From Siberia to the North Sea

About 10 years ago we were asked to do a women's program in Bethlehem Baptist Church, Moldova. More men than women attended.  Volunteers from America and from the Netherlands worked with local believers to hold a once-a-year celebration just for women. Slowly, more women came to church. More women asked to be baptized. 

About two years ago the pastor's wife Olesea (far left) started a weekly Bible study. A handful of the women came regularly. Some had never prayed out loud before. Olesea could see growth. Then Covid hit. Bethlehem Baptist, like so many churches around the world, moved to online meetings.

The women went online, too. It was a good move for them. Like many Moldovans, people from this village go abroad to work. Some of the women are picking tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouses of north Holland. Others work as nannies as far east in Russia as the Chinese border or have gone to work in France or Germany. They continue to meet weekly, to study the Bible, pray, and sing together. It is no longer the pastor's wife who invites them. The women themselves recruit additional members. 

Some of the women in this group have gone a long way. All of them have come a long way. Praise be to God!

Progressing Pilgrims

Pilgrim's Progress, in Sinti Romani. The same version is available on YouTube in English. Pilgrim's Progress, film by Ken Andersen.

There are newer versions of Paul Bunyan's classic tale, including a musical and a fully animated one (official trailer here). 

Wycliffe Bible translators and Sinti believers worked together to translate and record a whole range of video materials, including 30-minute animated children's stories from the Old Testament, the Jesus video (based on Luke), and a video of the entire book of Acts. 

Keith would often travel with the Wycliffe translator to record people in their homes. This photo is from one of those recording sessions. 

These materials are still available through the Romanes Arbeit Marburg. Many Sinti feel strongly about keeping their language for themselves. We are respecting that by not publicly posting the link to those materials here. 

How Many People Does It Take . . .

How many people does it take to show a Scripture video?

1. Vasilita in Moldova, who started the children's Bible club.

2. Nella in Romania, who helps Vasilita with ideas and spotted this Scripture video. It had Romanian subtitles, but knew that it would be better for Vasilita's group if someone read the subtitles out loud.

3. Darius, a friend of Nella's in Romania, who made an audio recording of the subtitles.

4. Keith in the Netherlands, who put the recording with the video.

5. Petru in Moldova, who showed the video to the children's Bible club.

May God bless the message of salvation that was seen AND heard!

A Walk in the Woods

 A friend of mine recently went for a walk in the woods (Cheile Nerei, in Banatin, Romania). 

It restored her soul. 

What restores your soul?

It has been almost one year since we have been troubled by this pandemic.  Because of the Covid virus we have been limited in what we can do.  We cannot meet to worship like we did before (photo of "socially-distanced" tea party).  We have been doing everything remote.  We even have school and worship services on Zoom.  We cannot have parties with friends like we used to.  We must wear masks and stay socially distanced.  We are beyond tired.  We are burned out.  The psalmist voiced our feelings when he wrote Psalms 6.  

Read verses 2, 3, 6, and 7.

“²I am worn out, O Lord; have pity on me!

          Give me strength; I am completely exhausted
³             and my whole being is deeply troubled.
How long, O Lord, will you wait to help me?”

“⁶I am worn out with grief;
          every night my bed is damp from my weeping;
          my pillow is soaked with tears.
⁷I can hardly see;
          my eyes are so swollen
          from the weeping caused by my enemies.”

That certainly sounds like how we feel some days.  We are just tired.  No, we are burned out.  We have about reached our limits.  In addition to the virus we have experienced extreme weather (photo of Dutch snowstorm).  It seems our world is
falling apart.  How long will we have to endure this?  Where is our hope?  The problem is that we are not yet at the end of the Psalm.  The answer is in the rest of the story.  Look at verses 8 and 9.

The Lord hears my weeping;

⁹         he listens to my cry for help
          and will answer my prayer.
 

We are not alone.  The Lord hears our weeping.  God is a loving God and like a loving mother He loves His children and watches and listens to every cry we make.  He hears every whimper.  He sees every tear.  He will answer our prayer.  God is still with us.  The apostle Paul said he could live with the difficulties because he could feel the presence of Christ (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).  I pray that we will all: Be smart, be careful, be helpful, be safe, and not be afraid.  God is with us now and forever.​

 

Dale D. Meredith

Pastor, University Baptist Church, Amherst, New York and

Professor Emeritus, State University of New York at Buffalo

Survey said . . .

We recently sent out a survey to the readers of our monthly prayer letter.  We also posted an opportunity to give feedback on this blog. If you'd like to respond, go back two posts. 

One of the responses to the prayer letter survey suggested adding maps from time to time. For example, this one shows the Netherlands, where we live and Moldova, where we partner on a lot of projects.

Other responses suggested more photos. Maybe like this one, of a current project in Moldova. Two Romany women have started a children's Bible club.  Romanian-speaking partners in Sweden (Alina) and Romania (Nella) meet with them weekly (online) for prayer support and to suggest games and activities. Partners in Germany pay for the expenses.

Or this one, of Keith dubbing a scripture video. He completed a short one earlier today. The video was suggested by Nella who arranged for the Romanian-speakers. It will be used in this children's Bible club. (Same process, though this photo is from a different project.)

One of the changes will definitely be to make this blog more mobile/cell phone friendly. If you have additional suggestions or comments, feel free to let us know!

Coordinating Resources: Firewood

Our official job title is "Resource Coordinators." Firewood is a resource we recently coordinated.

Kennedy Laubing, a pastor in Germany, felt led to help Romany in Moldova. He and his wife knew of my Moldova connection and asked me to go with them. 

We've gone together three times now. While there, we introduced them to Petru Ciochina, pastor of a Romany church in the village of Vulcanesti, and Eduard, one of the believers from that church. They decided to partner together.

So Kennedy's German charity (Humanitar21) raised funds for firewood and food packages. We sent those funds to Petru. Petru and the believers in Vulcanesti arranged to buy and deliver the wood.

According to Petru, "People did not know that they would receive firewood. 

Some were asleep, but were awakened by the noises falling from the wood. 

They were surprised."

God worked through a chain of His children to make this happen. It is a privilege to be a small link in that chain.