Mission trip to Moldova

In June this year, 150 Norwegian youth spent a week of their summer vacation on a mission trip to Ungheni, Moldova, with YWAM Skien's mission project, Love Europe.

Anders Myklebust is a youth pastor at Hamar Free Church. This summer, he traveled to Moldova with 45 youth from Hamar Free Church and NLM Hamar Church. After the trip, Anders noticed a clear change in the youth who participated.

Strengthening Local Work

The Love Europe team distributed food, visited homes, and prayed for sick people. In the local park, they held outdoor meetings and organized football and volleyball tournaments.

- It meant a lot to the locals that we were there," says Anders. "Everyone heard about the Norwegian youth.

When meeting the locals, the team was introduced as part of the church. The church in the area worked together with the team, ensuring that the work had a local foundation.

- It was important to collaborate with a local effort. We helped to strengthen an existing work, Anders adds.

A Meeting with Poverty

Home visits in the villages made a strong impression. Many of those visited were sick and without access to healthcare. Many were bedridden.

- One of the people we visited hadn't had a visitor in five years before we came. It was a powerful experience, Anders recalls.

He adds that mission trips often impact the Norwegian youth as much as those they meet.

- But we're not going there to observe poverty—what we did had an effect.

Park Meetings and Banquet

Every evening, the team organized park meetings where they shared the gospel and sang worship songs.

- The youth got to practice reaching out to the people they met and sharing their faith. Several were healed and came to faith in Jesus through the conversations, says Myklebust.

The Love Europe team organized a banquet for the poor in the city and surrounding villages.

- It was a great way to build relationships and a rewarding experience to bless people with fellowship and togetherness over a good meal, he adds.

An Annual Tradition

Anders has extensive experience with Youth With A Mission, having worked with youth ministry and mission trips for 18 years. He has seen the significance that mission trips can have for young people.

- It can feel more rewarding to give than to receive," says Anders. "We see that many of the youth who went to Moldova have had a change in perspective, he says. We want to make youth mission trips an annual tradition in our church, and I hope we can achieve that, he concludes.

Testimony

Jakob Eek (19) from Løten joined Hamar Free Church on the trip to Moldova. This fall, he moved to Kristiansand and started at Ansgar Bible School.

- The trip to Moldova made a strong impression on me. Visiting a country where the standard of living is much lower than my own made me think. We met parents who had abandoned their children because they couldn't afford to support them, and families living in houses with large holes in the roof and walls. It gave me a new perspective. The trip was about more than what I personally gained from it. It was about what it meant for the people we met. I got to meet the people of Ungheni with love—just like Jesus does.