In 1996 Ralph and I were still learning a lot about Roma ministry having only been in Hungary for one year. T Thomas, the pioneer of Gypsy ministry with CBF, came over from France in the "Gypsymobile", a camping van, to pick up Ralph for a swing through Romania and Bulgaria where large numbers of Roma lived. In Romania they were joined by Romany pastor, Stefan Birnis. Together the three of them traveled to Bulgaria to visit churches and offer encouragement to the Gypsy believers. Brother Stefan preached in his Romani language dialect and was understood by the Bulgarian Roma. It was an amazing moment in time.
Fast forward to 2011. Last weekend Ralph traveled to the village of Sadova to visit a Gypsy church with our Romanian friend, Boris Caraion. Imagine the delight when the pastor was introduced. It was Brother Stefan! It took a minute for each man to make the connection thanks to little more gray hair and a few more laugh lines. They had a pleasant reunion fondly recalling those early days.
Thank you God for fun surprises.
1 comment:
Thanks for the mention. Keep up the great work! T
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