The church in this village is quite young.  When Stefan received that call few years ago, the church was new with only a handful of members.  Everyone in the village was against them.  Even the other churches were fighting against them.  People wanted to see the church fail.

So when Stefan received that request for prayer from the major, he was suspicious.  When pressed, the major admitted that the priest had made the suggestion.  There hadn’t been rain for three months.  Without rain, there wouldn’t be any harvest.  In Moldova that means no food for the winter.  If the mayor could force the Pentecostal church to pray and nothing happened, it would be enough reason to run them out of town as heretics.

As Stefan sat with the mayor, he felt God say to him, “Tell him it will rain Friday.”  Stefan quickly pushed that thought aside.  He didn’t want to stick his neck out like that!  Yet the thought returned, “Tell him it will rain Friday.”  Again, he tried to dismiss the thought.

Suddenly Stefan realized his mouth was moving, saying the words that he kept trying to swallow!  It was too late to take them back, so he called the believers together that Wednesday evening, asking them to fast and pray for rain.

They fasted and prayed, trusting God for a miracle.  Three months with no rain, the forecast showing no change ahead.  The future of the church was teetering.

Friday night it rained.

As a boy, I faced lots of dares–truth and dare, double-dog dares, dares of courage and stupidity.  Childhood dares normally involve LOTS of stupidity!  Stepping out in faith and trusting God to work a miracle is NOT in the realm of stupidity, when God has asked you to do it. When God asks you to step out and trust Him, you will find that He is trustworthy.

When we play it safe, we are forcing ourselves down a miracle-less path.  We are destined to see the 5000 walk away hungry rather than fed by a miracle.  We are stuck with building our own tiny kingdom rather than seeing God build His kingdom.  We are stuck with ourselves.

When God asks us to give financially, we are faced with a dare.  Do you dare risk your little with God’s ability to provide?  Do I dare risk sacrificing some pleasure (coffee, new clothes, new toys) with the intangible reward of eternal investment?

The dare to step out and trust hits us in a myriad of decisions.  Can we risk our reputation by sharing about Christ?  Can we risk our pride by trying to start a ministry?  Can we risk our hearts by caring about someone?  Can we risk our lives by trusting Jesus with everything?

The Bible is full of dares.  God challenges you to love.  To give.  To pray.  To believe.  To trust in the dark times.  To minister.  To tithe.  To speak the truth in love.  To forgive (even if the other person never gets their just dues).  To preach.  To hold on when you don’t hear His voice.

Maybe you are not asked to pray for rain, but do what God has asked you to do.  He will not let you down.

Daring to believe in Moldova,
Andy Raatz

Our new language sentence structures are quite different than English. To speak Russian, I have rewired my brain to work backwards. I know there are those who would say that my brain has always needed some rewiring, but now even my English is messed up.

I also understand enough Romanian to mix in phrases. I slip in some sentences that are part Russian and part Romanian, creating a mixed language that is quite common in Moldova. I find myself choosing the easiest-to-say phrase from the three languages.

It dawned on my today that language learning is a great picture of my spiritual growth. Before I knew Christ as my Savior, I spoke pure “ME” language. Life was centered on my pleasures and benefits. When Jesus brought this dead heart to life, I had to learn a totally new language. I had to rewire my brain to speak His language.

It is not an easy process.

Christ speaks the language of servanthood. I speak the language of privilege and comfort.
God speaks the language of forgiveness. I speak the language of just dues .
Jesus speaks the language of grace. I speak the language of duty and works.

As I have learned to speak God’s language, I understand that our ministry is really about teaching His language as well. In Moldova, countless kids speak the language of rejection. I want to teach them the language of Christ’s nonjudgmental acceptance. The women Nancy works with have heard only the language of destruction, whereas we want to teach the words of new life.

My desire is to be totally fluent in both Russian and Romanian. I want to be able to read War and Peace in Russian, the New Testament in Romanian, and still be able to write a NY Times best-selling book in English.

Yet I really want to learn how to speak as Jesus spoke.
I want to hear a new language spoken in Moldova.

You are never to old to for language learning.

Being rewired in Moldova,
Andy Raatz

I have heard that phrase countless times over the years, usually tossing it off as a salesman’s pitch to close the deal. Both secular and religious leaders have used the concept as a way to force the decision or empty the wallet.

Yet I have suddenly felt that those words are not simply a nice cliche, but reality. Missions has taken on urgency, knowing that our time and opportunities are limited.

Last week our country experienced violence in the city center as thousands protested the results of the latest election. We were glued to the internet, trying to sort out facts from rumors, wondering what would happen next. My mind raced to our friends’ similar situation in Madagascar this year, ending in their temporary evacuation. Would we be next?

Thankfully our scenario did not escalate, but I was struck with the rapidness of how everything can change. My urgency level elevated to level RED. I now realize the pressure of time, never knowing when the door will slam shut. There is a need to press forward today, not postponing until later.

A girl in the Home of Hope has shared two of her dreams with Nancy. Both dreams were visions of her in a dark place, with the arms of the HOH staff pulling her out into the light. What if someone wasn’t there for her? What if we had waited?

Can we afford to wait? Can we delay?

• In the region of Ungheni, there are 74 towns, yet only 3 churches. In a country with few cars, that means 71 villages in just that region that have no chance to hear. Can we delay in church planting and outreach until the perfect time and adequate resources?
• Can I afford to delay the building for the church in the city of Bubieci? What happens when they lose their current building?
• At the Home of Hope, the lives of many girls hang by a thread, with the forces of darkness trying to drag them back. Can I wait until I feel capable of the task?
• Teen Challenge center’s well ran dry while thirty people are living there, finding freedom from drugs. Where are the funds to repair?

Whether Jesus returns to earth today or we are forced to leave Moldova tomorrow, there is urgency to the task. Whether I have another 50 years upon this earth or if my life is snatched away tomorrow, the clock is winding down.

Don’t wait to serve in your church until you have more free time. Don’t wait to give until you have excess. Don’t wait to pray until you have your life in control. I can plan for the next decades, but I must live as if today may be the last day to make a difference.

Today is the day. We might not have another.

Realizing the urgency,
Andy Raatz

Ministry often appears sweet and sour, a seemingly contradictory combination of emotions bordering on the extreme.  We experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, joy and discouragement, often within the same hour.  The headaches are ENORMOUS, but the successes are the sweetest!

Returning to Moldova from the World Missions Summit, we experienced an extreme range of feelings.  Our first evening, we dealt with headaches concerning the lost.  We had a lost bag, floating through the universe without any tracking tag.  Our associate’s puppy had run from fireworks, now lost somewhere within the city.  We had even lost Irina when she decided to bolt from the Home of Hope.

Those appeared to be the small miracles we needed to experience.

As I was dreaming about a do-over for the last few hours, miracles started happening.  Our bag showed up in Moldova, with the strangest airline route affixed.  Irina called and wanted to meet, returning to the Home of Hope this week. The puppy even showed up miles from our house, after two weeks of roaming the alleys of Chisinau!

There has been many miracles over the last two weeks, yet interspersed among the miracles have been headaches of immense proportion.  We rejoice with one miracle, only to look up and see another miracle-requiring need looming before us.

Never before has such a gamut of “flavors” seasoned our lives.
Never before have we faced such challenges and seen such miracles.

I have lived in windy places such at Montana, yet nothing compares to the spiritual gales we have faced as of late.  The Apostle Paul’s words have been echoing in my mind, “Stand firm….having done everything, stand firm…..Stand firm therefore….”

We do not have the abilities to do this task, but we will stand firm.
We cannot force someone toward Jesus, but we will stand firm and show God’s grace.
We cannot heal a broken woman’s life, but we will stand firm in Christ’s love.

If I may encourage you today—stand firm.  If your situation seems at its darkest, place your trust in Christ, and stand firm.  If the needs and hurts around you are too much to bear, stand firm in His grace.  If the battle seems too fierce, arm yourself with the character of Christ and stand firm.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  2 Cor. 4:17-18

Waiting for more miracles in Moldova,
Andy Raatz

That thought flashed across my mind last week as I stood in a Moldova medical building, waiting for a dentist appointment.  Of the four lights in that long corridor, only one light worked, the other three dangling loosely from the ceiling.  The walls were rough plaster coated with who-knows-how-many layers of paint.  An ancient, broken dentist chair stood in the hallway, a perfect playground for kids.

I had always taken a clean medical office for granted, expecting a clean waiting area and current magazines.  I assumed that there would be sterile conditions and lights that actually worked.

I am getting some perspective.

I used to assume that electricity was a constant, normal part of life.  Now I live with electricity that goes up and down, it was even absent for most of Thanksgiving Day!

When cream cheese shows up in a grocery store, we buy it and Nancy makes carrot cake!  We stock up on our yoghurt because it will disappear for a couple weeks.  We savor turkey, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie, because those items are either scarce or packed in via suitcase.

I am thankful for so much, simply because my perspective has changed.  I no longer take for granted indoor plumbing, smooth roads, honest policemen, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, efficient postal service, phone calls from friends, spicy salsa, and free wi-fi.  It wasn’t that those things didn’t bless me before, but now I realize HOW blessed I was to have them.

As Jesus ate dinner at a religious leader’s house, a woman came, poured out her expensive perfume onto Jesus, and wiped his feet with her tears and hair.

When the religious person questioned this action, Jesus simply shared a parable of two men with great debts.  One owed 10 times the debt as the other, yet both had their debts totally erased.  At the end of his story, Jesus simply said, “She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.”

I think this passage is not that we all have different size debts. It is all about perspective.  If my perspective is that my debt is little, I will have little gratitude.  And I will be wrong.  For ALL of us have a great debt.  For all of us have enormous sin.  For all of us are like that prostitute, lost without Christ.

Whether Christ rescued you from the streets or from a nice, religious home, you had enormous debt. If you are the son or daughter of a preacher, you still have enormous debt.  No one owes Christ a tiny amount of gratitude.

Ask God to give you some perspective…and be thankful.

Forever grateful,
Andy Raatz

PS:  May the Lord bless you richly this holiday season.  No matter what situation you are in, I pray that He may fill your heart with much thanks and gratitude.  We are continually humbled by those that support. One friend lives in constant physical pain, yet wants to help the women in the Home of Hope.  When I think of her perspective, I am cut to the core….and grateful.

If I were a rich man, then I could be a self-supported missionary!
If I were a rich man, I wouldn’t stress about support during recessions.
If I were a rich man, I would not need to stare at needs beyond my means.

I enjoy reading the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 with a small boy’s lunch, multiplying a few fish and loaves into a banquet for all.  I shake my head at the disciples’ doubt, wondering why they just didn’t trust Him to figure it out.

But I must confess, feeding the 5000 is easier preached than practiced.  I’m more like the disciples than Christ; staring at the pittance I have in my hand rather than seeing the potential of God’s miraculous provision.  I have wonderful faith to feed the 5000 when I have a trailer full of 5000 prepackaged dinners.  When I am stuck with a tuna sandwich, my faith takes a nosedive.

Finances may not be fish and bread, but I often feel like the disciples staring at the crowd.  “Lord, Moldova is so needy, and there is so much potential to build the Kingdom of God.  Yet all I have is this small lunch!”

When I read reports of global financial crises, it is easy to start wondering if my small lunch just got smaller.  Am I now working with only one fish and a half of saltine?

It is easy to worry.   To fret.   To fear.   To wonder if we should just hold back and slow down the work.  Maybe it would just be so much smarter to ease up and not tackle another need, another project, and another ministry.

Yet I was challenged last Sunday when our colleague preached on sowing and reaping.  “He that sows generously will reap generously.  He that sows sparingly will reap sparingly.”  Generosity is not dependence on resources, but on the heart.

How do I want to spend my life in Moldova?  Do I want to spend it tackling small needs that are within my means or the to attack challenges that require faith and sacrifice?  Do I want to focus on what I have within my grasp (5 loaves and 2 fish) or on what God wants us to do (feed the multitude)?

How are you going to face the challenges that you see daily?  How are you going to respond to the needs in your own area?  Are you going to sow generously or sparingly?

“I wish I were a rich man….”

Jesus doesn’t want a self-supporting missionary, but a God-dependent one.

“Lord, help me to sow generously, not in fear and conservativeness.  Give me wisdom to understand your call to faith, and the difference between faith and stupidity.  Help me to plan and count the cost, but not give in to a spirit of fear.  And give us a generous harvest.  Amen.”

Trusting in Moldova,
Andy Raatz

Those seven words have been echoing in my head lately.  An intern expressed them after describing a visit to one of our Moldovan village homes.  She was describing her visit to see Danny and Aliona, young children, raising themselves in a filthy, rustic house.  They had no running water or indoor plumbing, a simple wood and coal heat stove.  Their parents had abandoned them to work outside the country, trusting a neighbor to check in on them once in a while.  A couple of older siblings were there too, but they worked in the fields all day.  Hunger is the one constant in their lives.

“But what can I do about it?”

If you say those words with a tone of resignation, they are an admission of failure.  With that tone of voice, you are simply admitting that the problem is too great.  There are too many children in too many villages, too many shattered families and shattered hearts.  Our senses are overwhelmed with sights and sounds of tragedy so we just give up.  It is almost as if to say, “Why bother?

“But what can I do about it?”

If you say the words with a tone of flippancy, they are a reflection of your values.  Throw in a spiritual-sounding answer of “Jesus said that the poor would always be with us…. Such is life in Moldova!”  Now you can go back home to a life of materialism and triviality. It makes you sad, but you are ready to get back to worrying about the TRULY important things….football scores, fall’s new clothing styles, how much your portfolio dropped with the latest Dow Jones news.

“But what can I do about it?”

Actually, I think God IS asking you, “What are YOU going to do about it?”

Danny is the hungry, 3-year-old boy in Mihaeleni. Luda is a 20-year-old Moldovan, a victim of trafficking, broken and scarred. A young church in Bubieci will lose their building soon, and is scrambling to construct a church.
What are you going to do about it?
Your neighbor thinks every Christian is an uneducated, naïve Puritan.  Another neighbor has never entered a church her entire life, probably because no one invited her.
What are you going to do about it?
Your pastor is exhausted from carrying a heavy load.  There is too many needs, too many expectations, and not enough encouragement.
What are you going to do about it?

Don’t just respond with a sympathetic word to the needs around you.  Don’t feign concern for the world unless you are willing to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!  If your actions don’t match your words, your words mean nothing.  Or as the Bible says, faith without action is dead.

What are you going to do about it?
Pray.    Give.    Support.    Share.    Serve.

Trying to do something in Moldova,
Andy Raatz

PS:  The intern who shared that phrase is doing something about it, and I applaud her.  We cannot change every life, but we can be moved to action.  AND this coming week, we will be welcoming the first three women into the Home of Hope.  After years of working toward this event, we are ready to see the home used for its purpose—healing for women who have been trafficked.

That strange order was repeated countless times last week in our city of Chisinau.  The news was reporting that our water would be off for four days, and no one knew when it would happen.  Due to the extreme flooding, bridges were covered, houses were destroyed, and lives were lost.  Authorities expected the city water pumping station to be out of commission for a while.

So all the bathtubs were filled at the ministry center.  We sent the kids to take showers.  We stored drinkable water in the refrigerator.

And nothing happened.  They were able to keep the water coming to the city, so life continued for us (though not for the thousands now displaced from their homes.)

I began thinking about how we react when there is a sense of urgency.  We don’t hesitate, but we do it NOW.  We don’t procrastinate, but we are motivated.  We don’t sit around and ask clarifying questions.  We just MOVE.

If a tornado siren blows, we rush to the basement.
If a hurricane is approaching, we board up windows and leave town.
If a snowstorm is howling, we lock the doors, stay home, and start a fire!

Yet I often wonder if I live my Christian faith with that same urgency, an eternal compulsion?  Do I live each moment knowing that “no man knows the hour” of the end of his life?  Do I minister knowing I might never see this person again?

What if we had some warning that Christ was returning one year from today?  What if we knew we had six months to live?

Who would you call to tell that you loved them?
With whom would you reconcile?
With whom would you share about Christ’s forgiveness?
What would you remove from your life?  Add to you life?
What would you do with your money or your time?
How would you like God to examine your spending habits?

If you knew the flood was coming, how would you prepare?

Lord, give me a sense of urgency for today!  Help me to not wait until tomorrow to share about you, but to act today.  Help me not to live with grudges or unforgiveness, but to clear the slate with both you and those around me.  Help me to build Your Church more than my kingdom.  Help to look at the fields that are ripe….and act.

Staying dry in Moldova,
Andy Raatz

To be technically accurate, life stunk. Our septic tank backed up about 2 weeks ago, and we were left with an interesting dilemma.  No one knew where the tank was located.

A previous owner had placed a tank in the backyard together with an elaborate drainage system.  No one had ever needed to pump out the tank and there was no access hole for emptying.  Obviously, something needed to be done!

We dug a few random test holes.  No luck.  We poked and explored—nothing but mucky arms to show for that effort.  Desperation forced me to search online for the name of a man I had never met, unsure if I knew how to spell his name.  Miracle of miracles—the second call was a bonanza!  I reached his elderly mother and we soon found the tank.

It is amazing the smelly stuff that can be buried out in the yard.  It is only when something happens that you are forced to dig it up.

It is amazing the smelly junk that is still buried in my life.  It is only when something happens that I am forced to dig it up.

I have discovered a cesspool of self-reliance buried in my life.  Missions forced me back to a stage of weakness, revealing how much more I relied on my own abilities than on God’s strength.

I have been forced to dig up a pit of cultural pride.  I grew up thinking that my culture was the right culture, and that we had a corner on theology and church.

Anger has been dug up every time someone passes me driving down a sidewalk, an official asks for “just one more document,” or one more person shoves in front of me in line.  God has been in the business of digging up lots of cesspools in my life, trying to make me in His image.  I, on the other hand, prefer to keep them buried.

My human nature is satisfied with self-centeredness, self-gain and self-appearance.  I don’t enjoy digging through the top layer to deal with buried garbage!  But whether I want to or not, I need to deal with the problems.

I am used to many odors in Moldova—squatty potties, garlicky body odors, rotting garbage and who-knows-what from over my neighbor’s fence!  I want God to clean my life so I may be a fragrance of life to each person I meet.

2 Cor. 2:14-16  But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

Smelling better in Moldova,
Andy Raatz

PS:  Thanks again for your partnership in the work in Moldova.  You are investing in a country that needs the Church to bring transformation.  Our vision is simple–to see the Church bring life-changing transformation to each village and city, each neighborhood and apartment.  We want to see our country changed by God’s mercy and grace.