The old woman with the apples (part two of yesterday’s impressions).

I noticed her on the train on the way there because she was sleeping with her head resting in her hands. Occasionally she would jerk awake only to fall back to sleep. Her head was covered with the traditional head scarf and I imagined she was just another older Moldovian woman on her way somewhere.

As we got off the train I noticed her because she struggled to climb down the steep steps of the train, and we had to give her a hand with her bag. Walking towards the church we offered to help her, but she wasn’t too interested so we let her be.

After the long day in the village we headed back to the platform (the slab of concrete in between the railway lines) and when we were almost there I saw her. She was lying on the ground, clearly very drunk, and her black bag was a little ways away. I wanted to help, but realized that communication would be a challenge. Thankfully our group had a few Russian/Romanian speakers and they were there shortly after me. They talked to her and helped her. Seems the story was that she’d arrived on our train that morning with apples to sell. Had been successful in selling them, and had purchased vodka with her profits. My heart was broken as I watched our team help/carry her to the platform to get her on the train so they could help her off at her home station. She was really out of it, and seemingly also had a physical disability. And I realized that this is not an uncommon occurrence here in this country. Often alcohol becomes the coping mechanism when life just gets too hard to deal with.

But what broke my heart even more was another lady, an acquaintance of this precious one we were helping, who basically said to leave here, that “she’s just an alcoholic, she’s not worth helping, tomorrow she will be back in the same state”.

And what blessed my heart was the pastor’s response (the pastor of the church we’d been with had followed us to the platform). He said that she is still a human being, and that Jesus would want us to help her, that this is what we are meant to do as Christians. And what made me respect him even more was the way he said it. He didn’t get angry with this woman, but he was firm in a gentle way, speaking up for this lady who couldn’t defend herself, and I’m not sure she even would if she had had a clear mind.

The train arrived and the woman was helped on with us. And my prayer is that she would encounter more men and women of God along her way who won’t condemn her, but who will reach out a helping hand, realizing that when we reach out to those who are being looked down on by everyone else, Jesus sees it as reaching out to Him, and it is received as worship.