One year down, two more to go. It is so strange to think that it has already been a year since I arrived in Eger, but it has. I can still remember working at Hitachi and wondering if I would ever be here and how long 3 years felt. Yet, here I am and it seems like it is flying by. But praise the Lord that there is a lot of fruit from this past year and more and more opportunities are presenting themselves to share the Gospel.

In June, we had the chance to take part in a non-denominational pro-life conference held here in Eger. This was an awesome chance to meet Christians from all over the world and worship and pray together. I was asked to lead worship during the two day conference and was blessed by the heart these people had for Jesus. The best part was seeing so many different cultures and denominations come together and pray, worship, and seek God's will in regards to a very serious problem. In fact, we learned some saddening news that Hungary the 8th highest in rates of abortions and Eger is the highest rate (per capita) of abortions in all of Hungary. Not only that, but that there are no pro-family, organizations here in Eger, so most people don't even know there is another option. One of the most interesting parts for me was hearing stories from women who had had an abortion. I always hear how we shouldn't tell a woman what to do with her body and that it is her choice, but these women shared how much hurt and pain they were dealing with because of this choice. Most people just assume women will be happy if they abort a baby that they cannot take care of, but this conference showed me that is just not the case. One of the groups present at the conference presented an affidavit that contained over 5,000 signed testimonies from women dealing with the trauma of post-abortion regret. Like I said, it was quite an eye-opener.

Right after this, Nick, Rosemary, Kati and I all had the chance to spend some time in Vajta for the Foundations Conference. This is a yearly retreat for the missionaries in Europe and Africa and is meant as a time of refreshment, re-focus, and renewal in the simplicity of the faith for those on the mission field. This year's focus was “we want to see Je-sus” and was a refocus on the centrality of Jesus and the necessity of keeping Him as our focus and goal. It was such a great time for the team as we were again reminded that what we are doing needs to be for His glory. It was also a cool experience for me as I was able to spend some time with Scott Cunningham from CC Costa Mesa and Mike Payne from CC Budapest, learning a lot about improving my skills with playing the guitar as well as how to lead a team and the church effectively in worship. I also had the chance to reconnect with a lot of old friends from my time going to school in Vajta in winter of 2002. So many are now missionaries and leaders in the Eastern European churches! It's so encour-aging to know how much Vajta is being used for the kingdom and how many brothers and sisters from there are being used by God!

Two weeks later, we attended another conference at Vajta with thirteen people from the fellowship here in Eger, which is eight more people then last year. Praise the Lord! This conference was for the southern Hungarian Calvary Chapels, of which we were the only Northern fellowship to attend. It was an amazing week of focusing and strengthen-ing of our faiths, as well as a wonderful chance to have fellowship time with the Eger group and new people from areas of Hungary I have never visited. This conference was all about real faith and putting that faith to work. God really spoke to me there about the calling He has placed on my life and about how to find my strength in that call. It's so easy to get lost in the “stuff” and give up because of the attacks and discouragements, but God didn't promise us that our walks were going to be easy, only that they would end in a better place, and that He would walk it with us. I was also blessed with the chance to lead worship one of the days. We were able to introduce three of the songs we have done original translations of here in Eger and they all seemed to be well liked by the fellowship. I am excited to see how God will use the translations from here on. We also were blessed with the chance to baptize four people from the fellowship. Nick even let me help with the dunking! It was so exciting and encouraging to take part in such a major step of faith in the lives of these four sisters.

Just last Saturday we finished our second annual English Camp. We had a total of 50 kids show up, 10 of which were returning campers from last year’s 25 campers. We had teachers from Syracuse New York, San Diego, England, and even San Jose. Everything went really well and God really blessed us with both new fruit and fruit from the previous year. One girl, Fatimé, spent a lot of time asking deep questions and trying to reconcile the problem of bad things happening to good people. You could see all week how God was speaking to her about this. Every testimony, every discus-sion, God just kept speaking to her, and none of it was planned. I was also really blessed with spending time with Balázs and Tamás, two brothers from last year. They both, especially Balázs, have grown in their walk with God and were great examples to the other kids at the camp. Lastly, I was given the chance to pray with a girl from the previous year who was a Buddhist. After a lot of discussion and questions, she decided to receive the Lord and become a Christian. Sylvie is now taking her first steps as a Christian, so please keep her in prayer that she would be able to fight the temptations to walk back to the easier path and continue her path towards discovering God’s calling on her life. Once the camp was over, we encouraged those who believe or are interested in hearing more to come to church. Four girls, Enikő, Marti, Eszter, and Judit, all came for the first time and another, Franciska, came back after a long absence. We also had another, Alexandra who came to the English club that Tuesday and is interested in visiting the church. So, much fruit and so many blessings from the camp. Thanks so much for your prayers! We couldn’t have done it without you!

Next big event on the horizon is the impending arrival of Nick and Rosemary's first child. Jr., as we like to call him, is supposed to arrive August 20th, so he could come at any time now. Both he and Rosemary are doing great and are weathering the heat pretty well. Jr. is already quite the character though. He already seems to enjoy worship music and kicking Rosemary's hip. He also seems to really dislike seat belts and Nick when he yells “hello baby!” We are ex-cited to meet him though and are preparing for whenever Jr. decides to come out. Please keep both Jr. and Rosemary in prayer as the time for labor draws near. Also for Nick and Rose that they would be able to weather with love and grace this time of transition into parenthood. Lastly, for everyone in the church, that we would be able to ease the transition and cover the things in the church that need to be done. During this time I will be doing a lot of teaching as well as the usual work. Please pray for me to be able to remain in the Spirit during this time and that I would rest in God’s power and strength.

Well, that is all for now. May God richly bless you and please continue to pray for the people of Eger and the work being done here in Jesus' name! Isten Aldjon Meg! (God bless you!)

Personal Growth
The foolishness of God is wiser then men, and the weakness of God is stronger then men, for consider your calling brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. (NASB, 1 Cor. 1:25-29)

Many people consider it weak to admit you need God's help. They hear songs like Jesus Loves Me and cringe at the verse “we are weak but He is strong.” Why is this? I think it is because our society is built upon the concept of self esteem. If we don't believe in ourselves, then something is really wrong. However, the Bible points out that there is nothing in us that is worthy of esteem! All of us are nothing but that which God made us to be. Everything we have comes from Him. How then can we boast? “I did this, I can do that.” These are statements that ignore the fact that we did not create the ability to do these things, we only took advantage of the potential that God gave us. The world says it is weak to admit you need God's help. God says it is weak to think you don't need His help. Who do you want to believe; the world which wants to see you fail, or God whom wants to see you soar? As Romans 3:4 says, “...let God be found true though every man be found a liar...”

Prayer Requests
● Finances – I am attempting to find a part time job here to help cover some of the rising costs.
● Rémy – He will be returning to France soon. I am still not sure if he understands and believes in Jesus, but I am praying for the chance to help him take those first steps into God's graces before he leaves.
● Piroska – A woman I have been meeting with every week for English lessons has begun to show an interest in the Bi-ble. This week I challenged her to begin reading it and pray that God would help her to understand it. Please be praying that she would see her need for God and come to His throne of grace.
● Sylvie – pray that she will develop a genuine faith and begin to walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh.
● Fatimé – That she would overcome her doubts and begin to trust in God’s plans for her life.
● Enikő, Marti, Franciska, Ester and Judit – They would continue in the fellowship and become stronger in their walks.
● Attitude – my attitude has improved, but I am still strug-gling. Please continue to pray for this as I would like the joy of the Lord to be my strength.
● Nick and Rosemary's baby -Jr. is coming soon! Please pray for the delivery to be safe and easy and that the transition into parenthood would be smooth.