Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Romans 12:9-12
Today was another full day in Moldova! We started out the day by doing some teaching in the public schools. Our team of eight broke into three teams and went to three separate schools. Our team went to a Russian high school. We had wonderful Moldovan hosts, Sergiu and Ecaterina (our interpreter). For those of you who have heard me speak, and know my Slllooooooow doooown story, you can imagine that Ecaterina had her work cut out for her keeping up with my fast speaking pace! Michael Vinson, Vice President of Children’s Hope Chest was on our team. We spoke to four different classes for about 45 minutes in each class. We shared with them about our families, our lives and about American culture. We then had the opportunity for them to share with us about what they like about their culture. It was great to listen to them talk about the importance of their relationships and their traditions.
For lunch, we went to La Placinta, a great Moldovan restaurant. I would love to tell you what I ordered, except I don’t remember it’s name! It was some kind of lasagna type dish only instead of noodles it had a pancake and chicken in it. It was great! Serving sizes are very generous here as you can tell from Michael’s photo below.
Next we were back to the urban center to work with the program “Way to Success.” This is a prevention program that works with the students to help influence and shape this generation of Moldovans. We also learned about a magazine that is published for Moldovan teens called “Escape”. It is a wonderful magazine with many articles that are relevant to the Moldovan teen culture. Our interpreter, Ecaterina, is the editor of the magazine. It was fun to see her in her work environment!
After dinner we returned back to our hotel, did some preparations for events for tomorrow, and then had a little time to myself to try to process some things. I’m not certain one can “process” human trafficking. I guess in many ways it is futile to try to make sense of such evil. And yet awareness of this terrible tragedy is so important to be able to work towards solutions and prevention. Beginning of Life ministries is doing a great job of keeping up to the ever changing face of Human trafficking.
The Lord has been so sweet and so near to me during my quiet time tonight. I have heard Him speak during the reading of His Word tonight. I have heard Him speak in His still small voice during sweet sacred times of prayer. I have heard Him speak through the encouraging notes that dear friends sent with me to read, I have heard Him speak as I recall conversations with our Moldova team and with the staff at Beginning of Life ministries, I have heard Him speak through many sweet texts and messages. I have experienced His incredible peace through your faithful prayers! And I have seen him in the eyes of the sweet girls of Moldova.
Thank you for your faithful prayers! Please keep it up!!!
Holly Gallagher 
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