Moldova

The Lord deeply blessed my November trip to Moldova to teach Kitchen Table Counseling in the Kishinev Bible Seminary, November 7-17.  It was a privilege to teach 16 future Moldovan church leaders about listening to and encouraging hurting hearts from a biblical perspective.  My friend Beth Wahl and I shared the teaching, four hours a day for 8 classes.  When we weren't teaching, we were meeting with students or prepping for the next class!

KTC Class at Kishinev Bible Seminary

On our one Saturday there, we visited Kishinev Bible Church's camp about two hours outside the city. The camp is a significant platform for ministry and a place where many of our seminary students had either found Christ or developed a passion for ministry. Beth's home church, Front Range Alliance, supports the church and camp ministry.

The highlights of the trip for me, were the many opportunities we both had for one-on-one conversations with students.  Several told us that the Kitchen Table Counseling Course was their favorite seminary class to date.  One significant evening we spent with the mother of one of our students who was not a believer.  Her daughter, our student, bravely translated the many back-and-fourths we had with her mom about faith.  When we said good-bye, she promised Beth that she would read the Bible for herself.  The next morning in class, her daughter threw her arms around us in joy over the conversation we had with her mother!  Please pray for Nadia to fall in love with Jesus as she reads His Word!

Beth Wahl and Shelly in Moldova

Another highlight was meeting with two missionary women running homes for girls who had aged out of orphanages and were in danger of being trafficked.  The two missionaries had arrived in Moldova with no training in how to address the serious issues the girls were facing.  They took careful notes and were grateful for some tools to use in their challenging work.  We even had two copies of the Kitchen Table Counseling book left over to give to them!  A sweet surprise from the Lord.

Along with the seminary teaching in the mornings, Beth and I also did a three-evening seminar (with translation into Russian) on KTC for women from various churches!  There were plenty of challenges (including hecklers at one meeting!), but the joys definitely outweighed them!  Thank you for your prayer, encouragement and financial support for our time in Moldova!