A letter from Nadia Ayoub in Ukraine
September 2013
I thank God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3-6
My dear friends,
I pray peace and grace from our God to be for you all in abundance. I thank God because he is love and faithful to complete what has started in us and for the Roma people. Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragements and support in many ways.
The Lord continues to bless us with the Roma people and brings our dreams to reality. We had VBS in the yard of our new home, the Roma Mission Center (RMC), and God brought 16 young people from Holland to help in the renovation of the house and also in VBS program.
The renovation team did much work cleaning the roof, removing the old wooden floor, and digging rooms for the sewer and for the pipeline for many meters. In their break time they helped the VBS group and had fun with the children.
The VBS team was ready with many activities, which the children enjoyed very much. Most of all they felt loved by these young people. Early each morning the group went to both camps (in the Roma settlement), picked up the children, and walked with them through the town to our house. That was a very good experience for the children. I did not know how that would work out, but praise God, these young people did it very well even though we have had very hot days.
God also sent us a Hungarian pastor (P. Erni), who was great in telling the Bible story to the children, and helped in other ways too. The first day we had separate groups from each camp since the two camps do not have a good relationship and the grown-ups do not like each other. We had 15 children from Peterfolvo camp in the morning and 5 children from the Teco Boken camp in the afternoon. But from the second day we joined the camps together and watched how it would be. In the beginning of the day each sat on their own side, but soon I saw the younger children start talking and playing with each other. For the older group it took little more time till they worked together. On our last day we had 24 from Peterfolvo and 13 from Teco Boken. All the kids did not come every day but others came, so I estimate not less than 60 children ages 6-15 years came to VBS.
Some parents complained that the children had to walk 1.5 km, but the children looked forward to walking with the Dutch youth; they sang and made a lot of joyful noise in the streets. Once they came we gave them something to drink and made them rest for a few minutes—then they were divided into younger and older groups and worked on a handwork project for about 40 minutes. It was so interesting to see the children from both camps working together and helping each other to complete the projects. After that they moved to another area for listening to the Bible story and learning songs. Then they had a simple lunch, bread and butter and some juice. Then it was time to play new games that the youth led.
Toward the end the children from both camps were hugging and greeting each other in a very friendly way. The Hungarian neighbors nearby observed us with respect. Both cities witnessed what was happening. I did not hear any negative comments. Children who did not come because their parents did not let them asked when we could come again. I said often; we will do some other programs at the Roma Mission Center, your own house.
Praise and thanksgiving prayers:
1. It was a joy to see the children from both camps sitting together in one program.
2. Thank God for the help he sent through the Dutch volunteers.
3. Thank God for the safety for all the children and the Volunteers too.
Prayer requests:
1. Please pray for the friendly relationship among the children and pray this will reach the parents and the adults too.
2. Pray for continuing acceptance from the Hungarian neighbors and church people.
3. Please pray for my need of a bus to transport the 4- and 5-year-olds to the RMC. Once we start the preschool program it will be difficult to walk more than a mile, specially in wintertime.
4. Please pray for the renovation to be completed. The last I heard it had to be halted because the money had been used up. They asked for 20,000 and we only have about 8,000 from different gifts. So we still need 12,000 to complete the work.
5. My main teacher found part-time work, but she said she would like to continue to help in the RMC—so please pray God will call other people to come to help.
6. Pray for the effect of the gospel and God’s Word in the hearts of the children and all the leaders; may it bear fruit in their lives and families. Trust God to call many of them to a saving knowledge of Him, to trust in Christ's work on the cross, and to become brothers and sisters in Christ.
Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support. If this is your first time to hear about God’s amazing work among the Roma people in Ukraine, would you please prayerfully consider becoming a partner through your prayer, correspondence and financial gifts?
I pray God to bless you richly and encourage you in your partnership with the Roma mission work in Ukraine.
Yours in Christ,
Nadia Ayoub
Additional photos can be viewed as part of Nadia's June letter.
The 2013 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 293
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