June
Summer use in the village
The move was well organized and somewhat chaotically executed. But everything arrived well in our new house. Despite the move, it was full-on right away: homeschooling, unpacking, working in the office, putting things away, preparing for home leave, building seating, writing project proposals, changing diapers, shopping, OM Switzerland phone calls….
We had been living in our new home for just a week and we were already off on our first summer assignment. Yes, it’s that fast here! Or you wait months for it to move forward. Sometimes like this, sometimes like that.
As an OM team and with six short term seeders, we spent two weeks together and visited two villages. We carried out various activities: Programs for children, visits to needy people, sharing the message of Jesus and distributing food parcels. We also had special programs for teenagers and organized a family event with food, children’s program and a suitable sermon. Each family received one food and one clothing package. About 50 women came. Unfortunately, hardly any men, which was a bit of a shame because Tim and I passed on some important thoughts that the men in particular should have heard. These only reappeared when it came to carrying the aid packages home. Nevertheless, we were satisfied because practically all of them were non-Christians and needy families. Thus, through this event they were
blessed at least twice.
In the second village, the church building was far from finished. But that didn’t bother us. Because it was raining, we still did a great program inside. In the afternoon we visited needy families again and brought food packages. Although many Moldovans do not have much, we were always warmly welcomed and if it was somehow possible for them, they offered us something to eat or drink.
On the last Sunday of the outreach, we participated in the service in a small church in the neighboring village. This is always a great encouragement and they love to see and hear what other Christians are experiencing in other countries.
After the beautiful and exhausting weeks, we returned to our new home where the everlasting list was waiting for us.
July
Arrive, rebuild,
looking to the future
Tim (the toolman) built us a nice outdoor seating area that we now enjoy almost daily. In addition, we filled our list with even more things Tim needed to fix around the house. In the last house we had many full cabinets, this time only very few cabinets and these were also missing half of the shelves. So he sawed shelves shut, bought kitchen cabinets, installed dishwashers and ovens, cut his fingers doing plumbing work, we realized the house was prone to mold and had a ventilation system installed, one wall still needs to be touched up and then we will be installing a steam hood. The house had no power fuses and the tool shed had no door. The house is not ours and therefore we don’t have to pay for it, but Tim still has to take care of it himself.
We are still organizing everything in the house and saving for cabinets and furniture. Therefore, we will not be ready before our home leave – but that does not bother us. (Well, actually already a little bit, but positive thinking and so on, you know. And we have more important things to do right now than to clean up and tidy up perfectly).
The agenda for our home vacation is slowly filling up and the Moldovans find it super amusing that we have had a rough plan for the three months in Switzerland for quite some time. We leave at the end of September and make a stopover in Croatia to camp with friends. After that, we’ll continue slowly via Lake Garda to Switzerland, where we hope to arrive in one piece at the beginning of October.
There we will visit our families, friends, our church and other churches, have doctor’s appointments for us and our car, will eat fondue, raclette, rösti and Zopf until it drips out of our ears.
We are really looking forward to this time, but before that we have to do about 1000 things quickly (although we only have time for about 100). I’m sure you’ve heard that too, right?
In addition, we visited two events in July, which I found very nice and about which I would like to tell you briefly. First, a women’s conference was held in our new church, Sfanta Treime. It was an encouraging event that made me realize again why we came to Moldova. I love the people here and God loves them even more. We want to show and share the love of Jesus with them every day.
At the end of July, we also took part in the breastfeeding march organized by the breastfeeding counseling service. In Moldova, the attachment-oriented education that we love so much is not yet widespread. It was nice to see that there are people here who care about this after all. I also met and was able to network with Moldova’s only babywearing consultant. Es tut sich hier in vielen Bereichen etwas und wir freuen uns dabei zu sein.
August
High-ranking visitor from Switzerland
I am writing this blog post on August 2. We somehow missed August 1 (Swiss National Day), because nobody celebrates it here anyway. Jänu, the fondue won’t go bad if it has to wait a few more days.
My mom just joined us for two weeks and is helping us with the kids, in and around the house, so maybe we can get more of the 1000 things done than just 100. In return, she gets to play with the grandchildren and we show her our town, villages and beautiful Vltava.
Next week we will go to a village with her for 5 days and do a special children’s program there every day. We are curious to see how she finds village life.
The annual staff retreat will take place at the end of August, where we will have a good, educational and relaxing time as a family and as a team.
What’s next?
“Silvia”, I hear you say, “tell us about your great idea now!”
Yeah… That’s just one of those things that’s not quite ready to be said yet. So you have to be patient a little longer. But I can tell you this much: we are currently writing a project proposal, which we will present in September OM-internally here in Moldova and in Switzerland. It is not yet clear whether it will be adopted or not. If we get the green light, we will tell you about it here and also use the time in Switzerland for networking and fundraising.
And what happens if the project is not accepted?
I don’t know, we’ll see when the time comes. The only thing we know for sure so far is that we have submitted the application for another year of residence permit.
At the moment we only have time and energy for plan A. And of course our list with the 1000 tasks on it. Whereas, now it’s only 999 tasks, because this blog post was also on the list. 😘
I wish you a blessed time
and much strength with your own lists,
Silvia
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