At the airport, our family of four will meet up with four college students, Patrick, Anna, Christian, and Kate (easy to remember as PACK!) from one of our supporting churches in Iowa (where we were married and had our internship before going overseas). Outdoor Vacation Bible School for children and day camp for pre-/teens is possible only with enough manpower to serve the 150 kids through Bible story drama, songs, crafts, and games. This is the first summer to be able to resume them in this Roma village near Sisak (since 2019, pre-COVID). What a joy it is to be able to be back!

It is especially heart-warming to be with our cherished, diligent teammates, Andy & Lim Warner and Sergej & Željka R., who continue the year-round adult Bible studies, teen clubs, and children’s clubs in “our” Roma village in Slavonski Brod, where we lived for two years. That village and the one near Sisak where we’ll be ministering are “sister villages”, which means the Roma from those two villages intermarry. Both villages speak Ludari, which now has 50 chronological Bible stories and the Gospel of Luke.

After the Sisak kids and teens ministry, our family will visit some of our our current and former Bible translators for the Ludari, Arli and Chergash languages and our church and friends in Slavonski Brod, which we’re really looking forward to as well. From 2020 when we were last there until now, our teammates have built a Roma ministry building and we get to be some of the first to spend several nights there! (The hot water for the shower is installed and there are three fold-out couches for beds.)

Please pray for the Roma to have hearts open to the Gospel as we do each ministry and when the Scriptures in the Roma languages are read or heard. We want God’s Word to spread and for Him to be glorified as the Roma have opportunity to believe and follow Jesus wholeheartedly. Please also pray for this trip to help each team member clarify priorities: every “yes” to ministering is a “no” to something else that takes time, energy, and money. With every “yes” or “no” to activities we chose to do, we want to strategically contribute to fulfilling the Great Commission and genuinely building up the Body of Christ.

Thank you for taking your time to pray for this Scripture-engagement ministry and for your contribution to the Great Commission. May each of our hearts be continually, progressively engaged in eternally-lasting Kingdom matters!

Pam (and Todd)