Monday, April 14, 2008

Good afternoon. I'm sorry that I did not submit a posting for yesterday, but by the time I had time I was too tired to type. For all three teams, yesterday was a blessed day.

Sid and I rode up to Balti with Serghei Vinicurvo for worship with the church there. The road to Balti is filled with pot holes, ruts and obstables. It is not that far, but as slowly as one has to drive it is quite a distance. Upon arrival in Balti we were warmly greeted by the sisters. These are a special and dear group of sisters. Sid did the talk for the Lord's Supper (about a 20 minute talk) and I preached on the reasons for Paul's joy as expressed in Philippians. Because time was issue, we did not get to stay and socialize with the sisters. Shortly after the close of worship,we headed back to Chisunau and another 2 1/2 hour drive.

Connie and Ernestine has a class before we arrived. Their impact upon these ladies cannot be captured in words. I have asked them to write a summary of their time in Balti and that will be included in a future post.

Serghei Corchmaru drove down to Benderi and met with the saints there. He joined Steve and David who spoke in Tiraspol at 8:30 and then Benderi about 11:00. The faith and commitment to truth among these brethren is amazing. Alexander, the local preacher in Benderi, was their translator and became a much beloved brother. The brethren in Benderi have made a clean and final break from their institutional sponsors. Praise God for the power of His Word and the faith of these brethren.

Next week the whole team will head to Benderi to conduct and entire day of Bible lessons. Connie and Ernestine will tag-team teaching the women. The other four of us will tag-team the men.

We all met back together in Chisinau later Sunday afternoon. Steve had forgotten to take his key, so he and Daniel stood outside for over an hour while Sid and I came with the key. It was great to be back together and share stories. We tripped over each other and we excitedly shared our memories and victories. But, soon it was time to head to worship in Chisinau.

After worship, we walked to Green Hills for a supurb meal and a time to unwind and relax. Steak, tocana, mamalygia was all around the table.

This morning all six of us went to the Teacher's college. We were expecting a general discussion of American culture. The teacher wrote the word "Beelzebub" on the board and wanted information on it as they had run across it in Milton's works. That opened the door and the next 80 minutes we had one of the best Bible studies any of us had ever had. A hand full of girl students questioned us about the existence of God, good -vs-evil, why we should be concerned about God, how can we express love for God, etc. Sid did a great job filling in the "scholarly" material. The students were well-behaved, mannerly and obviously interested in our discussion. We have been invited back, but I am not sure of the day. I went relunctantly, but repented as soon as we excited the school. It the best Bible study I have ever had at a university in Moldova.

Later, I haope to fill you in on the work in Balti and Benderi/Tiraspol. Stay tuned. Thanks for reading.