Back in Hungary!

We're often asked, "Where is home for you?" When we're in Hungary, we often hear the question, "Do you miss being in the U.S.?" What is missed is not necessarily any particular place, but the relationship with the people we have in those places. Quality time and fellowship with family members or our church family are what are most missed. But where is home? What does home mean to you? If we really think about it, home is the place where we feel like we belong. It is the place where we feel secure, where we can just exhale and rest with a sense of true peace. Is that Hungary for us? Is that the U.S.? It is neither, because there is no true security, or true rest, or true belonging in either of these places. God allows us to sit with Moses and listen as he begins praying in Psalm 90: "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations." The NLT renders it this way: "Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!"

Moses says, "through all generations," most likely remembering Abraham. I remember when I was first called into missions, God turned my attention to Abraham. Already well established in one land with possessions and stability at the age of 75, the Lord called Abraham to leave all that he knew as "home" to enter into God's promise of being blessed and becoming a blessing. On that faith journey, Abraham experienced that God was his true home. Seeing Abraham's step of faith gave me the courage to step out from an established and comfortable life in the U.S. to a land I previously couldn't even locate on a map. And I have grown to experience that my only true place of belonging and security is God Himself. It is only in Him that I know I will find an unchanging faithfulness, unchanging love, and acceptance because I have been made one with Christ. From generation to generation, through shifting political power, the rise and fall of nations, wars, and times of peace, our only true home is God Himself.



Above: Ziva preparing to go back to her first day of school after returning to Hungary in September.



Above: Ziva reuniting with one of her school friends after being away the entire summer.

Sharon's Song-lab experience in Orlando

Above: Before returning to Hungary, Kira and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a songwriting workshop in Orlando that was held in the same location where she is now attending her discipleship program. Because of living oversees, I don't have many opportunities like this, but God worked things out so that both Kira and I could attend together. What a gift! Beautiful songs were written, great relationships were started and a spark was ignited in me.



I’ve been writing songs for nearly 10 years. As time has gone by, my heart’s desire has become not just to write, but to teach others as well—specifically to create opportunities for Hungarians to write authentically Hungarian music, not just translated versions of other songs. Please pray with us that God would show us next steps about how this could happen.

The Harvest remains plentiful in Europe

Hanging out with sinners

Jesus said, "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." (John 17:18) We are to be the light of Christ in the world, but never to be of the world. As we continue to have a long standing good relationship with the local government in our community, we are invited to participate in the celebration of Children's Day. This is not an event organized by the church, but an event where we have opportunity to be present among those who have not yet come to know Jesus as Savior.









Throughout the day, children perform shows for their parents on stage. At various stations scattered around the community center, there is a gulyás stew cooking competition going on, a classic Hungarian savory dish. Our church joins with our own tent where we do facepainting for the kids (or even parents when they ask). And as an added bonus, we provide fresh brick oven baked pogácsa which are like mini butter muffins to visitors that stop by throughout the day.









Above: Church member Irénke shared with me afterwards that her neighbor had joined in helping prepare the dough. Irénke has been seeking to share her faith with her neighbor and invite her to church.









Above: These are great opportunities for our younger church members to serve together. Many of these kids that stop by know us from summer VBS, others who have since grown up and have their own kids also stop by which gives good opportunities for spiritual conversations.

Prayer in focus

Once every few months, instead of having a traditional worship service, we devote a Sunday gathering to intercession by moving through various 'prayer stations'.



Above: At this particular 'prayer station', teammate Heidi prepared art calling to mind the faithfulness of God's presence in the dark and hopeless challenges in our lives.









Above: We praise God for church members using their creative gifts to bless the body. Each 'prayer station' touched on various themes that we have been studying over the past few months as we've worked through the book of Philippians.

"One-another" living

Hungarians in general have very few friends. In comparison to American culture, our experience has been that Hungarians are turned more inward and are more private in all their affairs of life. This leads to loneliness and isolation and this cultural norm tends to seep into church life. The church can be a room of individuals that are one-among-others, never connecting on a deeper level that would allow Biblical "one another" living. To counter this tendency, our church spent some time together on a retreat in a wooded area in Jászfényszaru surrounded by God's creation.







Above: While kids were able to take nature walks and learn about how creation itself gives testimony to the existence and amazing power of God, parents with other members had focused time with one another building community and learning about prayer.







Above: Members were able to stay together in groups over the weekend, and able to be more known and to know others as they worked through guided discussions about the Bible teaching.




Above: Of course, we also had traditional fried lard with raw onions available as a breakfast treat.



Above: As a way of not just gaining more head knowledge, the groups had opportunity to practice what was being discussed about prayer. The small groups stayed together as they moved through various prayer stations and later discussed their experiences with one another. Zsuzsa (pictured above left) shared that she had been waiting for a breakthrough for some time in her heart. There just seemed to be something missing in how she could connect with the Lord. On one of the prayer walks, there was a station with a chair you were to sit in with an empty chair next to you. The instructions were to allow yourself to truly sit with Jesus and listen. When Zsuzsa sat in that chair, something broke within her as she experienced the love of Christ ministering to her.





Above: We also had a "talk show" time where we interviewed a few members of the church asking questions such as:

How has Jesus helped you navigate through difficult times in your life?
Have you ever drifted away from God? What brought you back?
How have you seen change in your life after following Jesus?

We believe the retreat was used by the Lord to help the members build deeper relationships with one another and draw near to Him through prayer. Pray with us that our church grow in understanding their part in receiving and giving in healthy Christian community.

Burried with Christ, raised to new life

Above: Ziva hanging out with Niki (Ben's girlfriend) who came out to witness her baptism. Niki had never been to Sunday service in her life, let alone a baptism. We were thankful that she feels secure enough with our family to have attended and hear the good news in this powerful setting.



Here are some excerpts from the four that were baptized including our daughter Ziva and our teammate's daughter Emi.





Above: Irénke shared, "God has been part of my life since childhood, but I’ve gone through many failures and was lost in life. With sorrow, I have asked Jesus for forgiveness. When I tried to live without God there seemed to always be something drawing me back to Him.

I’ve heard about Jesus in my life and studied about him in religious classes. But mostly I heard about Jesus through my husband. After my husband passed away a year ago, I decided to put my fatih in Jesus Christ. I’ve had this desire for a long time, but because of circumstances in my family it just didn’t happen. 1 John 5:10 says, "Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." And this is what I say about Jesus personally; Jesus is my life."





Above: Hanna grew up with parents who were believers, but her parent's marriage ended in divorce because of an alcohol addiction wreaking havoc in the home. Although Hanna regularly attended children's ministry and once older, youth group ministry regularly, no-one truly knew the anguish that she was experiencing on the inside. She went through a very dark period of depression. On her weekly walk to school next to train tracks, Hanna begun considering ending her life. She thought to herself, "If God wants me alive, he'll send someone to me on that walk." Amazingly, every day after that, God sent someone alongside of Hanna on the walk bringing encouragement.

Hanna said in her testimony: "When Covid came, I became depressed and things weren’t great in our family in that time. Everything was bad. But two years ago I made a decision at a youth group meeting that happened after one of our camps when another teen spoke about her life. She said that Jesus saved her life and I thought to myself, “If Jesus can save her life, he can save mine!” I was someone that struggled with doubt about whether God existed or not. But on that night God proved to me that He is with me and loves me."

That "teen" that Hanna heard speak about her life was actually our daughter Kira who had made a decision that summer and had shared her experience with the youth group. We praise God for youth reaching youth and seeing the Lord raise up a new generation devoted to Jesus!



Above: Heidi praying with her daughter Emi and our daughter Ziva on Sunday.





Emi is the eldest child of our teammates Roger and Heidi. What a joy to see both Emi and our daughter baptized on the same day!

Emi shared: "I grew up in a Christian home. I’ve heard about Jesus my entire life in church and later in youth group. I believed He existed and I knew He was there but I didn’t have a real relationship with Him. I didn’t have that desire in me to want a relationship with Him. I heard those around me giving their testimonies that were inspiring and I wondered when this would happen in my life.

I lived a worldly sinful life the way I spoke and the way I related to my parents. I was involved in all kinds of sin. I know this was wrong and didn’t lead to anything good. I knew that God existed but that desire to have a relationship with Him was still missing.

This year I was at a summer camp that is for missionary kids and at the worship time, there was an opportunity to pray. I prayed, “God, I’m lost. Please help. Find me!” After that, there was another time of worship and I felt that God was present and I felt in my own heart the will to want Him. Finally, He would be the One I would seek and I would not remain in sin. And I was very happy and decided that I would put my faith in Jesus. Since then, I’ve been praying and building my relationship with Him.





Ziva shared this at her baptism: "Before I came to know God, I didn’t have much motivation for life. I felt an emptiness that I wanted to fill with other things. I tried having enough possessions, or friends or other things I thought would make me happy. But it didn’t. Last year I went to a camp for Missionary kids and I saw those who had a personal relationship with God and I wanted to live with the same faith and motivation. And I put my faith in Christ. At that camp, I felt everything was going well, but afterwards I drifted away from God. But this summer, I turned back and prayed a lot and read the Bible and felt that God was with me. Afterwards I was at a youth group meeting where my parents talked about baptism and I realized I didn’t need to be perfect or know everything before being baptized. And God said to be baptized so that's what I'm doing today."

A few Family updates

Above: Sharon got a little older on September 25th :)



Above: Praise God that Ben was able to save enough to buy his first car. He is currently working in retail in Delaware and is renting a shared home with others. We appreciate your prayers for Ben and his Hungarian girlfriend Niki that they both be drawn to Jesus. Niki plans to visit Ben in the next few weeks.



Above: All my girls! Elianna (far left) is currently finishing her senior year at Moody in Chicago. She is looking into an organization that does discipleship ministry oversees at military bases after she graduates. Kira (far right) is currently attending a YWAM discipleship training school in Florida and preparing for a short term mission in South Asia. Ziva, our youngest, is finishing 8th grade this year in a Hungarian middle school. We are overjoyed with the growing spiritual maturity in their lives and looking forward to seeing the journey the Lord has prepared for them in the years to come!

Thank you all for being a vital part on our ministry team. There is so much more work to be done and we're thankful that you continue to partner with us to make disciples of Jesus Christ in Hungary!

Above: Family arriving in Philly Airport at the end of June for our summer furlough. However, we were still missing our oldest daughter Ellie who was finishing a short term mission trip in Guatemala.



Above: With a week still remaining before Ellie was supposed to join us in the U.S., our friend Brenda secretly conspired with Ellie to surprise us. Brenda invited us one by one to come out from the house to see something in the trunk of her car. We thought it may be a new pet. When the trunk was opened and the blanket removed, our daughter popped out one week early with her beautiful joyous laughter. What a gift!



Above: We are often asked, what are some of the differences between Hungary and the U.S.. Going to a grocery store can be a bit overwhelming here as there are so many options like the cereal aisle that goes on and on and on!



Above: And you can't get donuts like this in Hungary :)



Above: Believe it or not, when we returned on furlough, the only child in our family that had a license was Kira (even though Ben and Ellie are older). And even with her license, Kira didn't have any time to practice driving when she attended high school in Germany. Ben and Ellie had failed their driving test the last time we were in the U.S.. So, much of my time this summer has been helping Kira, Ellie and Ben practice driving. Praise God that Ellie and Ben have now successfully passed their driving test and received their license!





Above: Allen and Ben took a trip to Philly and enjoyed an Eagle's preseason game together.

This is a season of many transitions for our family. Our son Ben will be staying in the U.S. to establish himself as his residency status in Hungary does not allow him the opportunities needed for continuing to live there.

Our daughter Kira was planning on going to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, but in a recent turn of events has instead decided to go to a YWAM (Youth with a Mission) Discipleship Training School in Orlando in October. You can find more information about Kira's journey on her blog by clicking

Above: Kira's first job experience at Chick-fil-A. We praise God that both Ben and Kira have found work in the U.S. Ben's next need is to find an apartment.



Above: Leading teaching time with Kids Club at BFCN.

We were thankful to be able to visit our supporting churches: Brandywine Valley Church, Bible Fellowship of Newark and Columbus Baptist in New Jersey. We are deeply grateful for our partners that offer encouragement and practical support to keep us on the field!



Above: Our youngest daughter Ziva was able to help out at Brandywine Valley's VBS. It was great to see how many kids attended and the way God used this to proclaim the Gospel.





Above: We're also thankful for the time we were able to spend with my mom. As most of you know, my dad passed away last April and mom has been going through grief and lots of change since that time.



Above: A recent trip with my mom to Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery. This is where my dad, my sister in law's dad and Sharon's dad and mom are buried in very close proximity.

Summer camps in Hungary

One major opportunity for ministry in Hungary is summertime. Once school lets out, we have camps from the beginning of July to the end of August.

Our teammates Roger and Heidi in partnership with members from their home church in California kicked off camp season with an English Camp for elementary school kids in our home town of Petőfibánya.





Above: The third year of holding English Camp for students from Petőfibánya's elementary school where Roger teaches Bible classes.







Above: Each day, the kids rotate through classes that keep them engaged while learning English.







This was a great start to the summer and many of these kids would be joining us again just weeks later in our VBS ministry.

VBS Camps in Petofibánya

Above: Panna who after last year's VBS decided to begin coming to our church and attended consistently the entire year.



Before returning to the U.S. we did our best to prepare materials (like crafts above) and help with administrative planning for our two VBS camps that draw in hundreds of unchurched kids from our neighborhood and surrounding villages.







We praise God for the many capable volunteers from our church who used their giftings and talents to share the love and word of Christ through our two VBS camps.



Above: One of my great joys was seeing Edit (center) be able to serve in our second VBS camp after fighting cancer for the past eight months. Months ago, it was our prayer and hope that she would recover from treatments and regain her strength. Praise God for His healing provision. Edit is in her seventies and her grandchildren Csanád (left) and Marci (right) also attended VBS. Edit shared the following:

Above: I was also thankful that Zsuzsa (center with Miki and Erika) who had been attending a bridge-building Bible study in Miki and Erika's house has since been attending church and also served as a helper at camp.



Above: The oldest group of kids in our VBS have grown up attending and end up signing up for our camp as helpers to satisfy civil-service requirements for school. After being with us over the years and hearing the gospel over and over again, we often see kids from our oldest group choosing to put their faith in Jesus.



Our Hungarian partner in ministry Erika shared this good news about the teens:

Above: Bogi who years ago was saved through ministries in our church now teaching in one of our morning VBS sessions. Bogi's little brother Beni attended VBS and Bogi shared that since attending, Beni has started asking questions like, "Is it Jesus or God? Are they different? Are we sinful?" And Beni kept asking Bogi to sing "Our God is so Mighty" and thinking about all the lyrics in the song.

Bogi's mom, who many years ago was opposed to Bogi getting serious about her faith in Jesus and being baptized, decided to come to VBS on the final family day of camp. Bogi's shared with me, "

English Camp for teens and young adults

Praise God that there were plenty of volunteers from the U.S. and from Hungary who came together for this year's summer English Camp for teens and young adults in central Hungary (south of Budapest).







Cathy reported the following from English Camp:

What's next?

Above: Allen and Ziva will be returning to Hungary next week as Ziva begins 8th grade September 1st.



Above: Sharon will delay her return to Hungary until mid-September as she'll be going to a song-writing conference in Orlando with Kira. And as mentioned earlier, Kira will be attending a YWAM DTS in October that you can find more about

.



Above: Ellie is safely back in Chicago and getting ready to finish her senior year at Moody Bible Institute.



Above: Ben will be staying in the U.S.. He currently has a management position in retail and will be looking for an apartment.







Above: Beginning of summer trip to Ocean City with family.



Above: A trip to Baltimore celebrating our 27th wedding anniversary.

We're very thankful for quality time with family and friends since we've been back on furlough. Thank you for partnering with us through your gifts and faithful prayers to bring the gospel to Hungary!