Chisinau, Moldova

A BETTER LIFE

Oleg was the young man who picked us up at the airport when we arrived in Chisinau.  Married to one of the granddaughters of Olga Mocan (our revival chairperson), he was assigned to make himself available to us while we were in Moldova.  In the course of escorting us through the national museum, taking us to lunch at Moldova’s McDonalds, and driving us through villages in the countryside, he described something of life in Moldova.

His beautiful little country is nestled between Romania and the Ukraine.  During the days of the USSR, its rich soil and gently rolling terrain made it the fruit basket of Eastern Europe.  Oleg pointed out hundreds of tall, concrete apartment buildings at the edge of the city, where people had been forced to live in order to make more room for planting.  No private homes had been allowed and each person had been assigned a plot of ground he was responsible for cultivating.  Oleg expressed his longing for a better life, when one day he would have a home of his own.

Oleg has a young wife and five month old baby daughter.  He said that if his child got sick, the medical clinic was free but that he had to pay for the prescription drugs.  But if he, his wife, or his child ever became seriously ill and needed the hospital, they would be required to personally pay the doctor in cash before they would be seen.  He hoped for a better life with adequate medical care…and that he and his little family would stay well.

As the stock markets around the world crashed, he shrugged with a wry smile and said Moldovans were not worried…Moldova had no stock market. As the poorest country in all of Europe, it has little finances at all.  Oleg buys old cars, then tries to “flip” them for a small profit in order to support his family.  Most Moldovans, he said, barter whatever they have for something they need.  And they sell anything and everything on the street, from hand-crocheted table linens to hand-carved wooden figures to hand-painted eggs to little bits of jewelry and toys…anything to make some money in the hope of a better life.

We listened intently to Oleg’s description of his struggling people, oppressed in the past by their more powerful neighbors and now oppressed by poverty and hopelessness. One out of every three people leave the country for work elsewhere to send back money for their families. As a result, many Moldovan children live with just one parent or with grandparents. We longed for them to have a better life.  Like John and Peter at the Gate Beautiful in Acts 3, we didn’t have silver and gold.  We just gave them Jesus.

A BETTER LIFE:  SITTING AT HIS FEET

On Thursday, October 9, eleven hundred women’s leaders traveled by horse cart, microbus, automobile and on foot to Chisinau’s Bethel Church. The church was once the only approved, registered place for Christians to gather during the days of the old Soviet Union. On this historic day, it was the site of the largest gathering of Christian women in the nation’s modern history.

Moldovan Women The women came from all denominations and every province of the country. On an average day, the responsibility of their homes, children and work in the fields consumes them.  Yet like Mary in Luke 10, they made the time to sit at the feet of Jesus for an entire day, as Anne taught them how to read, study and share God’s Word.

Moldovan women have lived under the assumption that only men can read, study, and share God’s Word, so none of us really knew how they would respond to the intense and interactive workshops.  The first workshop required that they read John 16:5-15, then follow Anne’s instructions and answer three questions:  What does it say?  What does it mean? What does it mean in my life?

Anne sent two microphones into the audience, asking for women to share their lessons and applications.  In spite of the language barrier that required Anne speaking in English, then her remarks translated by a side-by-side interpreter speaking in Russian and a Romanian speaking through headsets to those in the audience wearing them…then if a woman wanted to respond, she spoke in Russian, the interpreter would tell Anne in English, and the process was repeated.  If the woman spoke up in Romanian, another interpreter translated it into Russian so that Anne’s translator could put it into English.  Complicated?  Incredibly so!  But it worked!  The women were timid to respond at first, then we had so many volunteers with their answers that we couldn’t get to them all.  And their answers were personal, faithful to the text, and meaningful.

The first workshop was followed by a break, where the women were served hot tea and cookies.  They returned to the sanctuary and Anne led them in an even more intense workshop that required them to outline the passage from John 16.  Once again, in spite of the challenge of interpretation, the women responded, participated, and totally grasped the concepts Anne was trying to teach.  It was as though they were thrilled to discover that they could read and study the Bible for themselves, and we thought their insights were valuable.

Following their lunch, the women listened very attentively through either Russian or Romanian translation to Anne’s message on the Holy Spirit from the very passage of Scripture they had been studying in the workshops.  The message confirmed what they had been learning and was a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.  With many tears, the women stood at the end of the day to surrender their entire lives to the leading of the Holy Spirit, laying down anything that would hinder Him from filling them.  Each woman left, with a sack dinner in her hand, and praising God in her heart for having received a fresh touch from the One who would never leave her nor forsake her.  We knew their lives would be better because they had sat at His feet in Bethel Church.

A BETTER LIFE:  SEEING ONLY HIM

    SEEING HIM AS SAVIOR

Moldova could easily be characterized as the country largely forgotten by much of the world. Many people do not know it exists, and if they do, they don’t know where to locate it on a map. But on Saturday, October 11th, the 1,200 women attending Just Give Me Jesus at The National Theatre in downtown Chisinau learned that they were the center of Heaven’s attention.  Anne stepped out on the platform, and as she addressed each section of the theater, her first words were, God loves you.  God loves you.  God loves you.  God loves the women of Moldova.  God not only remembered them, He had come to meet with them personally. The ladies didn’t applaud, they just began to weep.  In fact, tears were near the surface all day as they basked in God’s love and the sweet, yet overwhelming awareness of His presence.

Anne’s first message used an illustration from their own history that related the story of Stephen Cel Mare who had liberated Moldova from the Turks during the days of the Ottoman Empire.  Then she said Moldovan women faced a greater oppressor than any enemy from their past.  The oppressor was sin.  But God had raised up His own Son as their Liberator to set them free.  As she retold the familiar story of the Cross, the women sat in rapt attention.  When she issued the invitation to claim Jesus as their own Savior and Liberator, so many women stood she had to ask them to sit down, then she explained the invitation a second time to make sure they were clear on why they were standing.  Hundreds of women, once again, stood to receive Jesus.  One woman was observed standing the second time.  Her friends around her tugged on her dress, telling her to sit down, implying she hadn’t understood…that this invitation was for salvation.  The woman looked at them, hesitated, then firmly remained standing.

Praise God!  Hundreds of women claimed the blessed assurance of knowing that they belonged to Jesus, and Jesus belonged to them.  Without question, each of those women now have a better life…one filled with peace in her heart, the joy of a personal, right relationship with God here and now, and the hope of knowing Heaven is being prepared for her!

    SEEING HIM AS LORD

Each of the women was served a hot lunch.  Following the meal, Anne led them in a workshop, teaching them to listen to God’s voice as they read their Bibles.  This time the assigned passage was Luke 9.  It was truly thrilling once again to observe the language barrier crumble as women eagerly shared their insights on the feeding of the 5,000.  God truly spoke to them, encouraging them to spend time in His Word each day, then give Him their limited resources of time, energy, and knowledge.  The workshop concluded with an expectancy that He would use each of them to be a blessing to a “multitude” within their own homes, churches, and villages.

After another break for hot tea and a roll, the ladies listened intently as Anne related the resurrection of Jesus to their own personal lives.  When she pointed out the obvious fact in John 20 that Jesus had appeared first, not to John and Peter, but to Mary, then had given her the responsibility of sharing the glorious news of His resurrection with the eleven disciples, a ripple of “amens!” swept through the audience.  Eyes glistened with tears and hearts quickened with understanding as they knew that they also were commissioned by Jesus to tell others about Him.

Anne’s message continued as she recounted Jesus’ command to Peter to feed and tend the sheep.  In the Russian Bible there is no distinction between feeding and tending.  The implication is that if we love Jesus, we will take care of each other as we share God’s Word.

The conclusion of the message centered on the words of Jesus to Peter describing the kind of death he would die, which was by crucifixion.  Jesus was telling Peter that there would be a cross in his life.  Anne shared the hard teaching that if we want to be disciples, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.  She then described the “nails” God had used in her own life to pin her to the cross of God’s will, enabling her to progressively die to her self.  She used strong words of encouragement to explain that life’s pain offers more than heartache, it offers an opportunity to experience a truly crucified life so that Jesus could live powerfully in and through the believer.  The result is a purpose-filled life that is fully submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Finding relief and meaning for their hurts and heartaches, their suffering and sorrows, their pressures and problems, the day ended with the women raising their white flags of surrender.  The entire theater seemed to be swept up in rivers of blessing that flowed in a sea of tears. As they waved their white flags, their testimony was like that of the apostle Paul who said, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Each woman knew she had been given a better life…forever!

As the women left the National Theatre late Saturday to return to their homes, some faced hours of hard travel. Each was given a boxed meal for the journey, as well as reimbursement for their transportation costs. Without exception, they all shared with joy that they had just been given and had gratefully received a fresh touch from Heaven. One who stayed behind to greet Anne exclaimed as she hugged her -- We never saw you. We only saw Jesus! And life, whether it’s in Moldova, or the USA, doesn’t get better than that!

A BETTER LIFE:  SINGING HIS PRAISES 

During the two days of ministry, Oct. 9th for the Leaders’ Day and Oct. 11th for Just Give Me Jesus, there were many firsts.  The most significant being that there had never been even one such day of ministry just for Christian women.  On these two days, women of all the provinces representing hundreds of different churches gathered together under their common banner – Jesus Christ.

The first opportunity that was given the ladies to participate together was in worship.  It was truly thrilling to hear the women singing familiar tunes such as Great Is Thy Faithfulness, To God be the Glory, At the Cross, and other great hymns of the church, but in the Russian or Romanian language. Their praise seemed to echo the angels in heaven as they gave all the glory to God for the great things He had done and was doing at the present.

The worship was led by Deneen Turner, an American woman who lives in Nashville, TN, and who had led our worship for Just Give Me Jesus/Kiev three years ago.  Because her parents lived in the former Soviet Republic as she was growing up, Deneen speaks fluent Russian.  Her servant’s-spirit is humble, yet strong, and as she led the women… both young and old…their hearts were united and voices were lifted in genuine love for Jesus. One distinctively meaningful hymn was, Count Your Blessings. With the bleak backdrop that defines daily life in much of Moldova, 1,200 voices convincingly declared that they were “counting their blessings and naming them one by one.” It was both humbling and convicting to those of us who have so very much in comparison, yet sometimes neglect to thank the Lord.

 Before each of Anne’s messages, Deneen sang the beautiful and haunting spiritual, Give Me Jesus. The language may have been Russian, but the simple prayer expressed was the cry of everyone’s heart.

Just Give Me Jesus was opened by a Moldovan musician, Peter Bragari and an ensemble that included his wife and young son.  Together they launched our revival with the National Hymn that seemed to reflect the desire for the entire day. The words of the hymn’s chorus were, Moldova, stand up! It is your time. God wants you in His presence. Nothing could be added, except an Amen!

A BETTER LIFE:  SHARING HIS WORD 

Even with two full days of historic ministry that reached hundreds of women, those attending were just a small fraction of Moldovans who long for a better life. With that in mind, Anne and the Moldovan chairwoman, Olga Mocan, envision that the Just Give Me Jesus week would be the nationwide launch of follow-up Bible studies that would be held in every province in Moldova.

A nationwide series of Bible studies utilizing a Russian-translated version of Anne’s 7-week, Vision of His Glory video-based Bible study is now underway. Each of the more than 2,000 women who participated in our ministry week will serve as the “seed” for planting God’s Word in the lives of others who live in Moldova. The Leaders’ Training Day was utilized as training so that the 1,100 ladies who came will serve as hosts for the first round of Bible studies. The ladies were divided into regions.  Each region was assigned a leader with a team. Then each team left the training day with sets of DVDs for the purpose of establishing Bible studies in their region.

Realizing that many village leaders would have a heart’s desire to host the study, but with no means to show the videos, each team was given a new DVD player, made possible by generous donors to AnGeL Ministries.  In fact, all  costs for Just Give Me Jesus/Moldova, including production, facilities, printed materials for the women, three meals served to the ladies on each of the ministry days, transportation assistance, Bible study materials and DVD’s, were made possible by donations. Seeing how the Lord provided all of the resources needed for this ministry in Moldova during a worldwide economic crisis, was like watching a miracle straight from Heaven!

By week’s end we had evidence that the seeds planted on Thursday were already sprouting.  The national leadership received word that two group studies had begun the very next Friday evening with many women in attendance! And that is just the beginning of a better life for the women in Moldova…

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth:  It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:11-12

PS  The last glimpse we had of Oleg was at the airport when we left Chisinau…and he was smiling!