Last evening we had a nice surprise for Matea, the acting pastor of the mission church. It was his birthday and some of the members of the church made him a very tasty cake. I believe that he was pleasantly surprised and thankful for the gesture of kindness. The evening was good but it was a long one for Joe and I. Such is the life of a missionary… no time clocks here! The evening started off with the Bible study and then they had the cake and short birthday celebration. They sang to him in Czech and then asked us to sing in English… woohoo! We didn’t do all that bad.
After the festivities ended officially, we had the opportunity to minister to a couple of Roma folks in different ways. The first person just wanted to tell us about a horrible situation which happened to her husband and resulted in his death… well, she also inquired about some money to help with a legal challenge concerning her husband’s passing. The next person also had a small financial need due to some health issues. Working in Roma ministry quite often challenges your sensibilities due to the pressure to try and help some of these real financial needs. There are many reasons why financial issues are prevalent within the Roma community… however, this could just as well be true if we worked in any other poorer people group. However we may wish to, we just do not have the money to make sweeping changes in the situations that Roma people find themselves in day after day. We can show them a better way of life spiritually and occasionally we do have opportunities to assist with financial issues. Well, if you can remember once in a while, pray that Roma people everywhere will be shown grace which comes from above to help them see a better way to live as Christians… amen.
