Mission team discovers what blessings ‘loom ahead’ during trip in Moldova

MOLDOVA – Missouri Baptist church members couldn’t imagine what blessings “loomed ahead” for them when they recently went on mission to the east European nation of Moldova.

“Most people you ask will not even know there is a country called Moldova, and for sure where it is,” Keith Vawter, director of missions for the Wright-Douglas-Ozark Baptist Association and Denty County Association, wrote in a report about the mission trip. “Moldova is surrounded on three sides by Ukraine and on the fourth by Romania.” Romanian, he added, is the primary language spoken in Moldova.

The mission team included: from First Baptist, Salem, Joe Brand and wife Kim, Worship Pastor David Hancock, David Ward, Mark Sisco and Nick Brakensiek; Whitney Fleenor, the pastor’s wife at First Baptist Church, Oak Ridge; and Keith Vawter with his wife, Terri.

According to Keith Vawter, the team used a soccer “ball of many colors” to explain the gospel to people.

“We were blessed to go to many schools to speak to the students and were very welcome in all of them,” Vawter said. “At some of the schools we were free to share the gospel; at others, just to invite the students to come to an afterschool event, where we openly shared the gospel with the ball, used the skills sets and the colors to further explain the gospel, and then gave a public invitation.

“We went to some villages where they didn’t have a school, but several students gathered at a community area where we did our presentation and skills,” Vawter added. “We provided snacks at each of the presentations. By the end of the week, Pastor Radu Coroi was sharing the gospel with the ball and of course was one of the best soccer players on the field.

“The first day we tried to have the event at the church, and only three students showed up – one being a young man named Maxim, who invited Jesus into his life. Every day after that, we had the events at school or on property close by, and the response grew every day. The last day, over thirty students came, and almost every one of them invited Jesus to be their savior.

“The team members were provided housing by Cantemir Baptist Church members, and our lunch and supper (feast) was supplied by the ladies of the church,” Vawter wrote. “The team was blessed to travel to grape vineyards, crop farms of many types, a flour mill and bakery all owned by church members or friends of retiring Pastor Vladimir Boncev. Many of the schools had displays of historical Moldovan arts, but the best was the museum with a working loom over two hundred years old and they invited David Hancock and Whitney to help make a few strands in a rug.”