I Can Read The Bible - Christian Emergency Relief Teams International

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Having been awarded this Independent Charities Seal of Excellence, CERT International ranks in the top 99.95% of Independent Charities of America.

CERT International
3211 Tabor Loop
Crossville, TN 38571
(931) 707-9328

"I Can Read The Bible! Dear CERT Family, Try to imagine life as a young Gypsy child, in a poor village, in the Transylvania mountains of Central Romania. Your family of eight lives in a small two room house with a dirt floor, no electricity, and no indoor plumbing. During the harsh Romanian winters the house is heated by a small stove that burns corn husks. There never seems to be enough food.
Although you are ten years old you've never been to school and you can't read. In Romania the public schools are free but parents have to pay for supplies and books; otherwise, the children aren't accepted. Your parents, like most Gypsy parents, can't afford it. As far as you can tell your whole life will be lived just like this, in this same village, and your future looks bleak. Now imagine a new church has been started in the village by Christians from another town. In addition to Sunday School classes for children, and lively worship services, the people of that church also bake bread to feed the hungry families of the village during the winter months. Your own family has received some and it sure was good! Then one day, the pastor from the church comes to visit your parents. He says that the church would like to pay for the supplies and books so you and your brothers and sisters can go to school! Of course your parents agree and arrangements are quickly made for you to start school. How exciting! You are going to learn things. You are going to learn to read! My friends, what I have described above is a true story. Those conditions exist in many Gypsy villages where CERT ministers. And most Gypsy children do not go to school for the very reason stated above. However, Pastor Florin Boruga has led the congregation of Betinia Baptist Church in Sighashora to start mission churches in five Gypsy villages. This church is so committed to their mission work among the Gypsies they have designated a full 20% of the church's annual budget for this outreach. With the assistance of CERT teams, and with the financial backing of CERT donors, free medical and dental clinics are conducted, Vacation Bible Schools are held, bread is baked and distributed in the winter months, and yes, school supplies are provided.
	Last year generous CERT donors like yourself provided the funds needed so 134 Gypsy children could go to school for a whole year. For most of them it was their first year in school ever!
Recently a CERT team returned from conducting VBS and medical and dental clinics in two of those villages. While they were there they met dozens of those Gypsy children who had just completed their first year of school. It was a powerful and heart touching scene as one child after another came up to our CERT team leaders to demonstrate their new reading skills. One little girl excitedly exclaimed "I can read the Bible!" Now, please don't miss that. She didn't say "I can read!" She said "I can read the Bible!" In the two years CERT has been sponsoring this program almost 270 gypsy children have been able to attend school. This is just one of the many successful ministry stories from Romania. God has graciously allowed CERT to be a part of so much more: * Betinia Baptist Church in Transylvania, Romania has, with the help of CERT, constructed two large brick ovens in Gypsy villages. The ovens are used by members of their mission churches to bake bread during the harsh winter months. The bread is then distributed to hungry Gypsy families as an outreach of the church. Plans are being made to construct similar ovens in 3 additional villages. * Sabin Boruga, the younger brother of Florin Boruga, the pastor of Betinia Baptist Church, has been a seminary student at a seminary in Dallas, TX. Now that he has completed his seminary training to wants to return to Romania to join his brother in ministering to their own people. Sabin has been offered ministry opportunities in the United States but has concluded that God is calling him home to his own people. This is especially significant because Romania is suffering a "brain drain" in that the best and brightest of their young people are all leaving the country for opportunities elsewhere. For an outstanding young man like Sabin to return to Romania is very meaningful. Therefore CERT has provided the funds to Sabin and his young family to return home in December 2008. * Ioana Petruca is a 20 year old children's leader in the church in the village of Axente Sever, Romania, where CERT teams have been ministering for five years. Ioana has had an eye disease since she was seven years old and doctors have told her she will go blind if she doesn't have surgery soon. CERT is providing the funds for Ioana to get the medical care needed to save her sight. * In 2009 CERT will send at least three teams to Romania to conduct medical and dental clinics; evangelism, discipleship, and church building activities; and Vacation Bible Schools.