I Steal Things From Little Girls (WR)

So… blog world… the long awaited closure to the Tra nsnis tria and Moldova chapters of this race has finally come.  I know you were feverishly checking your emails and my blog page, just in case you missed it.  Well, fret not, it has arrived.

There came a time in my life when I found myself in the magical, yet not-so-official, land of Tr ansnistr ia, what some people know as Moldova.  As you may recall, if you frequent this blog and have a good memory, I was handed a piece of paper and instructed not to lose it.  Seeing as how losing it could potentially lead to a fine or imprisonment, I planned to keep a tight grip on it.  However, my pocket had a different plan, and it may well be in one of Tira spol’s finest abandoned buildings or dumpsters by now.

So what ever became of me?  Whatever happened with the cliffhanger I dropped two blogs ago, only to not address last blog?  What is this? “Bones?” Nope.  This is my blog, and if you didn’t know that already I don’t know if telling you anything else will really help. But alas, here is what happened.

…Nothing.  My week 2 contact, Pastor Alexey, pulled some KGB junk out and got me a sweet little stamp.  So no worries for Bill Murray, or for me.  Which is good, because I know Bill was just “all e’t up about it.”

So once I crossed the very real, pretend-border back into real, all-the-time Moldova we were dropped off at the eMbassy errrr...  I mean McDonald’s.  One of 3, at least, that “beautify” the Chisinau landscape.  Upon arrival and a friendly greeting, us guys found ourselves ushered off by Irina and Efim to a nice little apartamento where our week one of this final leg would be spent, well the sleeping parts at least.  The girls were moved 20 minutes driving distance away to be with their wonderful hosts Cornelia and Zina.

We fellas were greeted warmly by Luda and shown our room, complete with bunk beds and stuffed animals.  A room fit for little girls, mainly because 2 beautiful little girls lived there, but not this week.   And that warm greeting was just the beginning.
 

Luda and her husband Radu, were wonderful hosts.  They  were super sweet to us, literally, honey in the tea, all the time!  Radu is an amazing man of God, the Lord of the office, and the Lord of the keys for the Boom Club (Campus Crusade for Christ/CRU in Chisinau), which of course goes to prove that Jesus is indeed Lord of Lords.

Ohhhh Boom Club…What do you want us to do?  Teach English?  Okay, I’m getting used to this whole gig.
But first you want me to do what?  You want me to go on campus and pass out flyers to random people inviting them?  You expect me to get a random stranger’s attention and invite them to something?  Well, does the word… “WHEELHOUSE” mean anything to you?  Because I thought you’d never ask.  And I get to do it with my new friend Moldovan Mike?  Deal!

After that whole charade, later in the week we went to some high schools for 2 days, guided by Jenica, Natasha, and Zina presenting some things about America (and Canada) and inviting them to walk thru the city with us and come to English club.  And you know what?  They came.  And “Kidney of the Wolf” was born.  If you wanna know what that is, then that just means you don’t know.  But you can ask.

So week two of Chishinau comes around.... And we're movin on up... to the East Side, to a Deee-lux apartment  on the 15th floor..."   Yes, we got a sweet pad for the second week too.  We of course had to trade in wonderful meals, holding babies, and stealing little girls' beds, but we did have our own place where we could go shirtless and whatnot in freedom.

(Side note, actually not to the side at all: it was here, that I experienced the only breakfast in bed in my memory.  I'd always thought/selfishly hoped it would be from my wife, or at the very least a beautiful and kindhearted young lady who was making a play to be the aforementioned wife that I experienced this from.  I definitely didn't expect it to be a 5'11 man with a beard and a hockey shirt of some team we don't even know,  but I can only assume that this situation was the next best thing if I couldn't have situation number one, because Michael brought me steak on a plate, and that's not too shabby.)

So we have our sweet bachelor pad, and here comes English club: Chishinau style, and guess what, we get our own classes!  There are so many students they want to get the most out of us.  And I love it.  Not that teaching with others is bad, but it really allowed us each to develop our own personalities and invest in our classes.  Besides, I'd been warmed up two weeks prior with the class that Dania and I had taught in Tirasp ol.

Everyone else would say they had the “BEST” class, but they’d just be being subjective, bias, wrong, incorrect, and redundant…Wait!  That’s me being redundant, but still I get the honor of truthfully saying my class was, as the Moldovians that Tyler taught English would say, “LEGIT!”



I can’t adequately express the joy that I had from sharing, not only English with these people, but myself and ,more importantly, what Jesus has done and continues to do in my life and what He has for them.  I was able to share so much in such a short time, and I’ve made new friends for life.   Dorin, Margaretta, Ecaterina, Vera, Alina, Anatol,  Mihai, Sandra, Matei and the rest, including those not in my class, were a great, great pleasure to meet and get to know on a deeper level.

That’s what these 2 weeks were.  I made new friends, new brothers, new sisters.  Honestly, the whole race has been that, and life is that, but I do indeed feel a special connection with these people.  I’m super glad I pursued this route because of Moldova.

It just wasn’t for the reasons I’d initially anticipated.


I was so continually blessed by the kindness and appreciation that the staff of Boom Club and the students in our classes had for us.  It was very moving and will be something I can hopefully carry with me the rest of my
life.


Moldova, I can't say all the nice things I'd like to say about you, because I'm lazy, and this blog is already long.  Just know this… you used to be great.  You still are, but you used to be too.  Now it’s just time to believe it and live in it!

I wonder what a good title for this blog would be?  How bout?  “I Steal Thing From Little Girls.”  You’d click on that blog title wouldn’t you?  Don’t lie to me.

Abrupt-ish ending.