Kids' Camp from Rosalind Hills to Kekcse & Berencs

"Yes, Lord; Yes, Lord; Yes..." The words of the English chorus could be heard ringing through the villages along with the shouts of "Alleluia" and "Ald az Urat" (Hallelujah & Praise ye the Lord) as the boys and girls tried to outdo each other in the familiar chorus. Hands shot up eagerly as the village children volunteered to help with the interactive Bible story each day. Many of us were all thumbs when it came to craft time but the necklaces, visors, and picture frames were all treasured gifts to take home to show parents. Bubbles were a big hit and the thunder sticks (blow-up elongated tubes) were fun as swords to challenge a sibling or a friend. These were all activities in the two Backyard Bible Camps conducted by the youth team of Rosalind Hills Baptist Church, Roanoke, VA in the villages of Kekcse and Berencs. Each morning we were greeted with smiling faces and great big hugs. Parents came to see what all the noise was about and each day our group of kids grew bigger and bigger. The young people from Rosalind Hills served as the presence of Christ among the Roma through their unselfish giving of their time, energy, and finances to be in northeast Hungary for a week in July.

Thank you for all your prayers in support of this ministry. It was a fun week for all!

NEWS FLASH - VISA GRANTED!!!

Wonderful news today!! Glen Adkins called to tell us their visas to come to Hungary have been granted. The embassy in DC had just called and said they are ready to be picked up. This is within one week of Glen and Clista submitting the paperwork. As far as we know this is a record!! Thank you for praying. We can only describe this as a "God thing"! Praise to Him!

Backyard Bible Camp

Tomorrow (Saturday 7/7/07 - a lucky day! But who needs luck??) the youth team from Rosalind Hills Baptist Church, Roanoke, VA arrives. (By the way - the pastor is Ralph's brother, Tom) After a day of adjustment in Bp we will head to Zahony, near the Ukraine border in northeast Hungary. The team will spend the week providing Backyard Bible camp for the Roma children in the villages of Berencs and Kekcse. Please pray for them this coming week asking God for traveling safety, patience, energy, and all the grace needed to minister among many kids in the warm summer temps. Pray for our translators, Edit and Ellod. Pray we can all be the presence of Christ and show these kids God's love through our actions, stories, hugs, and the attention they so crave.

Gandhi English Camp - Success!!

Mix young people from 2 cultures, lots of energy, good food, great weather, games, crafts, and music - what do you get?? "A good time had by all!" For the second time a group of young people led by Scott Ford traveled from Haven Fellowship Church in Conyers, GA to a remote camp around Pecs, Hungary to spend the week with a group of Roma students. The advertised purpose of the camp was to help the Roma improve their English, the real goal of the camp was to show them they are loved and valued by God. Happily both goals were hugely met!

The young people spent the week playing various games such as blob tag, spoon racing with eggs, tug-of-war, and other creative games. They feasted on hot dogs, s'mores, sloppy joes, ice cream sundaes, and pancakes, just to name a few of the yummy food items. They did crafts, making string bracelets and door hangers. Many of the letters for the hangers wound up glued to arms and foreheads as well (Kids are the same in any culture!). The evenings were spent in devotional time and special activities such as a luau and a talent show. One of their English lessons involved playing "resturant". The students took turns being guests and being waiters. Do you know all the slang associated with how an English speaker can order eggs cooked??

Thank you for praying for this week. The Roma and American young people were able to forget their differences and find commom ground. They all laughed and temporarily forgot the troubles of the world. Friendships were made and bonds formed. Most importantly God's love for the Roma shone through with the actions of the dedicated young people from Georgia. The Roma students are already talking about next year!

Adkins Visa update

We have been asking you all to urgently pray for Glen and Clista Adkins' (our new GSC couple taking Penny's place at Gandhi) visa process. Friday they handed in all their paperwork and the process went smoothly. The Hungarians were asking for less paperwork than we anticipated. The papers now go to Hungary for approval and back to the US. The Hungarian representative said 4 weeks - we are praying for 2 or less. Glen and Clista would like to arrive in Hungary the end of August. They cannot travel here until they have the visas in hand. So please continue to pray! Thanks.

Farewell Penny!

The end sometimes comes all too suddenly. Such was the case as Penny Mann, our GSC colleague, finished her three-year ministry at the Gandhi School in Pecs. Three years ago Penny arrived as a shy, unassuming young woman who accepted the challenge of living in a second culture (Hungarian) and working with teenagers within a third culture (Gypsy). Penny stepped immediately into the classroom to teach conversational English, assumed responsibility for weekly on-campus Bible studies with the students, became a class sponsor and visited in many Gypsy homes, played soccer on as many teams as her stamina would allow, and directed the Photography Club. She left Hungary last week as an assertive and confident teacher who had earned the respect of her school director, had gained the friendship of many of her peers on staff and more importantly, the love of her students. Those students gifted Penny with a journal of goodbye notes and drawings describing the impact she had had on their lives. I (Ralph) was privileged to read these and stand more convinced than ever that Penny became a conduit of God’s love for these Gypsy kids. You will find one of these notes from Timi below.

Penny went from being a colleague to becoming a friend to becoming a family member in the Stocks household over these past three years. She has impacted each of us individually. She shared in our celebrations and disappointments. We are enriched by her friendship and we will miss her deeply. We wish her God’s greatest blessings!

Written by Gandhi student, Timi:
"My best friend Penny,
How can I start it? I found in you a REALLY good friend, who is so special for me. You gave to me a lot of love from you and helped to me many times. I never forget it! You have to remember always smiling, because if you smiling your life will be the best in the world! I’ll be miss you so much!
You know you meaning for me a lot, you are my second sister, so close to me, I can’t believe I loose you! You have to know you always be my best friend and sister! I hope you felt my love, because I always wanted to know do you feel it. I tell you a secret: I love you so much better like my mother, this is really true because I can’t love her much like you. I don’t know why, but it is true!! Oh God! YOU ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD! I never seen person like you!! When I wrote this I was think about the last things what we did together. Who is forever love you – Timi"

Article from CBF

FBC Greenville partners with Stocks to provide church for Roma congregation

By Patricia Heys
CBF Communications

ATLANTA – When a new communion table was presented to the Roma church in Kekcse, Hungary, fingerprints and smudges covered the tabletop.

On the previous Sunday, the table had been blessed by members of First Baptist Church of Greenville, S.C., who laid their hands upon it as they prayed. First Baptist member Danny Butcher built the table, which the South Carolina church gave as a gift to the Roma congregation.

“First Baptist and the mission team felt the table was a symbolic way to share Christ's love that goes beyond financial support and physical improvements to the church,” Butcher said. “The emotions of the moment were of amazement that all of the details in designing, building and transporting the table came together, and that God made it happen.”

The Romany people are a minority in Hungary, who experience discrimination not only socially but by government systems and religious bodies as well. For Roma congregations like the one in Kekcse, which had outgrown the house it was meeting in, there are many hurdles to finding a building for worship.

Ralph and Tammy Stocks, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions field personnel serving in Hungary, connected First Baptist with the congregation in Kekcse, and last year the South Carolina church helped purchase a church building.

With the Stocks facilitating the partnership, First Baptist members have not only invested financially in the Roma church, but have invested emotionally and spiritually. This spring, 13 First Baptist members spent a week in Kekcse renovating the church building – pouring concrete pads, constructing a fence and outhouse, adding a new roof – and building relationships. During their week in Hungary, First Baptist members led worship at four Roma churches.

“The experience cannot be expressed adequately in words or pictures,” said First Baptist member David Causey. “One must experience this sort of partnership ‘hands-on’ to fully grasp the emotional and physical needs of the Roma people. Ralph and Tammy prepared us exceptionally well, and it was important to have some sense of context going in.”The partnership with the Kekcse congregation was not the first one for First Baptist in Hungary. The Stocks also facilitated a partnership between First Baptist and the Gandhi School, a school for Romany children in Pecs, Hungary.

“We saw a need for the Roma to worship in a building they could call their own,” said church member Jim Childress, who has made several trips to Hungary. “The partnership in Kekcse provided another means for church members with specific skills to minister to the Romany people. If you go there and you work for a week or even a day, it comes to you very quickly how little the Romany have and ever hope to have.”

Glen Adkins, First Baptist’s current music minister, also traveled to Kekcse. Adkins and his wife, Clista, will be commissioned at the CBF General Assembly in June to serve at the Gandhi School.

“A partnership is about more than bricks and mortar,” said Ralph Stocks. “The result of the week was not only new construction, but new and personal relationships with Roma church members as well as community residents. Every team member took with them faces and names that they will long remember and for whom they will often say prayers.”

To learn how your church can partner with the Stocks or other field personnel around the world, contact Karen Gilbert at (800) 352-8741 to kgilbert@thefellowship.info.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.