Click the picture to see Day's 3 photos from Moldova

The Food, The Food, The Food!

Today was our first day on the job. We woke bright and early at 7:00. The day was cool and overcast, but pleasant, and once we got working, the jackets came off. With blurry eyes, because of jet lag, we wandered down to the dining room to be greeted with a wonderful breakfast. We enjoyed a delicious egg casserole, breads, and veggies. We have discovered that every meal includes tomatos and cucumbers. We depared for work with full bellies.
We drove to Orhei where we continued work on the church that our first team started earlier in the year. We continued to work on hanging studds on the uneven block walls, insulating, sheetrocking, and tile work. Thanks to those that were on the first trip here, preparations proceded rapidly and we all found our places on the job.
The trip to Orhei, which takes about a half an hour, was very educational. Click on the picture to the left to see a lot of photos from our day, and the captions that explain them.
When it was time for lunch, we went down stairs, and was greated by the most pleasant people serving an absolutely wonderful meal. We started with a large bowl of soup and bread. We ate and enjoyed. Several of us who were not quite up to snuff on the Moldovan traditions and culture that surrouds food, enjoyed the soup, and at several pieces of bread just to make sure we had enough in our belly for the after noon. I can now hear the chuckles from you who were here before. Stop laughing so I can explain it to those who don’t know. The soup was the first course of the meal. We were then greated with bowls full of mashed potatoes, and sausage. Of course, we also were greated with more breads, and tomatos and cucumbers. Every plate was garnished and displayed to make it not only taste great but it all looked great, like something you would see on a cooking TV channel. Some of our bellies, at this time were absolutely stuffed. But, not to be outdone, these wonderful people then piled plate fulls of tasty pastries of all sorts in front of us. The meal was them finished off with some nice tea. Moldova is apparently well know for their great tea.
We now drug ourselves back to the work. After being fed so well, and not nearly over jet lag enough, many of us were wishing there would be a nap room. Soon though, after we went back to work, we were glad we had the nourishment to carry us through. Thank you church of Orhei. It was delightful.
The one thing that was stressed during our preparations for our trip to Moldova, was to be flexible. At about 5:00, George (sp?, pronounced Yourgie?) came running in and announced that dinner was served at 6:00 sharp and we had to go “NOW” in order to go back to the Pentecostal Union to get ready. Typically, if we eat at the Union, we don’t need to change or clean up, but this meal was out on the town. When George said “now” he meant it. The tile workers had a bucket of mud made up and had to use it. They put their best to it and quickly finished up. We ran back to the Union. I took many several pictures along the way to Chisinau where the Penetcostal Union is located. Check the pictures our for explainations. Some of them turned out a bit blurry because, as many missionaries will testify, and Moldova seems to be no different, drivers in foriegn countries just don’t drive the way we do.
We quickly changed clothes, scrubbed the sheet rock dust off our faces, put on some perfume, and brushed our hair. With another adventurest drive, we traveled at high rates of speed to our destination in Chisinau. We had pizza. Not just pizza though but authentic real pizza with real taste. It was very good.
We practically had to roll out of that restaurant. Then we had to go for another adverturest drive on full tummies. Oh, wow!
The city of Chisinau is the capital city of Moldova. I believe it has around a million people. It has many many miles of Soviet era apartments for the poor masses. There is a strange mixture of modern buildings, old aparments, unfinished buildings, and vacated buildings. We have tried to take pictures of these things so you can see a bit about them. Most pictures were taken while going at high rates of speed over very bumpy roads. On Thursday, the schedule says we are having the day off to visit the sites, so hopefully, if nothing unsusual happens (remember they said to stay flexible), we hope to get some better pictures. Click on the picture to see the sites, and read the captions for explanations of our busy day. It is now 11:15 pm here and 2:14 in the afternoon in Montana. Have a great Saturday and a worshipful Sunday.
John

Click to see more pictures

A Lost Day, Found Luggage, and Moldova

I mentioned on yesterdays post that our first day really ended somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  I have not gone to bed yet since we left Helena, and we will be on our third day when I finally wake up.  Our second day was kind of lost.

Not so with our luggage!

We flew all night long, with quite a bit of turbulence, to Frankfurt from Cincinnati, had a five hour lay over and boarded Moldova Air, with all of us flying on Moldova Air(see yesterdays post for an explanation).

The food on Moldova Air was probably the best we had.  It was certainly not extravagant but it was good.  Our flight had a pretty rough landing but we mad it down safely.

Once inside of the terminal, we proceeded to immigration. Once past immigration, we on to the luggage pickup area.  Slowly, one by one of our luggage appeared from behind the curtain.  Praise the Lord, they were all there… except one.  After some hand wringing, we checked the carts of our luggage that already went outside.  Sure enough, the missing piece was on someone else’s stack.  Prais the Lord again!

We were promptly met by Andy and Nancy Raatz and we loaded up the luggage on a rented van.  After a most thrilling ride (I’m not joking) through Moldova, we somehow safely arrived at the Pentecostal Union.  What a beautiful building!  We were greeted with “something small that they threw together.”  Wow!  Meat and cheese tray, veggies, fruit galore, and very tasty breads.  It was very good.

Once we were done eating our nice snack, we brought our bags to our rooms, unpacked, talked of what we might be doing, and reminded to “Be Flexible” as things could change from day to day.  It is now late in the evening in Moldova, and we are all very tired from the two days run together into one.  It was good, and we are glad to be in Moldova.  Good night!

John

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En Route to Moldova…

We spent our entire first day flying to Moldova.  The first day officially ended somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.  The day started out a bit rocky, but the Lord always proves faithful.  We were registering at the desk at the Airport in Helena when we were informed that most of our tickets were made wrong and that our luggage would only be checked as far as Frankfurt Germany.  That meant that we would have to exit security, claim the luggage and send it on to Moldova.  It that were all, it would not be that big of a deal but from Germany, we would only be allowed one suit case weighing, at most, 44 pounds, while we had two suitcases with a max of 50 pounds each.  That means we would have to pay for the extra freight, which would cost as much as $200 dollars per person! Yes, you read that right!

With much finagling, and tremendous help from Jan, we were still not able to change things.  Here is what apparently happened:  Some of our flights were booked on an airline that has an agreement with Delta.  Those flights had an agreement with “Air Moldova” and those pieces of luggage would be checked all the way through.  Most of the other flights (Including Carol’s and mine) were booked through a different airline that does not have an agreement with Delta and therefore would not ship the luggage all the way through.  Here is the catch though, BOTH OF THOSE NON-DELTA AIRLINES WERE THE SAME PLANE! So, while I was not on an airline with an agreement with Delta, I could be sitting next to someone who was flying with another company, and on the same plane that did have an agreement with Delta!

God is so good! Immediately the word went out and people all over were praying for us! A member of our team came up with the idea of trying to get someone in Salt Lake City to try to intervene with us.  Instead of trying to get the company that did not have the agreement, to have our luggage checked in all the way to Moldova, what if we could switch which company we were flying with (but, again, on the same plane).  Ron and Sharon were able to get the assistance of a very kind lady who was willing to try to give us assistance.  This wonderful woman, tracked down each piece of luggage in a sea of luggage and re-routed them all.  She was fairly certain she got them all.  After we boarded the plane at Salt Lake, this kind lady, ran on board at the last minute, saying she thinks she did it.  What service!

At that point, we took a leap of faith and decided that no one would go out side of security at Frankfurt and look for any of our luggage.  We flew through the night, over the Atlantic, knowing well that God is, once again, faithful.

The countdown has started… We are packing up the final little items, looking over lists, saying our good byes.  Early tomorrow morning, we will be boarding the space shuttle, er, uh, I mean an airplane, heading to Moldova.  Most people I talk to don’t even know where Moldova is located.  I will admit, that about a year ago, I didn’t either.  Now, my lovely wife and I, along with a great team from our church, will be heading there to do what ever God wants us to do, make relationships, get dirty, eat a lot (from what we hear), and have fun.  All in the name of the Lord.  I plan on “TRYING” to update our website daily as the adventure goes on.  Check it out at http://McDougallsHome.net/moldova .  I have no idea what we are in store for; so, if we are dead dog tired every night, things might not happen here as rapidly as I have planned.  My ole’ laptop computer could die.  A thousand other things not thought of might happen.  But, I will TRY!  Until then, Bon Voyage!

John

Yesterday, Carol and I had the last of our shots before our Missions Trip to Moldova.  Many of the incidental items are done, and we are wrapping up our preparations.  We haven’t actually started packing, and we are not sure how all the stuff we plan on bringing will fit into our suitcases.  Our last group meeting will be tomorrow after church.  The boxes are finally being checked off of our  “to do list”.  We “plan” on posting daily while we are in Moldova. Whether that becomes fact, remains to be seen.  Check our our Moldova page HERE.

Click the picture to see the slide show.

We had our church picnic yesterday evening. What a great time we had.  The picnic was at the Kleffner Ranch betweeen East Helena and Montana City.  It was well attended with probably 200 or so people.  Denis Young and his wife Stacy own the ranch, and host many events there all year around.  Denis gave us a grand tour of the barn and of all the work they have done renovating it.  The barn was build in the late 1800’s and is in great shape.  Click the picture to see a slide show of our fun picnic and the tour of the barn.  John

I had my blood test done today to determine what type of blood I have.  I also received my Doctor’s ok to take the trip to Moldova. Carol and I are planning a trip to Moldova with our church on a short term missions trip in October. Click HERE (or click the blue and white cross in the upper right hand corner of our home page) to see information on our trip.

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Carol had her blood test done today to determine what type of blood she has.  She also received her Doctor’s ok to take the trip to Moldova.

Carol and I are planning a trip to Moldova with our church on a short term missions trip in October.

Click HERE (or click the blue and white cross in the upper right hand corner of our home page) to see information on our trip.

We had our first official meeting at our church for preparations for the missions trip to Moldova, in October, that we will be particitating in with our church.  There will be 15 to 17 people going on this trip.  We discussed many of the do’s and don’ts about traveling abroad, and the first part of a good teaching about our sufficiency in Christ.  Much of the to do lists can be found at our missionary’s web site.  Please, pray that all preparations will go fine, both here and in Moldova.  Click HERE to see our Moldova page. Blessings to you all! John