I woke just before 8am, showered and got ready for breakfast. We met at 9am in the restaurant at the hotel for breakfast. It is Sunday so the owner served us as his staff is off on Sundays. He is very gracious. We had burek (phyllo) pastry filled with a mild white creamy cheese and one with cheese and spinach. Sasa picked us up at 10am and we drove to his church. We discussed our day, his plans for expanding the ministry and toured the 3 greenhouses.
Sasa is an energetic visionary with lots of plans to expand his ministry and help people in need. He has non-Roma (Serbs) asking if he could live stream his church service because they want to hear his Bible teaching, but due to prejudices they don’t want to come to the Roma church services. Sasa serves on the Fireman board and will be the President for the next 4 years. This will give him the possibility of using the local fire station to start a Serbia church. He thinks after a year or so of meeting and developing in their faith then the two congregations could worship together. He also talked to us about two different pieces of land he could use to farm, then use the profits to support the children’s programs and to hire some people to work and pay a fair wage. That is visionary!
The two greenhouses behind his house had peppers in them. One had 3 types of pepper, and they will begin the first harvest of peppers tomorrow. The third and largest greenhouse is across the street behind his grandmother’s house and is filled with the largest, healthiest tomato plants I have ever seen. He has 3 types of heirloom cherry tomatoes (red, yellow & black) and large, big beefy and another variety. The plants are as tall as us with thick stalks that will help hold the weight of the developing tomatoes. The plants are all loaded with unripe fruit. Sasa sold 10 kilos per week of pepper and tomatoes to the resteraunt owner last night. Later this week we will eat in another restaurant and he will talk to them also. After the tour we went back to the church for lunch which was enough to feed 30 people.
After lunch we asked Sasa to show us a property he has opportunity to buy. The property is in another village where his mother lives. The village was in a very rural agriculture area. The land is about an 2 acres and backs up to the canal that would provide irrigation. He would like to grow raspberries and some other food crops. He outlined a plan of cost and profits over the first 5 years. On the land is cherry, apple, walnut and persimmon trees. There was a large building and a small run down building. He would use the building as a retreat/camp and the other building he would tear down and use the materials for a pavilion. They could also fish in the canal. The cost of the property is 4,000 euro plus a one time tax of 500 euro.
On the way back to the church we picked up several children for children’s activities. When we arrived at the church a big group of children was waiting. Tonight we played with the games we brought with us that our friends purchased. We played parachute, carry the egg in the spoon while teaching English colors, numbers, right, left. Then, the kids played on 2 trampolines of Sasa’s.
Following the Children’s Activities we had church service. Sasa spoke of his recent trip to Italy to attend a conference. He was reminded of the power found when we pray in the blood of Jesus. Ed shares from 2Tim 2:2 and gave his testimony. I chose to share about “growing up in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus” and discerning good from evil. I shared scripture from Hebrews 5:13- Heb 6:1. In 1 Peter 5:8-9 the Bible tells us our enemy is the devil who prowls like a roaring lion seeking who he can destroy. It is important for us to learn scripture because God’s word is stronger than the devil and reciting scripture will cause the devil to flee.
Following the service we came back to the hotel for dinner. When we arrived the owner greeted us and gave us about 15 min to freshen up before serving us. He prepared fish, potatoes with spinach, cabbage/slaw and bread. It was all very delicious. We finished dinner about 9:30 and went to our room to review tomorrows activities with the children and write in our journals. It is Midnight and we are getting ready for bed. We will meet for breakfast at 8:30am.