Summer and Fall 2012!

It's been a crazy summer this year!  Despite the fact that I didn't have to work in the schools and we didn't have any trip plans, the Lord ended up keeping us busy and working hard.

Foundations Conference this year was great.  We had some solid teaching from Jim Gallagher, Rick Chaffin, John Cubik and Phil Metzger.  I started the week with a really bad cold and had to sit out the first two days but afterwards I was able to enjoy the week a lot more.  Also, it was a bit harder for Emily this year as she was in the children's ministry most of the week but she seemed to enjoy it by the end of the week.  By far, her favorite thing seemed to be the grounds cat and seeing so many new and HUGE bugs.  We came home with lots of energy and excitement for the work, which is really the point of the whole conference. For me, the highlight was, as always, reconnecting with old friends and hearing about the work of the Lord in the rest of the world.

The Debrecen English Camp was a blast this year! Things were a bit different as I wasn't a teacher, just a helper.  My purpose was to be the editor for the student films.  This meant most of my work was the last two days!  The first three day, I helped coordinate worship for the testimony times and ran a movie-themed photo scavenger hunt.  The last two days ended up being a lot of work but went quickly due the kids doing a great job on their cuts and storyboards!  Here are the links to the videos: Western, Sci-Fi, Mystery,Courtroom drama, Action and the film by the Miskolcs orphans. Remember, these are all written, directed, storyboarded and recorded by the students.  They even sat down with me and asked for changes before the productions were finalized.

School started in September and I am now teaching 16 hours a week, from 1st grade up to 8th.  It seems to be going a lot better this year as I have a solid plan and I know a little more what is expected of me.  What I love is that this year I have had many more opportunities to speak God's truth into the lives of my students. Unfortunately, all this can change come January. The Hungarian government will be nationalizing the public schools and instituting new rules to make things standardized. One of these rules will end up making it impossible to teach in any school without a teaching degree.  While I am technically not a teacher, the rules are so vague and new that I honestly don't know what will become of my job when things change.  We are trying to find a solution but the legal roadblocks seem insurmountable right now, even to our lawyer friends and the principles I work with!  We will only know the outcome in January when things solidify.  Until then, I am just trying to remain faithful and asking God to help me to be a good witness throughout.

The church is doing well and we are growing, but we are still in need of helpers.  Some friends from other churches have offered to help us with translation but we still need some dedicated people to live here and form a core team, preferably those who speak Hungarian.  In addition, I have it on my heart to begin going back to Eger regularly to help with worship and to give Jani a break when he needs it.  They are going through a difficult time due to some big changes recently and I really desire to help however I can.  It's shouldn't be too difficult to help on their Sunday services since it is in the monrning and ours in the afternoon, but it is a lot of driving and work and I already feel quite tired and stretched working on the church in Szolnok alone.

Things have been a bit lighter here in Szolnok lately, unfortunatey, due to my work in Törökszéntmiklos being "put on hold." Nandi, the leader of the Gypsy fellowship, said he  would like the group to focus on evangelism and outreach for a season.  Since it is not my group and I am only a guest teacher, I have no say in this.  I believe studying the Word is critical, but it is ultimately their choice.  At least in my 6 months with them I was able to show them the love of Christ and cover some critical foundations of the faith.  I pray that in my time with them, they have come to understand how important it is that the Bible be the authority in the faith. That was my prayer from the beginning and continues to be my desire for them. I am now praying that this truly is only a season and not the end to our working relationship.

I was able to begin a weekly English club mid-September that meets in the Szolnok city library.  Most of the time I am seeing 7-9 kids coming and we share a lot in our conversations.  I have a 30 week plan I intend to cover through the school year and advertise for the summer English camps through it to the high schools.  The library is very excited and helpful in the club, even asking me to consider doing a small children's and an adult's club when I can. What's more, I've been able to lead one of the students to the Lord already! Most of the children coming are kids I have made a connection with through my teaching in the primary schools but no longer teach. This is one of the ministries your donations are helping me to perform on a regular basis.  For those of you supporting the work here, know that God is working because of your help and I am praying He uses it more for His glory! There are many more opportunities besides this that are available but I just don't have the time or the resources to do them!  This is a great problem to have!

Marianna is now working on finding a job since Emily started pre-school in September as well. This Tuesday she will have an interview with a federal company that handles grants and tenders.  It is a good group of people and seems like it would help Marianna to make connections with a lot of people in the city as well.  Please be praying for her to do well and earn favor in the eyes of the interviewer.  Besides that, our search has been pretty fruitless.  Much of Hungary, except Budapest, is experiencing major shortages on work.  However, God has provided work for us both as needed so we are surviving.  We are praying God would provide that perfect job for her soon though so she can have normal health care and we all can begin to find a bit more stability in our schedule.

Emily seems to be enjoying her new pre-school a lot. She gets along well with the other kids and loves the arts and crafts she is doing. She eats well, sleeps well and enjoys herself immensely there!  What's more, she has shown a deep love for singing!  She is singing Hungarian rhymes almost constantly through the day.  We are so proud of her and happy she is enjoying herself.  Her teacher is very kind and loving to Emily and they get along great.  She also has a smaller group so there is a lot more interaction and closeness between them.  In general, it seems to be a great thing for her and we are happy for that.

As for me, the summer was spiritually a very tough time and I was struggling a lot with a lack of fellowship but God has been providing in amazing ways.  Kyle Eckhart, the Calvary pastor from Szeged, comes and visits with me once a month for fellowship and prayer.  This is great as he has been here in Hungary for 18 years and so is familiar with a lot of the struggles and spiritual battles I am going through as a church planter from the States.  Our time together has been refreshing and helpful to me and I am very grateful for his effort and advice.  There is also an elder from the Pentacostal group in town that has taken it upon himself to encourage and spend time with me.  His name is Miklos (Nick) and he is also a great guy.  I really appreciate how God has brought these two guys (and others) into my life in this season and how He is using them to encourage and strengthen me,

Prayer requests: 
Trip to the states: We would like to take a trip to the states soon as we are now approaching three years since our last trip.  Our original intention was to try for this Christmas but due to the financial difficulties of the summer, we have to postpone until next summer or even next Christmas.  God is good and we are trusting in His provision and direction, but I would like to see my family and friends face to face soon.

Health: Emily has been sick a few times since her start in preschool and last year I was sick a lot during the school year.  With the cold weather coming we are really praying things will be calmer this winter and that we won't spend so much time blowing our nose and feeling sick.  We are focusing on eating healthy, exercising and getting plenty of rest, but please pray for God to do the real work!

Marianna’s Job: Her interview will be on this Tuesday with a representative from Budapest.  Please be praying that God's will be done and Marianna be confident in His leading either for this job or for another. 

Helpers: We are fast approaching the point where the opportunities are surpassing my ability to keep up. There is a group wanting a Bible study 30 min to the north, an opening to dedicated outreach to the local college, and opportunities for me to help in Eger and in the Pentacostal church here as well. In short, I need help!  God is the master of the harvest and I know He will provide when we need it, so for now I am praying and waiting.  However, I believe these opportunities are here for a reason and I would love to see the helpers rise up to take action on them!

  

Thank you for joining with us in praying for these things, for Szolnok, and that God would do a mighty work through the faithful brethren here who are willing to do what He asks.

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Summer Mission Update

Summer Missions Conference: Our time at Vajta in June was a truly blessed time. We all had a great time fellowshipping with our fellow missionaries and ministers from around Eastern Europe, many of whom we can only see at times like these. There were some really great teachings from Bob Caldwell, Thomas Powell, and Rich Chaffin. Here is a link to the teachings. While there was no central theme, The Lord brought a message out to me about returning to your first love and abiding in the love of Christ. This was great as it echoes the teachings I am preparing through John 14-16 and has given me a lot of inspiration for them.

Renewed Focus: One thing I discovered at the conference was that in some ways I had lost focus on what God had called me to do. Early in the week, God began opening my eyes to the fact that I was trying to meet my idea of success rather than simply minister to those around me. He showed me I need to focus more on the needs of the people He has brought, share with those who will listen, and let Him do the rest. Also, to stop looking at how few we might be sometimes and rather focus on how strong we are. Since this change in me, I have seen a dramatic change in the church and I am excited about where God is taking us. Also, since this our numbers have increased as God has brought new people to the fellowship.

Summer Camps: Both camps were really blessed! In Debrecen, I was really able to connect to the students and the last day I was able to share about God's unconditional love and unconditional acceptance. The kids were very open throughout the week and the Gospel was shared multiple times in very clear and distinct ways. Also, I was reminded of a few of the helpers I have seen come to the Lord through this camp. Lili, a girl whom I saw come to the Lord through these camps, even joined me in leading worship one of the days.

The camp in Eger was a bit more rough for me as I was in a group of sports guys (me being a guy who always was bad at sports) but God opened doors there as well. The last day I was able to share with the older kids about the reality of truth, reality of God, and the reality of Jesus. From these four, one came to church the next Sunday! Here also I was able to see a helper I saw come to the Lord stepping up and teaching a class! It's such a blessing to be able to see such obvious and lasting fruit as this! These camps are a huge success, not always in a short term evangelistic way (dozens getting saved overnight) but rather in a long term, life changing decission kind of way. I have seen it happen time and time again, it just takes some time and some pouring into them before they can come to a place of trusting the Lord.

Outreaches: On August 13th, a small group will come out for some evangelism again from Budapest. Last time we saw some great responses to the conversations but no commitments to follow the Lord or come to the fellowship. Part of this has to do with the culture of mistrust towards religion and establishing relationships before commiting to a church, but the other part is maybe we aren't doing something right. Please be praying for God to show us how we can not just preach the Gospel but be effective in helping people make a real change in their lives towards following God. Also, we are praying about planing some sort of a marriage conference for the couples in town focusing on how to strengthen and improve their marriage from a Biblical perspective. We feel like this is a strong need in our community here and will be a true blessing to the families here.

Campus Crusade for Christ: I've also been working on an ecumenical outreach at the local college with the Methodist pastor here in Szolnok. Before the camps, I was able to meet with the Lutherin pastor as well. We all are in agreement that something needs to be done to reach out to the college group. Even more, there are no existing ministries reaching out to them yet. Our plan is to hand out information packets to new students and offer them a "surrogate family" here in Szolnok who can help them out and guide them around. As they do this, hopefully there will be chances to share the Lord and His love to them. I still have a lot to do and would like to include the Reformed church in the plans as well. Next month I am planning on contacting the college about permission and the Campus Crusade group for the materials. Please pray for everything to work out as I will have roughly a month to bring everything together to hit the first year students on their first week when it will have the most impact. Also, I think this will have a great effect in establishing our presence in the city with the other churches.

Financial Blessings: God has opened the doors of heaven lately! Besides receiving more than enough donations to cover our debts and needed purchases for the summer, God has also opened the door for me to teach English at another primary school here in Szolnok. Starting in September, I will be teaching English 15 hours a week to 6 to 15 year olds three times a week! Both of these schools are the best schools in their respective locations and will provide both a sense of belonging to our fellowship as well as many new connections in the community and leadership of the area. While the income is not significant, it is enough to help cover most of our necessities and allow more of our donations to be spent on outreaches and church related functions. We are truly blessed at God's faithfulness and feel amazed at the heart of His body to give!

Family News: Emily has been growing in leaps and bounds lately! She's begun speaking, singing and dancing. We are truly blessed with how kind and friendly she is with others and how comfortable she is in most situations. Marianna and I have been enjoying some nice time of spiritual growth and closeness to each other. Thank you to those who have been praying for us and our marriage! We have found it easier to read the Word, pray and share with each other what God is speaking to us. Please continue to pray that God would protect us from the enemy's attacks and perseverence in maintaining our spiritual disciplines.

Prayer requests: English camps; that God would help us to lead these children to Christ as we follow up with them. Campus Crusade outreach; that God would use the churches, in unity, to reach out to the new and foreign students, leading them to Christ. August outreach: that we would be effective in leading people to a changed life in Christ. Church; growing deeper in the Lord and continuing to keep our eyes on Christ and His plans. Teaching jobs; that God would use me as a witness in these places and give me opportunities and connections to continue spreading the Gospel in Szolnok. Family: continued growth and openess to the work of the Lord in our lives

Beeeeeees!

Lately I have been helping Marianna's family with harvesting honey and vegetables from their farm in a nearby town. It's not very challenging work but I found myself messing things up still! Interestingly enough, as we gather the honey, I find there's a lot of time for thinking. As I thought about the bees, a couple of things started to amaze me;

• Bees are individual beings yet work as a team for the sake of the hive.
• From birth to death, each bee works continually for the increase and safety of the hive.
• They protect and tend to the young but also have a system of growing them up to help in the work.
• The young fit seamlessly into the existing system, yet all are capable of adapting for the sake of the hive.
  
• Any single bee will willingly sacrifice it's life for the safety of the hive.
• A bee will travel for miles to find that which will feed the hive in it's time of need.
  
• They take something bitter and inedible and turn it into something sweet and nourishing.
• They produce more than they could ever use and help others by pollinating plants so fruits and vegetables can be eaten.
• Every now and then a new queen is born. Multiplication is part of their plan from the beginning.
  

As a Christian, this has some obvious ideas and illustrations for me.

• The church should be working together; individuals working together in harmony for the sake of the church and churches working together for the sake of the Kingdom.
• Each member should be walking in the Spirit, active in the gifts God gave them and not trying to be what they are not created to be.
• A church should be protecting and helping new believers while training them to become the next generation of leaders and servants.
• The young and old shouldn't be fighting about ways to do things but be respectful of each other, allowing God's Spirit to work as it desires.
  
• Each person shouldn't be focusing on what the church can do for them but what they can do for the kingdom through the church. More then that, their eyes should always be on honoring and serving our King!
  
• Every experience, bad as well as good, should be seen through the eyes of faith and turned into a testimony and witness of God's goodness and faithfulness, drawing people to Him.
• The church should be reaching out and helping both other Christians and the lost to be nourished and grow in the knowledge of God. Sharing their excess and giving to those in need.
  
• The church should be replicating and reproducing!

Last interesting thought; for a bee to serve the colony, it must be born twice! Gotta love farming. :)

About Szolnok

Over the past year that I have been in Szolnok, I have discovered some very interesting things. Here is just a short list;

Facts about Szolnok:

• Szolnok sits at the convergence point of Hungary’s second largest river, the Tisza, and the Zagyva. The Tisza river is prone to flooding and has one of the largest flood control systems in Europe!
  
• Received one of the first railroad stations in Hungary, later became one of the largest stations in Hungary (Central hub for many international routes)
• Reduced to a population of a couple thousand in WWII due to severe bombing by the Allies.
• Under Russian control, Szolnok prospered again with strong industry and tourism.
• It was called “little Moscow” for it’s complete adoption of the communist ideals. (Mostly due to Russia’s heavy investment in the city’s rebuilding.)
• Included the view that religion is the “opiate of the masses” and a sign of lesser intelligence (some attitude of which still carries on today.)
• In the Hungarian revolution of 1956, Russian troops retreated to Szolnok from Budapest to regroup. In only three days, they returned to Budapest and destroyed the rebellion.
• The people of Szolnok take a long time to trust you, but once they do, they will trust you to the end and treat you like family.
  
• If each of the 10 churches (including Catholic) in the city has a minimum of 75 people, the high estimate of Christians in the city runs around 750 to 1,000. That’s still only between 1% and 1.33% of the population. (This means around 99% of the population is not Christian or not attending a church.) This gets worse when we realize that many of the people attending church in Szolnok actually live in the surrounding towns and villages.
  
• The economy of Szolnok is in the process of switching from agriculture and heavy industry to bio and computer tech. (This is a ten year vision for the city that is now in it’s second year.)
• A Hungarian Methodist pastor was sent here in the 1970s to plant a church. After a year, he returned to Budapest for a year to “recharge and regroup” as the work had left him spiritually dry and weak. Eventually the church was planted and today is thriving.
• Szolnok has been prayed for by Calvary pastors and fellowships for over 10 years!
  

March Update

Winter this year has been long and cold, but as with nature, even in the coldest times, life goes on. These past three months in Szolnok have been quite exciting for us. The most spectacular thing was the new footbridge opening in January. The new bridge, the Tisza flower, (pictured on the right,) is the next step in a broad, ten-year economic development plan. I think it’s a great looking bridge and has some really great features like windows along the floor where you can see the river flowing under you. It’s main purpose is to connect the downtown and student dorms with the college campus, tourist traps, and sporting areas. It’s all part of the city’s grand plan for turningSzolnok into the next Silicon Valley. It’s a great idea and I think it’s a wise use of the city’s resources, but it’s still got a long way to go. This is a step in the right direction and helping to make Szolnok more than just that city between Budapest and Debrecen.

As for the less spectacular things, we’ve had some hard struggles. The biggest thing this past three months was Atilla and Aniko, a couple who started coming to our fellowship in November, loosing their five year old son, Sámuel, to a sudden case of sepsis meningitis. From start to end, the whole thing lasted only a day and a half, which made the realization of what actually happened all the more harder to accept. They were really struggling and, honestly, so were we. As many of you know, Nick and Rosemary experienced a miracle with their daughter Felicia last year and so I wasn’t worried when I first heard the news about him being sick. I prayed, asked others, and fully expected God to work. Then, Samuel died. I found myself really questioning why God let this happen. Suddenly, our little fellowship found it’s faith stretched. But, praise the Lord, we have all come through it stronger in the Lord and in each other. While questions remain and healing continues, we can see a hope and a joy in our lives that God is using to help heal us and draw others to Him through us. Please continue to pray for Atilla and Aniko to lean upon the Lord in this time and that God would form us into a fellowship that loves and supports one another even more.

Also, the situation with Calvary’s status with the government has continued to look bleaker and bleaker. As it stands now, we are likely to fall into the „religous fellowships” grouping. This is the third tier of the new government system and would remove our church status (we would be treated as a non-profit, not a church) loose funding for our social services (like homeless shelters and kindergardens,) we wouldn’t be able to receive tax donations like the historical churches, and we would loose our Bible college accreditation with the EU education system. All in all, potentially big blows to the legitimacy of Calvary in Hungary but nothing God can’t overcome. We are still praying that God works in a mighty way through this time and we would be spared these problems, but should He not, we are confident He won’t be limited by the Hungarian government’s rejection of us.

As for victories, there have been a few. I’ve been able to meet and establish a relationship with two of the other historical churches in Szolnok. In January, the city churches held an ecumenical prayer week and each church took turns presenting a message. During the week, the meetings were held in the Methodist building so I attended and helped them with handing out information, directing people, and greeting. It was a great chance to get to know the other fellowships in town and their pastors in a non-confrontational way. I was even introduced by the Methodist pastor to the Reformed, Lutherin, Greek Orthodox and Evangelical pastors. I am praying this will lead to better relationships in the future so we can all work together to further Christ’s kingdom in Szolnok.

We’ve also seen some ground taken in the areas of the college and city library. On Valentine’s day, Marianna and I handed out some gospel fliers at the college campus to remind the students of the greatest valentine’s day gift ever; Jesus Christ. While there, we got the contact information for the advertising on campus and received permission to put up 12 posters around campus! This is a huge privilage and we quickly supplied the posters. We also were given permission to put up some posters in the local library where I have been studying for our Sunday teachings and leave fliers for the church at a community board area. All together, it’s a very encouraging thing, but we know that even with this it is God alone who brings the increase. We are really praying these posters will lead to people finding a relationship with Christ.

As for future programs, this weekend will mark the beginning of our evangelism season. With the warmer weather and more people spending their free time outside, we have decided to begin focusing more on getting out and talking to people. This Saturday, the 9th, we will be hitting the street with some brothers from Budapest and my friend, Scott Fales. Our goal is to interest people in talking to us, then inviting them to a Spaghetti feed that night where we can present them with the Gospel in a non-confrontational way. The next day, we will go on the streets and do it again, inviting them to church that afternoon. I believe this is an effective method for reaching people in this community, but we will see. The key will be convincing people to join us for dinner where we can discuss their feelings about God and share His truth in a more relaxed way.

The summer English camps are coming up soon as well as the summer conferences. This year I will be participating in both Debrecen’s and Eger’s English camps. My plan is to try to encourage any kids from Szolnok I know to go and see if we can’t lead them to the Lord through it. This is quite often a very successful ministry and we are praying this year is no exception. The yearly missions conference in June is a highlight of the year for me as it is one of the few chances I get to fellowship with many of the people I went to Bible college with. It’s a sweet time of worship, discipleship, and fellowship and we are very much looking forward to it. Also, this year’s Calvary Summer conference speaker will be Gayle Erwin! Not only will we be able to fellowship with our sister churches; Egerand Szeged (Marianna’s home church), but also be blessed with Gayle’s teaching is huge and everyone is very excited.

We are also really excited about this summer because our good friend, Kristen Huffman, will be coming to visit us for three months! She has asked to see Hungary and what’s going on here as well as just spend some time with us. She will be arriving in June and staying until the end of August. This is a huge blessing for us and we hope it will be for her as well. We arealready trying to plan all the places we can take her and show her the great sights of Hungary. We also might have the help of Zach Nagatani for the Debrecen English camp. He is praying about it and trying to work out the finances, but I am sure that if he can come, God will use him in an amazing way. His heart for the Lord and servant’s heart will be a huge blessing to the work and demonstrate to many of these kids how being a Christian doesn’t mean you have to be boring and strange.

That’s all for now. I pray you all are blessed, growing in grace, and that all this information encourages you in your work for the Lord as well. God bless!

Praise Reports:
• Barnabas translated two weekends ago for the first time and did a great job!
• Barnabas’ fiance, Zsuzsi, will be back in Szolnok in June and desires to help with children’s ministry.
• The move to Sunday afternoon has been successful and everyone seems to be comfortable with the new time.
• Marianna’s neice started coming on Sundays!

Our Future Goals:
• Raising more support or income to sustain our family and the ministry here.
• More outreaches with the help of other Calvary churches in Hungary
• Begin discipling and raising up ministry helpers.

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!

December Update

In the words of Phil Metzger, Calvary Chapel Hungary’s overseer, we have now entered the “Isaac era.” In previous times, Calvary was more like Abraham;we left our homelands, followed God to a new land, and broke new ground for the Lord. Now most of the Calvary Chapels in Hungary are no longer pioneers but settlers, seeking to dig deeper, grow stronger, and dwell in the land to reap the harvest. Unfortunately, while it is our “promised land,” remaining in it is not so easyas we might like. Wells that we dug are being filled in, a famine is upon the land, and enemies seek to harm the progress of the work. However, this is where God has called us to be and this is where we will stay.
Recently, the government began considering a law to limit church status to those they deem as “acceptable.” The requirements are a membership over 50,000 or over 100 years of existence in the country. Unfortunately, Calvary falls outside this group as we have only been here 20 yearsand our membership, while large for such a young church, is still well below 5,000. Meetings with the government have revealed that we are a bit of a problem for them. They don’t want to remove our status, but they need to cut off groups taking advantage of the current laws. In fact, many government officialsthat we have met with mentioned a relative or friend they knew who attend a Calvary! Unfortunately, the implications are huge. The loss of recognized church status, would result in things like the loss of our non-profit status, the loss of accreditation for the bible college, and the loss of all funding for social outreach programs. While this is not so good, we are trying to trust in the Lord, continue spreading the word, and walking according to faith. Should we loose our status, we know that He will show us how to continue, even without a recognized church status.

On the good side, the church here in Szolnok is growing well. We’ve seen a lot of families coming and usually see more than 5 people show up every meeting and many are already growing visibly in their walks with the Lord. However, we’ve hit a roadblock in that we are in need of a children’s ministry! Most of the people who are coming now have families with young children, ages 3 months to 6 years. Right now, Marianna and I are involved in the teaching and translating of the study so there are no other helpers yet to begin a Biblical children’s ministry. We are praying God would provide someone so that the families that have children would feel able to come and fellowship. To help a bit with this we will move the study to Sunday afternoon starting in January. That way, it will at least be easier to find someone to watch the children until we can find a volunteer to lead a children’s ministry.

Our relationship with the Methodist church has continued to show fruit. I met with the leadership recently and they expressed their support for our work and excitement about how God is working in our fellowship. We have been really blessed to use their building for a good price and it gives us a lot of room to grow. All in all, it seems to be a good connection and a blessing for us both. Praise the Lord! I pray it continues to be so and also that it would witness to the community that the body of Christ is not so divided as they might think. We are also planning a joint Christmas service for the 26th of December!

One of our members, Barnabas, has really been a help and encouragement to me over the past few months. He moved to Szolnok recently from Budapest where he accepted Christ at the Calvary there. He has a strong heart for the Lord and is interested in worship and evangelism. I am praying God will give me wisdom to help Barnabas find his calling from God and enable him to follow it. On a side note, it’s great to me that his name means “son of encouragement” because he really is an encouragement to me. He is engaged to a wonderful woman named Zsuzsi and they both are great with Emily.
We also held our “first” outreach on December 6th to celebrate Mikulas Nap (Santa day). In Hungary, they celebrate Santa on a day other than Christmas. On this day, Santa comes and brings all the kids candy or chocolate. To help make connections, we handed out packages of candy with an evangelism tract to anyone who would accept. We decided to start small with only 100 packages but they went quickly and we were done in a half hour! The most common question we were asked was “what do I have to pay?” When we responded nothing, almost everyone walked away happy and with the Gospel in their hands. We are now praying about doing more outreaches like this soon, maybe even before Christmas!
In November, we held a dedication ceremony for Emily. Since most of Marianna’s family didn’t understand the idea of a dedication, we wanted to host a special event where we could explain the meaning of it as well as our hearts for the Lord. My good friend Tamas Gemes, the pastor of Calvary Chapel Vác, was kind enough to MC the event for us and I was able to play a few songs. It all went very well and most of the family was able to come. Tamas was even able to share not only why we do a dedication and what it means, but also the Gospel. All in all, it was more a ceremony for the family than us, but I believe it was invaluable all the same.
On the personal side, we undertook a major project this past 3 months to replace the windows in our flat. We were able to make everything work, even building a wall to help give Emily her own room. However it has left all our savings and credit sources empty. Unfortunately, we have seen a few surprise reductions in our income since then. Marianna’s income from the state has been cut by 25%, our support has been down, and the cost of things like heating, fuel, and electricity are all rising with the dropping weather and rising oil prices. I have been working ¼ time for about three years to help cover our costs but even that is not enough now. I am praying and looking into more work to make ends meet. I’m not sure exactly what to do, but I am considering some freelance graphics design or maybe applying at the local college to do some English tutoring or conversational classes. All in all, we trust God and His calling, even in this time of famine, but we also know we should share our needs and ask people to pray for us.
Emily has really grown a lot in the past three months! No longer content to sit and watch things happen around her, she is determined to be mobile now and is extremely active. She has truly lived up to her name (Emily means industrious!) She has learned to crawl, stand, and is now attempting to walk between the couches in our living room. Unfortunately, she tends to fall a lot and she doesn’t like that, neither do we for that matter, but she is very brave and keeps trying. In general, she is a very happy baby, enjoying life and the new experiences Marianna tries to share with her each day. She already has shown a strong preference for being around others, eating meat and bread, being startled and playing with things like hair and wires. We are super blessed by her and are enjoying every moment. We have all been fighting a cold for the past two weeks, but we are slowly recovering and are in good spirits in general.

Our Future Goals:
• Moving the Bible study through John to Sundays at 4:00pm in January.
• Finding a translator for the Bible study or someone to watch the children while Marianna translates.
• Finding more work or support.
• Wrapping up ties to the ministry work in Eger.
• Looking into mission trips to Moldova or Ukraine

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!

72 Hours without compromise - Szolnok

Today I took part in an ecumenical program that focused on youth serving the community called 72 hours without compromise. It's an event sponsored by the Reformed, Lutheran, Evangelical churches and the city hall to encourage the youth to serve and help out around the town and learn to work together for a noble purpose. I heard about the event from my Methodist pastor friend and decided to tag along today. It ended up being a great idea and I even think I discovered a great way to reach out to the community through it.

I met up with some youth from the Methodist church and we headed into the town center with a bag of toys, a cd with a children's movie, and a porcelain souvenir to give to any children we found. In general, the idea was a great one and a lot of kids were very happy. Everything went really well and we were given permission to hand out the toys inside of the local mall when it started raining. The interesting thing to me, though, was how most people honestly couldn't believe we just wanted to give something for free. For the most part, people would take the free toy, but not until asking four or five times what's the cost. It took us only about 2 hours to hand out all our toys, but quite a few families left without one because they simply couldn't accept that we didn't want something from them. The worst part was that their kids missed a chance to be blessed because of their parents' distrust.

It got me thinking about the Gospel and how so many people don't want to accept it because they can't believe it is free. That is so sad because it is, but because we have been so burned by the bad examples of this world, we don't trust anything that isn't free anymore. Because of this, we walk past the offer of eternal life, expecting to be tricked, and in the process deny ourselves the joy and pleasure that God has in store for us.

All of this gave me a great idea for an outreach opportunity coming up though. Every December 6th, Hungary celebrates Saint Nicholas day. This is similar to how most Americans celebrate Christmas in that the children receive toys and candy in their shoes overnight. My idea is to hand out candies and small toys to kids on the day along with hot tea for the parents and a tract explaining the Gospel as well as information on local churches they can attend, if they are interested. I am going to approach the local churches and ask if they would like to participate in this idea. If not, we will do it alone. I think it is a great chance to show unity in Christ though. We'll see how it goes.