S NOVIM GODAM! (Russian) / LA MULTI ANI! (Romanian) / HAPPY NEW YEAR! (English)

As we welcomed in the year last New Year’s Eve we could never had imagined all that was to lay before us in 2007.
Just when we thought life was comfortable and somewhat predictable along came 2007!!!

So many experiences, so many emotions!

Life as Corps Officers at Ringwood Corps was already good, but events at the start of the year would see 2007 shaping up to be one of real growth and development, which caused a great deal of excitement and expectation in us. Our term was a wonderful experience for us personally, but under God's hand, as we worked together with Corps leaders to seek new direction, we sensed God's leading in undeniable ways. 2007 was destined to be a pivotal year for The Salvation Army in Ringwood. We were privileged to have served at this wonderful Corps. The following four pictures capture some of the moments from our Farewell meeting on 2nd December ...

Of course family stand outs were the arrival of little Joel Callan Spinks on July 2nd, born to Megan and Andrew - he has brought indescribable joy to our family.

Us and our little man!

Then just a few weeks later the sudden unexpected death of Viv’s mum on July 25th. We miss her so much ... she would have loved to hear all these stories!

then in November came a wonderful holiday to Thailand.… (pick the elephant!!)

....and all of this in the context of preparing to take up our appointment in Moldova (Eastern Europe) where we arrived on December 16th.
Hopefully we will soon settle into some kind of routine …but we are discovering that life Moldova offers many challenges and new experiences. We are learning to expect the unexpected.



An update on our experiences in Moldova so far..

We successfully completed our medical tests without too many more traumatic experiences. We can now proceed to apply for work permits in Moldova. We came away thinking how blessed we are in Australia with the medical care that we enjoy!!

We were invited to attend the Christmas celebration of the ‘Union of Composers and Musicologists of Moldova’. The Salvation Army has assisted some of the older members of this group with material aid during the year. Moldovans love the arts and music in particular. This group fears for the future of Moldovan music because of the lack of government support. We sat with a very august group of composers who would be very well known in Eastern Europe.

We shared together cheese, many varieties of pork (ham), olives, wine (and mineral water for us!!). The President, Ghenadie Ciobanu, played for us one of his compositions.

We are still awaiting the arrival of a semi trailer load of humanitarian aid to arrive from Sweden in order to distribute it before Jan 7th (Orthodox Christmas) The thinking is that the Romanian driver may have rested in Romania for a few days to spend time with his family and now customs is closed for a few days over the holiday period – so there are concerns that distribution will not happen on time. This is life in Moldova!!

We visited Checani Corps (suburb of Chisinau) on Sunday morning to share in worship. It was good to recognise familiar tunes as we shared in Praise and Worship, meaning we were able to sing along in English. We shared a testimony with the folk and then delighted in hearing testimonies from other members of the congregation. The music was great and good preaching interpreted for us by our translator, Natalia. After the meeting it was interesting to see the small hall empty of people within about 5 minutes of the conclusion of the service!! (A bit different to Ringwood!) A table was then quickly set up in the room and we shared some lunch (bread, cheese and varieties of pork/ham!) with the officers who told us something of their stories. Andrei told us of his previous life – an atheist and member of the police force- he was a sniper and alluded to the many people he had killed in the line of duty, but how in the last 8-9 years he has encountered God and his life has changed. In light of this story it was amazing to reflect upon his preaching of ‘taking of the old clothes and putting on the new clothes’ and living a life of holiness.(Ephesians 4:22-24).

Youth and children of the Checani Corps
contributing to worship at the Corps

Captains Andrei and Lilia Cojucari - Corps Officers at Checani

We then visited a Corps Officer from one of the corps 180 kms north of the capital who has recently had a hip replacement and is now recovering here in Chisinau. It seems that a bad ulcer has developed on his heel, so it may be a rather lengthy recovery. In the meantime his wife runs the corps and endeavours to care for him at the same time. This often requires her catching a bus at 4.30 in the morning from the town where they are serving and travelling down to be with her husband and helping him out. I don’t think there are the district nursing and out-patient services that we are accustomed to – its all up to family

New Years eve we walked into town (again!) and looked around a little before coming home at 4-30 (in the dark) The lights in the main street were quite spectacular, I think surpassing Melbourne, and there was a stage area being set up for a show at night. Fireworks were also being prepared in one of the main parks for a public display. It was quite a hive of activity, with many people around. We learned afterwards that this is the night that Santa Claus comes to Moldovan children, which is another change from the western tradition we have grown up with.

Cathedral Square in the main street - 4.30pm!

Different angle of the same spot

The city welcomed in the New Year with enthusiasm. Fireworks can be freely bought here and when midnight arrived rockets were launched from apartment balconies all over the city. There was even a short burst at 11 pm because this was when New Year arrived in Russia (one hour ahead of us) and some loyal Russians take the chance to ‘get in early’. The display continues for a couple of hours and even at 3.00am /4.00am there was the occasional explosion to be heard. (There is still quite some firework activity in the distance, and it’s now 5-30pm on New Years day!) We spent New Years Eve with DHQ officers and their beautiful family – Mihail and Liudmilla Baglai. We shared together a beautiful Moldovan meal and exchanged life experiences. Again – it was a humbling experience as we saw pictures and heard stories of the underground church that met and thrived in Soviet times despite the persecution they received. Mihail and Liudmila who were members of this church now proudly serve as Salvation Army officers. As midnight arrived we prayed together for God’s blessing upon our lives, our families and The Salvation Army in Moldova.

We didn’t arrive home until about 2am, took the opportunity to talk with the girls, and were well and truly ready for bed at 3am. But sleep did not come quickly. The doorbell (which sounds like a bird chirping while being strangled!) rang about 10 minutes after getting to bed. We decided to ignore it putting it down to a NY prank. When it happened the third time, Ian got up to see what was going on, both our heart rates going up considerably. (One feels very vulnerable in bed at 4am being unable to speak or understand the language - with the bell persistently ringing!!) Looking out the loungeroom window, Ian saw a man who had run from our apartment block after ringing the bell and who just stood over the road watching our place. It had become a little spooky. It was then that we realised that our doorbell also rang next doors bell. It is a strange set up with two flats being behind a rather secure dead locked steel front door. Inside a little entrance foyer, we have our own separate secure doors, again locked with dead locks. Soon, we had a knock on our inside front door, and Ian, after looking through the peep hole, answered, to be greeted by two young men who only spoke Romanian. They had been drinking and chatted quickly in Romanian. It soon became apparent that they were our neighbours, who indicated that we should not open our door to anyone but them if the doorbell rang again. Ian introduced himself, shook hands, thanked them, wished them Happy New Year and then promptly locked the door. Heart rates soon returned to normal. Ian watched as they walked around outside trying to see who had done the ‘ringing’. He thinks it was probably lucky they didn’t find him. An interesting way to meet your neighbours!!! Sleep eventually came about 5 am. Needless to say that today has been rather quiet for us. THAT’S MOLDOVA!

There is certainly not the range or quality of fruit and veg that we see in Aussie supermarkets in the markets here, but it is winter, and we are assured that there is plentiful supply when the weather is warmer. We are looking forward to the grapes for which this country is famous with world class wines which apparently are a well kept secret outside Eastern Europe. (We’ll stick to the grapes). However, at the moment, with cabbage IN ABUNDANCE(!!!!) chow mein has made a ‘come back’ to the menu (Viv hasn’t made it for ages – but it will soon become an enforced favourite) so we will soon be tucking into this while we watch more boring ‘BBC world’. Viv reckons our lives are more interesting than what we see on TV these days. I think I agree….

PS. It was great !!!!

Until next time…. Lots of love! Ian and Viv