Friday, September 18, 2009

MOLDOVA

Posted by Leona Bergstrom

In just a few weeks I’ll be standing again on the pot-holed streets of Chisinau, Moldova! I’ll see the dear elderly ladies eating their watered down soup and thanking me for providing food that, in actuality, came as gifts from others. I’ll get swallowed up in doubled cheeked kisses and strong Russian bear hugs. I’ll hold children’s hands that leave behind a dirty, sticky imprint in my palm. I’m going back to a land that God has branded onto my heart- Moldova!

And this time we are taking along six leaders who will experience a country devastated by corrupt government, empty promises, and abundant scarcity. Our prayer is that our team will develop relationships with the pastors and officials of the Christian church and will partner in their outreach to their communities. I do not know what God will do, but I know he will do far more than I can imagine!

A friend recently wrote to me about an article in September’s issue of National Geographic. The article is about the most failing countries in the world and Moldova heads the list in Europe. The article states, "When a nation is failing, you see it in the eyes of its people.”

I can’t escape that line. Indeed, the eyes of the elderly, the children, the teenage girls-- are eyes full of emptiness, darkened by hopelessness. I’ve looked into those eyes and I believe that God wants me to tell them that there is hope. There are people on the opposite side of the world that love, care and pray for them. Their hope is in the One who sends us.

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