Eu ma duc la Moldova! (I am going to Moldova!)

The time has come for us to pack up and move this party to Moldova. I can hardly believe it is time for this already. We are spending the night at the center Sunday and will leave the center on Monday morning at an early 5:20 to make it down to the train station to catch our train at 6:00. We will travel about 4 hours by train to reach Iasi, Romania. There we will have a few hours to walk around and see a different part of Romania. We will take a maxi-taxi (think large van) over to Chisinau, Moldova. We plan on arriving there around 6:00 in the evening, but that all depends on how long it takes us at customs. I've been told this can be a long process.
I learned that if we were making this "trek" in America it would be about a 3 hour car ride. So the fact it will be over 12 hours is slightly depressing to me.

In Chisnau we will be working with an organization called the Bethany Center. They have built homes in an old Pioneer Camp (I've been told Pioneer Camps is wher children went to learn about communism back in the days of the USSR). The Bethany Center owns 10 homes on this camp and have made a community for themselves and are working to become self-stustaining. Each home contains a set of parents and up to 10 kids; some of these kids are their biological childern, some are foster kids and orphans. Unlike regular orphanages in Moldova these kids are not kicked out when they turn 16. Once these kids are accepted into the homes they are quite literally part of the family.
We will be staying with these families for the 11 days we will be in Moldova. During our time there we will be working on a school they are building on the property. In the evenings we will be doing an English club for the kids that are interested. We're excited to do this, but also feeling a little underqualified. We're hoping everything will work out; I'm sure we are making it a more stressful than it needs to be. Some days we will also be going into the city to give out meals to the homeless. We will also be visiting the Grace House (a transitional living home for girls) on Friday. Saturday we will be playing with the kids of the families; big group games and such. Then on Sunday will be going to visit an orphanage in Straseni (a near by village) on Sunday afternoon.
Word Made Flesh will be setting up shop in Moldova in January. We are the first Servant Team to take a trip like this to acutally serve in Moldova. At first I thought this trip was going to help the staff going to Moldova figure out a little bit what serving there would look like, but this trip is acutally for us so we can see something else and be considering/praying about joining them there in Moldova.
I am anxious and excited to make this trip and join in what God is already doing there. Thank you, as always, for your prayers during my time here. I don't anticipate having internet during my time in Moldova, but I will give an update when I get back!