Finding community on the other side of the world

The first week in Chisinau was a bit lonely for us. Knowing that this was not a vacation and we would be catching a flight home in a couple of weeks definitley encouraged this loneliness. I can say that if I had not had Joy and Leah to interact with in a country where English is not widely spoken and I had little to no clue how to get around, I would have gone absolutely crazy. Whoever made the decision that at least 2 of us had to go was brilliant.

Things started to turn around this weekend. Jon, our supervisor, arrived on Friday night. Saturday, we went shopping at MALLdova. This is a 4 story mall with lots of restaurants and a bowling alley. Its sooooooooo nice. Shopping was familiar, it helped me feel at home. Ha. But it was Sunday that truly made us realize that we would be able to find community here so far from home. Jon invited us to join him at church on Sunday night. Dorrell is a pastor who used to work for CERI and is in the process of starting a church that is held in a library on Sunday nights. He started this in hopes that he would give the children at the orphanages a place to find community and hope. Everyone was so kind and welcoming from the moment we walked in. The entire church body at this point consists of about 20 people. I love this. Rather than corporate worship, it is intimate community. With a keyboard and a guitar, Jon and Dorrell led worship. Lots of familiar tunes, but every word was Romanian. Trying to sing along was pretty entertaining. This may be a great way to pick up the language though. If you can't speak it, sing it?? Hmm, maybe not so much. The best part was seeing some of the children that we had met during the week at the orphanage. Not only did they remember us, they greeted us with hugs. When we got our cameras out after the service, they proceeded to take a TON of pictures of us. It was such a fun and relaxing time. I now look forward to Sunday nights.