the village of Saharna
2. team with some teens in Rezina on an outing to an old bridge
3. house visits in Pripiceni
4. children's program in Ciniseuti
5. at the bridge again(see #2)
6. a gorgeous sight over Ciniseuti