December 11, 2008

Dear Friends,

Joe and Kathy Anji spent a weekend with these teenage refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Guinea, and Nigeria.

Last month, Joe and I had a very interesting weekend with 18 young refugees and their teachers. The young people are between 10 and 20 years old, and half of them are here in Hungary alone, with no family. They have fled their home countries because of war and religious persecution. They come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Guinea, and Nigeria. These teens are part of the school program for refugee children, which is run by the Reformed Church Refugee Mission where we work. The teens receive Hungarian classes for half of each day for a year while attending regular classes for the rest of their school day. During their second year, they are tutored in Hungarian and academic subjects so they can catch up on what they have missed.

The goal of the weekend was to deepen our relationships with the young people and to acquaint them with more of Hungarian history and culture. We traveled to an area in the south of Hungary, Baranya County, and stayed in a small hotel. We ate as a group in the hotel restaurant where the children absolutely charmed the hotel staff. Several of the teens were very impressed with the ability of the waiter to carry many plates at a time, a skill that they are learning in their food service class. Eating in a “sit down” restaurant was also a new experience for several of the kids.

Our first activity was to visit a local castle which was built in the fifteenth century. We talked about the need in those times to have castles to protect people from invading armies since there was no national army that was able to protect the country. The boys in particular were fascinated by the dungeon and the construction of the castle. One of the Afgani boys was from Mazar I Sharif where there is also a castle. We compared construction styles and compared the histories of Afghanistan and Hungary. Both countries are on trade routes that make them prone to invading armies, and both have been occupied numerous times.

Our second visit was to a dzsami, the Hungarian word for mosque. During the years of occupation by the Ottomans, many mosques were built. During our trip, we visited two of them. Our students from Afghanistan (who are Muslims) were horrified that we were charged admission to enter God’s house. We explained that now these buildings were museums and the entrance fee helps to pay for the care of the building. While there, they told us about the practice of their faith.

We then went to visit the Basilica of Pecs. This beautiful church is from the fifteenth century and full of mosaics and beautiful art work. The gates at the outside are the sculpture of a massive grapevine with people and animals climbing through the branches and grapes hanging. I told the students of the parable of God being the vine and people being the branches. They understood. Then we looked at the 12-foot entry doors, which were covered in brass panels depicting many stories from the Bible. It was really interesting to see how many of them our Muslim students also knew from the Koran. We talked some about how Mohammed studied the Old and New Testaments and had respect for the “People of the Book” meaning the Jews and Christians.

Inside the church, I told the kids that they could ask questions about anything they wanted. They wanted to know why we as Christians have crosses or crucifixes everywhere. We talked about how important it is that we keep God in our minds and hearts always. I asked what symbols of God they have in their homes to help them remember. They usually have an open Koran and can hear the call to prayer five times daily to remind them to pray. I explained simply the meaning of the cross and that we too must remember always to pray.

Our last day was Sunday, and everyone who wanted to went to church. All of the Christians went and several of our Muslim kids went also to see what it was like. Afterward, we talked about the similarities between our faith traditions. Protestant churches are simple buildings like mosques. During worship, we read from the Holy Scriptures, listen to teaching about them, pray and sing. This is not so different than their experiences in the mosque.

This was a very special weekend for us. We did not preach. We let God do that part. We tried to consistently practice our faith by loving God and our neighbors as ourselves. I think that it had the effect of opening a door for the children who did not grow up knowing that God is the God of Love. Please continue to pray with us that God will continue to work in the hearts and minds of all of us.

The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 180