"Mr Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!"

Twenty years ago today one of the most significant acts in history took place. The Berlin wall came tumbling down. The Communist governments in the eastern European bloc countries were toppled and freedom reigned. Lately the news has been dominated with first hand accounts of how lives were changed, families reunited, and new governments formed. Even Angela Merkel, the current German chancellor, recounted how she grew up in East Germany and would not be where she is today if not for the wall coming down. CBF's Director of Field Ministries, Jim Smith, and his wife, Becky, were living in Berlin at the time. Jim tells the story of being in East Germany when this was actually happening and pulling up to the infamous "Checkpoint Charlie" that separated east from west. No intense scrutiny, no mirrors looking under the car, what was going on?? Ask Jim to tell the story. It was a day that changed history. Many, many lives were impacted.

Today we are able to freely move into most of these former communist countries and be the presence of Christ among many people who remember when there was no freedom of worship. We have personnel in Hungary, Slovakia, Macedonia, and Ukraine. We have partnerships in Moldova, Romania, Albania, and Bulgaria - just to name a few. Let's give God thanks for bringing this wall down. Rejoice that those oppressed are now free. However, many continue to live in darkness. Ask Him to provide the people and resources to help spread the Good News of freedom in His love.

photo courtesy of cnn

Berencs - Sing Your Praise to the Lord...

The Berencs (BER-ench) Roma church meets in a room at the city hall building of the little village in northeast Hungary. The church purchased an old house to convert into a place of worship but it turned out to be too old and had to be torn down. Now they are trying to get permission to build a new church. The paperwork continues to be caught up in bureaucracy. So in the meantime they meet at the city hall. Not ideal, however, as we know God uses all circumstances.

Recently while in the city hall on other business, a woman heard singing, joyful, happy singing. She was curious and searched for the source of these praise songs. What she discovered was a church, in the city hall of all places! As she went and observed, the lady was welcomed among the Roma worshippers. It was a beginning... Today this same woman is a regular member, joining in with the very singing that brought her into God's family. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!"

Roma Women, Life is Hard

Please pray for Imre and his family. His wife passed away this week. Ralph attended the funeral yesterday. Ilie was only 49 years old. This is not an uncommon occurence among the Roma of Hungary - the women dying young. We know several men who have lost their wives while they were in their 40's.

Why? Life is hard here for women. They marry early, have several children often close in age, struggle to feed their families with food that is often unhealthy because it is usually the cheapest, many smoke, health care is inadequate and difficult to come by, winters are harsh with lots of illnesses, and the list goes on.

Please pray for the Roma women of Hungary and eastern Europe. Pray strides can be made in educating them to break the cycles of proverty. Pray that health care will be made available and the women will learn ways to control the size of their families, cook healthily, and take care of themselves physically, mentally, and spiritually. Pray that opportunities for employment for the Roma will be available so they can provide for their families. Pray for a mild winter. Praise God for answered prayer and His provisions already.

10 Year Jubliee of Roma Ministries!

Roma Leaders gathered to celebrate.

They came from all parts of Hungary by car, train, and bus to celebrate. It was a day of testimonies, preaching, singing, and sharing of memories. We had gathered to mark 10 years of formal ministry by the Hungarian Baptist Union among the Roma (Gypsies) of Hungary. The Union organized the first Roma conference in 1999 in the village of Csobanka where a local Baptist church had planted a Roma church. The pastor of the church was Jozsf Csuhai, who is now the Hungarian Baptist Roma Ministries coordinator. From those humble beginnings has grown a committee of Hungarians and Roma working together, 24 Roma churches and missions, training for leaders, accountability in church resources, and many other positive things. At the meeting many expressed gratitude and thankfulness to God for blessing the work. Looking to the future, the leaders hope to grow the ministry to Roma, their brothers, in the Ukraine and Romania. God is at work...

**Thank you CBF supporters. Your prayer support, as well as your financial gifts, have helped this ministry grow into the vibrant outreach it is today.

Lost in Translation

As seen in one of our favorite Hungarian restaurants...

Old Friends - The Revesz Family

If you have followed our ministry in Hungary since our early days the name Tamas Revesz may ring a bell. He was the young man in need of an internship for the seminary degree he was working on and we were in need of a leadership partner for the Pocsaj Roma mission. Tamas came into our lives while we lived in Derecske. Though he had his own apartment, he ate many meals with us and stayed overnight at our house many nights. Tamas was one of us. He was dating Orsi at the time and they married during our last year on the Great Plains. Tamas was very instrumental in the ministry in Pocsaj. He loved the people there and did what he could to teach and help them.

Time marches on... We moved to Budapest, as did Tamas & Orsi. They started their family and relocated to Debrecen. Our kids grew up and left home. We lost track of Tamas & Orsi. We heard they were living in a little village outside of Debrecen called Mikepercs. On a trip to eastern Hungary recently we decided to look them up. It was a great time of meeting their 3 kids (with #4 to arrive in Feb) and catching up. They enjoyed seeing pictures of Amy and Josh - saying Amy looks like the same sweet girl they remembered but Josh is a man! We all laughed. (Josh was 8 last time they saw him). They are very active in a church in Debrecen they helped to plant. It is growing and thriving. Ministry is still a large part of their lives while Orsi takes care of the family and Tamas works at Metro (a large warehouse-type store).

We are thankful for partners on this journey, old and new, that God brings across our path.

Healthy Mind, Body, and Soul

CBF realized early in its time the importance of keeping its field personnel healthy emotionally, physically, and spiritually. From those thoughts came the CBF member care program. Volunteer counselors are assigned to each field personnel to assist them in their journey of good health. There are also volunteer doctors, pastors, dietitians, and various others who help.

The Gypsy team is blessed to have Judy and Rick Landon as our member care providers. They do an excellent job of keeping up with us and our various ministries. They are always willing to listen and give counsel with encouragement when needed. Through CBF's guidance, the Landons visit our homes yearly or as funds permit, to see in person how we are doing. Recently Judy and Rick made a swing through central and eastern Europe. It was fun to have them since they have been friends of ours for several years. We talked about many subjects, ate some good Hungarian food, and in the picture provided you can see Rick speaking at one of our Hungarian Gypsy churches.

Thank you Rick and Judy for volunteering to be on our team and being our friends. Thank you CBF for being proactive in caring for our health.