Day Four found us headed back to Saša’s church in Kucura. All of the children were now out of school, and they were waiting for us when we arrived. We talked with them before we started, as by now we know some of the “regulars.” One thing we have noticed with the Roma children in Serbia is that the older siblings keep close and loving watch over their younger brothers and sisters. It is very sweet to watch them help the little ones participate in games, or hold them in their laps for the Bible story.
The games provided with donations from friends of Linking Partners have been an integral part of this week’s mission work. We often play with the children both before and after the Bible story and singing time. It helps pass the time for them before we start, when they are anxious to be doing something. After the lesson, they are ready to play again, and seem to enjoy seeing us “older” teachers playing along with them.
The Bible stories this week have centered around the theme of God Created Everything. They started with creation, moved on through the Fall, then wrapped up with the gospel story. The children listen intently during each lesson. They also enjoy singing. We have taught them “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands,” “God Is So Good,” and “I Love You, Jesus.” We’ve also done some fun songs like the Hokey Pokey and Head & Shoulders, Knees and Toes. They also sing Serbian songs for us, and make great kids’ choirs!
While most of us were with the children, Charles Nestor took a group of men to the canal to demonstrate a new device that we hoped could make their fishing more productive. As he demonstrated using Yoyos, the men were excited about the possibilities. They even caught a small catfish! There are some drawbacks — the price of a fishing license is much higher than in the USA. We will continue to pursue this avenue of lending a helping hand.
After the morning children’s lessons, we traveled about 30 minutes away to a place where we’ve stayed before — Moja Carda. It’s sort of a country bed and breakfast in Temerin. There we met our dear friends Rodja and Natasa and their daughters Theodora and Jovana. The time was too short, even though we shared a meal and spent a couple of hours talking. It is good to make new friends, but keep the old!
Leaving Temerin, we headed for Tovariševo. There is a large, well-established home church here. Please pray for them, as they fight a spiritual battle. We could see the effect of this unseen foe in the attendance tonight.
We began again with the kids. There weren’t many there when we arrived, so we broke out the soccer ball (which we always leave with the home church leader so the kids have a new soccer ball to play with.) The Serbia team found ourselves roundly beaten by the kids in this group. There’s not many reminders of growing older that are as strong as a rousing game of soccer with a bunch of kids who still play outside all day!
Once the children had gathered, we got them together in a circle on the lawn. This is one of the nicest lawns we’ve seen in the homes we’ve visited. There were several loaded peach trees in the yard, and a nice grassy area for play and lesson teaching. After a lesson on our week’s theme of “God Made Everything” we again played games. This time we started with some of their favorites from the donated games — Bean Bag Toss and Parachute.
After the Children’s Hour, we went inside the home and settled into chairs, on window sills, on sofas, and leaned against door openings. We started with music, and the musicians at this house were particularly talented, a couple of them professional musicians. They sang some songs we knew in English, so for a while there were voices lifted to heaven singing the same song in two languages.
After prayer and worship, they asked us if some of us would share with them. Chuck Smith shared his testimony of how God called him to be a believer. Janice Smith went on to share scriptures related to listening to God. She made a point of testing what you feel is God’s will. God’s word will never contradict itself, so if a person were giving advice that is counter to the Bible, you should continue praying and waiting for the answer that agrees with scripture.
We headed home after a full day. It was nice to have an earlier night, get the blog up, and be in bed before midnight or 1:00 a.m.
