The last two Monday visits to our usual Gypsy village have been very encouraging and seasoned with much grace. Two weeks ago, we started structuring our time with our friends differently, as we believe the Lord is leading our team to take the next step. We are still sharing various bible stories and parables within the families we are focusing on, but in addition to that, we have backtracked to the book of Genesis with the village Mayor, his wife, and their family. Two weeks ago we read through Genesis 2 together, which transitioned nicely into reading and discussing Genesis 3 this past Monday. During both visits (and Lord-willing, subsequent visits) we all shared one thing we are thankful for, read through a portion of Scripture together, and then discussed what we learn about God and what we learn about men from that specific portion of the Word. We also spend time thinking about people in our lives who need to hear the story, and commit to sharing it with them in the week ahead. We are trusting and believe that His Word will not return void, and as we journey through the story of the Bible with our Gypsy friends that He will unveil their eyes in His perfect timing. The conversation this past Monday was a particularly lively one discussing “the Fall,” as the mayor quickly pointed out to his wife, “that it is, in fact, the women’s fault because she was the one who ate the apple first,” but thankfully, the Spirit was at work and it didn’t end totally disastrous.

Since it is Spring break here this week, we had two additional ladies join us in the Gypsy village on Monday, which was a lot of fun. With it being a larger group we needed to separate and visit different homes initially, but by the end, we all ended up at the mayor’s home. One of the ladies brought her guitar along, so in all three of homes we visited, we sang a few songs and even got to see some of the little girls dance for us. We sang a couple simple English worship songs (they don’t know English), which they enjoyed listening to, and one of the homes even handed me a little drum to play as my friend was strumming away! We really had a great time, shared many laughs, and stayed much later than usual. In one of the homes we visited (one of the mayor’s brothers), he even blew the dust off an old instrument he had and played it for us, too. With the sun shining on us as we all sat on the “back porch” of the house, playing the guitar and drinking tea, I was in awe of Him who is clearly at work. I was able to capture of few of these special moments on video, which I hope to share in the coming days, if I am able.

I am also excited to share with you that we are hosting an Easter celebration with our Gypsy friends this coming Sunday to Monday— yes, another sleepover, but we’re hosting it this time!   Since we are not able to celebrate Easter with them the following weekend, we have decided to schedule it a week early. We have not finalized our plans for our time together, but we will certainly be sharing the Easter story with them, which we have pieced together using different portions of the gospels. We will each be sharing various parts from the story, and we also hope to incorporate some audio or video recordings, too. We will also be celebrating two of our teammates birthdays.  

There is always significant risk in hosting an event such as this, but we are choosing to trust God and join Him in the work that He is doing here. The mayor, his brothers, and their families have been invited, as well as the family from the other village we slept over in two weeks ago. We really need you to be praying for this event. All the preparations, language study, money, and technology in the world will not change the hearts of those attending this Easter celebration…but fervent pray will. Please be praying for security related concerns, especially for the neighbourhood/home we are hosting in, for the Lord to be preparing the soil of their hearts now so that the seed falls on good soil, and for their eyes to be opened to the saving power and sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. We want God to be worshipped by the lips of our currently 25,000-30,000 unreached gypsy friends. May it be so….