Saturday, May 9, 2009

Remembering the war heros



To-day, 9th May ,was a day for remembering those were lost or suffered loss in the wars that have affected Rep of Moldova over the years.




The one primarily remembered of course was the second world war.

From Gotesti 240 young men went to war and 93 did not come back.


The mayor of our village was there to lead proceedings and Anton, the priest of the Orthodox church spoke a word honouring those who fought and gave their lives for the freedom of Moldova




I am glad to say that the mayor had the monument repainted for the occassion - those of you that have been here will remember it as an oxidising green colour an unintentional testimony to a lack of remembrance.





There are only 4 surviving veterans and 8 surviving widows of the 240 and here 87 yr David Ion is speaking of his experiences.



He was called into the war as an 18yr old and within a short period of time was shot in the arm as he colleaugue beside him lost his life in the same attack .




A tank attack some time afterwards saw him suffer 2 broken legs and he was invalided out of the war.




Children from our local school did a programme of songs and poems and then inundated him with flowers



A volley of shots honoured those who had died and then

the local children came and laid a wreath.


It was a dignified occassion and I was blessed to see that the mayor, when he mentioned the names of the remaining veterans and widows, did not need to look at his notes.


Remembrance - love's last gift


Pastor Mark


Simple family simply satisfied


This is Valera with his wife of 48 years.
She has had heart problems, blood circulation problems and arthritis for over 20 years.
He has quietly nursed her over all these years doing nearly all the work in the house and garden as well as trying to eek out a living.
He comes every Sunday to the meeting. She is not able to because of her disablities although we plan to get her to the odd special meeting now we have the car for the physically disabled.
Thanks to the help of many of you out there we were able to bring a sack of aid ( rice, pasta sugar etc ) and a sack of flour.
They were emotional and thankful for God's kindness. And we were moved especaily regarding Valera, a simple man who is content and has no complaints about his lot in life even though at 70 he is a full time carer for his wife with a pension of about 30$ per month.
You can't buy that kind of contentment.
Pastor Mark