Hello Friends & Family! October 5, 2011

Wow, time flies when you’re having fun – we have not written since July but a lot has been going on so here goes on a brief update –

Vision
We had a full summer of activity, especially regarding Vision Institute. We spent a lot of time promoting our university and preparing for a new school year. We are excited to report that we have two different classes of students – in the First Cycle we have 32 students (29 new students!) and the Second Cycle has 19 students. We have students representing five different churches in both classes. We held our first classes in September and the students were very enthusiastic – we are impressed with our students as most of them are very mature and also very involved in ministries in their local churches. Here is a 3-minute video piece we put together that served as an advertisement for our school during the summer called Vision presents:

Artiom
Our son Artiom has had a very interesting time since we last wrote. In late July, he received a call from a friend who was working near the northern city of Murmansk in the very far north of Russia. This friend’s father landed in the hospital (here in Moldova) and this friend needed to return to Moldova. He asked Artiom to take his place on a work team in Russia. Artiom agreed. Artiom then decided to call his father (whom he has never met) who lives in St. Petersburg, Russia. Artiom was going to travel through Petersburg on his way north and wanted to meet his father. His father agreed to meet him and after a rocky start, they managed to spend some time together. This was a real breakthrough for Artiom and we were impressed with him taking the initiative to contact and meet his father.

Artiom then went north and has been working these past two months. It is seasonal work and it will end this week. Please pray for him – he will see his father for a couple of days on his return . This experience has been an eye-opener for Artiom and we are praying God will use this experience in a positive way in Artiom’s life.

Coming to the States!
Believe it or not, Gala and I will be coming to the States in November. It’s been three years since our last visit. We’re thankful that our sending church graciously provided funds and we were able to buy tickets. I (Paul) am coming on November 9th and Gala will come on November 22nd. I’ll be able to run around the Bay Area (California) and get some things done before Gala arrives. Here’s an outline of our plan:

Nov 9 – Dec 6 (or so) San Francisco Bay Area
Dec 6 – Dec 18 Fort Jones/Etna, California (parent’s home)
Dec 19 – Dec 26 Portland, Oregon (sister’s home)
Dec 26 – Dec 29 Chicago, Illinios (brother’s home)

It’s a bit of a whirlwind and it’s also a busy time of the year being the holidays, but we still hope to see many of you along the way. We’ll need some wheels for our Bay Area segment so if you have a car tucked away that is not being used, we’d be ever grateful to use it. Artiom opted to stay home since he’s been away these past couple of months. Please pray with us as we will entrust him to be home alone.

We’ll try to send another message to give more details when we get closer to the dates. Once there, we’ll be able to tell you all you ever wanted to know about our life here in Moldova – get the coffee ready!
Blessings, Paul & Gala

Hello from Moldova, July 9, 2011

Turn On the Oven
Today is the first day this summer that it is baking hot. Up until now, we have been enjoying very pleasant and cool temperatures in Moldova. Since we do not have air-conditioning (except in McDonald’s and in the malls), the hot weather has a way of sapping all strength from one’s desire to do anything. Our cat in particular, with his heavy fur coat, will now be found either in the bathtub or under the table in the kitchen trying to stay cool.

Life in the Village
During this past year, our church has been sending ministry teams on a weekly basis to a small village about an hour and a half outside of Chisinau called Bieshti. This village has three Orthodox Churches but no Protestant-type churches. Our church has been reaching out to this community through acts of service and evangelism with the goal to plant a church. What has developed is a very large ministry to children and youth.

This past week, our youth group teamed together with a missionary couple (the husband is French and his wife is Italian) to host a week-long youth program for the children during the day and an evangelism service each evening. The missionary couple has a truck that opens up to a stage complete with a sound system. Between the morning and evening programs, our youth went out to evangelize and to invite people to the evening service. Gala and I decided to spend the day there this last Friday to help in the effort.

The village of Bieshti consists of one long road that runs through the center with most of the homes lined up along it. Our youth set up a series of tents alongside the stage-truck in the back of the elementary school, centrally located in the village. When Gala and I arrived, our youth were finishing the morning program with the 50-60 children gathered. We were told that all week long, the children were arriving first thing in the morning and not going home until everything has finished in the evening. They were hanging on to every word spoken and were eager to do anything being offered since life in the village is pretty dead.
I (Paul) decided to join one of the teams going out to the main road to evangelize. We found a group of four men gathered on the sidewalk – even though it was late morning, all of them had already been drinking. This is one of the biggest problems in Moldovan villages – alcoholism, especially among the men (one 12-year old boy came one morning drunk – his father had given him wine to drink starting at 7 in the morning). We spent over an hour and a half speaking with these men.

One man, Vitally, was touched by the message of the gospel and indicated his desire to pray and ask God to give him a new life in Jesus. He was tired of his life of drunkenness and wanted a new life. We prayed together with him and invited him to come to our meeting in the evening. He didn’t want to leave us though and he ended up coming back with us to the school. He did not have a Bible so we gave him one. Terry (French husband) and Jordana continued to speak with him (picture: Terry, Jordana, Vitally). Later in the day, I saw him again on the street and he had a big smile on his face and he was so glad to see us. Please pray with us for Vitally, that God’s new life will set deep in his soul and that he will begin to grow in the Lord.

Gala and I went out later in the afternoon with another evangelism team and we were able to pray for an older woman who has been an invalid for seven years. She did not believe in God but was willing to let us pray for her. When we asked her what her name was, she replied, ‘Nadeshzda’, which means ‘Hope’ in Russian. We prayed that God would fill her heart with the hope of the gospel and we prayed for God to physically heal her. She wept when we finished praying. We’re not sure what happened in her heart but we know God started a work in her. Please pray for Nadeshzda and also for our church’s ministry in this village. We’ll need to send a team there to live permanently at some point, to minister to the people who have repented and turned to the Lord.

Vision Institute
In many ways, our day in Bieshti encapsulated the kind of ministry that is desperately needed in hundreds of villages throughout the former Soviet Union. There are scores of churches in all the major cities but no gospel presence in many of the villages scattered throughout the vast (mostly) agricultural regions of each former Soviet country. Our Vision Institute is training students, many who are part of teams that are reaching out to villages throughout Moldova. It is vital that they are trained and equipped with a strong theological education so they can minister effectively in the years to come.

In the Institute, we finished our classes in June and are already looking ahead to next year. We have been busy recruiting new students and throughout the summer, we will be meeting with pastors who expressed interest in our program at the Pastor’s Conference in May. Please pray with us that God will open doors and touch the hearts of people who will start their theological studies with us in the Fall.

Miracle at Home
Over the past few months, Artiom has been studying to get his driver’s license. It is a very long and involved process here in Moldova. He had 60 hours of class time studying theory and 32 hours of driving practice. He past the theory exam on his second attempt and also needed to retake the driving portion. We were hearing from everyone who had passed the driving portion that the only way to pass the test was to give a bribe to the driving instructor. Artiom confirmed this during his first driving test because he saw that the instructor had a huge wad of money in his pocket. The instructor did not pass Artiom even though he did everything right.

We were furious with this obvious and blatant corruption. We had a friend (who knew one of these instructors) call and ask what could be done – the answer? Pay the bribe. We were determined not to do this but rather, to pray. On the day of his second exam, Artiom, Gala and I prayed together (and others also) and asked for God’s favor. Artiom called us later in the day to say he had passed the exam without having to pay a bribe. This is a miracle for us and has been a great testimony to Artiom. He has been telling his friends that he passed the test only through prayer – praise God!

Thank you for your prayers.
May God richly bless you this summer,
Paul & Gala (and Artiom, too!)