Greetings from Moldova!
Today after doing our normal deal at camp and eating lunch at the truly Moldovan restaurant, McDonalds, we headed out to a monastery outside of Chisinau. We kept on turning on to narrower and bumpier roads and after each turn I was sure the roads couldn’t get any worse than they were, and then they did. After driving for a while we arrived. The monastery itself was in a cave with a door that opened up to a cliff with one of the most incredible views I have ever seen. After we explored the cave for a few minutes it was time for us to rush to play a concert at a nearby youth camp. As we were loading our van up our van would not start up. So we pushed the van down a narrow, dirt road somewhere in the middle of nowhere of Moldova.
When I realized that we were probably not making it to the camp I sat down in the shadiest spot I saw and began to take in my surroundings. We had been in so much of a rush that I didn’t even look around and see my surroundings. I saw sunflower fields all the way up the valley. I saw worn down houses that are partially made out of sheet metal. I realized that maybe we were pushing too hard to get to this concert on time and that God just wanted us to take in his creation. It was definitely one of my highlights of my day. I took time to reflect on where I am in life and what matters most to me as I’m about to head off to college; money for tuition was the main thing that came into my head. Then I looked around again at what I had just observed and thought to myself about what SHOULD matter most to me, something that will pay off in the long run, and what came to mind was being able to say that I was a part of this unbelievable team that somehow left a mark on this struggling country. As the week continues on I pray that this team will indeed leave an imprint on all these children’s hearts for the rest of their lives because I know for sure that they have already left one on mine.
Will Carlson
304 44th Ave. N
