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.

A Boat Brings Good News

This December it's a boat--not a sleigh or a donkey--which is bringing joy at Christmas. 

Earlier this year Keith recorded the Jesus film in Lipovan. Several hundred years ago, this group of people disagreed with Tzar-sponsored changes in the Russian Orthodox Church. They split off a couple of hundred years ago and became known as "Old Believers" because they preferred the old forms of worship to the new changes. 

They moved to isolated corners of Europe like the Danube delta. They not only kept using old forms of worship. They also kept using an old version of Russian which developed into Lipovan.

Keith felt a bit at home, since much of the Danube Delta looks a lot like South Louisiana. Many Lipovan settlements, like traditional settlements in Louisiana, can only be reached by boat. 

So a Baptist pastor Keith met while he was recording had gotten together with a number of others to buy a 12-person boat.  Now all they needed to reach Lipovan people was a motor to go with the boat (note vacant space in back of boat for motor).

The pastor acted in faith. He took out a loan to buy the motor. The loan was due in December. Keith was able to connect the pastor with a donor who gave half the money to repay the loan. 

And that's how it's a boat bringing the Good News of Jesus' birth. Immanuel:  God is with us, on the water and on dry land.

 

"Darts without darts," Davar Math Game #19. 

A chance encounter at a meeting I didn’t want to go to enriched the lives of 15 Roma children this summer. I met Alice van Nimwegen from Stichting (Foundation) Aria at a gathering of Dutch missionaries. She was preparing a 3-week “summer school” for 15 children who needed extra attention, and not just educationally. I introduced her to Davar: Bridging to Literacy. Alice describes Davar as “games specially developed for children who are older but do not (yet) go to school. In a playful way, children learn the basics of addition, drawing, telling stories, writing letters, etc. These games turned out to be wonderful tools!”

If you or an organization you know would be interested in such a summer school, feel free to contact us. Alice van Nimwegen has given us permission to share the outline of their summer "school". 

Mary VanRheenen

November 11 was St. Martin's Day. Children came to the door with a lighted lantern. They sang a St. Martin song. Then we gave them a treat. Traditionally the lanterns were made from hollowed-out turnips.

Does this sound familiar? Keith has a theory. We know that New Englanders borrowed ideas from their Dutch neighbors. Koekjes became cookies. Olliebollen became donuts. Sinterklaas became Santa Claus. Dutch colonists brought the idea of Saint Nicolas (Sinterklaas) to North America. English-speaking North Americans melded this with their own Father Christmas to create Santa Claus. 

Maybe they also merged their own celebration of All Hallow's Eve to North America with the idea of  hollowing out a vegetable and sticking a candle in it. Maybe they also borrowed the idea of going door-to-door and singing, too. Viola--Halloween.

This year our neighborhood organized both Halloween and St. Martin for children. You could sign up to be on the route. 

Saint Martin was a friend of children and a patron saint for the poor. He's most known for cutting his cloak in half on a cold winter's night to save a beggar from freezing to death. 

I might be an American, but I'm a Christian and I'm living in the Netherlands. We signed up for St. Martin's Day.

(Photo of drawing to put in the window as a sign that you're participating.)

Bethlehem Baptist in Moldova invites us to share their joy. They celebrated more baptisms of young an old!

It is always a source of rejoicing to hear of baptisms (our home church in America, First Baptist in Columbia, MO, will be having a baptismal service this Sunday--Alleluia!).

We are particularly rejoicing over this baptism because we recognize so many faces. Several young people came to the summer children's day camps we used to help with. The women's patient faces also look familiar.

Welcome, brothers and sisters, into the family!

Perhaps their witness will inspire some of the others who attended to also join the family of God!

This year's Offering for Global Missions highlights the work of Shane & Dianne McNary. Shane explained to me their approach to work with Roma:

We intentionally chose to come alongside of Roma organizations who were either already engaged in ministry/work or who needed a catalyst to begin their work. We made it clear that we were there to assist as needed and not to manage or assume responsibility.

Slovak contains two main words to describe a project where two or more are working together, cooperating: spolupraca, literally working together; and druzba, friendship. While druzba would sound so perfect to describe what we were aiming for, we learned that the word had historically been used by Russians to describe the 'cooperative' work done between Moscow and Czechoslovakia. Druzba came to mean the antithesis of working together. It was a top-down, dominant-subjugated relationship. Paternalism resulted from druzba. Therefore, when we wanted to test the waters, so to speak, about working together, we would continually speak of spolupraca and then mention druzba as the model we were not interested in. It communicated very, very clearly beyond the meaning of the words to the true intent of the relationship we sought.

Each work began with listening to what they (the local Roma) were doing or wanted to do so we could discern if it was something we could assist with. Sometimes there were things which were excellent, but not a focus of our ministry. In those cases - a bio-farm that employed Roma, a Catholic priest who was working with the community to repair a football (soccer) pitch - we listened and learned and said clearly that this was not something we are engaged in.

Another key, early conversation when we were listening and learning about what the groups were doing was when we began to brainstorm together about how we could collaborate. If we could come up with a project or series of steps where we were comfortable journeying together with them, I would insist that they understand what I meant when I said, "Tomorrow I will die. So whatever we commit to, together, today, you must be willing to carry it on without our presence." If they understood, we would move forward. If it was clear that the project required our presence, then we backed out.

On money (I highly recommend Jonathan Bonk's Missions and Money, revised and expanded edition. Should be required reading for every missionary), other than the one-time-only gifts which we did intentionally and with full awareness of those we sponsored, we were very careful not to rush in with money as a fix for any problem. When we did commit to working together, we were very clear about the use of the funds before we ever transferred any money . . ..

And finally, trust. My trust was not primarily that the Roma would spend money the way I wanted, for what I intended, and in ways that would please me. My trust was always that the money would be spent for what was most needed - both program money with schools, churches, NGO's and with individuals. And because my trust also extended to those I partnered with, I no longer saw money/resources as the primary measure of ministry anyway. Faithfulness to the relationship I had established took precedence over successful implementation of the program/plan/budget I had worked out with them.

Shane and Dianne McNary worked with Roma during the 19 years they served with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Slovakia and Czech Republic. They have now transitioned to working with CBF Great Rivers Fellowship (Shane) and as advocate for the Offering for Global Missions (Dianne).

For many, summer is over and the regular rhythm of work and study has begun again. This includes our friend Zoltan. This week he begins meeting with the Romany children in Porumbeni, Romania. They will pray together, maybe sing a few songs, learn about God's mercy, and play a Davar game or two. 

This week's lesson is about Jeroboam and Rehoboam (remember those guys?). Rehoboam was one of King Solomon's sons. He wasn't as wise as Solomon, and only two of the twelve tribes accepted him as king. The others chose Jeroboam. And Jeroboam chose to trust his own wisdom to solidify his power. He was afraid that if his people continued to trek to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah, they would fall away from him. So he helped them fall away from Jehovah by setting up a couple of golden calves in Israel where they could go to worship. You can read all about it in I Kings 12. 

Zoltan plans to play either a version of Simon Says (who are you going to listen to? whose directions are you going to follow?) or Davar Start Game A7, Who do you hear? (Two people make animal noises--a calf, for Jeroboam and a lion or lamb for Rehoboam). 

This children's club is on one end of the Romany settlement. A family on the other end asked to have a children's club meet in their home, too, for the children around that area. Zoltan plans to meet that family this week, so see whether they still want to do this and to make other arrangements.

Prayer for the start of the regular club and the possible addition of a second one will be appreciated.

(Also, if your own club is willing to make a short video of this game, let us know. We're looking to add to the play list of Davar games.)

A7: Who Do You Hear?

Needed: Nothing extra.

Activity:

1. Choose two people to make the sounds of two different animals. The sounds should differ only a little bit. For example, in American English, these might be a sheep, “baa”, and a chicken “baak, bak, baak”.
2. These two people stand in front of the group with their backs to the group. Tell the group which animal sounds to expect. When person “A” makes his animal sound, those listening raise their right hand or do some other distinctive movement. When person “B” makes her animal sound, those listening raise their left hand or make some other sign.
3. After a while let others take a turn at making other sounds. The fun is in making weird sounds. Make sure you laugh a lot together.
4. Point out the differences in the sounds, too, or ask for someone to describe the differences in the two sounds.
5. On the board or big sheet of paper you might write the letter that the different sound represents (the “k” sound in the English example).
6. Repeat with different people in front making different sounds.