Moldova pics from Oct 2009

Took our team over thirty hours to arrive in Moldova in the two rent-a-cars we borrowed; we had delays at the Ukrainian and Moldovan boarders, trouble exchanging money in Ukraine, got lost, shared the gospel a few times, etc. This team was awesome and i can't recall hearing anyone complain the whole way there; it seemed miraculous :) The roads through Ukraine were really gnarly; tons of unexpected potholes on narrow roads flooded with semi-trucks.

Once in Moldova we met our hosts Steve and Teresa (see pic of couple holding baby); they were really cool, made us feel at home and kept us busy, but not too busy to burn us out! We spent time at a local youth club where we taught and gave testimonies, visited youth who were attending a delinquent school, invested a good amount of time on the streets talking with city teens, taught English classes in a primary school, visited a local hospital, went to a drug rehab centre where we performed the 'Everything Skit', visited local villages, spoke at a church in a neighboring town, and spent a lot of time hanging out with the local church body in Briceni.

The drive home was much quicker then our trip there (about 16 hours on the road total) and proved to be perhaps the most epic drive of my life! On our way to Moldova, the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains, proved themselves to be very toilsome, yet our return voyage home presented a full moon with a cloudless night sky, leaving me in unspeakable awe by this breathtaking and ancient stretch of terrain of staggering slopes, corners and bounds. We almost didn't need to use our headlights it was so bright. I honestly felt like i was on another planet at times, and found myself in complete jaw-dropping worship, in light of my minuscule stature, in comparison to this nocturnal & peaceful range of creation, formerly known as the USSR. We wisely stopped at Nagy Isti's parent's house on the Hungarian/Ukranian boarder before making it back to the Castle.