Slovakia Trip Update 9 - Sergej part 2 and Unexpected Blessings

Today was supposed to be back to normal schedule after our Day Hike yesterday, however we had a great surprise! We had our normal morning classes, but the afternoon we had the opportunity of helping the local missionary and seeing their ministry. Today's blog will just be a brief recap through pictures and a little explanation.

Who are the Roma? They are gypsies all over Slovakia. The Roma are a subculture here that is hated by the Slovaks. I can say that I was completely oblivious to the hatred until this event. We went to work with an American missionary couple, Charles and Janet Baldis, who work with the Roma children. We had the privilege of sharing a Bible story, singing songs and playing games with them. 

The Roma boys and some of our team

The Roma girls and some of our team

Beautiful fun kids! These children are starved for attention and light up when you smile at them! We had a great experience spending the afternoon with them. We played games in the missionary's yard for an hour. Then we walked them to their homes.

Entering in to their neighborhood on the outskirts of the village.

It was very poor and the buildings would be condemned in America, yet hundreds of people lived there.

Marek and I had a great conversation about hope on our walk. Ironically it was through a mutual affection for the band Red that sparked our talk!

The Roma neighborhood from the top of the hill. Very similar to the projects. We walked the children to their home, said a quick goodbye and left. The children gave many hugs and were sad to see us leave.

Of course I had to get at least one good hug on camera!

Kenzie taught the Bible story of Daniel in the lion's den while other teammates acted out the parts. Here you see Kayla and Summer acting like lions.

After dropping the children off, we hadn't even turned to corner when i heard one of the Slovak students say, almost under his breath, "I hate them!" with a visceral disgust.The other student responded with "I know but try to control your hatred." This is when I realized just how the Slovaks feel about the Roma. Then looking back over the afternoon I realized how they didn't interact at all with them. The Slovak team did, but not the students. As I read Matthew 8 later, I was drawn to Jesus cleansing the leper. The lepers were outcasts as the Roma are, for different reasons of course, but Jesus cleansed the leper and restored them. Tonight's testimony is how God cleansed a Roma and set him free, that is Sergej's story!

I had a great talk with Alicia, Summer and Kayla on the way back. It was so awesome to see how God moved in their hearts with compassion for these children. These are the moments that make the missions trips worth it! We talked about maybe the reason God only gave us 6 students is so we would be free to go and help these children! God is good!

Sergej part 2

So I missed spelled Sergej’s name as Sergie yesterday. Sorry Sergej! Last night Sergej’s story stopped at his arrest and possible imprisonment. Tonight he began by sharing how the authorities put him into an orphanage and promised to find out who he was and where he came from. Could you imagine not knowing your family and having no documentation, no idea where you came from?

The orphanage was designed to keep orphans for a max of 3 months, and he had hope that soon he would find out who he was. The authorities put out public notifications on the TV to find out if anyone knew him and no response came up. At the end of three months they still had no idea who he was or who to contact. They allowed him to stay and continued to extend his stay for a year.

After a year of trying to find out who he was and allowing him to stay, they told him that he could no longer stay at the orphanage. He had stayed four times longer then they were allowed to let him and it was time for him to go! They gave him one more day and then he had to leave. He had no where to go. He had no one to turn to. The only option he knew of was to return to the gang, but then he knew he would soon be in prison if he went back.

It just so happened that a church group that regularly visited the orphanage had come to visit that day. The staff told the pastor about Sergej’s plight and the pastor offered to help Sergej find his family back in the Ukraine. This pastor had planted several churches in the Ukraine and had helped many others find their families.

Sergej didn’t believe in God but he wanted to hold on to this new hope he had of finding who he was. He went with the pastor and was put up in an apartment. He had no job and didn’t go to church and returned to smoking and drinking. One day, a lady from the church that oversaw his apartment, came and saw the mess he was in, the beer bottles and the smoking and no money for rent. She told him that he had two choices: go to church with her and stay in the apartment or get kicked out. He chose church! Even though he was forced to go, it was there that he heard the Word and gave his life to Jesus at the age of 20.

I am forgetting a lot of details, but Sergej was reconnected to his mom eventually. He was able to finish school and is now studying Theology. He is praying about becoming a pastor. I see the light of Christ in Sergej’s eyes and in his smile! I know God has great plans for him and He greatly has impacted me this week!