This morning is the last day of school and all the children go in the morning for special events. We went to visit the Orthodox church we had seen 2 yrs ago where the mission group from the Netherlands was painting and cleaning the interior. The caretaker was glad to give us a tour and show us the pump pipe organ. We went on to tour the church.
We left there and met Sasa at the hotel. We took Ed, Chuck, Charles, Slobo & Branka to a Ruthenian House to talk about beekeeping. Ruthenians are people who immigrated to Serbia from the Ukraine and settled in Serbia. They maintain their own language and customs. Sasa is friends with this guy’s son and he has beehives. This man with the beehives is willing to teach classes at the church for the men to learn to set up and care for bees, then AFTER they have gone through all the classes and gotten the equipment necessary for beekeeping, he will follow them and assist through the complete cycle of beekeeping.
During the same time, Sasa took me (Janice) to his sister Dragana’s house to talk with her about children’s work. (LaJuana was in the room, ill, so she missed out on the day’s activities.) I shared with her how we organize our children’s activities at church, and we brainstormed ideas how she and Danijela (Sasa’s wife) could handle the wide age range in a small space. Currently the two of them hold children’s class in the small kitchen area off the main worship room. All the people start church meeting together for worship service. They then break out children and adults for Bible Study class. I brought with me a “Gospel Project” packet we are using this week with teaching pictures and book. I suggested that even though it is a small room with wide ages maybe they could split into preschool group and a school age group. Write a memory verse on the paper to send home and ask them to memorize it for next week. Then, give a small treat to those who are able to repeat it. This is a good way to introduce a good work ethic. If you want something you must put forth effort. If you don’t put forth the effort you are not rewarded. This is a valuable training that begins in early years. I also suggested the older children are so good with the younger they should enlist them to assist with the group. Then, at a separate meeting time meet only with the older children to go deeper and have them also memorize more difficult scriptures.
Sasa then took us into the school and we went directly into a classroom of about 15-18 young children. He returned to the house to get the guys. From the posters on the wall I would say they were Kindergarten of first grade. We began by playing with the parachute while we taught English words “Up” “Down” then colors. We had dividing into teams and starting the spoon/egg game when Sasa arrived back with the guys. We then counted numbers in English which to my surprise they already knew so we moved to colors. Then body parts by singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees & toes” which we did several times going faster each time. Last we did the Hokey Pokey song. Afterward the teacher did the Hokey Pokey song with them in Serbian. Our time was up so we allowed the children to choose bracelets & cars and said our goodbyes. We gave the teacher a soccer ball to keep for the schools use.
The next stop was a home where Mirko had already arrived. There were about 10 people there including a Missionary couple from the Faroe Islands. On our drive here Sasa shared this couple had been a big influence on his early Christian life. Ed gave his testimony followed by Chuck’s testimony then I added how God speaks to us 3 ways . . . through His Word, through prayer and through people. I encouraged them to read and study and memorize scripture so when they hear someone and it sounds like it might be good to verify that through the scripture. You can always confirm God speaking to you because it will align with His Word. We had been there kinda long but Saša asked if everyone could give him 10 minutes he wanted this missionary friend to also share his testimony. After his testimony he shared in English his love for the Roma people and their openness to inviting you into their homes and their hunger and openness to the Holy Spirit and how visiting homes was a very important way to reach them. He said we were genuine people. I believe he could see his love and work with the Roma would continue though us. To me, it confirmed that Linking Partners’ model of home churches is the right approach.
During dinner Sasa said that tonight in the home church he just realized what I was sharing on Sunday, that it all came together. He felt those words were the leading of the Holy Spirit. We ate very hurriedly and left for the church. We arrived slightly behind schedule for the Bee meeting at church at 8:00 pm. Chuck and Ed shared about bees.
