Mostly Afterthoughts. . .: Salute From Moldova!

Cogneeleshkey Friends!!! ("Whats up")
It is a beautiful day here in moldova and the only day this week that I have not constantly been dripping sweat. As I write I'm laying on a little bed listening to David Crowder Band "how he loves" in a room with an open window overlooking traditional apartments.

Laying next to me is Lauren, One of my new best friends. let me tell you how we met and how we arrived in this beautiful land...

Chapter 1: The plane ride

My journey began when the alarm went off Tuesday morning June 7th at 7:30. I jumped out of bed and got dressed, straightened my hair for the last time (for awhile anyway), zipped up my suitcase, and headed down stairs to hug and kiss my family and wish them goodbye. The ride to the airport was short and when we got there we checked in getting all sorts of last minute information. There was a few minutes of heartfelt prayer about the mission and the journey I would be taking, then I ran off to security. I must have had a pretty heavy suitcase because the lady picked up my carry on (which was filled with hundreds of $ of Craft supplies and prizes) and asked me one question.. "are you a student?" "yeah" I answered, her only reply was a laugh and glance at my suitcase when she said "I can tell". When I got to the gate I finnaly had a chance to relax ,were I pulled out my Ipod and made a couple last minute checks on Facebook and twitter. :) Anyway so.... the plane comes, I get on, we take off, fly for an hour and a half and soon enough we landed in Chicago. now I didn't exactly know wear I was going, but i followed the arrows and eventually made it to what was SUPPOSED to be the gate.. only it was empty. UGH in my 20 minutes of walking from one gate to another the light had been moved. so I turned around lugging my 30-40lb suitcase back down to the other end of the terminal. thankfully I got there with plenty of time to spare and sitting there with her back turned towards me was my traveling buddy, a beckon of light, and rare species... just kidding! It was Lauren. the girl that drops her contact case sown the drain, the girl who actually gets my jokes (even the dumb ones that don't make sense), the girl who understands a rare form of beauty when she sees one.

Believe me there is beauty every were!!! In the roses, the greenery, the buildings, and especially in the yobes. (Hahaha)
Anyway... so we are in Chicago sitting there and we were supposed to register for our seat assignments so we got in line (we needed to be towards the front so we could get seats) we were #3 but as we sat listening to the person at the desk giving instructions it sounded like we were already taken care of.. so we got out of line.. but as he kept talking we suspected we made the wrong move, so we got back in line now we were # 42.
Soon enough though we were on board sitting in seats with personal TV's and those scratchy blankets they give you to keep warm settling down for 8 hours of flight time... we were supposed to sleep but to be honest it was impossible so we laughed and talked the whole way! Landing in Frankfurt was exciting and made meappreciate the freedom to stretch my legs. Let me tell you a foreign airport is very confusing. we went through at least 3 differnt security stops, almost outside the airport and made a pit stop at customs ... yet we still managed to make it to our flight on time were we met the 3rd member of our team, Nita!

As all three of us quickly boarded the flight counting down the hours until we would reach our destination with only one more stop in the way the flight went by like a breeze and soon enough we landed in Vienna Austria. everything went smoothly but I've learned something about myself.. I must look extremely suspicious, because at every security checkpoint they went to the extreme precautions with me.. not like naked scanner but full pat me down and opening my bag. The whole time I had bon qui qui's "Security" voice running in my head. lol ok, so there we had a 3 hour layover so we caught a little cat nap on the cold green metal chairs till we boarded... needless to say the last hour was the most exciting and as the villages and soon city of Chisinau came into sight we were aching (literally) to be off that plane! and that we did we got on the ground and met Natalia and our driver Gorge. Both are Wonderful wonderful people with dear hearts and plenty of energy! and since then we've been busy...

Chapter 2: Since then

We've taken care of all our bills :) and even spent a bit more going to visit some places.

Experienced the difference between american driving and moldovian driving....We took a shot at painting our nails in the car... can you tell which ones we did while driving?

p.s: I'm pleased to tell you that after riding in a stick sift here and actually driving one at home... I'm a good driver and there should be no complaints. lol

For the last two days we've visited the poor families. Bringing Clothes, candy, silly bands, presents, and in some cases bread to them ... but mostly the message. If there is one thing that I've learned so far it is that you can do all you can to help, but in the end ITS ALL ABOUT THE MESSAGE.

Each situation is hard! Horrid to picture yourself living in! But God keeps reminding me that it doesn't matter were they are - He has his hands on each one of them. To the familys that don't have hope, we bring it! that is our purpose.