Faithful servant

Within this photo lies the story of a young woman sent to the mines by a Communist government, and there, by the grace of God, becomes a Christian. In her retirement, she returns to her village and prays for God to provide a church in the midst of her unbelieving neighbors. Eighteen years pass and her prayers seem to go unanswered. One by one, people come to know the Lord through her kitchen ministry as she waits for a church. That is the history of the Nazarene Church in Ossenets and it is the story of one faithful saint, Baba Stanka, who is now with the Lord.

As you glance at the photo to the right, meet the church for which Baba Stanka prayed. This weekend, members of the South Texas W&W team had the chance to visit homes in Baba Stanka's village of Ossenets and also victims of recent floods in the village of Tsar Kolyan.

Aunt Ivanka (seated), now in her 50's is one of many ethnic Romanian gypsies living in Bulgaria. Bound within her story are elements of a novel that would keep us turning pages into the wee hours of the night. A family displaced after WW II becomes foreigners in their own homeland as boundaries are changed and a young Ivanka becomes an orphan. At 15 she is given in wedlock to a young man of 14. It is an arranged marriage. Children soon follow and by the age of 19, she is a mother of two and pregnant with her third when her husband of 18 is called into military service for 2 years. Utterly alone, the third child is born and unable to care for him, Ivanka is forced to submit him to her own fate - he is placed in an orphanage until her husband can return from the army.

During these years of unrest and heartbreak, Ivanka is brought into Christ's family through a woman of prayer with a front porch ministry to her village; Baba Stanka.

The young girl sitting in front of Aunt Ivanka is her grandaughter (also named Ivanka) who she is raising. On the day of our visit, little Ivanka carefully holds her arm in an upright position. Days earlier, this 11 year old fell from her grandfather's small horse drawn cart. The family is treating the wound with a poultice of toasted bread soaked in vinegar, lined with onions, wrapped tightly in material and sealed with a plastic bag. Later on the night of our visit, the family broke down and went to the hospital, a difficult decision because of the money involved. The hand was judged to be broken and set in a cast. After spending the night in the hospital, they showed up for church on Sunday morning.

Standing behind Aunt Ivanka is a young mother with her 4 year old son, also in the photo. When asked to tell her testimony, Snezhanka shyly recounted her journey to faith, led again by Baba Stanka.

I am challenged by these stories, for is this not to what Christ calls us? A life of prayer and servanthood for those in our neighborhood who live with pain and sorrow today. In the face of a community that rejected her, though seemingly, it took 18 years for God to answer her prayers, Stanka ministered from her front porch. The result is story after story of lives impacted, now even to the third generation, by Christ's grace through the faithfulness of one woman.