Sharing the Story (2)

Sinti Celebration

   How did you come to faith? Did it have anything to do with a dinner invitation?
   During the same Sinti Romany worship service in which "Monique" shared her testimony, her husband (let's call him "Claude") told of his own search for truth. He grew up in Belgium, in a Sinti family. As a youth, he looked into different religions. He even read philosophy books. None of these gave him the answers he was looking for. In his disappointment, he started to use and abuse drugs beginning with legal ones (alcohol) and continuing on from there. He stole to support his habits. As a husband he was, by his own admission, "a monster."
   One day friends invited him to eat with them. Afterwards, they were going to a Christian meeting. Did he want to come, too? He hadn't planned to, but he ended up going anyway. There he heard the message he had searched for all those years earlier. If he would repent, Jesus would wash away his old life. He could be freed to really, truly live. Claude knelt and gave his life to God. With Jesus' help, he made a new start. At home, he had a lot of occult-related things. These went out. Drugs went out. A new love for his wife came in.
   Claude and his wife Monique now serve as church leaders. They encourage other Sinti to follow Jesus. Since his walk with the Lord began with an invitation to eat, it was perhaps fitting that we concluded that worship service with a celebration meal. Come, for all things are now ready.