Moldova Report

The CC Kharkov Team + Me

Many of you have been praying for the mission trip I was a part of to Briceni, Moldova this past week. Thank you for your faithful prayers - the Lord worked in awesome ways and I was so blessed and excited to be a part of this trip. I just wanted to share a brief report on the trip, so that you can rejoice in what God is doing in Moldova and continue to pray for that country.

For the past three years, we have gone to the Calvary Chapel Ukrainian National Conference. During these conferences, we started to build a friendship with a brother from Moldova, who is serving in Briceni. For the past few years, some of the Calvary Chapels in Ukraine took short-term trips out to Briceni to serve the Calvary there and assist in children's and youth ministry. At this year's conference in Kiev, we heard that Calvary Chapel Kharkov (Ukraine) had a team going out and my interest was sparked.

Early Morning Near Moldova Boarder

In July, I began to build a friendship with the pastor in Briceni and he invited me to come out and see the ministry. He suggested that I joined the team from Kharkov and come out to Moldova for a visit and to serve.

Both Emily and I wanted to go, but the timing of the trip didn't allow both of us to leave the girls at home. But the Lord still spoke to us and told me to go. So I went and I was blessed that I did.

The purpose of the trip for our team was to assist the Calvary Chapel in Briceni with youth ministry, children's festivals, and evangelism. Our days were packed full of ministry and the weather was very hot, but through the Lord's strength we were sustained and used by Him.

Children's Festival:

We helped put on a children's festival that reached out to all the children in the community. This festival lasted four days and included Bible stories, games, songs, crafts, and face painting. The day before the children's fest, we walked through the neighborhoods informing parents of the upcoming festival and inviting the children. It was so cool to really get into the community and meet so many of the people and invite them personally to the festival.

Each day of the festival grew in numbers, including a large group of gypsy children that started coming on the second day. During the festival, these kids not only had a good time, but we were able to love them, teach them, and share the gospel with them. Me and a Moldovan brother (Sergey) were in charge of the games, which was always a challenge in keeping the games interesting and fun - but by the grace of God, we believe the children had a blast. Although it was tiring, our team (me + the group from CC Kharkov) had such an awesome time serving with the local Moldovan church leadership. This church has such a big heart and vision for reaching the children and youth of Briceni with the love and Word of God.

Christian Library (Evangelism): 

One of the visions of the leadership at Calvary Briceni is to get the Word of God into everyone's hands. Three of the days in Moldovan, we spent the mornings in the center of the town giving away Bibles and Christian literature and also inviting the people to church. I was told that to get a Bible in Moldova, you have to go through the Orthodox Church and the average price is around $40. Most people can't afford this or don't want to spend that kind of money on a Bible. Many of the people were happily taking the Bibles and interested in speaking more about Christianity.

Romans 10:17

Moldova's office language is Moldovan (Very similar to Romanian), but some towns are still primarily Russian speaking, including Briceni. So we had Bible's and literature available in both languages, but the Russian Bible's went faster than the Moldovan copies.

Sunday at Calvary Briceni

We didn't know if people would actually read the Bibles or if the people would come to church, but I was so encouraged by the faithfulness of the church to make sure everybody walked away with a Bible in hand. And even if just one person reads that Bible, it will be worthwhile. And we know that the Spirit is faithfully drawing people into the love of God.


Youth Ministry:

Youth Game Night (Catan!)

Finally, our team was asked to minister to the youth in Briceni. The first day we arrived, we spent the day at a nearby lake with the youth (including swimming, picnic, games and music). It was awesome that we hit the ground running with the youth on the first day because we began to build a strong friendship with many of them that would last the entire eight days we were there.

Youth Picnic

Every night we were in Briceni, we held some sort of youth event. Games, food, fellowship, music, and Bible studies. Most of these students were either non-believers or new to the church. It was such an awesome opportunity to love on the them and share Jesus with them. I was able to share my testimony with them one night and also teach from 1 John on a different night. Be praying for these youth, that they stay connected with church - even with the team from Kharkov being gone now.

The Team

Fellowship and food

I was very blessed by my time in Moldova. I was the only American on the team, as well as the only person who wasn't either Moldovan or Ukrainian in the entire town. It was such a cool experience for me to be able to serve with this group of people and see how passionate they are for the Lord. I remember when we were first praying about moving to Donetsk from Ternopil, one of my biggest desires was to see more Ukrainian missionaries sent out from the Ukrainian churches. The Lord brought this back to my memory everyday while I was in Moldova as I was looking around and only seeing Ukrainian and Moldovan servants and missionaries. He is so faithful!

More fellowship and food...and coffee!

Calvary Chapel Briceni

Please be praying for the work God is doing in Moldova. There is much work to be done there and much need for Jesus - but God is faithfully working in and through His church in Briceni, Moldova, and I am so privileged to be a small piece of that work.

And yes, that's me doing drama ministry - second to the left

Thank you for your prayers during this trip, for both of us as I was there and Emily was taking care of things at home in Kiev. Thank you for those who support us financially which gave me the ability to take a trip like this.

The Lord is so awesome!



Blessings,
Byron