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	<title>Harvest Moldova</title>
	<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com</link>
	<description>Andrew &#38; Nancy Raatz, Elissa, Natalie, Lauren. Missionaries to Moldova</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:34:53 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Praying for a Thaw</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Winter has fully arrived, the coldest we’ve experienced in our seven years in Moldova. I’m accustomed to the mild winters here, and they have turned me into a wimp.  It is only -6° F and I feel chilled to the bone.  Our roads are barely plowed, the sidewalks are icy, and my vehicle is chugging [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/592</link>
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		<title>With Great Anticipation</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Anticipation.  We have plenty of it in Moldova!
For our daughters, the anticipation of Christmas morning is tortuous.
For some friends, the waiting for the news of a positive medical result is nerve-wracking.
For this author, the thought of Christmas morning Swedish roll is mouth-watering!


In this season of anticipation and expectation, we look forward to everything: from presents [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/586</link>
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		<title>I Believe In A Miracle</title>
		<description><![CDATA[miracle &#124;mirikl&#124; n.  a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.
I believe in miracles.
I was just in the new construction in the village of Bubieci.  Three teams labored with the church this fall, pouring walls and a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/564</link>
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		<title>How Did I Get This Blessed?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ I feel as if I&#8217;ve won the lottery.


 
 I get to serve Christ in Moldova.


 
 As I drove back from a small village this week, swerving around potholes and squinting through the fog, my mind fixated on how fortunate I am to serve in this country.  I detest the concept that [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/554</link>
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		<title>Who&#8217;s Normal?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Our girls missed the street dogs.


 
Sounds amazing, but as we drove home from the airport, our girls kept talking about how much they missed seeing street dogs. They enjoyed the time at our bi-annual conference in America, but there are no packs of street mutts roaming Orlando. Their running commentary on the drive consisted [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/508</link>
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		<title>Casting the Net</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week we did something fun with the women and staff at the Home of Hope, a &#8220;field trip&#8221; to Old Orhei, a beautiful monastery built into a cliff.  It is a wonderful place to visit, a site we have frequented often with guests.  It was awe-inspiring to stand on a ledge of the cliff, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/496</link>
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		<title>Daring to Believe</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve never been one to shirk from a challenge, but even I would be nervous about the challenge Pastor Stefan faced.  When the mayor called him and asked him, &#8220;Pray for rain,&#8221; Stefan realized it was more than a concern for the weather.  It was a dare, a trial that could give the town an [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/479</link>
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		<title>Language Learning</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Look your sweetie in the eye and say, &#8220;I you love.&#8221;  Makes sense in Romanian but loses its zing in English.  Or after finishing your dinner, say to the chef, &#8220;To me it is liked spaghetti your.&#8221; That sounds like something Jedi Yoda would say, but it is quite logical in Russian.
Our new [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/465</link>
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	<item>
		<title>The Time is Now</title>
		<description><![CDATA[You have this window of opportunity.
I have heard that phrase countless times over the years, usually tossing it off as a salesman&#8217;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 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/450</link>
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		<title>Repainting</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Moldova is full of stories, colorful scenes begging me to write.  I feel like an artist with a palette overfilled with colors, wondering which to apply to the canvas first.
Do I write about the grandma that walks her three goats to the field each morning?
Do I write about the coffin I spotted tied to the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.harvestmoldova.com/archives/426</link>
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