Mission among Roma people

Greetings in the name of Christ! We are Attila and Livia Tomes, missionaries in the Reformed Church of Transcarpathia in Ukraine. Six years ago we started our ministry among the Roma people. Roma are very poor people without any education. They live in groups, in very small houses on the outskirts of the villages. In the families there are usually a lot of children, about 5-8 in a family and they don’t go to school. The Roma have darker skin and they are discriminated against by people and the government.
We as missionaries started to work with adults and tried to talk about God, about Our Savior Jesus Christ. At the same time we called adults and children to teach them reading and writing. That was not very easy work because we encountered very different customs, thoughts, and laws in the gypsy communities.
Three years ago, the Reformed Church bought a building to serve as the center of the Roma mission for the region. The Reformed Church wanted to lift up the Roma nationality and work with them as people. The leaders of the Reformed Church asked us to organize this center while living another town. In order to focus more on the programs and make it more effective, we decided to move here with our family, including three daughters, one year ago. One of our main programs is to bring together the 15 Roma Reformed congregations. Also we organize leadership trainings for adult laypeople so that they can assist the pastor by leading Bible studies and working with children. This program has been running for three years. Since this Mission Center has been in operation, in summertime we have had summer camps financed by support from abroad. During one year of summer camp, there are 450 children and 50 leaders that come from the congregation with the children.
During this summer over 400 children came to the summer camp. For one child the cost of the summer camp was 22 dollars. Throughout the six weeks, there were three weeks with children between the ages 7-11 and three weeks with 12-16 year old children. On an average day at camp, the children had Bible study, discussions, devotions, crafts, water games, sport activities, meals, and snacks.
If you are interested in our ministry or would like to further support our work among gypsies, you can contact us by email at tomes@citromail.hu.