Thomas and Nadine Grässlin – Germany

Why Moldova?
I (Thomas) visited Moldova for the first time in 2009. I did not know much about eastern Europe and former communist nations and I did not plan to come back as I had an invitation to Bali right after. I already counted Bali as my future second home. However, after I had returned from Bali, I started to miss this widely unknown and unseen former soviet nation Moldova. God had touched my heart for the nation of Moldova and the whole area of former communist nations. Since 2009, I visited Moldova a further 10 times and then in 2019, Nadine, I and our two boys visited there for Christmas and New Year. I fell in love with Moldova and I started to think of how we could bless it in the future.

Our connection to LHC
We were invited to a meeting in Gdansk with Emma und Kevin in February 2018. It was great to meet amazing people, who have since become friends and family. Since then the LHC has helped us to not lose track in terms of Moldova and to learn from others who have experience in planting churches. Currently we are living with a picture of building a base camp here in Germany as a strong starting point – this was and still is especially important for Nadine.

Our current situation
As a young family we are considering investing into Moldova in the future. The Last 3 years we were busy building our “base” (our own house). This has taken a lot of energy, especially with our 2 kids who are under 4. However, last September we started to shape up some of the details for our future steps towards a church plant into Moldova. At this point Nadine was around 7 months pregnant with our third child. Unfortunately, our baby girl Mila Elea was stillborn just 2 weeks prior to her due date. It was the toughest and saddest time that we ever experienced, and we are still processing this loss. And so, since then, we have put everything on hold and are still trying to figure out what our future with Moldova might look like.

Right now, we can say that we are doing well under the circumstances. Somehow, we found peace in God, but still we have tough and sad times every now and then. The one thing which is comforting for us to know, is that Mila Elea is with our loving father and someday we are going to meet her. And so for now, we are mostly busy with raising our boys, working our jobs, investing in our local church, and finishing our house.

Next steps
In July 2020 we had planned to go to Moldova for about 4 to 6 weeks to do a test run, but COVID stopped that and so right now, we are thinking of visiting our friends in Moldova for about 1 week to deepen our relationships, see more of Moldova and to have some days off.

Prayer requests:

• for clarity around God’s vision for us regarding Moldova;
• for further healing of our hearts;
• for strength and good time management to finish the things around the house;
• for patience and wisdom in raising our boys;