{By Christian}
Briceni, Moldova – Days 5-9
It’s about a 3 hour drive from Chisinau to Briceni, at the northern tip of the country. It’s a fairly scenic drive, out in the countryside. Without the different street signs, Moldova could be mistaken for the midwest, or maybe even parts of central California. There is a lot of corn and grapes grown here, along with other tree fruit. The orchards are endless, and the soil is dark. It’s a perfect place to grow things. Right about here, I would typically insert some correlation for how it’s a perfect place to plant a church, but we’ll see about that in the future 🙂
Steven and Teresa have been ministering in the village of Briceni for about 6 years. We drove up to their house to move their things back to Chisinau. They definitely don’t have a lot of furniture, especially by American standards, but it is a fair amount. I’d hate to move it alone, that’s for sure! This move from Briceni to Chisinau is one of the primary reasons I came over here to visit. I wanted to help them physically and practically, and also get a lay of the land from the area I’ll probably be living.
We spent Monday and Tuesday packing up the house and getting the big furniture out to the garage. The plan was for a truck to show up Wednesday morning to take all the stuff to Chisinau. At around 8, this little van comes to the house. It was like the European equivalent to a Chevy Astro. Totally not going to work. Maybe we could get the couch and a few chairs, but the refrigerator is not going to make it! Steven was frustrated, and I was thinking we’d just have to make multiple trips – like 8.
Steven and Teresa’s friend Anya got smart. She called the furniture company in town and asked them about moving. They said they do it all the time, and they have a big truck, and they’ll be there at 2. We unloaded the van and waited for the truck. At 2:30, it showed up, and it was a real truck. Like U-Haul status. We had the furniture out of the garage and into the truck in about 15 minutes. Then we spend another hour and a half loading the rest of the stuff from the house. It worked great!
The driver came and got the truck and told us he’d be in Chisinau at 7:30 in the morning. We got in the car to go, but we had a lot of stuff people. Steven and Teresa in the front, Elias in his carseat, Aiden on my lap, and Anya and her nephew on her lap. Plus the back was full of stuff we’d need for the night. Oh yeah, and it started raining on the drive. Not like a summer sprinkle, mind you, but full-on pouring. We got to the apartment, parked, and sprinted through the rain and the mud to get inside. Then we prayed the rain would stop for the morning.
It did. The truck got here at like 8:15. Just before that, our helpers arrived. Steven has recently befriended some people from a church in Chisinau. We thought like 2-4 guys would show up to help us unload. 8 people came! We had the whole truck unloaded in just over an hour! We were and still are praising God.
Anyway, it’s been an exciting couple of days. Tomorrow, we go back to Briceni to go on the church’s annual camping trip (Camping in Moldova!). Then Sunday we’re back in Chisinau, were Steven is going to teach at the church that helped us move. Then Monday, I fly back to the States and my family.
I’ll keep you updated when I can, but I doubt I’ll get Internet while I’m camping 🙂
