WEEKLY UPDATE

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On the past two occasions traveling to Bogacs, we met with Gyuszi at the local gas station and we were escorted to his house. Tonight, knowing the way, we went directly to his house entering to find no one there except Gyuszi's mom, his wife and his daughter. The guys were on there way (thinking we were meeting at the gas station again). This gave us a few minutes to talk to the women. Gyuszi's wife (pictured above right) told me that she continued to read the Bible we had left with her as she had time. She told me how she learned that people had once lived for hundreds of years until God chose to restrict our days to 120 years. Robi and his wife arrived soon after. Robi's wife also shared that she continued to read the Word through the week. Pretty soon the room was filled with family members and friends and we began our study on Genesis 6 and the story of Noah and the Flood.

Through facilitating the study through questions, it became clear that this was a new beginning for Noah and his family. Those in the room began to comment that just as Adam and Eve had a chance to obey God in the garden in faith, so Noah had an opportunity to obey God in faith to be saved. And soon, some in the room were saying how today, we have a chance to obey God by believing in Jesus Christ to be saved. Once again, there were passionate discussions and many questions. At times, I just sat back and listened as the group was split. Some were heatedly speaking against truth while others defended God's truth to the extent they understood.

After we worked through the study on Noah we transitioned to discussing questions about faith in Jesus. One difficulty that many of them have is the painful reality of feeling helpless in poverty. They wonder why God couldn't just enter into their lives and help them. This gave me opportunity to talk about the terrible effects that sin has on all of us. This also gave me opportunity to talk about Jesus Christ, who had no place to lay his head. He was not rich. Although He was the Son of God, Jesus did not escape suffering in this world. Knowing my personal testimony, one person shouted, "Why couldn't we have everything like you had in the US...money and a job!" I told them that my story of being saved is not the common story for the rich. I told him how Jesus taught that it is most difficult for the rich to be saved (Luke 18:25) because in most cases they depend on all they have and have no sense of their need of God. I told them that one side of poverty is the suffering of being poor, but the other side is a greater capacity to cling to God and to be saved. To the rich who are not saved, they may benefit for a short time here, but they lose it all at death and the final judgment. For the poor who suffers for a short time here on earth, they have gained everything because they put their faith in Jesus.

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Above: One of the men named Józsi (striped shirt) who seems to be one of the eldest who attends has now invited us into his home. Józsi seems to be on the right track as far as understanding God's word and has good insights and questions. It looks like next week we'll meet at his house.

Robi who usually is the most antagonistic (yet somehow always warm and friendly at the same time) was very quiet tonight. The majority of Robi's comments were good and in line with the Bible. He is a deep thinker and I believe he is taking seriously all that has been shared up until this point. Towards the end of the night he told me how different Christianity was. After I read John 3:16 to the group he said, "This is a God for the world, not some god for a particular group of people and their particular customs. This God is for the Americans, the Hungarians, the Gypsies, the Chinese…for everyone in the world." After being there for four hours, I announced, "We're leaving." I always get a kick out of the response of, "What?!, You can't leave yet!"

Babi, was sitting opposite of me, so I walked over to her, kneeled down and prayed for her before we left. One of the men who was very resistant this night said, "If God were to show me He could heal… to do something that I could see with my own eyes, then I could believe. But He hasn't." I just listened as three or four others began shouting out at Him about personal experiences where children or friends were spared by God or recovered because of God's grace. Then he spitefully said, "Allen prayed for Vali, and she died." Once again, many in the room began defending me before I could say a word, but when I spoke, I simply made clear that God is fully capable of healing today, and God is the only one who makes the decision how long we live and when we die. It is not up to us and prayer is not a magical mantra that forces God to obey man. His decision is always the right decision. How can I, a sinner with limited understanding, look up at God who is perfect and has all knowledge and say to Him, "You did the wrong thing?" Do we really believe that in the courtroom of the universe we belong on the judgment seat while God belongs on the stand? It is my hope that these answers will help to sway this young father to reconsider Jesus Christ and turn his heart to repentance and faith in Him.

Making my way to the door, Robi grabbed me again and pointed to his feet. He said, "Allen, it's like we just need to take this step and there are no barriers, we just need to step forward and believe." May God grant that they all take that step of faith in Jesus Christ as they come to know Him through His word.

Petofibanya English Club


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Above: Roger teaching the kids about household objects and which rooms we might find them in.

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Rozsaszentmarton English Club


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Above: The advanced class in Rozsaszentmarton’s English Club on Friday. In our conversation time, students drew cards with random questions about life they would need to answer. Dezso drew a card that asked about the last time he was in an awkward situation. This gave Dezso opportunity to share about a time where he was convicted by God about not telling his boss the truth, then being prompted by God to call his boss and confess that he had lied. In the end after the awkward phone call, Dezso’s boss was so amazed at Dezso’s confession that he told Dezso that he was definitely the right person for the job. I was very thankful for Dezso’s testimony that gave these students an opportunity to hear about how God works in our lives and how we depend on His grace. Dezso is the pastor in the church plant in Rozsaszentmarton and we hope to share the hope of the Gospel with all of these students in Rozsaszentmarton.

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Pig roast


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Above: Hungarian team member Tomi (in doorway) surrounded by his family as they gathered on Saturday for a pig roast. Tomi was saved out of a past of gambling, partying and alcoholism. He’s a man in love with Jesus. He takes every opportunity to share the Gospel with all his family and says that if God could save him (the ‘black sheep’ of the family) God can same them as well.

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Above: Don’t know if you really want to know what’s boiling in that pot.

While his brothers were busy grinding up more meat, I joined Tomi in the kitchen with Bea (one of the wives that attended). As I listened to Tomi’s conversation with Bea, it seemed that she had made a recent decision to believe in Jesus, but commented that the Bible was too difficult to read and she instead read devotional material written by others every day. I had just been in training over the past few months on a way of passing on a simple technique of reading God’s word that helps new believers understand and apply what God is revealing to them. I asked Bea if she would like to do a study in the kitchen with me. We went through the process which basically is reading a passage, reciting it in your own words after reading it, asking what it teaches about God, what it teaches about man, and then asking how I can apply what I’ve learned to my life starting today. Bea was able to understand what Jesus was teaching, and understand how to apply it to life! Hopefully this brief study with her has broken down the barriers to her thinking that the Bible was not approachable and can be used by her even this week.

Thank all of you who continue to pray for the open door in Bogács and our other requests. We praise God that Gabriella’s boyfriend Józsi did come to our small group on Thursday!

Prayer Requests:


• Please continue to pray for the family in Bogács that has invited us to study God’s word together. Pray especially for Józsi as it seems as if we will be meeting at his house for the first time this week (instead of Gyuszi’s house). Pray that God’s word would be central to our discussion and pray that God would give them understanding draw them to Jesus Christ in our time together.

• Please pray for Sharon as she visits a young Hungarian friend this Thursday who is fighting cancer. Pray that she would bring encouragement and the love of Christ to this friend who is suffering.

• Please continue to pray for opportunities in Rozsaszentmarton to share the Gospel. Pray for relationships that we are developing in our English club to lead to Bible studies in the future.


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