Kaushany

It’s Wednesday morning. We’ve had a great night of sleep and I think I’ve caught up on the 7 hours of sleep we lost.

Today, we head south about two hours from Chisinau (quiche now) to Kaushany region. As I type we’ve just passed through “The Gates” of Chisinau – a Stallin era public housing development which definitely looks its age. Most, though the buildings look abandoned, are definitely occupied with clothes hanging outside of the balcony.

As we passed through town, we made a quick stop at the “farmer’s bank” to exchange money. I changed a meager $40 which will likely carry me for the week. I turned from the counter with 480 lei in hand. As I glanced at my hand full of money, my eye caught the line of local ladies seated along the wall. At that moment my mind flashed back to a conversation on the bus yesterday with our driver Sergiou. The minimum monthly wage (equivalent of our minimum wage) is 30 lei. I held in my hand 16 month’s wages and I was one of 10 Americans exchanging. My heart hit the floor. We had likely just exchanged more money than many of those looking at us would hold after 20 years of hard work.

With that thought in mind, the country has just experienced a serious drought. Local farmers are slaughtering the family livestock to prepare for a long, hard winter. Food prices are expected to sky rocket in coming months.

I’m praying hard for God to show us clearly where we as a church fit into this puzzle.