This evening I had the chance to speak with some families at a church I volunteer with about my trip to Moldova. My hopes for this time was that I would find a couple families who would be able to support me on my trip (fundraising is going painstakingly slow). I have been very worried lately that I will have to zero out my bank account completely, and possibly even have to sell my car in order to be able to go on this trip. With all these fears weighing on my heart, I made up a flyer, practiced a speech, and got ready to ask for help!
When I got to the place, nothing really went as planned. A lot of the families I have had an ongoing relationship with were not able to attend tonight, and things got moved around so there was not really a good opportunity for me to speak to the group as a whole. So, very awkwardly, I went around to the families individually and handed out my flyer and asked for support. I was feeling pretty foolish (and maybe a tad bit hopeless) when I encountered the mother of one of my favorite Kindergarteners.
I had never met her mother before, so as I awkwardly tried to explain who I was I handed her a paper, and her face lit up with excitement! It turns out that is from the Ukraine and spent a lot of time in Moldova. I could see in her face and hear in her voice how much she wanted to talk about her home. She talked away for about an hour, teaching me some Romanian, telling me the best things to eat, how to best protect myself and my belongings, and what the best methods of transportation are. She described to me the terrible struggles people of Moldova have faced in the recent past, recounting her own tales. She opened up to me in a beautiful way, even telling me little things that she does now as a result of the things she experienced back home. She also told me to make sure I spent time with the poor because I could not know the true beauty of the country unless I did.
I did not get to hand out as many of my papers as I had hoped, and I don't think that I got a lot of people to sponsor me, but I got way more out of my conversation tonight than I ever could have imagined. Through being vulnerable and awkward, I gave else the chance to be reminisce about a place that she really misses. I gained a friend and saw a deep sense of pride for a country most of us have never even heard of. Though I still need to kick it up a notch with my fundraising, tonight renewed my faith that God provides. He will give me exactly what I need in order to be present in Moldova, and I think I really needed this beautiful woman he allowed me to meet tonight. Not to mention, she got me really excited to go swimming in the Black Sea!!!
