JThis is our first news flash, which is the successor of our news letters and blogs. With this we intend to keep you up to date every month of what is hapening in our mission work among people who live in poverty.
In the beginning of April we had our Easter meeting in the village of Apc, where we are serving as CHE Hungary team.
For over two years now we ‘ve been having a prayer meeting there, which initially started with only a few people, but is now being attended by around thirty people. Next to that we also have a big community meeting every month, where we teach CHE principles and try to make people aware of the importance and the power of community.
This Easter meeting had been announced for weeks ahead already at the prayer meetings, because this had to become something special. Not only because the gospel of the risen Lord Jesus was going to be central here, but also because we wanted to involve the people of the community themselves actively in the organisation of this event. The wheather was perfect for a Hungarian bogracs: cooking on an open fire with a big pot and during three of four hours keep adding the ingredients to let it boil down to a meal soup, of which you can eat with at least fourty people.
Everyone who came, was helping in one way or another: cutting vegetables, peeling potatoes, prepare the meat; some had baked nice apple pie or pancakes for desert. The children were playing together and at some moment the more official part started: we sang a few songs toghether; some people were asked to give a short testimony of their faith, others proclaimed a Psalm together, of which they had each memorised a verse.
I had the opportunity to share the gospel by means of the Bible story about the Emmaus travelers, in which I had some people play out a role of this story. After that it was time to eat, and here also people were helping out to prepare everything: it was so special to see how they were cooperating, how there was no quarreling or envy, just cooperation and harmony. This was quite different a few years ago.
After everyone had had more than enough and even the sweet deserts had all disappeared, people slowly started to go home; actually they didn’t feel very much like going, because they enjoyed the time together. But at saying goodbye they thanked us so heartily for this special day; to which we replied that they themselves had done it all! Or perhaps better phrased: God had been at work this day to build up community. It may seem like an every day thing, such a meeting like this, but in reality it was a miracle to see the people from the community cooperate like this. On the way back in the car my Roma colleague and I said to one anoter, that this was perhaps the most precious result of this day, for which we give thanks to God!