What an amazing service we had at the Roma-Gypsy service last night! Their worship time of about 30 minutes was loud and joyful. The Spirit of praise, certainly it was the Holy Spirit, was there with power. We couldn't sing much of their songs (except maybe a few phrases of "hallelujah") but we could certainly sense their joy and enthusiasm when they sang, sometimes with violin, and/or trumpet adding to the guitars, drums, and electric basses. The Roma Gypsies are a nation-less people, a minority group despised by much of the civilized world but it is disenfranchised people like this that Jesus reached out to save. There were over a 120 people jammed packed into the sanctuary, it was so crowded and hot in there that Vision had to sit on the stage where we sang to make room for the worship participants. We were later told that most of the people were working elsewhere since it is summer season or they have a congregation of 700+, how they can fit in, we don't know. But the audience listened intensely and responded with such enthusiasm both to our singing and Pastor Darwin's message, while we were blessed by their worship. Alex shared about how we already experienced God's presence, both in our travels to Serbia and at the worship. After the service, Marshall met with the church leaders to plan the program for Wednesday night (Wed. morning LA time), an outreach where we are going to rent the main theater in town (that seats about 750 with standing room for another 300 or so). Please pray for this major outreach event as we are hoping to fill the hall not only with Gypsies, but Serbians, and hopefully many non-believers who will hear the good news for the first time in their lives, and some who may have been exposed before, but never made a decision for Christ. God is wanting to pour His blessing and Spirit on these people, so please pray for this event.
After breakfast and devotion, we prayed that Nena's lost luggage would be found since she still has not heard from the airline about it. We also found out that Valerie could not get a ticket to come with the second Cerritos team. We then spent some time practicing how to share the 4-laws and how to use our bracelet beads to present the Gospel. After lunch, the Chinese speaking members in Vision went to the Chinese market to pass out the Cerritos team program for the week while the English speakers went to pass out invitations to the Wednesday night concert in the city square. In the later afternoon, several youths from the church brought members from our group who wanted to go swimming at the public swimming pool. Dinner was provided by the Serbian wife of a Chinese businessman. She was so happy her husband just became a believer she ordered pizzas for not only the Cerritos team but for Vision too. After dinner, Vision joined the Cerritos team providing a short program including a skit and testimony from Tim. Attendance was surprisingly good, about 15, the most in these nights of meetings. Vision then left after the singing to go to the main street where crowds of Serbians, both elderly, middle aged, young adults, many with babies in strollers, and young singles cruised up and down the sidewalk walking. We had a chance to pass out hundreds of invitations to our concert Wednesday. Generally, the crowd was quite open, though few spoke English, a few even asked for the bilingual English-Serbian 4-laws which we had with us. We then returned to the church and found the Mandarin meeting was just concluding. It was heartwarming to see many of the Vision members engaging in conversations with these Chinese businessmen and women. Since many of these folks are closer in age to the older Vision members, they came away with a broader view of Christianity, that it is not only for the middle aged, but for young people too. At the same time, the dedication of the Cerritos team with their singular focus on church planting, serves as a wonderful model for the younger Vision members.
Tomorrow is a semi-rest day for us. We will be joined by the departing Cerritos team members as we visit an old Roman town, some hot springs and mud baths, and view the countryside. Vision will end up at Nena's home town for a meeting in the evening while the Cerritos team will return to Leskovic and then by bus to Belgrade to catch the flight back to LA. Oh, and Nena told us that her luggage had been located and will be delivered tomorrow, another quick answer to prayer, praise God!
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