Roma Diary

( Extracts from my Journal )

www.BobHitching.com

We have a young Bayash Gypsy girl living with us at the moment. She is a delight as a young Christian and our home is an Oasis for her. It is amazing to see the differences in world views between our US-European hybrid culture and the deeply complex relational structures of the Bayash. Infidelity, occult curses, betrayal, hatred, violence and lying are a natural part of every day life. Sodom had no Bible neither yet do the Bayash...... but soon A People who walk in darkness will see a great Light........

On Friday I meet with our Bible translator Daniel to try and redeem what can be redeemed and lay out a plan for the future. If Daniel does not carry on with the drafting we will change our strategy and start work on correcting and revising the Gospel of John and Mark...... at times like this a touch of Winston Churchill is in order........never, never, never give up.

Also Natasha will be working with us in the next three weeks to finally edit the Children's Bible....then off to the printers via the layout people.

Our new missionary team member Le Anne is moving into Varaždin this month to work along side us in the Varaždin Fellowship which continues to grow and diversify. We now function as house groups for different purposes in different places for different people.

For the next two weeks we have Laura from Virginia here with us. She will go where we go and do what we do for the next two weeks as well as develop a series of Bible stories in laminated artwork for use in the villages.

Nancy and I were able to get away for three days break this last week which was delightful. One of our days we were alone in the spectacular ruins of a 4^th century Church on a Peninsular near the Italian border. We stood alone in the cool stone ruins and held each other and prayed realizing that over seventeen hundred years ago other couples seeking to serve God had probably stood and prayed in the same place. Dear Nancy wept, the angels smiled and I was humbled. Why should I have so much as one so unworthy. Such is Grace. I was even more moved when I thought of people in America and England who work hard and long in tedious boring jobs to support us in this work. Very few of you are able to hold each and pray in the spectacular ruins of a 4^th century Church. Your sacrifice in staying where you are is not unnoticed by us.