About 10 years ago we were asked to do a women's program in Bethlehem Baptist Church, Moldova. More men than women attended. Volunteers from America and from the Netherlands worked with local believers to hold a once-a-year celebration just for women. Slowly, more women came to church. More women asked to be baptized.
About two years ago the pastor's wife Olesea (far left) started a weekly Bible study. A handful of the women came regularly. Some had never prayed out loud before. Olesea could see growth. Then Covid hit. Bethlehem Baptist, like so many churches around the world, moved to online meetings.
The women went online, too. It was a good move for them. Like many Moldovans, people from this village go abroad to work. Some of the women are picking tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouses of north Holland. Others work as nannies as far east in Russia as the Chinese border or have gone to work in France or Germany. They continue to meet weekly, to study the Bible, pray, and sing together. It is no longer the pastor's wife who invites them. The women themselves recruit additional members.
Some of the women in this group have gone a long way. All of them have come a long way. Praise be to God!
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