As the Fall Missions Festival was about to begin last week, College Church missionary Mark Papierski left Wheaton for Moldova and Ukraine. He landed in Chisinau, Moldova, where he and the other arriving passengers were serenaded with traditional Moldovan folk music.

As the leadership development director at Mission Eurasia (formerly Russian Ministries), Mark's final destination in Moldova was the Young Professionals Forum on Missions. Some 400 young professional men and women from Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova participated in this one-day conference that echoed the theme of our Fall Missions Fest, "Marketplace Connections for Global Impact."

Here's a report from Mission Network News about the conference and the challenge to these young Christian professionals.

After the conference, Mark and his colleagues ventured to the city of Slavyansk, Ukraine, within 60 miles of areas that are under pro-Russian separatist control. Along the way, they met Pastor Grigoriy Pavlovic, who is meeting war-weary people's physical needs through Mission Eurasia's "I Care" program and meeting their spiritual needs with the gospel. Churches in cities such as Slavyansk are caring for the needs of refugee families all across eastern Ukraine. You'll hear more about the "I Care" program in the next few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

Young professionals worship and reflect at the October' forum in Moldova.