May 16, 2005

Dear Friends in Christ,

Aldas Bekeseeg! This is an official greeting of Reformed Church of Hungary, and it means “blessing and peace.” We are sending our greetings from Budapest in the love of our Lord.

It has been a long time since we have written you about our ministry, especially about our ministry with the Roma. We were on “interpretation assignment” (which is what use to be called “home leave” or “furlough) in the States for five months (from mid-November 2004 to mid-April 2005). We visited 27 congregations to share about our ministry with the Roma in Hungary. We send our gratitude and love to all our friends who welcomed and encouraged us during our visit.

We are happy to be back in Hungary now. The Hosszupalyi Roma faith community is well and growing. We were happy to attend Sunday worship service on May 1 with our 65 Roma friends in Hosszupalyi. Everything seemed be same, though we were saddened to learn of the passing of two members during our absence. On the positive side, however, was the donation of 19 computers from a Catholic foundation, so the church building could be used for computer classes for the Roma children and adults.

All the students who were supported by your offerings and prayers are healthy. Jonas graduated from high school on May 7. We were happy to attend that graduation ceremony with his family members and friends. His mother was crying with joy during the ceremony, and his aunt was so happy and proud that she teased her nephew by calling him “Dr. Jonas.” Perhaps you can imagine how happy we were. Jonas has already passed his college entrance exams, and he will study to be a teacher at a college in southern Hungary run by the Hungarian Reformed Church.

But Janos temporally quit high school to get married. Still, we do not give up hope for him because early marriage, even as young as 13, is common for the Roma, and Janos promised to continue his studying. He is 17 years old now.

We’d like to share one more piece of good news about the mission with the Roma in Hungary. The Hungarian Reformed Church (HRC) has decided to develop more faith communities for the Roma in Hungary. Since the PC(USA) acquired the courage to develop the Roma ministry and since Hungary has become a member of the European Union, concern for and activity among the Roma have increased a lot. So HRC has decided to have three more coordinators at the level of Synod for the Roma mission. Currently, we have only one coordinator, Irene Buzsas. The Debrecen Synod decided to develop a faith community in Debrecen, the second largest city in Hungary (population of about 200,000). The great church in Debrecen has already donated a building for the Roma mission, but renovation work is needed.

One more time, we express our thanks to you. Would you remember Roma mission in your prayers?

God bless you!

In Jesus’ Love

Stephen and Kaeja

The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 180