Dearest Friends,
Children, teenagers, and adults gathered on a street to watch a puppet show and listen to a Bible story in Bratislava. Three times on Saturday morning, people came, ignoring very windy weather and stood for thirty minutes or so to hear about Jesus.
Not everyone was thrilled to see us there. One Slovak lady came up to me, angry and very loudly in perfect English, told me how unhappy she was with our program. She said, “Not everyone wants what you are selling.” She did not understand. Please pray for her!
Then, God encouraged us by sending another Slovak lady who also spoke English. She thanked us for coming and told us that as soon as she heard us start, she had raced home to get her grandson.
Whether people loved the Gospel or hate it, we are grateful to have the privilege to talk to them. Pray that we will always show them His love.
An amazing thing happened as I began to tell the story of how Jesus calmed the storm on the sea. The sky above us grew dark and it started to lightly rain. When I came to the place in the story where Jesus stopped the storm suddenly, our rain also stopped. All of us were aware of hos God answered our prayers and enabled us to finish sharing Jesus with the families who gathered. God is awesome!
We were working with our new puppet team in Bratislava. One of their leaders became very excited about doing street ministry. He had never tried it before and was very excited by the way the crowds gathered and listened. Rasto could not wait for his team to go out again and share.
For all of you who gave to make this trip possible, I wish that you could have seen how grateful these brothers and sisters were for the new equipment that they received. They could not believe that people who did not know them would care so much about the Gypsy and Slovak children that they love and work with, in a very difficult area of Bratislava. They were overwhelmed by your generosity. Thank you for giving!
We shared in program in Pertazalka, a massive numbers of multi-story gray apartment buildings that houses 150,000 people. Evil rules this place. Children do not get to be children as they are very young when they become sexually active, only 12 or 13 years old. Drug and alcohol abuse are common. We shared with one little boy who lived in a very small apartment, probably the size of your living room, with 12 other people. Often, 4 families or more share an apartment.
I wept, as I left the place, because of a conversation that I had with one young gypsy girl. We talked a long time about how God could be the good father that she did not have, a father would never hurt her. Tears filled her eyes and I pray that hope now fills her heart. My heart broke for her, as she told me about how her father drank and beat her. Ask God to show her that there is another life for her!
In your prayers, beg Him to deliver these children from the great darkness. Our friends were surprised that we finished the show. At the start of the program, through the first puppet song and the beginning of the Bible story, the children just yelled and screamed. They ran around in circles and tried to pull the puppets out of the stage, their bad behavior was a test of sorts. They wanted to see if we would give up and go away. Please see these children as God sees them. Jesus died and rose for them! Pray!
Earlier in the day, we had a show at a theater that the team rented. All during the week, they visited every class in the area with puppets and invited the children to come to the program. Many parents joined them, and all heard about Jesus. Pray that they trust Him.
Our time in Bratislava was a sweet blessing. We were challenged to love Jesus more by the example of our brothers and sisters who serve with The Father’s Heart in this place. Pray for these dear friends to be a continuing bright light for Jesus.
We have dozens of stories for Sunday and Monday that will have to keep until tomorrow. It is almost 11 PM and it will be midnight before we were in bed. Tomorrow, we are up at 6:00 AM and we have 4 shows tomorrow and possible visits to Gypsy homes. Please pray for a break in the weather so that we can share outside at the Gypsy village.
In Jesus,
Linda for Anna, Sam, Jonlyn, and Hadia