Mission Without Borders TOLL FREE 1-800-494-4454 MAILING ADDRESS: PO Box 2007, Abbotsford, BC V2T 3T8 OFFICE: #4-30465 Progressive Way, Abbotsford, BC V2T 6W3 EMAIL mwbcanada@mwbi.org WEBSITE www.mwbca.org
“When the USSR died,” Iurie Munteanu, MWB Family to Family coordinator, said, “I was in the army. There was a real threat of civil war. We were nervous as people were dying. Fortunately it ended but with the fall of the Soviet Union, new problems came.
“If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” [James 2:15-16]
“For 50 years people had relied on the state. People with ideas were marginalized, sent to Siberia, even killed. Communism ripped the desire and motivation out of our country. We were taught not to strive, not to think. This is still the mentality we are up against in communities like Palanca.”
GIVING HOPE & HELP IN MOLDOVA Driving from Moldova’s capital Chisinau, to the struggling rural communities Mission Without Borders serves in the south of the country, the landscape is flat and empty. There is little sign of life as you pass fields of perfectly fertile land. Every ten minutes or so, you see neat rows of abandoned white buildings; the communes from the Soviet period which are now empty, derelict, now standing as lonely relics of the past.
The bleak past (pictured above) … and the future (below) - a newly refurbished community center for the village of Palanca in Moldova.
Moldova feels like a forgotten country, divided, corrupt, unable to move left or right, up or down. This has been Moldova’s story, both in its smaller communities and on the national stage, caught between Russia and Europe.
A newly refurbished community center is close to being launched, which will act as a Christian beacon in this village where currently alcoholism, broken families and unemployment are rife. Here, single-mothers who have no income will be taught how to sew, elderly who have no one to look after them will find company and care, and children with alcoholic parents will have somewhere to play, learn, eat and read the Bible for the first time.
The roots of Moldova’s recent history began in 1940, when it was annexed by the USSR following the carve-up of Romania in the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's USSR. A communist regime was installed and Moldova only emerged as an independent republic following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. East of the river Dniester, lies the TransDniester region, formerly an autonomous region with Ukraine whose native majority speak Russian. After 1991, there was fierce fighting here as the region tried to reassert its independence over fears of closer alignment with Romania and the EU. Hundreds died, Russian peacekeepers were sent in, and 25 years later the issue and the tension has never really stopped simmering.
Heading towards Palanca, you see the Ukraine border within touching distance, and beyond, the port of Odesa and the Black Sea. Another set of abandoned, ugly buildings appear along the roadside … former education institutions and factories from Soviet times. This depressing site is in stark contrast to what MWB is building in partnership with the local church in the heart of the village.
Sergiu Lapaci, MWB’s coordinator in the village of Palanca. “Our job here is to give people a future.”
“Our job here is to give people a future,” Pastor Sergiu Lapaci, MWB’s coordinator in Palanca, said. “In homes in this village where God is absent, there are only disasters. Through the church and this center, MWB will be able to empower and equip people to change what have become predictable outcomes. It takes time, but with each generation we aim to build a community of hope and to draw a line under the past.”
ANNA: GIVING BACK IN CANTEMIR
someone is watching me’. She said, ‘who is watching you? There is nobody here’, and I said ‘God is watching me, I do not drink anymore.’ Now I ask her to bring me tea and coffee.” Pastor Boris Garconita, MWB’s coordinator in Cantemir, runs a number of projects and programs from the community center, supporting both young and old.
Anna, finding new life in helping others, along with Pastor Boris Garconita, MWB’s coordinator in Cantemir, Moldova … delivering food and comfort to the vulnerable in their community.
“We give opportunities for everyone who comes to church to serve the community,” he says. “Women like Dusea have no one. The church and Anna fill the gap. We encourage and pray for Dusea. We believe that if she stays close to Jesus, He will give her a new spiritual body in a place where there is no pain and sickness.”
“I found good people there,” Anna says. “God teaches and blesses us to help others. Now I do not sit alone and worry about myself. I volunteer at the Soup Kitchen and deliver food to local people in great need. It is good to communicate with them and provide meat each day, which so many cannot afford. I am always encouraged when I go to them.” Anna helps kitchen staff at the community center to pack the food, and is then driven out into the community of Cantemir. The first lady Anna visits is Dusea, who is paralyzed and confined to her bed. She has no family and the only visitors she has are the volunteers from the church.
As soon as Dusea sees Anna, both women start to cry. “I feel better when I cry,” Dusea says. “It means a lot for me to get visits from Anna and Pastor Boris. Though I can do so little, Boris encouraged me that I can still pray. I pray for him all the time when I know he has a lot to do.” “I am calmer now that I know about God. A friend came to visit recently who I had not seen in a while. She offered me alcohol and I said ‘No, no, I do not drink anymore,
Coming August 7th to the Stetson Bowl on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds in Surrey, BC FEATURING: Switchfoot, Starfield, For King and Country, Hawk Nelson, AND MANY MORE ARTISTS, TO BE NAMED
Visit www.praisefestbc.com for ticket & other information.
Two years ago Anna’s husband passed away. Left alone, with her children far away, she did not know what to do. The first Christmas on her own, she received an Operation Christmas Love parcel from the local church in Cantemir, in southern Moldova. “At first I was skeptical about the church. I had grown up knowing very little about God. My family was very poor. When I received the gift, my heart softened. Along with a friend, I went to the church and my life has changed, even though I am now 77.”
PRAISEFEST 2016
Dusea is paralyzed and confined to her bed. She has no family and no support network outside of those volunteers from the Soup Kitchen who visit her on a regular basis.
MWB currently supports many vulnerable people across five communities in Moldova. The community center and soup kitchen described here are vitally important support for the needy and desperate of the area. All those who volunteer at the soup kitchen give of themselves in such a wonderful, truly Christian way, we must do what we can to support them. Both these centers need funds to buy food, school supplies, pay the bills and provide equipment to train on and counsellors to turn to. We ask for your support for these centers. As James admonishes, just wishing these folks well is not sufficient. We need to provide the material things of life so that the spiritual side will be nourished and grow. Please send your donation now using the enclosed Reply Form, or call us to arrange your donation over the phone. Thank you for your generosity and support. Blessings! David Inwood NATIONAL DIRECTOR MISSION WITHOUT BORDERS CANADA
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THRIFT CENTER We need volunteers to help us staff the store and keep costs down, so there is more to go to the needy. Providing affordable clothing & goods is helping the homeless & needy of Abbotsford, and of course all profits will be going to help pay the cost of shipping your donations to Eastern Europe. Please drop in at #3-33550 South Fraser Way, or call the store at 604-776-1620.
MEET THE MISSION We are always available to do presentations about the work of the Mission to church groups across Western Canada.
If you would like us to speak to your group, please call 604-855-9126 or Toll Free 1-800-494-4454
PRAYER GUIDE Your prayers are truly appreciated! Look for the “Prayer Team” page on our website at ...
www.mwbca.org/get-involved