Sanders Family in Moldova

Everything is Fine Here

    Today I was at my Romanian language lesson and learned something deeper than just about how to communicate verbally.  It was a special time with Olga, our new Romanian Language Teacher, because she shared some profound insight about her own people.  We were just having a normal conversation in Romanian and then she said, "People here in Moldova..." and when I heard this, my ears perked up and I began writing some things down. 
    The main insight I took away from today about the people of Moldova is one of the ways they were affected by Communism.  She stated that they were taught to just look past problems because this is what they saw modeled by the leadership.  "Yes" was the simple answer that the authorities expected and no questions were to be raised about any problems.  There was also a negative perspective about outside influences.  This was especially true when it came to the influences of the West.  This perception was strongly held by the elderly, which are highly respected in this culture.
    Today, even though the Communist system is gone with the past, this unrealistic mindset is still engrained in many of the people here, especially in the retired folks.  The difficult part about idealism is going through change in the midst of trying to become a successful and independent Republic in a changing world that is filled with problems.  They have always been taught to look past problems and just say yes to whatever the authorities say is good and right, which leads to always doing the same things you have been doing.  I recently heard a good definition of insanity: "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting something to change".  Added to this false sense of reality is a sense of skepticism that was instilled in their thinking about ALL outside influences being negative versus the mindset of taking what is good and leaving the rest alone.  One example Olga gave was her Aunt telling her that computers are from Satan and are evil and should not be used.  Olga laughs about it now, but her aunt will not use a computer to this day, because deep down she believes that outside influences are bad.
    What implications does this have for us as we mentor church planters and equip them to have multiplying churches?  TRUST  It was a fresh reminder that establishing trust now is so foundational to everything God wants to do through us in the future.  We have sensed God doing this in many different ways, and we ask that you would continue to pray about ways we could establish trust with the church planters so that they will not see God's work as a negative outside influence from the West, but something that He is showing them from Heaven.

Kaity is Going to Be a Big Sister!!!

We are so excited that God has blessed us with our second pregnancy.  The baby is due in November and we will deliver (Lord willing) in the states while we are home on our first home assignment.  Please pray with us for a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby! 

This is a picture of a baby (in utero) that is the same "age" our baby is right now.

Moldova Medical Mission Team 2008

Chasing Down a Rutiera

This past weekend I was able to visit a church planter in the Southern part of Moldova in a small village called Badicul Moldovanesc. The visit went great and the time had come for me to catch the bus back home to Chisinau. After waiting at the bus stop for a short time, we saw a rutiera or small mini-bus that I could take to Chisinau driving by us very quickly. Normally, when you want to ride the rutiera you hold your arm out to signal you want it to stop. The church planter, Lucian, raised his arm and the rutiera just kept going and never stopped. Next thing I know we were in an ancient Russian vehicle chasing after the rutiera. We finally catch up to the rutiera and Lucian begins to flash his lights at the driver and as he got closer, he blew his horn and signaled with his hand for him to pull over. He would not stop, but Lucian did not give up. Lucian then passes the van filled with about 20 people staring at us as we go by blowing our horn. He then slows down in front of the rutiera and signals to the driver to pull over. This time it worked and the driver pulled over. We then jogged up to the vehicle and Lucian insisted that the driver let me board even after the driver continued to shake his head no. They exchanged two sentences that I did not understand and then Lucian tells me to get in the rutiera. I was appreciative of Lucian’s persistent effort, but quickly realized that the driver didn’t stop because he was full! This meant that I had to ride back to Chisinau standing up for 2 hours on old Moldovan country roads! I survived and had much to think about on the ride home as I saw this church planter defy the system and rise above the normal standards to take care of a brother in Christ that he hardly knew.

Church Plant Children's Ministry

Visiting a Church Planter Out in a Village

I was so excited to be able to get out on my own (without someone interpreting for me), into a village to meet with and encourage one of our CCI Church Planters.  I traveled about an hour by bus to a village of 3,000 people that is situated in a valley near a large river.  After visiting and speaking a greeting to the mother church, I traveled with the Church Planter, Sergiu, to his village.  Sergiu, his wife and friend of the family are teaming up to plant a new church in this village.  I was able to listen to their passion for the people in this village. They also shared with me how difficult it was for the people to turn towards Jesus Christ. After listening to their words and watching their faces, it was evident that they were discouraged by the difficulty of the work. My heart was full of compassion and admiration for their sacrifice for the Kingdom.  It was evident they really needed some encouragement to "keep on keeping on". Even within a Christian family, I observed first hand how difficult it is for believers to keep their fire alive when you only have limited contact with other believers.  I was thrilled that the Lord allowed me this wonderful opportunity to encourage this family by listening, sharing God's word, praying together, by just being with them and seeing what their life and ministry is like.  I hope that I was able to communicate to them that they matter and what they are doing for the Kingdom matters to others.

Nadea said, "We have to get out of here!"

Do you know what December 1^st was? If you don’t then you don’t live in Chisinau! Because that was the day the new grocery store opened up! As you know our lives here are very different and one big difference is that we have to go to the store just about everyday. Depending on what we need, it can take up a very large portion of time. If I need to take public transportation across town or go to several places, it can be most of the day or it can just be a quick run to the corner for milk and bread. Regardless, shopping has been one of those things that I dread because of how complicated it can be and how much time it consumes. I tell you all of this so that you will understand how very excited I was to learn that a very good grocery store was going to open up, not even a 5 minute walk from our house! The big day finally came. I really didn’t think that anyone would be more excited about the grocery store than I was but on December 1^st, at the grand opening, there were around two thousand people packed into a small area! I could not believe it. Nadea and I went together and I was determined to stick it out and get in the store! However after about 10 minutes of standing there, I began looking around at the people and knowing their lack of concern for personal space and lack of concern regarding pushing and shoving, I started thinking this might get ugly. As soon as the ribbon was cut, they opened the doors and sure enough, there was almost like a stampede to get in the store. Children were crying, people were screaming and the pushing and shoving was so strong that I could not even hold myself in one place. I was moving with the crowd. I began to fear that we were going to get trampled. Nadea finally said, “We have to get out of here!” I agreed, but couldn’t quite find the strength to go against the crowd. Finally someone else broke through and we followed behind. It was unbelievable. Don’t worry, I did go back at night when at least there were no more people outside, but it was quite the happening place inside. It was slightly disappointing because they don’t carry any of the different items that I like to go to that store for, but it is a nice store that I can easily access. The pictures were taken about 2 hours after the opening and these people were still waiting to get in the store!

 

Just Another Maxi-Taxi Ride?

Yesterday, we took Kaity out at night to go to a place that is similar to a mall. They have some indoor slides and little play houses for children. We were traveling by maxi-taxi (small bus transportation). Because, I had Kaity, I was given a seat. So there we were on our way, when a drunk man came on the bus. We could immediately tell he was drunk, but didn’t think much about it because it is not an uncommon sight. When the driver took a turn, the man lost his balance and fell on/up against Kaity and myself. My reaction in my mind was “yuck, get him off me”. I couldn’t do anything to get him off of us because I was holding on to Kaity. A lady standing nearby shoved him off of me. Of course, my thoughts were all judgmental and harsh. I am sure that my face told everyone around me how I felt. Then I looked at Kaity. For the rest of the trip, she just stared at him. There, of course, was no look of judgment on her face. It was more a look of curiosity or almost sadness. I hadn’t thought much about the drunk man until today when I was doing my Bible study. I was watching a video online by Beth Moore. I am still not exactly sure what the connection was, but the Lord brought to my mind the drunk man and the Holy Spirit convicted the attitude of my heart. Today I have been studying about doing good and about spending ourselves. The opposite of this would be self absorption. I was struck that my attitude last night was one of self absorption. As the tears rolled down my cheek, I began to think about how I could have “spent myself” last night rather than being self absorbed. So this morning, I have a picture of a drunk man in my mind. He could hardly keep his eyes open. Does he have a wife at home? Children? Did he just spend his family’s money for the week on alcohol? What has driven him to alcohol? Will he ever be able to stop? After today’s Bible study, I am pretty sure that Christ would not have been so concerned about the yuckiness of having a drunk man fall on him, but would have taken the opportunity to show love and forgiveness. Pray for us as situations like this cross our paths that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirits leading and would be eager to spend ourselves on doing good (the work that God has given us to do for the day).

Who is Hard in Their Ears???

A few weeks ago we were on our way to our language class by way of the wonderful maxi-taxi. A maxi-taxi is a mode of public transportation. It is a large van that seats about 12 but during the busy hours up to 40 people cram themselves in. It is not my favorite ride, but we are quite used to it by now. As you step into the van, you are supposed to pay or if there are many people loading, you just pass your money up once you find a spot. On this particular morning, Richard forgot to pay. We stepped into the van, found a little room to squeeze into and began our journey. Not too long after we had started the trip, the driver yells out something in Russian. This too is nothing new, and since we understand only a handful of Russian phrases, we ignored it. He then yelled something out in Romanian, but it was so fast that neither Richard or myself caught the whole thing. I did notice however that it seemed as though everyone was looking at us. (This isn’t all that different from every day so we didn’t pay much attention to that either.) All of a sudden some of the Romanian that the driver yelled out started to settle in and Richard realized that he had said something about “2 people”. We knew we were the only ones that came on together, so we figured whatever he was saying was meant for us! As soon as Richard figured this out, he realized that he had forgotten to pay and that was probably what the driver was yelling about. As Richard was pulling his wallet out, the driver yells out “Cine este tare in orechele?”  Now everyone is staring at us! He had just asked who is hard in their ears? Or, in English, “who is hard of hearing?” Well, Richard paid his money and apologized. We got a good laugh over it and we are sure that everyone else on the maxi-taxi did too. We learned a new phrase and our language teacher just laughed and laughed. Every once in a while I still like to ask Richard “Cine este tare in orechele?”

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