Christmas Archives - Roma Christian Fellowship

The Gospel for Capraške Poljane

Fri, 23 Mar 2018 04:08:47 +0000

This is a guest Blog from our friend and co-laborer, Violeta Mihelić.

For those of you who are reading this letter and do not know me, my name is Violeta, from Petrinja and I’m 23 years old. This is letter about God’s grace in my life and about something that He can do, and according to the Scriptures and He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Since I was young, in the church where I grew up and other churches in different areas, I watched people who were serving God, people who used what God had given them. When I became a Christian, at the age of 14, I was asked to join people who worked with kids in church. Of course, I said yes. At that time, I thought ministry was something that can be done only in church, like worship, pastor’s ministry, ministry to kids, youth, sisters in Church…but I never imagined how widely that can be. I loved working with kids, going to the camps, that wasn’t a problem to me, but deep inside I thought maybe this is something that I “took” for myself. As time was passing I started asking God to show me what should I do next, I didn’t understand why all of a sudden, I felt turmoil and dissatisfaction. As I didn’t receive any answer from God I was convinced that God had nothing for me and that I don’t need to expect or ask anymore.

Three years ago, I found an article about Roma people from Međimurje. I had no idea if what the article was saying was true or not, but I read that people were not treating the Roma kids in the same way as other kids I didn’t have any contact with Roma. We didn’t have Roma people in my school, and I would only see them occasionally on a bike going through the city. I had no idea where they lived or anything. That day I thought that wasn’t the way God imagined people should treat one another. Two months later my church organized a one-week kids camp in Slavonski Brod, and I went with them. A few of us were staying in an apartment of one missionary which I personally didn’t know. As we started talking she told me that there were people who were working with Roma, and sometimes she would help them, and that week they had a preschool program in the village. I asked her if I can come and see what are they doing, and she told me that she would introduce me to the person who started this ministry – Andy. He told me who the Roma people were and the way that he was serving there with his wife Lim, Sergej and Željka. The first time I entered the village it was like I stepped into an unknown world, a world of a people that longs for love and acceptance. The love on that appeared in me that day and only grew was, I’m convinced, something that doesn’t come from people, but only from God. That day I received an answer from God. An answer to prayer that came just at the right time, not late nor early.

Later, I was invited to attend festivals that were happening in the village in Slavonski Brod, but also in a place not too far from Petrinja, Capraške Poljane. The team that was working in Slavonski Brod also traveled during the Summer to do festivals in Capraške Poljane. That was three years ago. As time went on, I got the chance to meet Roma culture, talk to people, kids, and share the Gospel. I saw kids that are willing to accept the love that we are giving to them, I saw adults saying sorry for not having coffee to offer us and adults who were offering their last spoon of it. By that time, it was so clear that God wanted me in Sisak, in a Roma village separated from the city, a place where most people don’t want to go, where people don’t feel comfortable. It became so clear that God was sending me to people that He loved so much and for whom he gave His only Son. Roma people in Capraške Poljane need to hear the Gospel. In the meantime, I got a chance to spend 6 months in Ireland. And I liked it, the people, the culture, life, the church. I liked it a lot, except I knew I needed to go back to Croatia. Sometimes in life we go where we feel most comfortable, places that we choose for personal reasons, but often those are not places where God wants us, He is calling us to go one step more. God didn’t give me peace in Ireland, and now I can see far greater things were waiting for me here. All that has happened over the past three years are miracles for me. It’s a miracle the was God opens hearts, answers prayers, brings people, the way He does things more than we could imagine, directs plans for His kingdom.

Right now, I’m working a job near Sisak, but my prayer is that God will provide everything I need in order to work full time with Roma and to spread the Gospel in Capraške Poljane. Please pray with me that God will send people who are willing to serve the Roma in Capraške Poljane. Pray for things that we are preparing for the village, for the hearts of the Roma, both adults and kids.

Violeta Mihelić

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Christmas 2018 in Slavonski Brod and Sisak

Andy — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 15:14:06 +0000

Christmas is always a very busy time for RCF, rich with opportunity for ministry in word and deed. The story of the divine Son of God taking on flesh and entering a broken world in order to bring the Kingdom of God and save its people resonates well with the Roma. We rarely have any trouble convincing them that the world is broken and in need of a savior and to share God’s truth, full of love and grace, at this time is pure joy and privilege.

Christmas is also a time for giving. For many Roma children, a simple gift consisting of a handful of candy, a few small school supplies, and an inexpensive toy brings great joy. The major Christmas “shoe box” ministries no longer consider Croatia a needy country so they no longer provide gifts. Of course, the Roma communities are very different from Croatian communities and the need is great. That is why each year RCF funds and packs our own gifts. In reality, it is much more cost effective to purchase contents and pack the gifts locally than have them shipped from abroad. Also, we are able to customize the contents to very specific needs and wants.

The giving nature of Christmas also brings into focus greater physical needs. Many Roma families we minister to live in “hand-to-mouth” poverty and the cold weather brings the major expense of firewood for heating. This expense then cuts into their food budget.

This year, RCF ministered to three Roma villages (Slavonski Brod, Capraške Poljane, and Palanjek) sharing the Gospel-centered, Christmas story with over 200 youth and adults. In Slavonski Brod, our tweens had a Christmas program, complete with a locally written, produced, and acted Christmas play! We also had special Mladice Club Christmas parties and Christmas-themed family home visits, sharing a simple meal, the Christmas story, and a few songs. In the Sisak area (Capraške Poljane and Palanjek) we focused on home-based, children’s Christmas parties and evangelistic home visits.

We wish to thank those that were a great help this year! Specifically, the Bjerk family, Simoen, Violetta, Vedrana, Janko, Johanna, and Jonathan. It is always such a joy to join together with the wider body of Christ while working for God’s Kingdom!

Please keep reading for some Christmas ministry observations from the RCF Sava team!

Lim's Observations

“The Chinese… the Chinese!!!” the children shouted in excitement as they ran inside the house to tell their parents that we were at their door. Although I was the only Chinese among the three of us, at that moment we were all “Chinese”. We smiled to one another as it was quite a common event for our team, or whoever is with us, to be labelled as “Chinese”. On this occasion it was a sign for us that these children remember us and were excited to see us. After we finished talking with their dad, one of their neighbors’ children saw us leaving. She called out my name and ran to give me a big sweet hug. I am always amazed by the children’s memories and how they remember our names. Sadly, I remember only a few kids’ names in this village even though we have been visiting this main Sisak village a couple times a year since 2013. Thankfully God knows all these precious children in this village by name and He has good plan for them.

This Christmas we were only able to have two parties for the kids and a few home visitations in this village as we had to change some of our activity plans for the first few days. It was because someone died in the village and according to their custom that there should not be any music in the village. Because of that we went to another smaller village where we had never done any ministry before. We are thankful that God gave us an opportunity in finding a home to hold a Christmas party for 20 kids and also a couple of home visitations in that village. The two parties in the main village were good, but a bit crazy as we had more than 70 kids in total. The last club we had to jam pack nearly 50 kids into someone’s sitting room! Although many of our activity plans for Sisak had to change, once again we saw our faithful God’s provision and how He orchestrated all activities in both villages for His glory! It is like what we taught our club slogan to all the kids at the parties “Jesus is the vine, we are the branches.” And without Him we can do nothing!!

Sergej's Observations

Often, Roma kids are not the most well-behaved kids one would encounter. Due to the environment in which they are growing up, they usually don’t have a strong incentive to behave well. When the ministry first started, it was hard to not have chaos in the clubs. But, slowly, with a lot of patience, progress was made.

While we had Christmas clubs this Christmas season, I was surprised at how well the kids and teens have been behaving overall (most of the time), both in our Roma village in Slavonski Brod and in the Roma villages in Sisak. It is nice to see that, while we are sharing the Gospel with them and saturating them in biblical truth and love, we are also teaching them to share, be patient and be nicer, thus impacting their lives immensely, day by day.

Željka's Observations

It is a great challenge to share what is the real meaning of Christmas with the kids and even with the parents while Christmas is becoming more and more just a gathered family, food, drinks, and gifts. The story of Jesus’ birth sounds more like a fairy tale than a real story, as one lady has said at a Christmas home visit. Because of that, I am praying that Jesus becomes real in the life of those kids and people to whom we bring the Gospel.

During our Christmas ministry, we visited a young lady in one of the Roma villages. She shared a lot about her life. Even though there are a lot of details of her life that made me sad, I was shocked when she said that she gave birth to three boys and she wanted to have a girl and because of that she aborted several times. She talked about the abortus as if it were something completely normal. That reminded me of one Roma pastor who shared a story how he didn’t know that stealing is sin before he met Jesus because he grew up in an area where they respected you if you were a good thief. I am praying for this young lady and hoping to see her again when we come next time.

Andy's Observations

When we join other Christian workers for our village-wide ministry, I usually take a role of either managing the audio and video technology, driving, or patrolling the village keeping an eye on everything. As a consequence, I often do not get to do “direct ministry.” However, this year, in Capraške Poljane, I was able to join an evangelistic home visit.

As it turned out, last Christmas, as I sat in my car overseeing all of the workers, this family had invited me into their home for coffee. Having a responsibility to be available to the visiting US mission team, I politely declined. As a consolation, they sent a hot cup of coffee out for me to drink in the car.

This year, they reminded me of what had happened last year, and confessed that they were a bit upset with me for not coming inside. They also confessed, that for some time they were unhappy that we were doing so much ministry in Slavonski Brod and so little in their village, which is nearly 1.5 hours away.

These kinds of misunderstanding are common and easy to smooth over. But, they always remind me of how great the need is for ministry and how open the doors are to the Roma.

This family was one of the poorest I had ever visited. In their late 50’s they had 13 children and their home was bare and infested with roaches. Yet, they were delightfully warm and open people, their children bright and engaging, some speaking English unusually well.

When I experience such situations, my faith is both tested and encouraged. Can God really help people in such situations? Can the Good News be transformative in their life? As they seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness will God provide for them as He provides for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field? God’s Spirit inside me answers with a resounding, “Yes!”

I love the picture above, of the rainbow over Capraške Poljane. Over the years, God has used rainbows many times as a sign of His love and promise. God loves the Roma people! May He raise up what is needed to transform lives and communities!

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