The following is the most recent report on the work in Moldova. I am scheduled to be there during the last week of October.Greetings from the churches in Moldova!!!
Dear brothers and sisters,
I pray and hope this letter will find you strong and fruitful for the Lord. With all my heart I wish you to have minds ever thirsty for more understanding and hearts always and increasingly longing for the Lord!
The things keep going over here in Moldova with God’s help. Here is our updated schedule of regular activities:
Sundays – the worship and, then, study meetings in Balti, Chisinau and Tiraspol (in Tiraspol the Christians are able to regularly worship by themselves by now!); Tuesdays – the study in Chisinau with Andrei, Natasha (my sister), Harlampii and, less regularly, Ira Nick and others – starting with October these studies will be conducted in Valentina’s apartment to make it easier for Valentina and her neighbors to attend;
Wednesdays – the Bible class at the orphanage (last week marked the beginning of this activity and Ira Vinocurova was the teacher); Fridays – the second weekly class at the orphanage (by Ira), and then our study with the members in Chisinau in the evening.
Saturdays – the study in Tiraspol with all the members there plus with up to 8 members from Benderi.
The situation in Chisinau:
It was definitely not the easiest time for all of us in Chisinau. There were many good and exciting things but my mind right now is directed more towards the problems and difficulties we faced.
Valerii Ivanovich, Valentina’s husband who had diabetes related gangrene died in September soon after his second leg had been amputated. He had to go through much pain in his last days. Valentina’s health right now is extremely weak too and she needs many prayers and encouragement these days.
Valik, our new member, failed to keep his spiritual enthusiasm and went back into the old order of life, and because of him, Lena, his girlfriend, who also visited our meetings, stopped coming too.
There also was a conflict between one of the members, Big Lena, and the rest of the church, as a result of which Lena temporarily stopped attending the meetings. I keep in touch with her and by now she is ready to resume coming but, I am afraid, the problems may happen again in the future unless Lena learns to be more respectful towards others.
Finally, Ira Vinocurova almost “lost” her teenage students after they had decided to start attending one of the local Salvation Army branches. The children confessed they were attracted purely by the numerous entertainment opportunities at the new place (they have no Bible classes there at all) and could not come to most of Ira’s classes because of not having time. As a result, instead of three weekly meetings there will, hopefully, be one on Saturdays plus, as I hope, some of the children will continue to come on Fridays to study with me (as they did last Friday). On the other hand, the extra free time permitted Ira to make a good use of a new opportunity that was opened in the orphan house in Chisinau. Not long ago they requested 25 Bibles for the children. So, when I brought the Bibles I suggested a possibility of regular Bible classes. I told the director about Ira and Mrs. Elena agreed to give Ira a try.
Speaking about all the problems in Chisinau I feel very upset with myself for not being able to do better trying to prevent and/or solve all the spiritual problems. I still miss a lot, including both knowledge and experience on how to encourage the week who already knows what he/she is supposed to do but is not strong enough to put the knowledge into action. Besides that the extra obligations in the family after Paul’s birth and the many health problems that all of us have had in August – October made it very difficult for me to concentrate and to spend enough time on the things that had to be done in Chisinau and not only there.
The situation in Balti
With God’s help, the ladies in Balti were able to keep themselves from any major conflicts and explosions. In spite of all the difficulties and complications they have they continued to faithfully attend all the regular meetings and tried their best to help each other in time of need. Still, the financial issue remains very disturbing for them (even when they are considering how to use the collection). There continues to be a rather substantial tension between two groups of ladies there - while the ladies from first one tend to use any possible excuse to ask for financial help, the ladies from the second one tend to be at times rather judgmental about the former ones. Last Sunday I tried my best to tell them in the most constructive way that their major problem was in the lack of love among them. Had they thought more about others rather then about themselves they would be able both not to judge those who may be in real need and not to be overly concentrated on their personal difficulties and problems – to the point of becoming blind to even greater needs of others around… Thanks to God, there is a third small group among them – of those who try to stay in the middle and try to seek reconciliation and harmony within the whole congregation.
The situation in Transnistria
The church in Tiraspol has been doing really well all this time. They truly became a self-sufficient congregation and by now worship on their own on Sundays. There is much peace and friendship among the members, and they all share the desire to study the Scripture and to help the saints in Benderi. Vasilii, who has become their regular preacher (on Sundays), continues in his zeal to serve both God and the saints! As it became obvious last Saturday he is also actively preaching among his relatives, and one of them is very close to start attending both on Sundays and on our studies on Saturdays.
As for Benderi, the things there are much more complicated. On the one hand, the number of the members who regularly attend our studies in Tiraspol has considerably increased (we have up till 8 of them and Serghei Vinocurov’s minibus is not big enough anymore to take all who are interested), but on the other, the church in Benderi almost disintegrated about a month ago. The immediate cause of the problems was in a lady, Masha, who, as I was constantly being told, behaved very aggressively toward the others. I personally know at least three people who suspended their membership just because of this lady. Also, at least three or four others were seriously considering the possibility of doing the same. Still, as far as I could tell, the real problem was not in this particular lady but rather in the fact that the church as a whole was not able to stop her. And that in turn was, among other things, a result of the role the “Americans”, i.e. Ken, play in their internal life. At least in the eyes of the rest of the church, it was Ken who stood behind Masha and made it possible for her to behave like a superior landlord and to be not afraid of anything. Another illustration of the fact that the church in Benderi is not free from the influence/control from the outside became visible during one of the two meetings in Tiraspol in September that were attended by Ken. The Christians from Benderi who came to discuss with Ken the problems in Benderi, among other things, asked him directly why I could not preach for them in Benderi too. Ken in his reply plainly indicated that if the saints in Benderi decide to invite me contrary to the opinion of his church they will not have their current meeting place (the “palace”) anymore…
By now the atmosphere in Benderi has calmed down. Although Ken did not believe most of what he was told about Masha, he nevertheless talked to her and she quit being so destructive. Alexander, the preacher in Benderi, was left to preach there by Ken for another 6 month period and then, most probably, will be replaced by somebody else (probably by a preacher from Odessa). This is the very Alexander who in the past was sure that Ken would fire him because he wouldn’t be able to hide his disagreement with Ken’s methods in Benderi. Apparently, Alexander didn’t communicate his thoughts to Ken and that made it possible to keep his position. In the end of the last meeting with Ken Alexander told me he had some suggestions for the future. We agreed to discuss them at the nearest regular meeting in Tiraspol but since then Alexander hasn’t shown up. Probably that is because of his very poor health.
In the end I want to apologize for the delay with this report and to thank you, again and again, for your interest and participation in the work in Moldova! My family and I are especially thankful for all your prayers on our behalf. By now Anna has completely recovered after the caesarean section and there were no further complications with her health. Little Paul continues to have diarrhea but it is not bad enough to cause any weight losses or development slow downs. Anna does her best to keep her milk and so far Paul was able to gain about four pounds during the first two months of his life. Vickie is much better too. The skin infection on her face was healed. She still has some coughing and running nose.
If you have any questions or suggestions please don’t hesitate to write! Please, keep us in your prayers!
May God bless you and keep you in the Lord!
With love in Jesus,
Serghei
P.S.
As usually I will try to send ASAP a detailed report on the use of the funds to all who contributed.
