December 20, 2006
Roma preschool of Diakonie of Evangelical
Church of Czech Brethen in Vsetin, Czech Republic.
May the Peace of Christ be with you, dear friends near and far,
I hope this letter finds you well. I am eager to share with you
news of what has happened on my side of the Atlantic.
This fall, my wife and I moved into a new home, the first such
home in our life together. With our daughters starting their own
families, Christine and I decided to build a new home. One idea
was downsizing; the two of us didn’t need a large family
home. We created a plan for a bungalow-style home that meets our
needs now and hopefully will still fit when we are seniors. We
found a contractor who was able to implement our ideas about energy
efficiency and a natural and quiet style of living. We are very
happy with the result! We spent all of our vacation days on the
project and Christine, who works in the local library, was able
to oversee the work in progress when I was traveling.
In June and July I was in the States. I started in Sandpoint,
Idaho, traveling to a mission meeting of the Glacier Presbytery,
then to Louisville to reconnect with the folks in the Worldwide
Ministries Division (recently renamed “World Mission”)
and with other regional liaisons, where we had an important time
of vital sharing. During the last part of my trip I added some
days of mission interpretation in Illinois.
In August I went to Bosnia and Hungary. In Bosnia I traveled
with Grant Lovellette, a PC(USA) long-term volunteer, to establish
relationships with the Roma Gadje Dialogue Through Service program
for young adult volunteers. In Budapest, PC(USA) and RCA (Reformed
Church of America) mission workers in the Hungarian region met.
Roma kids playing in a broken glas door in a building inhabitat
by Roma families in Vsetin Czech Republic.
In September my destination was Vsetin, in Moravia, the southern
part of the Czech Republic. The Diakonie of the Evangelical Church
of Czech Brethren in Vsetin was operating a Roma center with a
pre-school and youth club in a large apartment building in downtown
Vsetin. The municipality decided to move the Roma out of the downtown
area into a newly built prefabricated building at the edge of
town and to tear the building in the center down. Diakonie fought
the decision without success, and finally went with them and created
space for a new Roma center in the container settlement.
Later, I returned to a place not far from Prague to participate
in and moderate a future search conference of the Roma Commission
of the Ecumenical Council of Czech Churches, which has many new
members and is at a turning point in its work.
The Ukraine was my next destination. I traveled with members
of different Reformed churches in a Mission in Unity project of
the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. We visited different
Reformed, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches in Ukraine. These
churches exist in the midst of a predominately Orthodox environment.
They are in relationship with a wide variety of Western European,
North American and Korean mission partners and missiological concepts.
In late October, I accompanied a group from the Winnetka Presbyterian
Church to Debrecen, Hungary, and Carpath, Ukraine. Winnetka PC
is a strong supporter of the outreach to the Roma. We were visiting
old friends and sharing many sad stories but also celebrating
success. For some of the travelers, it was already their fourth
visit in this partnership. It was encouraging to meet with the
young adult volunteers from the PC(USA) who are serving in Roma
communities. I found them very committed to building bridges between
the different cultures.
My last trip this year, in November, was with PC(USA)’s
new area coordinator Europe, the Reverend Jon Chapman, to visit
for the first time the partners and mission workers in Hungary,
Czech Republic, and Germany.
Christmas is coming soon and I’m looking forward to seeing
my family at holiday reunions. I wish you all a merry Christmas
and a blessed and peaceful New Year 2007!
Burkhard
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 177
|
