Monday, July 18, 2011

Moldova Mission Trip on the Horizon...

Our final day in 2010 after we've painted a tee with a symbol of each lesson we taught.
In less than 2 weeks, 13 people from the United States will be traveling to Chisinau, Moldova.  There we will be joined by another team member who gets to live in Chisinau year round.  Our team members come from 2 different countries, 4 different states and 5 different churches.  We will begin meeting as a team at the airport in Detroit, continue adding team members at the Frankfurt, Germany airport and finally be all together for the first time after arrival in Chisinau, Moldova on July 30th. 

The Gazebo holds all of us to start and end our day at camp.
How will 14 people be able to cooperatively get acquainted, live and minister together for 11 days when they've previously never been physically in the same space?
These words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans give me great hope and confidence that this will be  possible:
Romans 15: 5-7
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus ChristAccept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Husband John with his boys ages 13-14 in 2010
We selected a curriculum this year which has a lesson on inclusiveness - accepting those with a variety of differences; another lesson is on forgiveness and we'll close with a lesson about salvation. So the verses in Romans which encourage a spirit of unity and acceptance of one another in order to bring praise to God will have to be embraced by our whole team so that we will glorify God with one heart and mouth as we share and model the implementation of the lessons we'll teach. 
  1. Will this be a challenge?
  2. Will this be successful?
  3. Will this be implemented perfectly?
  4. Will the effort be worth it?
  5. Will our team glorify our Lord Jesus Christ?
  6. Will we have a spirit of unity among ourselves?
  7. Will God be praised?
I am prayerfully trusting that the answer to all of the above questions will be "yes" except for #3.  We will not reach perfection as individuals or as a team on this trip but we will forgive and receive forgiveness as moments of friction arise and are overcome.
Meeting with the Moldovan teachers
Our team is mightily encouraged and sustained with the prayerful support of family and friends.  Please pray for the following:
  1. Travel safety
  2. Team bonding cooperatively
  3. Health
  4. Proper sleep / adaptation to time change
  5. God's truth shared in boldly winsome ways
Thanks for being a part of our team. Hopefully I will be able to update this blog each day in Moldova starting July 31st.
I can't wait to get back there!!! 

1 comment:

Marge B. said...

The 2011 Moldova Mission trip has been in my thoughts and prayers these last several weeks. The departure date is fast upon us & I can sense the excitement mounting. I'm sure there must be great excitement on the receiving end, as well, as they anticipate your arrival. What a privilege to share Jesus with people hungry to hear God's message of forgiveness & hope.

I asked God to show me scripture that He could encourage you with. He led me to this verse in my devotional this morning.

"God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work."
1 Cor.9:8

Lifting you all in prayer,
Marge