Dearest Friends,
What is written below was written yesterday. Today is our last day of ministry in Moldova. Please ask the Father to especially bless this day and give us very clear heads as we have many decisions to make. We have 2 more shows and then we must divide the equipment, pack, and get up at 2AM to travel across the country to reach the airport. Please hold us in your prayers as we travel tomorrow, Saturday, September 29th, and will arrive in Atlanta Saturday afternoon.
LIFE IN MOLDOVA
These people are amazing! Life here is difficult as the salaries are very low, but the cost of living is very high. A teacher makes $ 100 US Dollars a month, but it costs a family of five $700 to $800 US Dollars a month. They would seldom buy clothes or even essential medicines. That does not include gas for a car or repairs from driving on terrible roads.
In Alexandru’s church, there are 150 people and only 2 cars. People walk every where, as much as 30 miles if a person is in a village and needs to get to a city and back in a day. Alexandruu often picks up these people, gives them a ride, and shares Christ. I am reminded by his good example how we must take every opportunity to share Jesus. More, he always loans his car to anyone who needs it.
At a distant village, some people were waiting all evening for a Bible Study. We came home at 9 PM and a man left in the car to go and teach. The people were still waiting. They must work in the fields or at other jobs and were surely exhausted, but they hungered for God’s Word.
OUR LAST 5 SHOWS
After 2 weeks of ministry, we have only 5 programs and 1 training session left. We are all asking God for a special outpouring of His spirit on these last programs. At our first show today, the Lord answered our prayers. Again the children looked out the window, expecting to see Jesus, as I was telling the story. Though it is wonderful that they are so caught up in the story, it also shows that they have zero Bible knowledge. This lack of knowledge makes me very sad!
When we left, one teacher came to me and was bubbling with her gratitude. She was not a believer, but the Lord began to touch her heart. The vice-principal of the school said, "Thank you so much for coming. It was such a good program and it was free. I can’t believe it." There are traveling puppet teams here, but they are not Christian and charge as much as $ 1 US Dollar per child. Most could not afford to come and if they did come, they were disappointed. We have been told that they are not very good. Your financial gifts gave this gift to the children and enabled them to hear about the best gift who is Jesus!
A COMMUNIST DIRECTOR
The children loved the show and listened incredibly well to how they could put their trust in Jesus, but the really amazing part of this program was the principal of the school. He was and still is a Communist. It was so funny to watch him forced into a position of making the children be quiet so that they could listen to Bible stories, so that they could hear that God made all things. It has been 15 years since the wall fell down. Such a thing would never have happened before the USSR fell apart. Keep praying for God to hold the door open for the children of Moldova to hear Jesus Christ.
So Happy!
The children who came to the last show were especially excited with every part of the program. At one point, they fell off their backpacks that they were sitting on and fell over backwards. They laughed and everyone else laughed harder. At none of these shows were we able to pray with the children, but we did explain to them how they could pray. Please pray for the stories of Jesus to be remembered by them. Please ask God to call them to Himself.
In Jesus, Linda for Marsha, Gwen, Kim, and Drew