A letter from Nadia Ayoub in Ukraine
Advent 2013
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done; sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.” Psalm 105:1
Dear friends and family,
I greet you with the peace of Christ the Lord. With the Psalmist, I give thanks to the Lord our God for he is good and his love for us endures forever. I rejoice at many of God’s wonderful acts in 2013, and I thank you for your active partnership with your prayers and financial support.
Thank God, I came back from six weeks of interpretation assignment (IA) in the USA. I visited three churches; two were new for me, and it was amazing to see how the Lord has kept for himself faithful Presbyterians who are truly serving the Lord locally, and still have the desire to serve him more globally as far as Karpatlja- Ukraine among the Roma people. That is where I was sent by the Presbyterian World Mission to work alongside with the Reformed church in Ukraine. Lord willing again on January 2014,I will come back to the USA for more of (IA) time to visit with your congregations and share what the Lord has been doing among the Roma people because of your prayers and financial support.
My main teacher who has been trained and worked for two years faithfully was given a government job as a teacher in a local school, and she had to take it. She works there four days and helps me when she can. I asked you to pray for that and again thank God for answering your prayers. He has prepared two nearby neighbors who approached me in the summer, asking to come and help me in cleaning and office work because they thought they were not qualified to work with the children. I asked Csilla to take one of them (Martha 53 years old) to go with her to see the work at the Roma camps (settlements) when I was away, not knowing that Csilla would leave work. So Martha went with Csilla two times, and by God’s grace she liked the work, but she was waiting to hear from a job opportunity in Hungary. She said in her heart if she would not get that job, that means she will work for the Roma children. Thank God, now she and I are working together, and I see God’s hand and spirit on her and improving fast day by day. She was very shy in the beginning because her neighbors were telling her what she is doing will be a problem for her and her family from the Roma people and children. But praise God, she is a strong person, and in both Roma camps they respect her, and the children greet her with much respect and no one follows her to her house to ask for anything.
Thank God she received her formal education in Russian language from a polytechnic institute. So step by step, I give her the lesson in the Russian language, and she follows the directions and teaches the children in Hungarian. The children love her and listen to her teaching, and many are engaging in serious conversation about their lives and family issues that I did not hear before from the children.
By the end of one month, Martha is very confident in leading the class from the beginning to the end with few remarks from me. Martha is very proud of herself that she is doing important work and feels the need of the children to learn and the necessity to teach them.
Martha and I go early at 8:30 am to the Lyceum the Christian High School and attend the Bible hour with the staff there. Her former French teacher is the director of the school, and she encourages her and gives her advice. Because of that she is not alone working with me, but she is part of the Reformed Church mission.
Thank God also because I received one new German volunteer, Stefanie; she comes and helps us sometimes. Also, another young lady who finished her university but has no work comes to help too.
The renovation in the house Roma Mission Center is going slowly but good work. And we are waiting upon the Lord to send the needed funds to finish the renovation.
Thanksgiving for
1-Please give thanks to God for all his provision so far during more than two years working with the Roma in Peterfolvo and Tecoboken.
2-Thank God because with many of the families, the Reformed church and we have better relationships now than when we started.
3- Thank God the children are healthy and they memorize many Christian songs and Bible stories.
4- Thank God for Csilla’s work for the past time and her quick successful replacement by Martha.
Prayer requests:
1- Renovation of the RMC to be completed soon, and we will be able to start the children’s program in the house before winter.
2- God continue to encourage Martha, and through her, many of the non-Roma in the local community will join the mission work among the Roma.
3- God’s grace and help for my next trip to USA in January 2014.
Please, if this is your first time to receive my newsletter, I thank God for you and encourage you to read more on the Presbyterian Mission Agency website about this great work of God and how you can become an active partner. www.pcusa.org/nadia-ayoub and http://www.pcusa.org/news/2012/10/23/school-daze/
I pray you will have a happy Thanksgiving, a joyful Christmas and blessed New Year.
Yours in Christ,
Nadia Ayoub
“Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.” Psalm 105:3
The 2013 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 293
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