Cristinoiu Family June 2022 Update

It is a terrible stereotype that Roma gypsy children cannot learn to be well mannered. Because of this stereotype, the children in our village are often not held accountable for their actions at school. This results in the children taking matters into their own hands and it often ends in fighting amongst themselves. I have been surprised when I found out which children have been in trouble for fighting at school. They are the very ones who faithfully come to our kids’ clubs. They aren’t perfect angels but, we don’t have problems with them hitting one another at church. It does take a great deal of patience, self-control, and self-disciple to work with children, but we have seen that with consistency the children here are fast learners. They know the rules at church are to be followed and if not punishments will be given. If they goof off during the Bible lesson, they will not be allowed to participate in the review games when candy is given out and if they hit or push anyone for any reason, they can be suspended from kids clubs for a time.

Even with our rules, the children still enjoy coming to our kids’ clubs and several have been faithfully coming to church even when it is mainly for the adults. Our church building is not big enough to accommodate all of our bus children and adults at the same time. So we meet with the kids twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) for kid’s clubs and twice a week for the adults (Thursday nights for our prayer meeting service and Sunday mornings). We also meet twice a week with our teens (Friday nights and Saturday nights), however, the teens are also expected to come to church on Thursdays and Sundays. Many times the children surprise the adults by how well behaved they can be at church. They come, sit, sing with their hearts, and are quiet during the message. Some even bring their Bibles and follow along with attention to the messages.

Last week we had a parents’ night for the parents of our bus kids and teens’. It turned into moms' night at the church as 15 moms came to the parents’ night. We fellowshipped with a meal that Jordan prepared and discussed what we have been teaching the children and the teens. We also had a great time playing volleyball with them after the meal. A few parents have dropped in on us during our kids’ clubs and listened in on our Bible lessons and stayed for the games. They always express their gratitude and impressions on how much the children learn and grow because of the church. The other day a random man in the village stopped Ruben and praised us for our work with the kids at the church. He said that the children in our village have never finished so well in school and he credits us and our work with them for that.

We praise God for all that He has allowed us to accomplish with the children and the teens. It has taken a lot of time, work, and prayer to be where we are now and we are so thankful that God has given us a great testimony of our work. It is our prayer that God will use it to bring the parents and many others into the church so that they too would accept Christ as their Savior and allow the Lord to change their lives.

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