Visiting Village Churches

This past weekend was a busy one for us.  Saturday afternoon we traveled to Gávavencsellő and Sunday afternoon we went to Ibrány.  Mike preached in both villages at the regular services of the Open Bible Churches there and Misha Tovtin came with us to translate. We were, as always, treated with love and honor by our brothers and sisters in these Gypsy congregations. In both services we experienced the wonderful presence of the Lord and lives were impacted for the Kingdom of God.  Each of the services had something extra, too.

The service in Gávavencsellő included a wedding ceremony for an older couple who had been married for several years but had never had a church wedding.  Mike preached a short message on marriage and then the pastor led the couple in their vows.  The Baloghs appeared to be quite nervous during the ceremony, but were all smiles afterward.  They offered sandwiches to everyone after the service in honor of the occasion.

In Ibrány, the children gave their annual Easter presentation with prayers, memorized scriptures, skits and songs. It was especially thrilling to hear some of the teenagers pray the Lord's prayer in the Gypsy language. The children are all part of INSTE graduate Mária Toth's religion classes in the local school.  She put a lot of work into the production, but gives all the glory to God.  It is very important to her that the children learn the Word of God and get to know Jesus. 

Both of these villages are in the area hardest hit by the ice storm of last week.  Some of those at church, including Mária Toth and the Gávavencsellő pastors, still have no electricity at home. They explained that saturated ground combined with continued high winds have prevented new electrical towers from being erected.  Thankfully, they can use wood for heat, but really miss their electricity!