June 2010 Update

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France

This quote speaks a lot about the mixture of feelings in my heart over the past three months. While the changes that have happened are exciting and I am blessed to answer God’s call, I can’t help but think of the friends, ministry, and joy of that which I left behind. I felt this way when I came to Hungary and I know I will likely feel it again someday. For now, I am just happy that this change is done. After all, where I am is where God wants me to be and there is no better place to be in the end!

Some great things have been happening in Eger these past few months and some challenges as well. First, the exciting things; Nick led the church on it’s first foreign mission trip to Ukraine in early May and it was a great success! If you would like to read about the details, you can find a link here on Nick’s blog. http://bit.ly/b7xe0a The greatest part of it all was that this was an outreach to not only Hungarian speaking Ukrainians but also to poor Gypsy families. This is a major step in the church’s learning about reaching out through language and culture barriers for the Gospel and, we hope, the beginning of a heart for world missions in the church. Already they are planning to go back on the 11th of June!

They also took part in the annual Love Bridge ecumenical outreach event. This is an event where the churches in town volunteer to help repair or build something for the community somewhere in the city. This year they went to the big city park and helped fix up the playground for the kids. These events are usually reported on by the local television and receive a lot of notice from the city. On top of this, Nick even had an interview with the local paper where he shared about the church, Felecia’s amazing recovery, and the outreaches the church is doing in Ukraine. Seems like the community is more and more interested in the church!

Unfortunately, on a not so good note, the church laptop was stolen recently with all of our backup files and teachings. Not much else was taken, praise the Lord, but it is still a loss that we didn’t really need. We don’t know who did it and we haven’t heard anything about the location of the laptop, but we are still praying the person will return it. Until then, we are looking into a replacement for the laptop. The laptop is to be used for handling the recording of the teachings and video presentations as well as broadcasting the teachings on the internet. If anyone has any suggestions, please let us know!

As for Szolnok, things are really starting to move along. I have made very strong contacts within the Methodist church here in town and meet regularly with the pastor, Laci (Latsee.) He is about the same age as me, expecting his second child, and recently moved here to Szolnok as well for his first post-seminary pastoral position. He has been a real blessing and encouragement to me both through his friendship but also through his encouragement to fellowship and help in making contacts. I’ve had the opportunity to help them with worship and teaching for their youth group and worship for their Sunday service. While our liturgical styles and structures are different, the fellowship in Christ is solid and I am blessed with the chance to continue practicing my gifts and abilities while preparing the Calvary plant.

I’ve also had a lot of great results from my work with the primary school in Törökszentmiklos. While the school year is over for me now until September, I have already been invited back for next year and even been offered an additional class each week. What’s great about this is I have an awesome opportunity to speak into these kids’ lives and share the love of Christ all while helping them learn a language I know simply by birth! I also have had a lot of great conversations with the other English teachers in the school, some expressing an interest in attending a service or the summer’s English camp outreach!

We’ve also made some great contacts in town, one being an American English teacher named Emily who works with one of the more prominent high schools in Szolnok. She is in a deep relationship with a Hungarian guy named Tamás who is really into music, particularly Guns and Roses. We have met with them a few times and really enjoy their company and are hoping to meet with them more. Another is a guy, Zsoli, who is related to one of my students in Eger, and his girlfriend, Barbi, who works as the assistant to the director of the English Speaking Business Program of the Szolnok University. This is a real blessing to me as I have been praying for a way to connect with the University and she has offered me the contact information to do so! Both of these contacts have really blessed us and confirmed our desire to connect with people in the community going through similar situations we are. We are hoping and praying that we can be a blessing to them and maybe help them to meet God in the process.

Unfortunately, one bad thing is that I’ve been unable to continue my studies with the Bible college due to an increase in their rates. While a bit discouraging, it has led to me to really focus on teaching myself whatever I can through reading and structured personal Bible studies. Three books I have read that really impacted me lately have been “It” by Craig Groeschel, “Authentic Christianity” by Ray Stedman, and “Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by New Church Starts” by Jim Griffith and Bill Easum. All three have really increased my desire to plant a church here in Szolnok and really helped to crystallize my vision and the steps needed to accomplish it. More importantly, they all have pointed back to the extreme importance of a strong personal relationship with Christ myself and that has really encouraged me in my prayer time, devotional reading, and reliance upon God’s Spirit and calling to accomplish everything needed.

As for family news; as many of you know, we have been blessed with the birth of our lovely daughter, Emily Marie, on April 22nd. It was a week earlier than we had planned and the birth was a bit hard for both Marianna and Emily but everything came through just fine and they both came home only one day later than expected. Now Emily is eating, sleeping, and growing like a champ. She is a really easy baby and a joy to have around. Her favorite things are eating with mommy, sleeping on daddy’s shoulder, and yelling at her ducky. As for us, it is a challenge to transition into parenthood, especially for me sometimes without my family around me, but God is sustaining us and we are learning as we go.

Some great news is we were able to put together the funds to travel to America this summer! It took a major struggle with the reservation place due to Emily being born after the reservations were made, but it seems like we will be in Northern California with my family from July 27th to August 20th and in San Jose from August 21th to September 1st. We’re not sure yet on much besides that but if anyone is interested in meeting during the time we are in California, please let us know and we will work something out. This will likely be the last trip we can make for maybe another two years. Because of this, we want to try to connect with as many people as possible before we have to leave. All in all though we are just excited to introduce Emily to all our family and friends!

Our Future Goals:
• Establish better intercessory communication
• Make contacts in the local uinversity for future outreach opportunites, contacts, or possible work
• Continue to develop relationships with people in Szolnok
• Continue to assist the Methodist church in it’s current programs
• Assist with the Debrecen and Eger English camps
• Come visit everyone in California!

Thank you once again from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers and support. God is truly working and blessing us and we couldn’t be doing what we are doing without you all. May God richly bless your faithfulness!

P.S. If you are interested in becoming part of a dedicated intercessory prayer team for the work here in Eger and Szolnok, please contact us and let us know. We will add your emails to a special prayer request list and update as often as possible, answer questions, and report when a specific prayer has been answered. Thanks!