So this is Christmas .... and what have we done?

Christmas Day 2007. We have celebrated our first Christmas Day in Moldova - a bit of a non-event in many respects. We set the alarm for 6.00am so that we could Skype family back home in Melbourne. it was just great to see the girls and their partners and of course - precious little Joel. They showed us their presents and reported on Christmas dinner which they had shared together at Megan and Andrew's place. From all accounts it sounds as though they managed quite well in our absence and as always ate way too much!

The view on our laptop courtesy of Skype


6 am Christmas morning catching up with family.

December 25th in Moldova is known as 'New Christmas' and is just a normal working day...shops and businesses are open and people go about their normal everyday life it seems. They are all anticipating January 7th when they celebrate "Old Christmas" - traditional orthodox Christmas. We are gathering that this is when the celebrations really happen. In fact they are only just starting to put up decorations in some of the parks - so it looks as though we get 2 Christmases!!

Having said that we did close DHQ for the day and some corps held celebrations on Christmas Eve. We attended a gathering last night at the Botanika corps where there was a service entitled 'Decorating the Tree'. As different coloured balls were hung on the Christmas tree each colour represented a different aspect of the Christmas story eg green represented the shepherds - a corresponding Scripture reading was read, maybe a carol sung or a poem recited. This little service lasted about an hour and then we shared supper together and then received presents according to the number that had been pinned on our order of service. Ian received a box of Christmas decorations and I received some perfume. It was great to share with these Salvationists in their tiny hall and sense their enthusiasm in worship and also receive their warm expressions of welcome and love.

Captain Elena Kotrutsa (CO with her husband at Botanika Corps)

Worship group at Botanika Corps

The decorations now hang at our loungeroom window. They help to make it feel like Christmas.

After our early morning phone calls we lounged around then took a long walk into the centre of town where we had "Christmas Dinner" at 'Andy's Pizza' - a simple meal of soup (borsch) then chicken kiev and salad dowsed in mayonnaise!! Nevertheless it marked Christmas for us in a special way. We then walked around the streets for a while and made our way carefully back home. Walking is a very stressful pastime as they pavements are iced over. Ian has already fallen a couple of times. I have fallen once. We are getting better..but it is quite a relief to arrive home unscathed.

The temperature here today has been about -6 degrees all day. It takes so much longer to get ready in the morning donning all the layers of clothing needed to keep warm. We leave the house looking like the 'Michelin Man'. One good thing - I think all the padding gives protection when you slip on the ice!

Layer #2 - thermals - sexy!

The final layers - a walk on Christmas Day!

Other standout experiences in recent days..

A night at the opera to see 'CARMEN' presented by the Moldovan Opera company. a great evening and a very high standard production. It seems that Moldovans love the arts and we were impressed by the number of young people who filled the theatre and enjoyed the production. The average age of the audience was about 25-30yrs. We were grateful for the free tickets, but found out that we could have purchased the same tickets for about $4.00(AUD), so we may do it again sometime. Evidently there are often ballet recitals that are performed so we will attend again for sure!

Captains Lev and Alla Friedkin - DHQ Officers, and Ian waiting for the opera to start

In order for us to be able to work in Moldova for the long term we are required to undergo medical tests. The raft of medical tests we had to undergo in Australia are not recognised so we were taken off to the polyclinic which was like stepping into a time machine and travelling back about 50 years. There was not one computer to be seen. All records were handwritten in exercise books. First there were blood tests. (We were relieved to see they used sterile one-use needles!)..but the blood was then transferred to open test tubes and placed in racks with dozens of other test tubes, exposed to the air and waiting for the tests to be done. Next was the TB test. The fact that Ian said he had a recent chest X-ray meant he had the all-clear. Even though I had a recent blood test in Australia for TB which gave the all-clear, I had to have an X-ray. The machine would have had to be 50 years old I reckon. The radiographer kind of pushed and pulled me into place, then went behind the flimsy curtain hanging in the room and yelled to me ‘Breathe’ and that was it!! When we went to pay the cashier half way through the morning we discovered that I had to pay more because I had to have a ‘gynaecological test’!!!!!!!
I was accompanied by Dr. Caraman, a Moldovan Salvationist doctor and the male office who was translating for me (GREAT!!!!). We entered the room and immediately my eyes fixed on the examination chair complete with stirrups at the other end of the room (at this stage I was hoping they weren’t going to take my blood pressure!) The kind woman Dr who sat at the desk immediately said in Russian ‘Too many men!!’ I am convinced that there have been many people praying for us because she then asked “Is everything OK for you?” to which I answered ‘Yes! I have recently had a check up in Australia and she was happy to sign the piece of paper!! And we left. That was the best gynaecological examination I have ever had!!! We still have other ‘tests’ to have this week – namely psychiatric (I can hardly wait for that – we might be back in Australia in 3 months!!) and neurological, and a couple more that I am not sure about. An interesting part of the hospital is that there are sometimes 2 doctors to a room who consult at the same time.

The other poignant moment was our first finance board. There were 3 agenda items, but I could not help but be challenged by the one that was a request from a corps in one of the poorest parts of the country and the request was for assistance of $250.00 to pay for wood to keep the people warm as they came for worship. The temperature is often down between –10 to –20 degrees and these people still walk to the corps and are prepared to sit in freezing conditions to worship. I couldn’t help but think about some of the items that have been on the agenda of other finance meetings over the years!!!

That will do for now. Each day brings new experiences and new people into our lives. These Salvationists are very passionate about their faith and we are privileged to be here in this wonderful country, working alongside fellow Salvationists in worship and as they are engaged in mission and ministry with the neediest people in Moldova.

Until next time...keep warm!!!!! Love from 'the Moldovans'! xoxo