where do i begin?

dear friends and family-it really is hard to know where to begin here with this blog. So much has happened here in moldova, and I wish I could tell it all. I will try to do my best.
The weather here has strangely(to me)turned Spring overnight. Yesterday was so beautiful! the snow and ice are almost completely gone from the roadways and walks, and already you can see green starting to poke through the ground in the fields, and flowers sticking their heads out of the dirt at some homes. It is odd, since back home in America, I hear that there is a fresh fall of snow.
This past week was my first full week of joining the ministry here in Rezina. It was a very full week, and also included my birthday. It is hard to put into words the various things I have been assigned to be a part of. Here are a few:

• Purchasing and packing food parcels, and delivering to elderly shut-ins
• playing volleyball with some young people to build relationships
• children's programs in villages, and in the local church
• visiting and encouraging the elderly
• participating in local and area church services, through songs and the ministry of the word

All of these things have so many stories and details that go with them, as well as so many prayer needs. Last week I was part of a group that visited a couple homes in a village called Ciniseuti.
One was the home of the mother of a former teammate on this team, who has moved on to another place of ministry in Asia. Her mother is blind, and yet lives almost alone, and still does her own cooking, cleaning, etc. She loves the Lord, and yet is very lonely.
Another home we visited was a very pitiful sight. It was hard to see someone in such a condition. The couple was in their bed in the middle of the day. The home looked like it could collapse at any moment, because the roof had been leaking, creating a disaster al over the one room of the house. There were filthy clothes, and dishes, and old remains of food all over the place. The smell was incredible. We brought them a food packet, and the place we stored their food didn't look like anything good should be put there. I heard the story later, that the couple receives a pension, but the man uses it all on alcohol. He doesn't care for his wife, and any help that has been offered to repair the home has been rejected, because he doesn't care. Alcohol is such a huge bondage here in moldova. I have seen the effects of it in several different places. Another story comes from another village. A woman has been kicked out of her home by her husband, and has no place to go. She is elderly, and is not very healthy. She is a strong believer, and reaches out to those in her village, in spite of her own trials. She use to be an athiest, and taught children that there is no God. Now that she is a believer, she is searching out those children, to tell them the real truth, and if possible, to turn their hearts to the One true God.

I have been able to finally connect over the phone with my family, and it was a blessing to hear
their voices! You never realize how much you appreciate your native language until you are surrounded by a foreign one. The girls I live with speak English with me, but 3 also speak German, and Romanian. Their help has been amazing, and I love them all like sisters. I am studying Romanian, but it doesn't seem to be fast enough! But, I know that the language of God's love knows no barriers, and that is what I am seeking to distribute here...God's love in abundance. Please pray for me that I have the vision of the Lord to be able to reach these people, and even my own teammates. They are people with needs as well, and i want to be used here to the fullest.

Thank you to all who have faithfully checked my blog for news. I am sorry I have not been faithful to update. i hope this will answer some questions. Please ask away if you have more questions! I will try to be better about keeping things fresh on here.

Thank you for praying and standing behind me.

moldova reality

Hello Everyone! My news has been a little delayed in coming, but here is the first report from Moldova.
I made it very safely to my destination here in Moldova, with no trouble in the airports or on the planes. I met and talked to a missionary from S.Africa en route to Washington DC. It was a very encouraging conversation. I am always blessed tremendously when that sort of thing happens on a plane. I think God put me right next to him!
I have already been to the town of Rezina and have helped with some children's ministry. It is COLD here, but mostly because there is a lot of walking required. we walk to our place of ministry, and the buildings are not always heated. We also use a form of transportation called "ruteria", or mini buses. they transport you to wherever you want to go, and you pay 3 lei per ride. I think that is equivalent to a few cents. i am learning how to ride them easily and quickly.
Today I went shopping for my own food with a couple other girls. It was not very easy to decide what to buy in another language, and with another form of currency. It was quite frustrating actually! This, among other things, constantly reminds me of the need to learn the language here, and hopefully to learn it quickly! It is hard to not be able to communicate, and to have to lean on someone else to translate, when i am the only one who does not speak the language here in the group. But, I know over time it will grow easier. Now is just the hard time.
I have been able to help with a couple ministries already this past week. Friday, after taking a couple hour bus ride alone to Rezina, I arrived at the town where I will call home for a few months, or "3 luni", as they say here. That day I helped out with a ministry in a Day Center, or after school care. It is a ministry of the local Baptist Church, and we go and help out with a kids program. The center feeds the children a hot meal, and helps them with homework. this meal is the only meal of the day for many of these kids.
I also helped with a sunday school on sunday in a town called Saharna that has no church, but a few christians meet together for worship.
Tomorrow is our day of prayer and fasting, and the whole team comes together from the north and south, and we pray.
Thank you for praying and thinking of me. When you get cold, think of moldova where there is not much heat.
Please pray that I can learn the language very quickly, and that I can be effective in the ways that God would have me to, and not think about myself so often. it's easy to do here, being the only american. But, I want to remain unseen, and just be a vessel...

God bless you!

melanie

i made it!

made it to moldova at 4 pm-about 8am CST. all is well. more to come!

"La Revedere"

the big day has arrived. Feb 1 will soon be here to send me on my way to Moldova. the next time I update this, I will be in Eastern Europe.
thanks again for all those who have and are supporting me!

all His blessings on you,

melanie

5 days and counting...

I can't believe it, but the time really has flown, and I am in my final week before leaving for Moldova. God has truly been good to me. I want to personally thank all of you who have contributed towards this trip, whether through prayer support, or financial support, or both! Thank you to those who have filled my account, and helped me reach my deadlines, and have prayed me through some stressful situations.

This week-I might add-might be pretty intense, as packing all my things into one bag that can only weight 50 lbs at the most, you can imagine must be a difficult task. :) Please remember me in prayer also as I say some tough goodbyes, or, as I like to say, 'see ya later's'.

Remember my family in prayer as well. Though they are never reluctant to let me go when they know God is leading me, it is always tough to say one more goodbye, and to let go again, never knowing what the future holds.

I have moved from Burlington to Milwaukee to pack up from here. I will be departing early Monday morning of the 1st. There is a lot of travel involved, so I will not reach Moldova until Feb. 2.

Moldova is 8 hours later than the US (CST). When you are going to sleep, I will be awake, starting my day.

I will make an effort to update this blog while I am away, though I am unsure how often I will have internet access.

I will appreciate any mail from home, though I can't say for sure how long it takes to get there. A Christmas card sent to me took about a week to get here. It may be longer to get mail there from the USA.

Here is the address I can be reached at in Moldova:

(my name)

C/O Corinne Anbeek

Castua Postala 5

5400 Rezina

Republic of Moldova

I will look forward to hearing from you!

God Answers Prayer-He's so Good to Me!

I have a God who is so much bigger than my wildest imaginations. He is the one who holds the universe in the palm of His hands. He who calms to raging sea with a word, and spoke the earth into motion, is the same one who knows how to calm my fears, and silence my troubled heart, and speak things into existence that were not there previously. Yesterday, God showed me that He truly is for me-no, He reminded me. I was able to purchase my ticket to Moldova yesterday. Kinda late, you say? Na-I'd say, perfect-God-timing. He knew what He was doing with me. I was really stressing out about the ticket this weekend, thinking that I might miss buying it, because of what turned out to be a misunderstanding on my part with the travel agency. Without all the details, I was able to finally get a hold of the agency, and find that I could reserve the ticket, and had 2 days in which I had to buy it -yesterday and today. It is done.

I also found out yesterday, after getting a report on my OM account, that I am very close, if not have already reached, the amount that I need to meet the final deadline for other expenses for my trip. I was concerned about this too, but have really been trying to let it go to God, and trust that He knew where to find the funds I needed. It's about His work getting done anyway, so why would He not be the one providing to get it done?

I have not wanted this trip to be about me at all, and truly God is not allowing it to be one smidgen about me!

It's all God. He is doing what man could not do. I can't say there is any part of this that has come together that has been my doing.

I am so excited about what He has ahead for me! I hope that somehow the excitement that I'm sharing can be imparted to you, at least a little bit, so you remember to pray for me while I'm gone.

I have realized that this trip, in many ways, will be different from the others I have been on, and one reason being, that I am going to miss a whole lot of awesome friends that I have become so close to...if you are out there reading this, you know who you are, and if you think I'm not talking about you, forget it, cause you are an awesome friend of mine, and I am so grateful that you are a part of my life, and a part of what God is doing over in Moldova.

Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for praying. God is getting me there, and it's friends like you that He is using to make it possible!

what's happening in moldova?

Here is an idea of what I will be involved with for 3 months in Moldova, if anyone is interested. Please remember all of these areas in prayer. thanks!

-melanie

Rezina(ra-zee-nah)

Day center for poor children - one day a week we help in the day center with activities;

Elderly home - we visit every week the elderly;

Internat - we give Bible lessons and do activities with the older girls, we are trying to find possibilities to do more sports;

Church - we have a youth meeting with a Bible study and also a meeting for the younger ones (12-15 year olds), we might start helping with the Sunday school;

Youth Club - Weekly there is a meeting with the non-Christian youth, where we play games and give them some more lessons

Cineseuti(chin-a-sa-oots)

Children's club

Visiting and helping the elderly at home

Volleyball

Youth club for non-Christian youth

Pripiceni(pre-pee-chen)

Children's club

Visiting and helping the elderly

English lessons

Sports - not yet, but hopefully we can start something soon

Papauti(papa-oots)

Children's club

English lessons

Sports ???

Saharna(sa-har-nah)

Sunday school

Visiting the elderly

Gordinesti(gor-di-nesht)

Sunday school

Meeting with a small group (at this moment 2 sisters) Christians

(a note from the outreach team leader)

By the time you are coming we will be a team of 8 persons and we might be working in more villages.

And we are always open for new ideas, but only if the local church agrees.

We are not working as a team together anymore, we are too many people on the team. So we all have our responsibilities. Three people might go to one village while two others go to another village, or remain in Rezina.

Every Monday morning and Friday morning we have a short prayer time together. On Monday morning we also discuss and prepare the week program. On Tuesday morning we have Bible study and prayer time (3 hours) and we eat together at lunch time on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. But this might change when we start to work in more places.

We try to be at every church meeting in Rezina, that is on Sunday morning and evening, Wednesday evening and Friday evening (this does not always work out when you are in a village.) On Monday evening there is the youth meeting at church and on Thursday evening there is a choir (optional). We also visit the different churches we work with on a Sunday morning. So one week some of us will go to Cineseuti (and the others will stay in Rezina), next Sunday to Papauti etc.

We work 6 days a week (at this moment Saturday is off). Because we work almost every evening we start most times around 10 in the morning.

Once a month there is a prayer and fasting day in Chisinau(kish-now) where we go to, then we are for at least two days in Chisinau.