This is the last post for CBF Romany Ministries.

From now on, please go to 

Reflections by Keith and Mary

To read about CBF's work with (not for or to) Romany, look in the archives of this blog.

Below is a brief overview of who served on the team and where.

The CBF Romany Team began in 1992 with the appointment of pioneers "T" and Cathie Thomas. They grew the team to include first Ralph & Tammy Stocks (1995, Hungary & Romany), then Frank & Cindy Dawson (former USSR), Robbi & James Frankovich (focusing on Banjara in India), Keith Holmes & Mary Van Rheenen (resource coordinators, living in the Netherlands), and Amy & Jon Derrick (Slovakia and Czech Republic). Eddie & Macarena Aldape joined the Frankovich's in India. Allen and VerrDean Williams, CBF field personnel who had served in another capacity in Europe, shifted to focus on Domari-speakers.  The Thomases joined them. Earl and Jane Martin, CBF's first emeritus field personnel, served the team as volunteer prayer coordinators.

After the Derricks shifted to assignments back in the U.S.A., Rachel Stephen  joined the team. She served in the Czech Republic where she met and married her husband. The Brunclikova family continues to live in Czechia. Shane and Dianne McNary then focused on Slovakia & the Czech Republic. They were joined there by Jon & Tanya Parks. 

When the Thomases retired from the field, Sandy & Kevin Holmes worked with the Williams. The Holmeses were seconded from another sending agency. Mary Helen Brandon contributed to the Domari work through the two-year Global Service Corps.

Ralph & Tammy Stocks hosted a number of Global Service Corps volunteers. These included English teachers at the Gandhi School for Romany high school students in Pez, Hungary:  Mark Knowles, Penny Mann, and lastly Doug & Clista Adkins, who actually served for 3 years. Doug Adkins created and led the Gandhi School choir. Additionally, Cheri Hornbach taught English for two years at a Hungarian teachers' training college. 

The Stocks moved from Hungary to Bucharest, Romania. Four Global Service Corps volunteers served there. Wes & Cindy Craig (Gypsy Smith School; Ruth School) and Skyler & Ronella Daniel (Ruth School, children with special needs; chapel services + teaching). 
Global Service Corps member Elaine Childs who worked in Croatia also affiliated with the team. 

Since 1992, each of these team members have either transitioned to other roles within CBF, retired, or moved on to serve in other ways. The goal of the team has always been to work ourselves out of a job. We praise God for the many local partners who have made that possible. The Spirit continues to work through Romany Christians across Europe . . . and across the Globe.

New Friends, New Images

Marina & Vasilita exchange insights

This past month our friend Marina drove with me up to North Holland to visit our friend Vasilita and her daughters. Marina is originally from Romania. Vasilita and her daughters are from Moldova. They and many others from the Roma village of Vulcanesti are working in the green houses in the northern tip of the province of North Holland.

On the way up, she talked about some of the attitudes many Romanians have towards Romany. When we arrived and met Vasilita's daughters, both in their early 20s and both working in greenhouses picking tomatoes, Marina privately wondered what kind of a future that was. Didn't those two want more out of life? 

Mary & Marina share a snack on the way home

On the way back, Marina talked about what a big heart Vasilita had and how concerned she was for other people. Marina noted how Vasilita and her two daughters were working for their entire family and also, in a way, to benefit their entire village. 

New friends, new perspectives, new points of reference. 

What Does the Angel Say?

"That doesn't sound right," the priest said. We had come to Belgium to record his voice. He was going to be the voice talent for the angel Gabriel in the Flemish-language version of the Magdalena Project.

"No, that isn't right," Ria agreed. Ria is a native Flemish-speaker. She was being the native-language "proof-listener" or checker for the recording. 

The two looked over the lines again. They consulted a modern translation of Luke into Dutch (approved by both the Flemish Bible Society and the Bible Society of the Netherlands). 

"This is it!" they agreed after reading Luke out loud. "That's the way it is in the Christmas liturgy, too." 

And so they rewrote those few lines. After trying this and that intonation and phrasing, everyone was satisfied with the recording. Soon you can hear it for yourself here:
www.jesusfilm.org/watch/magdalena.html. 

Original:  De Heer is met u, u die de gunst van de Heer geniet!

Changed to:  Wees gegroet, gij beganadigde, de Heer is met u.

Original:  Wees niet bang, Maria. God heeft het goed met u

Changed to:  Wees niet bevreesd, Maria, want gij hebt genade gevonden bij God.

A Tale of Two Houses and Prayer (Partially) Answered

Natasha (right) was raised by her aunt Maria (left) in a Romany village in Moldova.

 

Eventually Natasha had two sons.  

Maria also had a son who was about the same age as Natasha’s. Maria let Natasha’s family live in one half of her house.

It was hard to make ends meet, but these two single moms managed—together.

Children grow. In 2020 Maria AND Natasha’s oldest son asked to be baptized.

 A year later Maria’s son (we’ll call him Ion) was also baptized, along with a young woman he subsequently married. He and his new wife moved in with his wife’s parents.

Three families now share the small house of Ion’s in-laws. Maria passed away from cancer, and Ion inherited the house. Of course, he and his wife (and their small child + the baby on the way) want to move into their own house. But then where would Natasha and her two sons live? Natasha cannot afford any other housing in the village.

The situation has created conflict:  between Ion and Natasha’s family; between Ion and his wife (she really wants to move!); between people in the church (two church members are involved); between people in the whole community.

The local church has been praying for a solution. We asked for prayer for a solution. This is what God has done so far.

There’s a plot of ground available in the village for about €4000 ($4350).
Baptist Church of Arnhem-Centrum, where we attend, has raised 1000+ Euros.
A German NGO headed by a Sinti Romany pastor has pledged at least 1000 Euros.
So far, American Christians have donated $300, which brings the total so far to around $2500 (€2300).
Fellow church members in Moldova would also like to help with funds and with building a two-room house once the plot is purchased.

You can help, too.

Pray with us for a solution.

And if you feel so led, contribute to the house fund via www.classy.org/campaign/mary-vanrheenen; please leave a comment “for Natasha’s house” in the comment section.

Happy (Old) New Year!

How did (or will) you celebrate the New Year?

In the Netherlands, people eat oliebollen (sort of round donuts) and, at midnight, they watch the neighbors shoot off fireworks. And then they watch the neighbors do this some more, sometimes until 1:30, depending on the neighborhood. 

When we first moved to Missouri, I was puzzled by the supermarket special of a single rose (for the loved one of your choice) and a can of black-eyed peas (?!). My Southern-born husband explained the black-eyed peas were to bring good fortune through the coming year. We now eat them regularly on January 1. (When we first moved to the Netherlands we had to go to a foreign food store to find them and to buy corn meal). 

In Moldova, many are still waiting to celebrate. Our partner Olesea Ciochina explained, "We still have the old-style (Gregorian Calendar) New Year, on January 13. In the evening, the children will go to the houses with wishes and carols.  The next day children go from house to house with a poem for New Year's greeting. They sow seeds (rice, corn, grain, sometimes even dried beans) to wish you a bountiful year, and you give them something in return. I have to cook some cookies & I will buy some sweets for them." 

She never knows ahead of time how many will come by. 

"It can be 10 or it can be 100. They go 2 by 2 or in groups of 3 or 5 or just 1." 

She leaves the seeds in the yard until late in the evening, when she gathers it all up and feeds it to her chickens. She added with a laugh, "When I open to see how many children there are and to listen to them, they can sow seeds inside the house, too." 

It gives new meaning to the story Jesus told: 

A sower went out to sow his seed, and while he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the roadside and was trodden down and birds gobbled it up. Some fell on the rock, and when it sprouted it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorn-bushes which grew up with the seeds and choked the life out of them. But some seed fell on good soil and grew and produced a crop—a hundred times what had been sown. Luke 8:5-8

We wish you a bountiful harvest in 2024, however you started this New Year!

Mary VanRheenen & Keith Holmes 

P.S. Let us know if you want the recipe for oliebollen, corn bread, or vegan black-eyed peas.

This month CBF's preschool and children's curriculum focus on our work with Romany. 

You can download the materials for free.

Children's is called Spark. 

Preschool is called Form.

Of course, these materials can 

be used any time, 

not just in 

the month of May.