Roma-RAE Ministry Montenegro

Originally posted on our ministry Facebook group's wall on March 7th, 2023​ Here’s another little something I’d like to share with you. It is about an initiative made by Frederick and Abigail, a missionary couple from Barbados, whom felt really strongly that God wanted them to start off with “open house” worship sessions every last Sunday in the month. Practically, it means that sessions are open to all Christians regardless of their church background, as well as whoever friends they want to bring with them. Ideally, but not necessarily, each one of these “worship nights” should be hosted by a different local church.  Every start is a difficult one (at least around here) and one has to walk in (blind) faith if they want to reach success. We also started slow, praying and hoping that the initiative will win the hearts of local believers as we do it. I say we, because the two of them invited me to join the worship band, with another two - an American and Chilean - being a part of i

Friends, In November last year, I shared with you that I’ve been going through a real ordeal because of the herniated disc that had caused me a lot of pain, half a year of sleepless nights, constant exhaustion, countless inconveniences and a lot of painkillers. I also wrote to you about the limitations it has brought on my ministry and have called that my “involuntary sabbatical”. I am glad to say that my “involuntary sabbatical” is over. I am healed. But, while the problem was still there, in order to help myself, I walked for hundreds of kilometers, underwent many PT sessions (including spine decompression), did my best (and succeeded!) to lose weight (around 30 lbs less, plus-minus) and exercise. And although there’s been some improvement to my condition, the main thing- being able to sleep through the night - seemed unattainable. My night’s sleep continued to be interrupted by pain, with me being able to sleep 3-4 hours max in a single piece. Some of you may remember that in the b

Originally posted on our ministry Facebook group's wall on June 16, 2022 Today we have had another small victory. After months of waiting, this morning we picked up an ID card for 18-yo Armend Quni. This way we reached another milestone in helping him, his mother and sister to regulate their stay in Montenegro (FYI - an ID card is the most important personal identification document in most European countries. While ex. driver’s license and passport are optional, all 18+ yo citizens are required to have one). I have shared information about this many times already, but for those of you who joined us later, we have been providing legal aid to many Roma-Ashkali/Egyptian families in the period 2011-2016. It was then that the need for this segment of our ministry decreased. However, some complicated, challenging cases remained and with some of them we are still dealing with. Such is Armend’s case. Becoming fatherless at the early stage of his life, Armend, together with his mother and s

Originally posted on our ministry Facebook group's wall on July 14, 2022: Dear beloved, I would like to share with you some of the truly blessed moments related to the baptism we had in our church a couple of weeks ago. It is not really fair to say, but among the baptisms that I performed over the course of years, there are some that I remember better and more fondly than others. Having said this, I believe that this baptism will stay with me for a long time. And the reason for that has to do with a person that was baptized, whose life and testimony of salvation reflects the two opposites in this world - the brokenness and fallibility of humans and redemptive love and forgiveness of God.  It is too little to say that our sister in Christ, Qama, has had a hard life. Over the years serving in Konik, I’ve heard so many gut wrenching life stories, and hers is among the worst ones. After the years of suffering betrayal, abandonment, poverty, humiliation, life threatening violence, Qama

Originally posted on our ministry Facebook group's wall on August 21, 2022 This summer we have had an opportunity to take some of the kids from our children’s group to a swimming school. It wasn’t the first time we did it. Back in 2019, we’ve taken a group of teenagers for a similar program, but this year, things were far more fun. I believe I have already written on several occasions how important the children’s ministry is to us and how much effort, care and resources we invest in it. In 2010/11, when our church was just starting, church meetings and services were full of youth – ages 12 to 20. During the years, this initial youth group was getting smaller, as life caught up with them and they were getting married, starting their own families, work, leaving Montenegro, etc. Thankfully, a new generation of youth emerged in 2019 and this is when we realized the necessity of investing into them. Although somewhat interrupted by Covid, we have been giving a lot of attention to childr

Originally posted on our ministry Facebook group's wall on November 15, 2022 Here’s some bad news 2.0 And I warn you, this post is not for the faint hearted. The registration plates used to belong to me, or should I say to my car - Opel Zafira 1.9 cdti - the same car that I lost in July. And the story how it all happened sounds as it was borrowed from “believe or not” section. So, the story goes like this… I had to go to Bosnia for some urgent family business together with my mother and my son. The journey was going well, we crossed the border and got relatively close to our destination. Suddenly, I heard a sound coming from under the hub, the car stopped and couldn’t get started again. The “verdict” was - the timing belt snapped! I had no choice but to tow it to my mechanic in Podgorica.  A few days later, the mechanic called me to tell me the reason why the car broke down. A kitten climbed up the engine, rode with us for a few hundred kilometers, got caught by a timing belt and s

Originally published on our ministry Facebook group's wall on November 11, 2022 Some of you made have received this news via email and to those I apologize for you having to read through some of the same stuff again. For others, who follow us faithfully in this group, I would like to give you an atypical update as it is less about the ministry and more about me personally.  The truth is that ever since the Swimming School project in July, things have been running slow. There are a couple of reasons for that. One of them are family commitments I had to take on, following my father’s death and my brother moving abroad for work. Taking care of our widowed mother and family property in Croatia and Bosnia (materially insignificant, but intimately priceless) have taken large chunk of my time in August and September. Big bathroom leak in our family home only added to the unconventional work load I had to deal with in October.  However, the greatest obstacle I’d faced in this period was he

All, Here are some of the ways you can support our ministry financially: - For those of you living across the Atlantic, please consider sending your donations to Steve Lackey Missions Around the World P.O. Box 973 Decatur TX 76234 with a short note “Roma/RAE Montenegro” or simply “Sinisa Nadazdin ”. For those of you who prefer donating via PayPal, please use steve@missionsaround.com - For those of you who live on this side "of the pond", I would like to introduce you to our Dutch partner - Christian Roma Support from Rotterdam. We have been partnering with them on series of projects and now we have an opportunity to receive donations through them via Dutch bank account they’ve opened for us: Stichting Christian Roma Support Rotterdam NL51 INGB 0007 9979 16 INGBNL2A ING Bank - Finally, another way to support our ministry financially is through our Italian partner Missione REM by donating to Rete Evangelistica in Missione IBAN number: IT24J0200801612000101788993 Note: SOSTEG

Originally posted on our ministry Facebook group's wall on November 28, 2022 Friends, I want to share something else with you, just so that you do not think all is gloomy on our end.  Two months ago, two missionary friends and I have started a new Christian gathering in town with the intention that it grows to a full scale church. This undertake has come to life after a long period of planning, praying and many conversations and meetings. During this time we were seeking His will and walked carefully, step by step, month by month, until we were ready to make the “move” and announce that there is a new church in town.  Besides the common desire to look for new ways to serve Christ and see His Kingdom expand in Montenegro, each one of us had an unique motivation for investing into this undertake. Personally, I became so hungry for Christian fellowship with my peers. After spending so many years on my own, I wanted to become a part of a larger church body that I will be accountable to

Originally posted on our ministry Facebook group's wall on December 22, 2022 All,  I hope you’ve had blessed and Spirit filled time for Christmas.  What you see in the photo is this year’s batch of OCC “shoeboxes” that are to be distributed to the children in Montenegro. This “shoeboxes season has come with some changes. Due to mine and some other team members’ health issues, our team has decided to take only a half of the usual shipment of shoeboxes, with the intention to distribute the majority of them in the unreached areas of the country. This year though, besides the two townships we already visited last year, we are also planning to go to the town of Gusinje that is ethnically rather diverse and more than 90% Muslim! Please pray for plans and following activities to unfold timely, wisely and successfully! Once again, the task of negotiating, strategizing,  planning and preparing was great, the time was short and our daily schedules busy. The team members have been under a lot

Originally posted on our ministry Facebook group's wall on January 4, 2023 Friends, Just a quick reminder to pray for us tomorrow (Wednesday, Jan 4) as we are about to have an evangelization event and shoeboxes give away in Murino, a small township in the very northeast of Montenegro. This year we have a REALLY LARGE team due to the fact that the program contains two separate acts. Thankfully, we were able to coordinate between ourselves well. Although gathered promptly and with a LOT of faith, our diverse team is already functioning like one, with a sense of comradeship, servitude and mutual submission.  But, tomorrow is not the end! This year we are testing something new - to perform/evangelize and distribute shoeboxes in two locations during one trip! This means that on Thursday, Jan 5, we will be doing all of it again in Andrijevica, where there’s more to be done. While tomorrow we’re doing 2 separate performances, on Thursday we need to do 3 in front of a much bigger crowd.  W

Originally posted on our Facebook ministry group's wall on February 3, 2023 I think I’d already shared with you on several occasions that Montenegro is one of the least reached countries in the world, with an evangelical believer per every 2,000 people (evangelicals make roughly 0.05% of population!). This is the reason why I get so excited to share with you about our activities in the north of Montenegro - an area that makes up 60% of the country with no evangelical presence!  As I shared in my previous post, at the beginning of January, our team went up to the north for two evangelistic events in two small towns - Murino and Andrijevica. We got there on Tuesday, Jan 3, performed in Murino on Wednesday, Jan 4 and in Andrijevica on Thursday, Jan 5. This operation was the biggest and the most complicated one that we, as National Leadership Team, have done so far. It was the first time we performed/distributed in two locations on a single trip and the first time we had two acting act

Here a little throwback to our farewell with the YWAM DTS team from Craiova, Romania, originally posted on our ministry Facebook group on March 7th: Today we had to say goodbye to the YWAM Craiova DTS team after two weeks of fun, worship, service, travel, football, acting, fellowship, travel and LIFE together! After the intensive time we’ve spent together, they had to move on and we had to go back to our “normal”. Although excited and feeling blessed with them being with us, their departure leaves a somewhat bitter taste in our souls. At times like these it feels like there's literally nothing we can’t accomplish. For example, the program you see in photos and videos we’ve prepared in only a couple of days! And then the departures and goodbyes, like the one of this morning, remind us that as long as the Lord Jesus doesn’t return, the harvest will remain plentiful the same as the workers will always be the few. This couldn’t be more true than last Saturday when we arrived