Dear Friends and Family,
We’ve had a great month, but first, since weather is a topic oft-discussed, we’ll begin with that. It’s been HOT here, I mean, July or August hot, and it started back in mid-April. We’re still trying to recover from the quick spring and adjust to the summer weather.
On May 7th we headed to Lepșa, Romania and were greeted by rain, cool weather, beautiful green mountains and a few days later by some sun. We went there with our sister communities from Galați, Romania and Freetown, Sierra Leone for a week-long retreat whose theme was reconciliation. Daily we went through topics such as reconciliation with our first Love, with ourselves, with our community and with society. Each day we had worship and a short teaching followed by two hours of solitude, time in which we were able to reflect, pray and listen to the voice of God. As a whole, the retreat was a great time for reflection, rejuvenation, playing games, and just being together; we miss it already.
At the retreat, the community in Romania ended one of the evening gatherings with a foot-washing ceremony. I was hesitant when this was mentioned, a feeling that only showed my desperate need for humility and reconciliation with God, myself and my community. I have not loved well, and I know that. So I offered myself rather quickly, maybe to get it over with, but also by the prompting of the Spirit, to wash my friend Rachel’s feet. She is a member of our community who served in Romania for over 7 years and has been with the Moldova team since its beginning more than two years ago. I washed her feet because she is courageous, loving and humble and because she listens to the voice of God. I have a lot to learn from her, and I need to love her better. Do you want to love someone better? Humble yourself by asking to wash their feet. Maybe tonight you will go home and offer to wash the feet of your spouse or roommate. We saw really sweet reconciliation happening between people we love, and it was such a gift.
Some really fun news we have was choosing to accept the invitation of our friends Cristina and Vitalie to become godparents of their son, Yarosvet. Our friends have been signs of hope and light to us in Chișinău. They seek peace, love and who God is. We were happy to accept their invitation and feel further connected to them and this country in which we’re choosing to live and choosing to love.
Now for some updates…
Regarding the sewing program, we’re continuing to sew more bags and really enjoying it. It’s such a gift for me to be able to go to the school each day, enter the happy pink room, open the curtains and the window to let in the breeze, put on some music and begin preparing for a day of sewing with a fourteen-year-old girl, T.
In April, we sold Easter cards at another nearby high school, and more money was raised and donated. The children were again paid for their work, and money has been set aside to buy more materials for the sewing program. We are excited to see the creativity of the children expressed and see how they are able to create.
We have finally launched our Facebook page. Please look us up, read about us, see what we’ve been doing and tell all your friends. You can find us by searching for AOLaVIA or by going to my Facebook page and looking under my ‘Likes.’
We’ve updated our Word Made Flesh USA blog and will be doing so more regularly, so please feel free to check that out as well: www.wordmadeflesh.org/Moldova.
Something to leave you with…
My beloved friend Rachel White Motter (a different Rachel from above) once shared the song I’ll Believe in Anything by Wolf Parade with me. Her suggestion when listening to this song was to understand that we do not need only “worship” music to praise God; God can be found anywhere if we only open our eyes. So today I listened, sang and prayed to Jesus with these lyrics:
Give me Your eyes
I need sunshine
Give me Your eyes
I need sunshine
Your blood
Your bones
Your voice
and Your Ghost.
May you be able to worship God in what surrounds you, see music as a reflection of God’s great creativity and use all things to glorify our loving Creator.
struggling but striving for deep humility,
Rachel (& John)