Dear Sisters,Aniko UjvariAniko Ujvari

I greet you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

A year has passed since you held in your hands the last News and Views. Through this time you could follow the Baptist women's life in Europe through the website and Facebook. Many things happened in these past months. Let us count the blessings!

First: The wonderful conference in Hannover still is a special memory for those who had the opportunity to attend. The new leadership be-gan to work together. We learned to know each other better and better. We recognize the talents in each other and understand better and better how the Lord can use us in this special ministry. Of course it needs time, too, to learn to communicate and un-derstand the cultural background where we come from and how to fit these experi-ences in to a common goal.

Secondly, I have had some invitations to visit different countries. Because of this I have not had great opportunity to get to know the new sisters. I had some blessed days with these unions. And do you know what I experienced!? Europe is a rich continent. Not because of the economy. Even not because of the rich nature. Not be-cause of the well paid jobs. No, it is not so everywhere, because in Europe there are poor countries and hard circumstances. But in spite of these hardships still we may say, Europe is a rich continent. The richness of Europe is in the wonderful women, who are committed to the Lord, who are present everywhere, in every country, who want to love their neighbors with the love of God, who are ready to work hard, who are ready to share, who are ready to serve, to open their hearts and homes and purs-es. These are women who are the most important to fulfill the calling from the Lord, being obedient to His will. They are ready to be mothers, who are using their gifts in arts, in music, in business or in their homes, in their kitchen. They are women who are blessed to serve among the sick people, among the elderly in homes, orphans; women who help other women to heal their souls, their lives which are broken be-cause of war, or because of death, mourning, or because of broken relations. Lots of variety, of pain, joy, struggle and help. But this is our life in the 21 century in Eu-rope.

I was so happy to know how the Belarus Baptist women celebrate the Day of Prayer, how they take care for the women not just in church but in society, too. Or in Latvia, where I experienced great commitment to serve and live Godly lives on behalf of the Baptist women. They serve in the congregation and work to reach out to the community.

The main project for us at the moment is the support of the women who suffer from long term war in their country, especially in Syria, from where big numbers of refu-gees are flood the neighboring countries. These families are in need, and especially the women feel lost. Coming from a different culture and loosing the safety of their daily routine, being powerless with their children, to help them to get to school, to get proper meals, and help the husband to get a job. The women who give the structure of the family life now are embarrassed. We have great co-workers in the Leba-nese Baptist sisters, and the whole Lebanese Society for Educational and Social De-velopment (LSESD).

From our visit to Lebanon I learned four meaningful experiences.
These are the following:

  • 1. In Christ we may learn to love our enemies. Once they were against us, but now in need, we may do our best for them.
  • 2. Even if we have but a small amount, yet with a pure heart, the Lord may multi-ply it. We may live the miracle, even today in the 21 century. What a blessing!
  • 3. We, women always emphasize that Jesus Christ lifted up the value of the women. But talking with women who live today in the culture where women even may not talk in the presence of men, it became a special meaning for me, how Jesus Christ broke down this wall between men and women.
  • 4. The power of prayer – what did I get new in it? We all know, that yes, there is power in prayer, but going through special periods in our life we may refresh our knowledge. Yes, the power of prayer is a living power which is present in our daily life.

In the spring we met wonderful committed sisters in a small island of the Mediterra-nean Sea, in Malta. They are in a minority as evangelical Christians, but they are strong in their calling. They serve among the women, children and as a congregation generally for the people in Malta.

Shortly afterwards I met wonderful Christian people in Sweden. They listen to God and do a lot to find the best ways how to serve, how to teach and reach the people of the modern society. It was a heart warming experience to explore how they take care of the history and how highly valued were and are the women in Sweden. (Photo as Ida ... is preaching)

It is wonderful to observe the unity in Christ as the Czech and Slovak sisters come together for their women's conference in every year in spite of living in a divided country since twenty - twenty five years now. Great lecturers gifted with the words and thoughts of God. Good and very open conversations. These all are gifts of the time when the women come together. One more thing to share is a special experience to see grandmothers, mothers and daughters together. It is a bit unique, and does not often happen. And I really give thanks to the Lord for this special grace, having the generations together.

And the next special experience of the treasure of Europe was in the recent past when I attended at the meeting of the International Baptist Convention's representa-tives. A good number of women gathered together for a weekend in Hungary to cele-brate their fellowship in Christ. Let me share with you something unique and a special experience from this weekend. We had a wonderful lecturer from the US, she was richly blessed and she has a special talent for teaching from the Bible. One evening we had communion. The Lord’s Supper was prepared at the four corners of the hall, with candles on the table. After the moving teaching we had a time of si-lence in prayer, being prepared to receive the sacraments. And slowly one by one we went to the table, when somebody felt ready for that, they went to the table and re-ceived it. The silence, the word's of God, the fellowship – all special blessings when we are together in the Lord. I felt blessed being with so many sisters all around Eu-rope and the whole world.

Now, going through these experiences you may understand me, why I told you, Europe is a rich continent – rich with blessed and committed women, men, congrega-tions. Let us praise the Lord for His blessings in our relationship as we are bonded together in His love, in the salvation and mercy from our Heavenly Father.

"Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary."
Psalm 96:1-6.


Aniko Ujvari, EBWU president