There is something very awful about the sense of disbelief that one feels when the alarm clock goes off very early in the morning: can it really be time to get up already!

Yet despite the early start, everyone was at Heathrow Airport  by 6:45am this morning.  Even the intricacies of the new machines that issue boarding passes could not manage to dampen our enthusiasm.  The flights went smoothly and it was warm and sunny when we landed in Chisinau this afternoon.  We were met by the MWB Country Manager, Ion and his assistant, Veronica.  Together with our driver, Dimitriu, they have made us all feel very welcome in Moldova.  Over dinner this evening the topics ranged from the changing structures in Moldovan society to British Football, from the need for more teddy bears to the heartache of sending children away for economic reasons.

The local MWB staff really want us to see their country and genuinely see us as partners in their Mission work.  It is very humbling for us all: our contribution may seem small but without it far fewer people could be reached in Christ’s name in Eastern Europe.  In our evening “debrief” after dinner we talked about expectations.  Obviously we all have come with very different expectations of what will happen on the trip.  Some see it as a reality check on our western shaped lives.  Others see it as an opportunity to see how their contribution to the work makes a difference to lives.  Others want to be able to tell more people about the work and show them how they can make a real change. Some are not entirely sure why they wanted to come: but they do know that they want to be here and learn more.  What is very encouraging is that we have come expecting to see God in the situations that we experience.

But what is becoming apparent is that God has pulled together a group of people with very different experiences and that we will all learn from one another and from those that we meet.  Please join us in praying that our visit will be a blessing to all those that we meet.

Tomorrow is our day of rest and recuperation.  After the exertions of the travel, we need to time to prepare for a packed week of visits to children, families, homes and community centres.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 at 8:12 pm and is filed under Moldova, MWB-UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.