Wanda on the move...

After one month it was now time to say goodbye to Moldova and set off on the long long journey to Albania! This would take us three days, two youth hostels, eight border crossings and four countries!

After having a lovely picnic in the countryside of Romania we arrived in Ruse - Bulgaria to stay at the 'English Guest House' which was indeed an English guest house, run by a guy from Manchester!! After telling the boys that their room had only just been built for them that day - we headed out for a kebab (we haven't had one since Germany!!)...

Posing with the Bulgarian Flag...!

The second day we drove all the way across Bulgaria to Sofia and 'Hostel Mostel,' which was a wonderful looking hostel - a converted inn from the 14th century with free pasta in the evening and all you can eat breakfast in the morning...However, when we got to the hostel we were told that they had double booked us, so they didn't actually have any rooms for us after all! They did offer us an alternative though - Gullivers Hostel, which ended up being nearly as lovely!!

The last day of our travel saw us pass through the final three countries and the border crossings that we were slightly worried about! However, we made it through without any problems - not even being stopped by the police once during the whole three days!! and the scenery was beautiful!

This day saw us eat breakfast in Bulgaria, lunch in Macedonia and Dinner in Albania...

Finally, we arrived in Albania and will be here until 20th May...

Transit Team in Action...

Playing ball games with some of the children from the day centre in Crocmaz with the bus 4 life...

Teaching the children how to sing 'He's got the whole world in his hands' in Romanian.

Bus 4 Life

We spent eight days working with the Bus 4 Life, Travelling round different parts of the Stefan Voda County in the south of Moldova. The bus is used to distribute Christian literature to places that don't have good access to Christian resources. On board the bus there is also a movie screen and so the bus can be used to do programmes for youth and children as well. We often would serve coffee and tea during the day and then do children's programmes outside.

During our time with the bus we worked in two different villages and one larger town. In each place we had children's programmes either in a day centre or Kindergarten and we also attended Church services where we would be expected to sing some songs and share our testimony, as well as presenting Transit Challenge.

Sometimes, if no one came to the bus we would go out into the village and find people to invite - we also did this outside the school so that lots of children would come!! One time we had 125 children turn up for a programme! - It was a little chaotic, but lots of fun!!







With all the children in the village
of Antonesti!








In the village of Slobazia the youth group from the church helped us out a lot - they came tracting with us and helped with the open air evangelism outside the bus.







With the youth group from Slobazia!











One of the children's programmes on the bus. We would often present our countries, share testimonies, sing songs, share the gospel, make crafts and play games.














As well as working with the bus, there was also some sports ministry in each of the three places - usually football training! The guys would play football - sometimes pre-organised and sometimes they would just meet children / youth who wanted to play. At the end of the game there would be a short talk with a testimony or a story.

God is really using the Bus 4 Life in amazing ways...please continue to pray for it as it moves around eastern Europe and comes back to visit Moldova in May...

Hannah's Birthday!!

Hannah had a birthday!! We celebrated in style!! She is no longer 18...but is loving every minute of being a 19 year old!!

Spring Caravan...

The 'Spring Caravan' happened just after the Easter weekend. The plan was to visit four different villages with a children's programme and visits to the elderly - helping with a feeding programme and doing any practical work that was needed. We spent the first day planning our children's programme, which ended up being a tour of the different countries. In each country the children would learn a little about the place then either play a game, sing a song or do a craft activity. We also included Moldova in the programme so that they could show us something from their country before praying for it.


In the village of Ilenuta we were able to visit several elderly people and take them some food and talk to them. The lady on the right is the oldest lady in this village. She is here with her daughter-in-law and great grandson.

We were able to stay with different families during our time in Ilenuta. Below is the family that the girls stayed with - Svetlana, Antoni and Natasha. This was a wonderful family to stay with. They liked their animals - to get to the outside toilet we had to negotiate our way past dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, a cow, calf and bull, horse and some pigs! - Quite an adventure!! We had lots of fun trying to communicate with them in Russian/Romanian/English and drawings!!



In the next village of Albinetual Nou we went to help the church with their programme of feeding the elderly. However, when we got there, we were told that one old lady had gone into hospital and so we decided to plough her field instead! For most of us, this was the first time to do this and we had lots of fun! It was hard work though - the old lady would have done it all by herself - she was 77 years old!!

Here is the lovely ploughed field!!

On the Saturday of the Spring Caravan we were able to go to one of the parks in Chisinau to do some evangelism. We were joined by some people from the international church and went to talk to people and give out some tracts. Hannah and I (Lisa) had a very interesting conversation with a young guy called Michael who knew all about religion but had never considered that he could have a personal relationship with God. I was able to share my testimony with him and we prayed with him. The people in Moldova are quite open to talk about religion and each group was able to share the gospel with at least one person.

Sunday was spent in a village called Malcoci where we were part of the church service in the morning and then we did the children's programme in the sunday school.

The children would travel from country to country by different

types of transport. Here they are coming from Moldova to England

by train!!

New bus driver...???

We would like you to meet our new bus driver - Boris!!

He's very reliable and has lots and lots of energy!!

Rezina....

The first four days of our time in Moldova we spent with a local ministry team in Rezina, in the north. Here, we spent the first day doing practical work around the church - painting a fence, painting the kerb and taking tape off windows! as well as stopping inbetween to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and play games with the kids!

It was Easter weekend so the church was getting ready for the Easter Sunday service in which the transit team had to sing two songs (It wasn't so bad I don't think!!) After the service there was a children's programme for two hours and then a second service in the evening.

During our time in Rezina we stayed with two local

families...The girls stayed with a wonderful family

and we were able to spend each evening talking, drinking compote (Moldovan fruit juice!) and eating lovely Moldovan chocolate with them!!