1st Day in Chisinau

Well here we are in Moldova, enjoying our first day with old friends and new! We were met at the airport by Andre, Tanya, Alyosha, and Alyona and today we have met Dima, Christine, and Andre, Pastor Andre's cousin.

We're staying at a hotel called Zimbur by the football (soccer) stadium in Chisinau. As we drove in yesterday, a team was practicing on the practice field outside the hotel.



Last night, we ate at La Placinta that has authentic Moldovan food and decorations. We really enjoyed eating placintas, which are sort of like pastries with apples or cheese inside. And vertuta, which is made from the same dough as the placinta, but it's made by rolling the dough over the topping until it makes a round tube. Then it's rolled around in a circle like a cinnamon roll and then baked. We also had mamaliga, which is like an unbelievably delicious palenta. You dip the mamaliga in sour cream and then in a crumbled cheese that is sweet - called brinza. Mmm mmm good!
We also had grilled pork and Domenic was brave enough to try some sausage that also turned out to be very good.

Today we ate breakfast (eggs, cheese, salami, bread, and tea - another Moldovan staple) at the hotel and then Tanya came to take us to the church office. We have been here for a couple of hours talking to Chrisine and Andre and the church staff. We also sang some praise and worship songs and prayed together.

That's all for now cause we're off to eat lunch. : )

Andre and Team Come to Atlanta

Just a few pics from their visit.

"Dismiss Expectation, and Embrace Anticipation"

Below is a picture of the Moldovan Parliament building please pray for the leaders in this building to be led by the prompting of the Holy Spirit to initiate change in this small poor country.
This picture below is an area called the City Gate located in the countries capital where we will be visiting.

The  theme for our trip is "Dismiss Expectation, and Embrace Anticipation". We are anticipating a great agenda straight from the hand of God, as we ready ourselves to be used on the trip. The Moldova church website in English has been restored and I encourage all our friends and family to check it out at 

http://www.horosho.md/eng/index.html

They just as us are focussed on Family, Youth and Small Home Group ministries. They are also reaching out to the community with musical events.

Continue to pray for Deb as she embarks on her trip to Bosnia in a few weeks. Deb is the strength and wisdom of our team as well s the leader. Pray for Jeanee, she brings the quiet and tender voice of the Holy Spirit to the team. Pray for Bill Price that he may receive clear guidance fro God as to his participation in the team.

Thanks and Gods Blessings on you all.

Schedule From Deb

Jeanne and Domenic,

It was so nice to meet today and I know that God is going to bless this
trip.  The three ladies from Moldova will be visiting from about May 2nd -
8th or 9th.  

Milana is the Program Director
Yulya is in charge of the Café Environment
Alyona is the Music Leader


Here is the meeting schedule we discussed today.  We will meet at Browns
Bridge at 11 AM.  I will book a Starting Point room.  On the 1,3,5 Sundays I
maybe 10-15 minutes late as I will be working the Info Desk at NPCC until
about 10:45.  

April 6th 
April 13th
May 4th NOTE:  We will try to meet with the women from Moldova and maybe
even attend church with them on Sunday morning.  
May 11th
May 18th
June 1st
June 8th

We leave on June 11th.  This is so exciting.  

I'll let you know how we do on the flights.  Jeanne, I let Lisa Gore know
that your dad would be dropping off your passport copies sometime this week.

Take care.

Deb 

Weather in June

The main religion in Republic of Moldova is Christianity, 95% of people are orthodox. 
     The climate in the Republic of Moldova is continental, with mild winters and torrid summers. Weather in Moldova is variable, with for distinct seasons. About 150-200 days of the year are sunny, with average temperature over 16oC. Summer weather can be expected in May, June, July, August, and September. Autumn weather may begin in September and last into October. In autumn rains are usually and the nights become cool. The months of November through March bring us winter conditions, with snowstorms and temperatures below zero (oC). Spring may arrive as early as March.

Immunization for Moldova

This link will go to the page referencing our trip.

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/destinationMoldova.aspx

March 15 2008

I am so pleased to have met my team for this mission trip. I am standing in faith that our Father is going to bless us with the funds, Spirit, and favor we need as we move forward in the weeks ahead.

What a Mighty God we serve

For the very first time a Global X mission team is heading to the country of Moldova, headed by Deb Avery. Below is the first letter to the team members:

My name is Deb Avery and I am the team leader for the June 11-17 short-term mission trip to Moldova. Our trip to Moldova is going to be awesome as this is the first NPCC short-term trip with this partnership. God’s Design Church was started in 2002 by Andre and Olga Tcacenco. Since then they have more than 200 regular attendees at their church and a vision to make relevant environments (as those at NPCC) in Chisinau, Moldova. They target two very specific audiences. One is the youth – high school to college students and young families with children. They have a terrific website www.horosho.md – take a look it’s in their native language which is Russianized…Romanian. (I think!!! It’s actually quite interesting as there are multiple nationalities and they all claim their own language as the desired language.) Anyway, they are such a vibrant group of leaders that they just soak up new concepts and have implemented so much already. I met them last year while they were here at the Drive conference.

We are still filling a few spots on our June team but should have this completed within the next week or so. I expect that we will have our first meeting around mid-March. I have Wednesday or Thursday nights available or we can meet on Sundays after church. Normally, we would start out meeting every two weeks and every week for the last couple of weeks. About 7 or so meetings in all. Let me know what will work best for you all.

In the meantime:

1) Please apply for your passport or renew it (if needed). Check the expiration date and if it due to expire within 90 days of our trip you might want to renew it early.
2) Pray for our team…that God will add two or three other members… whatever the number…that this will be His team. That we will be ready to serve.
3) Check out details on Moldova and the Church.

I will reach out to Andre in Moldova to make the initial contact and trust that I will have more details for our first meeting.

Take care and the Lord Bless You.

Deb


My name is Domenic Pace and I will be your blog host, so if you have anything that you want posted please email it to me at gryphon001@gmail.com this is the email I will be checking while on the trip.