Moldova - Home Already!

The capitol of Moldova is a bustling city that reminds us of American "down towns" in the 1950's. People/families come to town to shop, walk in parks, and visit. Sidewalk cafe's and currency exchange offices abound. We just love it. But what is becoming more dear to us are the people in the rest of the country who live in villages in what we call "Fiddler on the Roof" style. Very close to the land. The building is where our Chisinau branch meets-there are two signs on the building: one in Russian and one in Romanian. About 60-80 members meet each week and we are having baptisms every week-there have been 3 in the last two weeks and two more scheduled for next week! Fun thing-we meet two Jehovas Witness missionaries on the plane to Moldova who have been here 10 years and they had been on our blog and recognized us by site. We ran into them the next day at the grocery store.

Urosaia Village Has Running Water!!!

Elder and Sister Hinson started this water project and we were priviledged to represent the church at the celebration ceremony. The mayor signed documents accepting the water project. There were speeches then a tour of the water pumps and tank. The mayor and I drank goblets of the fresh water from the water pump then we went back and had a wonderful masa celebration (masa is tons and tons of food that just keeps coming!) It was a monumental occassion for the school, medical clinic and the villagers to have running water. No more hauling water from the wells. We have a photo below of a home owner in the village showing off her running water.

2800 People Recieve Goods

On our 2nd day working here we worked with Counterpart International to distribute a 40 ft container of goods that had been shipped from Salt Lake City. There was a ceremony and plenty of grateful hugs all around! 28 organizations in the northern part of the country gathered to accept the blankets, boots, hygiene kits, newborn kits, school kits, clothing. They in turn delivered the items to very needy people in the Donduseni area. One of the ladies read a poem of gratitude she had written to the crowd during the ceremony. She gave us the poem. After loading all the vehicles with the items we were gathered in a very humble room for a "masa", large meal. They were so grateful for our help. Met a Peace Corp volunteer there who wants us to come to his village to help with their school. Lovely lovely people.

Gave Newborn Kits and School Kits

Presented Newborn Kits to the mothers in the county hospital. Sweet moments. The patients here must bring their own sheets, toiletries, food, and baby clothing. Some hospitals will send the babies home wrapped in newspaper if the mother can't supply blankets & clothing. The mothers had never recieved gifts like this before. There were 3 mothers per room that was barely large enough to hold the 3 beds as you might notice in the photo.
We left the hospital to deliver school kits, blankets, boots,hygiene kits, and other needed items to some very very needy families. Unbelievable how little these families have and yet how sweet their spirits are. One family with 4 girls were wide eyed as we gave them their school kits then the oldest girl played a song of gratitude on a very old piano for us. We don't know how they got this old piano up the stairs and then squeezed it into thier 300 sq ft apt.

We're "Volcano Refugees"

Spent our waiting time studying Russian with our new Friends; Elder and Sister Hazelwood, who are going to St Petersburg Russia to do humanitarian work also. He is an oil man from New Mexico.

Tom was busy letting family know we are ok and safely tucked away at the Mission Training Center in Provo Utah. We are trying to be patiant but not doing well with the waiting. We are sooo eager to get to Moldova we can hardly stand the waiting.

What??? A volcano in Iceland??

Got up at 4:00 am and took the shuttle to the Salt Lake City airport with the Gardners (Munich Germany), the Hazelwoods (Russia), the Browns (Spain), the Bushmans (Germany). Unloaded all of that luggage to the curb only to discover that all airports in Europe were closed due to volcano ash coming in from Iceland. Ugh! Disappointedly we reloaded the luggage and went back to the MTC that was an hour away. They checked us back in to our hotel (same room)and we spent the day helping Sister Wolfley (Houston TX)get to the Chiropractor to help with a painful Siatic nerve issue. New flights are scheduled for 4/20/10...four days away. Double ugh!!Hopefully the volcano will settle down and we can get to Moldova; our precious part of God's vineyard.

Some MTC friends & memories

It's official-we are Missionaries!

"Yes!!! Every single item is absolutely essential!"

These bags don't even include the two laptop computers, the sewing machine, and the carry on luggage. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to see what other senior missionary couples pack for their 2 year missions-what THEY consider essential. I wonder if they take hair color, ipod docking speakers, face soap, yak traks...

Goodbye for 2 years!

Thanks for all the well wishes! We got so engrossed with hugging everyone goodbye that we forgot to take photos of many of you that we love...like Kelsey Lambert, Paula Hibbs, Deatra Ogden, Vandi, my daughter Lisa and her children, my sister MaryJo and her children, Heather Kinard, and on and on. Please know we love you and take your hugs with us to Moldova.