8 January 2020 | Larnaca, Cyprus [Marica Mirilov]
Forty special guests enjoyed a family atmosphere dinner at the Seventh-day Adventist church community centre, Larnaca on Saturday, 4 January 2020. Among them was the Deputy Mayor of Larnaca, who highly praised student missionaries Melina and Elias Orlando for their unselfish service to the community.
Melina and Elias Orlando arrived in Cyprus from Argentina at the end of March 2019 to serve at the Meeting Point, an Adventist community centre, which has now become a hub of life-building activities. Elias is an enthusiastic teacher who offers Spanish and English language classes – with guitar lessons as a bonus.
Together with Melina the couple organise health emphasis programmes, provide dietary counselling and offer free massages. Inspired by their enthusiasm, a dedicated church member, Anne-Sofie Nielsen, offers free Greek lessons. These are well attended. A Kids’ Club is also run with much love and imagination.
Most of the forty guests for the special New Year dinner were from contacts made during a week-long health expo in the summer. This took place on the main promenade in Larnaca. Some 400 visitors were registered and took full advantage of the medical services offered.
The dinner invitees are now friends of the centre and are regular students of different classes offered at the Meeting Point.
“Unfortunately, there was a limited number of seats at the dinner table and some will be the first on the list for the next such event,” Elias commented after the dinner. The number of positive contacts that the team have developed far exceeds the capacity of the centre.
After enjoying an international, vegetarian dinner, and tasting the flavour of the Meeting Point spirit, Deputy Mayor Jason C. Jasonides was exuberant in his words of praise for the young couple and the whole team volunteering at the Meeting Point. His only regret, he said, was that he had not brought his wife with him to enjoy the evening.
The Meeting point is an example of Community Centres of Influence that are developing across the island. Dr Branislav Mirilov, president of the Cyprus Region, stated, “Today the vision of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Cyprus being a church that serves the community has proven a reality. We have church community centres in each major town in Cyprus and we want to be a blessing to our neighbours, leading them not only to a wholesome life here but to eternal life too.”
Find out more about the Meeting Point by visiting and liking their Facebook page.
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Deana Stojković, associate editor
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