LIBERATION

Photo taken from Facebook Page "De Leimers Herdenkt"

This past Easter weekend we were liberated. Seventy-five years ago the Allies came through this region of the Netherlands and freed the people from Nazi rule. I don’t know about you, but I could use another liberation. We’ve been sheltering at home since returning to our Dutch home on March 24, and we are getting weary. My annual bout of hay-fever nearly brought on a panic attack. I had to keep reminding myself, sometimes rather sternly, that these particular symptoms were the result of pollen and that they happen every year.

Celebration . . . happens every year . . . liberation . . . Oh, yes, Easter!
I have been liberated. From death to life.
Let us keep reminding ourselves that Christ has risen. 

He has risen indeed!

Making Masks . . . Also in Moldova

Our partners in Moldova

are making masks:

Our teammates in Slovakia 

are making masks:

Are you wearing masks?

Wherever you are?

Here's someone who has actually promised not to: 

"I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 39:29

Flour and Flowers

Keith and I are back in the Netherlands, where the tulips are blooming.

We thought we'd miss them. We were planning to be in America from mid-March through the end of June.

People here are also staying home. There are public service announcements about keeping the appropriate social distance. 
There are even drones flying over the beaches, reminding people to stay far enough away from each other.

People here are also stocking up on supplies. We have enough toilet paper, but flour has been hard to find. 

Flour usually comes in 1 kg bags.  All we found on the shelves last week was volkoren (whole wheat). All we found today was 100 gram bags. So we bought zelf rijzend  (self rising) as well as plain flour. Don't know whether it was the store's idea to only put out 100 gram bags or whether that was all that was left in the warehouse right now. Either way, it does cut down on hording!

Jesus' advice on storing up food:  Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it. 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are? (Matthew 6:25b-26)

ADVICE SEEN IN KIROLI PARK, MONROE, LOUISIANA

EUROPE MUST ENSURE MARGINALISED COMMUNITIES HAVE ACCESS TO WATER DURING PANDEMIC Brussels, 16 March 2020: The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is calling on governments across Europe to ensure that marginalised communities, including Roma, have full access to clean water as part of national responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to ERRC research, a majority of Romani people in Europe do not enjoy access to mains-supplied water, and more than half rely on a water source which is more than 150m away, making them especially vulnerable to the spread of this virus.  The ERRC urges European leaders to follow the example set by Slovak authorities, who announced on 16th March that they are recommending allowing unlimited access to drinking water for people living in marginalised communities. It is imperative that marginalised people in society are not left out of policies which are being implemented now to contain the spread of the virus. The ERRC will be reaching out to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and requesting them to press European leaders to ensure equal welfare for all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, in the midst of this pandemic.

The Effect of a Fortune Teller

Have you ever had your fortune told? Robert Robinson did once. It had a profound effect on his life. Here's the story of a young man who fell in with bad company . . . and the result . . .

One day Robert's gang of rowdies harassed a drunken gypsy (sic). Pouring liquor into her, they demanded she tell their fortunes for free. Pointing her finger at Robert she told him he would live to see his children and grandchildren. This struck a tender spot in his heart. "If I'm going to live to see my children and grandchildren," he thought, "I'll have to change my way of living. I can't keep on like I'm going now."

Robert Robinson decided to go hear the Methodist preacher George Whitefield. To cover his "weak" urge, he suggested that the boys go with him and heckle the gathering. Whitefield preached on the text: "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" (Matthew 3:7). Robert left in dread, under a deep sense of sin that lasted for three years.

Finally, at the age of twenty, Robert made peace with God and immediately set out to become a Methodist preacher himself. Two years later, in 1757, he wrote a hymn which expressed his joy in his new faith:

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Story taken from Christianity.com

We don't recommend having your fortune told. The Romany we know who used to earn a living that way do not recommend it, either. Like Professor Marvel in The Wizard of Oz, fortune tellers are usually reading people rather than palms. But God can use even rowdies and fortune tellers to change hearts. 

International Mother Language Day

Today, on International Mother Language Day, I warmly recommend to you a message from the SIL Executive Director, Michel Kenmogne, reflecting on the power and role of local languages.

The words and pictures in the short video below show glimpses of a few places in our world where people have decided to give their children a strong foundation in life by allowing them to receive their first years of schooling in their own language, before continuing to learn in a regional or national language.

It is my hope that many Roma children in Europe and elsewhere, will be able reap the benefits of this kind of opportunity for them also. I am thankful for the hard work of others elsewhere that allow there to be good examples and encouragements in my continued networking and advocating for good quality and relevant education in Roma communities.

Sincerely,

Marianne Fast

Literacy Consultant SIL International

https://www.sil.org/literacy-education

  

Click to watch the video.