Chisinau youth organize unique Prayer Week :: Adventist News Network

Apr 25, 2018
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Chisinau, Moldova
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Dan Fedorov

Adventist youth in Chisinau, Moldova, decided to conduct a prayer week for young people in an unusual way. This year, they wanted to destroy the stereotype that it’s hard for young people to wake up in the morning, so they opted for early morning meetings to devote themselves to God, to study the Scriptures and pray.

In the modern world, people face an acute shortage of time. More time is devoted to work, hobbies, or trivial things and less attention is given to the spiritual aspect of life. If you ask young people to devote time to ministry in a typical week, most will respond that they have absolutely no time.

In order to solve the problem of “lack of time” and still spend one hour a day in prayer and studying the Word of God, several young people from Chisinau churches “Maranatha,” “Revival,” and “Emmanuel” made a bold decision. Every day they met at 6:30 a.m., in different areas of the city, to seclude themselves in communion with the Lord. They often met in local parks.

This early morning prayer time left deep impressions on the young people, who enjoyed this vivid experience with God. Here are some of their testimonies:

Natalya Federova says, “It was a blessed week. I thank God and the organizers of these meetings. How wonderful it is to meet the dawn with the Lord and with dear brothers and sisters from the church. Such meetings raise our spirituality and unite the church. It would be good to arrange such meetings more often.”

“I’m so thankful to God for giving me the incentive to participate with the youth at these morning meetings. Thanks to these meetings, I learned a lot by listening to the experiences of others, as the Lord led them along the path of faith. He taught them humility and trust, so that today they could become worthy leaders in the matter of salvation. I received special blessings by staying in communion with God among nature in the morning hours,” share says Alina Lungu.

Dan Federov notes that “This experience of the morning meetings showed me a new facet of God’s character, which through His wonderful creation inspired me every day to know Him more. In addition, I proved to myself personally that it is still possible for young people to wake up early in the morning in order to devote time to studying the Scriptures and communicating with God.”

“I knew that this week would be special, but I did not expect that on my life’s path, such radical changes will occur. Now, at the end of this prayer week, I feel like a different person than at the very beginning. I experienced a real revival and now I feel more zeal for serving God. I felt the blessing and beauty of the morning, when the first thing you do after awakening is meet with the Lord, admiring His creation (nature, birds), communicating with friends, eating the Word of God, and glorifying the Lord through singing and prayers. Now I start a new page in my life, looking completely differently at what is happening around. ‘Every morning He awakens my ear, that I listen like a student (Isaiah 50:4,5),’” says Olga Meshka.

“It is already customary for me to be in the early morning amid nature, when the bustle of the day has not yet mastered the busy city. We met together with other young people who also like to be in silence and humility at the feet of Jesus. On the example of Godly, dedicated Bible heroes such as Samuel, Deborah, Elisha, Joseph and many others, I realized how important it is to be worthy to carry in life what is entrusted to us, especially to remain faithful in the small things. Piety (“eusebios” in Greek) has many meanings, including spiritual discipline and training. I’m incredibly happy for the wonderful moments of communication and spiritual growth. This was a foretaste of eternity. Why not continue this adventure of connection with the Lord and walking with Him ?! The choice is yours!” concludes Andrey Fenchuk.