Benderi, Snow, and Emigration

I last left you with notice that we would go the following morning (Thursday) to Benderi, to meet in the flat of Ina, one of the women in the church there, who sees the problems in the Benderi church, and had invited any and all of the other members to come meet with her and us. We learned that she had been widely and strongly criticized within the Benderi church again on the latest Sunday, for asking how the treasury was being used. She defended her actions by appealing to the passages I had previously discussed with her (which she had worried she would not be able to present well, and that was the reason for the planned meeting for Thursday morning). Well, she apparently did it well afterall :), because Benderi Serghei finally admitted that she had raised the question properly. Of course much is still unresolved, but that is perhaps some degree of progress.

We (Driver Serghei, Serghei Sergheiovich, Nathan, and I) arrived in Benderi at Ina's flat Thursday morning to find that none who had opposed her came to this meeting. Sasha was there, as well as three of the other women who have attended the normal Thursday studies that Serghei Sergheiovich leads in Tiraspol, and which we have been helping teach while we are here.

(From left: Nathan, Sasha, driver Serghei [barely visible], Serghei Sergheiovich, the 3 women whose names I don't know, and Ina)

So Serghei used most of the time to translate for them a letter he recently received from Ken G., the American institutional brother who has been working with those churches once or twice a year. These brethren were not pleased by Ken G.'s letter, but that is not new. I also talked with them for a few minutes, dealing with one of Ken's arguments: that there is no distinction between church action and individual action. We hope we left them with good counsel and encouragement. We should see them again at the regular Thursday study in Tiraspol.

Friday morning brought us another trip to Balti with driver Serghei. The ladies there wanted our thoughts related to scripture on the subject of children (both grown and not grown) and their relationship to their parents; what kind of respect, what kind of obedience, what expectations parents can have from children.

(yet another picture of Vyera, our favorite lady in Balti)

We got back to Chisinau just in time to collect our thoughts and finalize our notes before our three o'clock appointment with the two Christina's, the college English students who began studying with us a couple of weeks ago. But they never showed up. I just found out today that they had a seminar that day, which they had not expected.

Friday evening was the regular gathering at the church meeting place. Nathan took the chair that night, discussing a question previously asked by Boris (Serghei Sergheiovich's Baptist father-in-law) about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Part of Nathan's response was Acts 7 and Stephen's statement about the Jews always resisting the Holy Spirit. From this, Boris wanted to know about "uncircumcised ears." Another question we both responded to concerned free will and God hardening hearts.

On Saturday, I went with Nathan to a nearby park area, where also is a horse training/riding area which Nathan had happened across a couple days before. We finally found the girl he had met earlier, who speaks English, and who arranged for Nathan to do some riding. It's new riding for him though. Western cowboy riding and British nobleman riding ain't exactly the same. He's learning some new things though, even some things useful for his own riding. Anyway, I went along to take pics. The girl offered for me to ride also, but it was already time for me to be leaving for an appointment with Dennis, with whom I went downtown, and among other things accomplished, I bought a scarf. In preparation and packing for this trip, I poorly estimated when cold weather would hit this part of the world, and I learned in the Czech Republic just how much a simple scarf does to keep heat inside your coat when you're outside for more than just walking to your heated car. Anyway, found a scarf at an open market for 35 lei, 3 dollars.

Serghei Sergheiovich has been sick these past several days (but is doing much better today), so neither of us had his company on Sunday. Nathan headed off north with driver Serghei to Balti to speak there Sunday morning, and I and Dennis were driven by Ivan, a friend of Serghei Sergheiovich, to Tiraspol, Serghei having suggested that Dennis accompany me to translate.

Nathan and driver Serghei never made it to Balti. It was a snowy morning as they drove north from Chisinau. It was slow going on the snow covered roads, and finally they came to one hill where many cars were having much difficulty. They eventually made it to the top of the hill, but the snow was worse beyond, and they were already far behind schedule. They might have made it all the way to Balti, but a timely return for the evening Chisinau assembly was increasingly doubtful. So they elected to turn around, and await their turn to descend the hill they had ascended, as car by car slowly went down, most with locked tires and bumping off curbs.

The roads to the southeast from Chisinau gave Dennis and me, and our driver Ivan, no trouble at all, with just a thin layer of snow that didn't even cover the whole roadway. But we had our own problem that could prevent us from reaching the assembly in Tiraspol. Dennis coming as translator was a last minute solution, and the law demands special papers for a minor to be taken across borders without being accompanied by relatives. So we didn't know if the border guards would raise the issue or not, and Serghei Sergheiovich had warned the brethren in Tiraspol that we might now show up. Thankfully, the guards let us pass.

The previous two Sundays I, or any of us, had been in Tiraspol, I had seen none of the male members in attendance (out of town on the weekend, busy with other things in town, etc.). We arrived, and only two women but three men were there! It was good to see the men there, but this is a subject needing to be addressed everywhere here. It's just that there are many subjects needing to be addressed, and you can only do so many. I wish I were here for another month or two. I asked the men if any would lead one of the prayers...they each declined, not feeling “ready.” One said he would another time, so I asked him if he would on this coming Sunday, and he agreed. I will hold him to that! Anyway, Dennis did a good job with translation, which he has just begun in these past few weeks. He has the potential to be very useful in the work here in various ways...if he will remain and not move to Canada as is the current plan.

This in fact touches on a big problem for the church here in Chisinau, and for the ability of Serghei Sergheiovich to help in the other cities. There are not men to speak of in the church in Balti, and the women lack the maturity to lead things in the church there. Serghei has been traveling to meet with them on Sunday mornings. In addition to that, three weeks ago he was given the opportunity to regularly speak in the Tiraspol church as well, where there also is no good leader, and where good leadership and good teaching is very much needed. On Sunday evenings of course Serghei meets with the church here in Chisinau for their weekly assembly. And even here in the church in Chisinau, there has been little emphasis on the various men taking part in leading within the assembly. It is something Serghei wants, but I think has not known how to effectively bring about. So he does every part of the leading within the assembly (unless Americans are present to help), with the exception that driver Serghei sometimes leads a prayer, and also covers the bases when Serghei Sergheiovich is (rarely) out of the country.

In recent days, driver Serghei has agreed to speak every other week in Balti, and on the other weeks in Tiraspol, to cover what will be left if Serghei Sergheiovich splits his Sunday mornings between those same two cities. That's a big step. And Dennis, since I have been working with him, has begun song leading and prayer leading, and I may yet get a little more out of him.

Sadly though, these two who are closest to being very useful here for Serghei Sergheiovich and for the work generally - Dennis and driver Serghei - may both be moving to the West. Dennis has plans to move to live with his father in Canada, and driver Serghei has plans to move to the States. They are only waiting for the approval of the American and Canadian governments, respectively. Pray that these two governments deny approval!

Sunday evening we all met together in Chisinau for their weekly assembly. Nathan and I both spoke. Afterward we were both able to enjoy some time in the flat of Serghei's parents (his mother is a Christian), which they share with Serghei's sister Natasha and her two sons, Dennis and Artiom. We have had little opportunity on this trip, but it is always nice to be able to visit with these people in their homes, and receive their hospitality.

Which reminds me...I found chili powder, and I planned to make chili for a group to have over before we leave. That is, until I found out today that some will not eat anything spicy (and what's the point of introducing people to American chili, if you have to make it totally bland?), and one will not eat after 6 pm. That's the second meal that's been nixed by personal preferences here (the other preference was no meat and bread in the same meal). So I'm running out of time, and I'm getting discouraged with this, and may just offer to take them out to eat. :)

Today I spoke again at the university, but not on any literary theme. Anna invited me to come and just talk with the students, so I chose to ask them questions this time, about Moldovan culture. They were much more motivated to speak up than last time when they were only given the opportunity to ask me questions, so we had good discussion. I began with Moldovan holidays, which opened the door to several ways of addressing religion. And by the way, on that previous day, I was virtually certain of Shakespeare's first name, but felt just this tinge of doubt. Plus it'd be funny to ask. But of course, I knew it's “Fred Shakespeare.” What?

To get to the university this morning, I took a minibus. There are large, normally sized trolley buses, and then there are the minibuses. The minibuses are basically oversized vans, usually Mercedes vans since they have to endure so many kilometers every day (Mercedes does not necessarily equal luxury by the way, just quality). They run certain routes like the larger buses, but you can stop them anywhere with an outstretched arm, and get off anywhere by simply telling the driver where you want him to stop. They have a seating capacity of about 13, but their actual capacity including standing room (if you can call it standing room), is closer to 25. Somebody, I'm not sure whom but it may have been Mike Morrow, came up with a phrase that aptly describes the capacity of just about any form of East European public transportation. The capacity of any of them is “x+1.” No matter how many are already in, you can always fit one more. The downsides of the minibus are that they cost 3 lei instead of 1 lei, and a person of my height has to stand in a head-scrunched-over position as the minibus lunges through traffic. So I usually take the trolley buses instead.

This morning I awaited a minibus (fortunately the one I found was unusually empty, and I got a seat). I had my three lei ready to hand over, folded in my hand. But the minibus stopped short of me and I had to walk around a couple other people on the sidewalk to get to it, single-handedly unfolding the bills in my right hand as I did so. I boarded the minibus, handed over the bills, and as I turned to close the door I heard the driver mumble something in a “hey-what-are-you-trying-to-pull” tone of voice. I looked and he was holding out my three lei...no, two lei. Oh great, what happened to my other lei?? Did I even have another one on me? About that time, a man from outside the minibus opened the door, and handed me my third lei. I must have dropped it while unfolding them, preparing to board. I said a grateful “Spasibo!” to the guy and handed that third lei to the driver, and took my seat. I was happy, but also pretty surprised, that a stranger went to the trouble to do that. Would not have expected it here.

One other incident...
While walking down the street a week ago with Nathan and Dennis, there was a manhole cover in the sidewalk, in my path. I hardly even noticed it, since, to the casual eye, it seemed to be perfectly and firmly in place. As my left foot descended on it, all my weight was shifting to it and away from my right foot. And the cover immediately spun 90 degrees vertical. My leg, with the whole weight of my body on it, fell at a rapid rate until I was able to stop the descent with my hand on the sidewalk! The picture is a partial re-enactment. Nathan had his own experience with a shifty manhole cover, but not nearly as entertaining. If you come over here, be wary of manholes and their covers.