Student.Go . . . on the Go, but staying home

Have you ever had a summer job? Or an internship?* This summer two students are interning with us . . . virtually. 

Jaya Nair is a college student with a wealth of experience. This is her second Student.Go internship. She is working our partnering organization, the Dom Research Center (DRC). The DRC works with Dom Gypsies** in the Middle East/North Africa. Their website recently crashed. Jaya is helping post content and create content. You can check it out at the Dom Research Center. It's currently a work in progress. A post from Jaya's interview with Amoun Saleem, head of the Domari Society in Jerusalem, should appear in the next several days.

Songezo Nkolombe just completed his first year of seminary (Baylor) online, due to Covid travel restrictions. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa, and serves as children's minister in a Baptist church there. It was a natural fit for him to work with Romany education projects. His first blog post on oral learners and oral culture will appear on the Romany Education Network this week. He's read a lot, he's listened a lot, and now he's turning that into Yearn to Learn: A Tale of Two Towns. 

This photo comes from a recent online meeting with Songezo, or Songz for short. Both he and Jaya have virtual internships. Songz is still in South Africa, still serving in his local church as well as assisting with education programs in Romania, Croatia, and Moldova. Jaya is still in Bentonville, Arkansas, while also interviewing people in Israel and meeting at least weekly with us in the Netherlands. 

We thank God for these two interns, for CBF's Student.Go program, and for the technology which makes these virtual internships possible!

*Guess which summer jobs were Mary's and which were Keith's:  lawn maintenance; church secretary; ploughing cotton; painting houses; walking (soy)beans; working in a sewing factory; K-mart clerk.

**Amoun Saleem, head of the Domari Society in Jerusalem, prefers to call herself "Dom Gypsy." 

Strawberry Fields . . . for a few weeks

Photo by Massimiliano Martini on Unsplash

Strawberries are in season! We love them! Ever wonder--if you didn't pick them yourself--who did? 

Here in Europe, the answer is like to be Romany from, say Romania. Our friend Zoltan Barabas leads a children's Bible club in a Romany neighborhood in Transylvania. This past week the day of the club fell on Children's Day in Romania. But Zoltan didn't think the parents would be doing much with the children. Most of the parents had gone to Germany to pick strawberries.

A group of adults there get contracts from the same farmers year after year. First they pick strawberries. Then they pick raspberries. Then, after a month or two, they come back home. 

Grandmother and child

And what about the children? Romany have an extended family structure. On any given day, a child is as likely to eat at the home of an aunt or a grandparent as they are with their own parents. If mom and dad have both gone to work, someone else looks after the kids. 

How does that work out for the children? Sometimes pretty well. Sometimes pretty poorly. You might say a prayer for them . . . and their parents . . . the next time you enjoy some strawberries.

Moved by the Spirit

 Have you ever heard of the Eritrean Orthodox Church? I sure hadn't until these Christian brothers and sisters started meeting in our church building every other Saturday morning.* 

Normally I'm not in the church building myself. The Dutch Baptist Union, along with several other Christian organizations, is following the strictest guidelines for COVID safety. We are still meeting online rather than face-to-face. But on a couple of Saturday mornings, I've been in the church yard as part of the Tuin (Garden) Team. One Saturday morning a month, three members of the Tuin Team come to weed, trim, and rake. Half-way through the morning the team members take a coffee break. We go inside for that, while still keeping the regulation 1.5 meters apart.

So do our Eritrean brothers and sisters. They begin chanting and praying before any of us gardeners get there, and they keep going after we've left. Our familiar building is filled with unfamiliar sounds, the unfamiliar scent of incense, and dark, slender people wrapped in fine-woven white--men, women, and children who come and go all throughout the morning. They observe the limit of 30 people in the chapel at a time, 1.5 meters apart. 

So there were people coming and going when we went in to make our coffee/tea. The Spirit moved one of the Eritrean brothers, wearing a blue facemask and a white cotton wrap, to offer us a round loaf of bread from a stack on the counter. 

We do not share the same language. We do not share the same church traditions. We do share the same Lord. And we shared this loaf of bread.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6

 *Photo from Internet of Eritrean Orthodox Church in Canada.

At Home in the Family

What do you do when a weekly children's club meets in your house? 

And your house only has two finished rooms?

Why, you stay and watch, of course.

Or you go about your daily business.

Or, sometimes, you even help with the activities!

This couple has hosted a children's Bible club in their home for several years now. When our friend Zoltan Barabas first started the club in this Romany village, he was working with his friend Robert. The host is Robert's uncle. So the club has been a family affair from the very beginning. When you are part of God's family, "kin" and "home" take on new meaning.

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.

Faithfully Praying . . . for 20 Years!

How long do you persist in prayer? 

Brother Matruska prayed for 20 years for a missionary to come to his village in Moldova. In 2000, that missionary (Boris Caraion) arrived. Brother Matruska told his story to Boris on this video. First visit to Moldova

In the 20+ years since, many of you have continued to pray for this village and for the growth of God's Kingdom there. If you look back on posts labeled "Moldova" (including last week's), you will see how God has been answering those prayers.

Thank you--and thank God!

(Photo:  Boris and Keith speaking at an outdoor worship service, around 2003.)

On the Resurrection Side of Easter

God's Kingdom has come! I can see it! Bethlehem Baptist Church used to have a problem getting women in the doors. Now women are being baptized. 

Twice a week 20-30 women meet for Bible study and fellowship. Online. The local leader, a Romany woman, enthusiastically recruits more. (Photo from outdoor baptismal service last August. Note number of women "in church.")

However, God's will is not yet being done on earth as it is in heaven. I can see that, too! One of those women asked if we could repair her leaky roof. Her roof is not the only one. Nor is this door the only door that needs replacing. 

Meanwhile, other villagers build ever bigger houses, you and I casually consider remodeling our perfectly functional kitchens, and we tell ourselves that we really are too busy to visit that (elderly, sick, lonely, depressed . . .) neighbor down the street.

We live on the resurrection side of Easter. The light is glorious, but the ground is still muddy. 

Let us focus on the Light . . . and be willing, if He asks, to fix a roof or pave a street.

Like this one. Some villagers pitched together and paved it a few years ago. Maybe roofs as well as souls are next. 

(Photo of Mary & Olesea Ciochina, village of Vulcanesti, Moldova.)