What I Saw In Moldova: Hope

We were driving back from Sunday worship in a Romany village in Moldova when this rainbow appeared over the road. In retrospect, this sign of hope seems especially fitting. The worship service had been full of men and women. Twelve years ago very few, if any, women regularly attended.
A Romany church leader had preached in his own language. He had kept the services going while the regular pastor had had to go abroad for employment. In the past, when the church had been without an outside pastor, things had fallen apart. This time, they had continued to have youth meetings on Tuesdays, midweek Bible study, and Friday prayer meetings--in addition to Sunday worship.
Earlier that day, this leader and a group of other believers had driven an hour north to another place with a small Baptist church. They had invited the Romany they knew there to the worship service. They had grown themselves and were eager to share the Good News with others.
Sometimes Moldova seems like a hopeless place and the Romany there seem like a hopeless people. But God's promised hope glows here, too.