Last Friday as Dawn and I traveled back from Jelsava to Brno, we made a stop in Lucenec, Slovakia to meet some new ministry friends. As we visited, we were invited to have lunch with a small team of US folks. As we ate and visited, one young lady stood out to me and we struck up a conversation. She is a young college aged lady who had an awesome story. She is of Roma descent and was adopted as a small child in Romania and moved with her new family to the US where she was cared for and raised in a good Christian environment. Her name is Diamante and she is a lovely young woman… she spoke with such clarity and compassion about missions. Naturally, she was very interested in our time of ministry in Romania so we shared much of that with her. The next thing she told me just blew me away when I considered the implications.
“Di” told me that she has a dream to get into the IMB Journeyman’s program and go back to Romania to minister to the Roma people there. Wow! Imagine how this could play out in reconnecting with her heritage and bringing an interesting new twist to ministry there. I then considered how the obvious contrast was before me of what “environment” has to do with who we are and how we view our world. Just hours before I met Di, I was ministering to Roma people who have very little opportunity in life, to be honest. They struggle with daily survival needs… how to provide the basics of life to their families… little to no opportunity to gain higher education. Then, just a few hours afterward, I was sitting and talking with a young Roma woman who was blessed to be brought up in better circumstances with a good education and many many options in her life. Do not even ask the question “why” because that is God’s business and the important thing is to do the best with the life that we have… regardless of where that life may take us.
Indeed, this is a beautiful Roma story. Please pray for Di as she seeks God’s will for her life. If she does apply for the Journeyman program, pray that her desire to minister to the people of her heritage will be honored. May God bless all those who seek His face in service… amen.
