Jesus our Good Shepherd

A letter from Nadia Ayoub serving in Ukraine

August 2016

Surely goodness and mercy (Hungarian Bible, love) shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long (Ps 23: 6).

Dear Friends and Families,

With a heart full of thanksgiving I give thanks to our Lord for his love and faithfulness, which keeps us trusting and believing day after day. Thank you, my partners, with your prayers, encouragements, and financial support that make it possible for God’s mission to the Roma people in Karapatalja-Ukraine that has started to continue to completion.

Thank God, it is my third time this year to meet with you through a newsletter to share with you what God is doing among the Roma in the Peterfolvo area.

At the end of May, the teaching hours of the school system were completed. The students who had sufficient hours participated in the graduation ceremony. Thank God Regina was one and the only Roma student to finish the 9th class, and this is a high achievement for Roma children. I continue to encourage her to use God’s gifts to her for serving God and helping other children to learn and stay in school, as she did. Regina will not go to school longer, but she hopes will have a chance to study a trade for two years that will lead to getting a decent job. The job Regina found during summer with her mother and father is transporting goods from Ukraine to Hungary.

June was a difficult time for my family. My older sister in Egypt lost her younger son in a very bad car accident. The Lord was merciful that three were in the car, but my sister and the older son survived and they are well now. I went to Egypt to be with them for one week and then I went to New Jersey for three weeks to deal with some matters and also visited my family. We are all grieving and trust God’s grace is sufficient to comfort us all. Thanks to God and to many of you who prayed for us and continue to pray.

During my travel, plans for summer activities and camps were going on. And I came back to Ukraine July 15. On July 25 about 40 people, leaders and children from two villages, went to the Christian Summer camp in Csonkapapi for five days. Some were in the camp last year but many came for the first time. It was a very happy time for the children; they played games together, many learned to pray in a loud voice in the groups, and many told what they liked most in the camp. Bully children were tamed, and timid children were encouraged. Also children from different settlements learned to live together in peace.

Marije, the young Dutch lady, came in August for two weeks. Together we visited the children and families, especially those who did not have a chance to go to the Christian camp. We did some one-day Bible camps for them. The theme was to encourage them to pray and trust God for he is the good shepherd and always give good things to us. They all know the Lord’s Prayer and now they learn to memorize Psalm 23. The one-day camp started with many songs they know, then the story of David the shepherd and the quality of the good shepherd and the responsibility of the sheep to follow and obey, then a time of prayers that God will help the children to be obedient. Then we had some food, then divided into three groups, one to play games, another to have their faces painted like their favorite character, and the third to do handcrafts. After all had participated in all three groups we gathered together again and memorized Psalm 23, and they received gifts for remembering the Bible verse.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

In September I will be registering for the preschool and afterschool programs, and not till after the independent celebration finish will the schools start.

Please join me in prayers for many of the Roma mission leaders who are discouraged for not seeing great changes and results for their labor among the Roma people.

Also please pray for God to help the many schoolteachers, doctors, nurses and young families who have immigrated, and there is great lack of public service.

Jesus our Good Shepherd promised to be with us to the end of the days, if we continue to trust and obey him all the days of our life.

Thank you so much for your partnership with your prayers, encouragements and support. With your help I have been able to witness to God’s grace and mercy among the Roma and the non-Roma in Karpatalja-Ukraine. But if this is the first time you have heard about this ministry among the Roma people in Ukraine, I encourage you to become an active partner by your prayers and financial support.

Thank you so much and I pray that God will encourage you more in your walk with Christ.

Serving Christ with you,

Nadia Ayoub