A letter from Jay and Nancy Adams in Germany
Spring 2014 - Being the Hands of Jesus
Spending a week living in Vizuresti, Romania, a village of 3,000 Roma people, is a mixture of heartbreaking sympathy combined with the warm smiles of the local little boys and girls.
The children were eager to pick up insulation and begin to plaster the walls of the medical clinic we were building the week before Easter. In addition, three teenage boys pushed a wheelbarrow filled with a huge squawking sow past us on the muddy road as they were seeking to deliver her to the local sire…and we could see a skinny horse pulling a wagon of wood to a mud hut for warmth.
For five days of Holy Week leading to the celebration of the Risen Christ, 20 teenagers and teachers from Germany labored day and night to build indoor bathrooms as well as insulate a medical clinic for the Roma people. Government officials had set a date to shut down both buildings for not meeting minimum code standards of decency. Interestingly, none of the Roma people’s homes met that standard, but the homes are not public buildings.
“Hope and Healing through Jesus Christ” is the plaque now affixed to the front door of these buildings. Black Forest Academy (BFA) and Frei Evangelishe Schule partnered together to raise funds and supply the labor to be the “Hands of Jesus” extending love and care in practical ways for thousands of children, women and men in this small rural local community outside of Bucharest, Romania, during Easter Week 2014.
Many Presbyterians prayed for the safety and success of this venture. We thank God we did not incur any serious injuries. There were five different nationalities represented in our work team and the Lord answered prayers for unity and joy in our work. Students and staff cannot accomplish a gigantic service project like this without the financial support and strong prayers of committed followers of Jesus Christ. Thank you for undergirding us on this project.
Another outcome of this project was a recent note I received from Habitat for Humanity Germany; they want to send a television crew with our Easter 2015 team. Because BFA partners with a local German national school, Habitat wants to highlight our partnership to other schools all over Germany in the hope of sharing the vision of providing shelter for the tens of thousands of homeless women and children throughout Romania and Eastern Europe.
Each morning the local Romanian church youth leader helped us understand the last week of the life of Christ. How did it feel to sacrifice one’s life that others might live? When friends abandon us will we continue to be following Jesus’ example of meeting the needs of those who are blind and needy? Is love something more than a feeling? The students and staff themselves worked tirelessly in sun and rain to build facilities that will benefit generations for years to come.
Researchers suggest that if teenagers participate in a community service project, even in a distant locale, then as adults those same teenagers will contribute more to their community in energetic ways. Our intention in creating this opportunity goes even further beyond helping the Roma people. Teenagers of different nationalities and cultures get the experience of working in a practical, measurable way and accomplishing far more than any single person can hope to achieve. One of the goals was to instill the sense of living a lifestyle of serving others in their community wherever they live as adults.
As we sat with increasing impatience in the Romanian Orthodox Church on Good Friday, listening to the small choir repeat the same chorus over and over again for 45 minutes, we stared at the colorful frescos on the rounded ceilings. Could this have been their intention for us? The Romanian artists had created ornate paintings of each of the Gospel writers as well as paintings of Jesus as He walked this earth. Perhaps these quiet moments away from all the hammering, cement mixing and drills was the reason for us coming to Romania…perhaps these long endless minutes were the moments we were most teachable by our Lord and Saviour?
It’s a tall ambition to seek to influence the lives of teenagers from five different countries to become Jesus Followers while engaging them in the team-building effort of building indoor bathrooms for schoolchildren and spreading sloppy plaster onto a medical clinic. Each day was filled with unity and cooperation. After praying together one evening one of the students admitted he did not have the same level of faith in Jesus Christ that some of the other students described and he asked the group to pray for him.
What does it mean for each of us to be Jesus Followers in the context where we live? Whether we engage with the complicated culture of the discriminated-against Roma people or simply try to help those in our own community, we can look to Jesus who encourages us to offer a cup of water to everyone in need.
As we concluded the week with traditional Romanian folk dancing in a circle taught to us by energetic and joy-filled local Romanians, our team came to appreciate how this country has survived a not-so-long-ago revolution. Many are celebrating their newfound freedom from political dictatorship. This celebration of freedom is a challenge to all of us to celebrate the freedom we have to love others. We can love because Christ first loved us. And now 20 teenagers are empowered to love those the Lord brings into their lives whether it’s their next-door neighbors or their culturally diverse neighbors halfway around the world.
Consider how you might be involved with our Easter Project 2015. We invite you to participate. Join us as Ministry Partners with your prayers and financial investment of $100 or $1,000 in young people and in the Roma people, who continue to be the most discriminated-against people group in all of Europe.
May the peace of Christ be with you,
Jay & Nancy Adams
jayandnancyadams@gmail.com
Long-Term Mission Personnel
ECO Account #074690
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 312
Read more about Jay and Nancy Adams' ministry
Blogs: homesforthehomeless2013.blogspot.fr and www.romaniahome.wordpress.com
