Given the lack of communication on my end over the past couple of weeks, largely attributed to the increasing frequency of power outages here, I thought it would be best to give a general, overall update.  Coincidently, today also marks two months since my arrival here, so there may be evidence of some “reflecting” as you read through the details of this post.  Time has really flown by.

The Women’s Shelter and Training Center.

Over the past few weeks, I have been spending time with the young women, both at the shelter (“safe house”) and training center locations. I am focusing primarily on building relationships and establishing trust with these young ladies and allowing their children to become more comfortable around me over time. Building relationships can be challenging, as the young women typically live at the shelter for only three to six months, and then must move out. However, during their time living at the shelter and going to the training center each day, they receive counselling, job skills training, and assistance with finding permanent and stable living arrangements. Three mornings each week, one of my friends leads an exercise class for the young ladies at the shelter, prior to them attending job training for the day. I have really enjoyed participating in these exercise classes, as they have been an effective means to connecting with these incredibly broken and hurting young women. This opportunity has enabled me to get a closer glimpse into their lives.

Each day, the girls attend classes at the training center, some of which include cooking/baking, jewelry making, sewing, and learning English. I [wisely] choose to assist in the cooking class each week, but, this will most likely be ending in the near future. Eventually, the plan is for me to spend more time at the shelter watching the children, enabling the mothers to attend their training without having their kids in tow. I am looking forward to spending additional time at the safe house, helping in practical ways, and believing many fruitful conversations will happen as a result.

Gypsy Village

It has been so encouraging being a part of building relationships within the Gypsy community – an unreached people group of approximately 25,000-30,000 individuals. By way of a quick recap, the husband and wife, who provide leadership and direction for these visits, have been primarily working in one village for almost two years. Various other individuals, like myself, have partnered along side of them throughout the last couple of years. However, in recent weeks, the Lord has opened the doors to other surrounding Gypsy villages and enabled our small team to begin building relationships with key people in these villages, who are also from the same people group. With all sincerity, I consider it an incredible privilege to have witnessed, with my own eyes, many answered prayers for this people group, and how seeing this fruit has deepened my own faith. Without a doubt, it has also increased the fervency of prayer in my own life, as I want to see Him do more.

Building relationships within these villages, primarily through providing medical assistance, has opened the door for us (well, not me, yet) to tell the people many biblical stories in the local language and their own Gypsy dialect. In a few instances, this has left them hungry for more, and asking questions that evidently show they are processing the truths found in these narratives.   And, as detailed in THIS POST, miracles (healing) have occurred following a story being shared, which was then used as a platform for sharing more stories. I am really excited and rejoicing because of what He is doing, but please continue praying and asking for more. In doing so, please also pray that I would learn the language well enough so I am able to effectively share biblical stories as well, and perhaps even visit other homes within the villages giving more people the opportunity to hear.   As a side note, given the poor literacy rates within this community and region, oral story telling is a very important skill to have. Information, culture, stories and traditions are passed down orally through generations.

Teaching

Things are progressing well with my teaching responsibilities here. I am thankful for the opportunity to teach a few courses from the Canadian curriculum, and the girls are doing well. Much like my teaching position in Canada, the girls receive one-to-one instruction, resulting in rich and engaging conversations with them individually. Part of my original teaching assignment here included taking the girls out for a few hours each week to serve in the community at the orphanage, but their class schedules are not lining up well with the program times at the orphanage. Instead, the girls and I are regularly scheduled to serve at a soup kitchen here in the city. For more about the soup kitchen, see the The Bread of Life post.

Flickr

If you have not already noticed, I encourage you to check out the bottom right corner of the home page, where I have included a link to my Flickr account. By clicking on any one of the pictures, you will be directed to my photo stream. I have organized the pictures into separate albums, which correspond with the month they were taken. Alternatively, you can click here for direct access to the account. All of the pictures I have posted on this site are also posted in my Flickr account, along with many others.

Language Learning

This week, I am attending a story telling workshop, which has proven incredibly useful and I am really enjoying it. Not only has it provided me with some very practical tools, it also encouraged me to persevere with learning the local language and produced a deeper love for the Word in my heart. As outlined on my prayer page, one goal I have for myself is to learn the “Christmas Story” in the local language by Christmas, and believe He would give me opportunities to share this story with families within the Gypsy village. Stay tuned! …and dare I say, keep me accountable? The sooner I can become more fluent in the language, the more effective I will be in sharing stories from the Bible, as well as my own testimony. Apart from basic communication, I am still leaning on someone to translate for me.

Learning a new language is so challenging! And apparently requires a great deal patience!

Miscellaneous

Next week, I am moving to another house on the same street where I hope to stay for the remainder of my time here. The house I am currently living in is nice, but the set up is not ideal, specifically in regard to the location of my bedroom.   In order for my roommate to access her bedroom, she must walk through my bedroom to come and go – yes, each morning, each night, in the middle of the night, and all the minutes in between. So, in the hopes of getting more privacy and an uninterrupted sleep, I have made the decision to move.

In closing, power outages are occurring more frequently, and seem to be lasting for longer periods of time. Of course, as the weather gets colder (it snowed HERE before it even snowed back home!) the increased demand on the power grid has resulted in electricity shortages, which is not surprising. However, my neighbourhood is also in the middle of large construction projects that are adding further stress to an already taxed power grid in this part of the city, hence why we are experiencing more outages this year. All of that to say, it is difficult for me to post updates regularly and reply to emails in a timely fashion. Please accept my apology for these delays…I am trying my best!