To finish off our summer, we spend three days together with the youth in a camp designed for older teens. We had a record number of teens attend, most of whom had already served in children’s camps with us throughout the summer. Our theme for this camp was humility.





Each night we had a speaker share lessons from the Bible about the importance of humility and the practical outworking of it in our lives.







We also had small group sessions in the afternoon that allowed us to go deeper with the teens exploring our topic. This allowed for more interaction and getting the teens to personalize what we were teaching.







Of course, we also had lots of fun together with organized game times throughout the day. Kira (above) was able to attend the first few days of camp before she returned to Germany for a retreat with her school's worship team. She arrived safely and is getting ready to help with orientation for new students in the next few days. Kira will be in her senior year. Please pray for her as she also considers next steps in relation to college.







Above: Erno and his wife Sandi have been with our church since fleeing Ukraine when the war started. They have been a blessing to our church community and have also shared how they feel loved and accepted by us. It is not common for Romani and Hungarians to be together (even in churches in Hungary), but God has raised our church community to be mixed with Romani and Hungarians that tangibly express our unity in Christ.











God provided a loving family atmosphere for the teens and also the handful of young children that attended with their parents who were helping to organize the camp.





Above: Teammate Heidi brought lots of materials for arts and crafts.













On the last night together, there was opportunity to share any ways that God had personally spoken to them in a time that was allotted earlier in the day for them to find a place of solitude and seek to hear God.



Zsombi pictured above shared the following about the time of solitude with God: "I’ve been disturbed in my spirit over the past two years because of not being in right relationship with God. I went into the forrest and many thoughts just flooded my mind and I couldn’t focus on listening to God. To help me focus, I opened the Bible and God led me to Luke chapter 17. I received answers to questions I had been thinking about like:
What does it mean to be a humble person? How do I forgive others? And as I received answers, I was given peace because the tension in my spirit was now removed in my relationship with God. And God comforted me."





Above: LIlliom also shared what she experienced on the last night. Above you can see a series of white rocks that were given to the kids to write down as a memorial what they heard from God. The middle rock says "Jesus is your role model."

Here is what Lilliom shared: "I was very convicted when I entered this time of solitude. I was bothered by how far I had drifted in my relationship with God and I didn’t want to keep living like this. As I sat with God and throught about these things, I asked God, “Lord, give me a person who can be a role model in my life. Someone with godly character I can learn from. I continued to wait for an answer and time went by and I didn’t seem to get an answer. The time was just running out when God told me, “Why don’t you study the life of Jesus?” He gave me the perfect example of the one who in every sphere of life could give me answers. I was thankful for his answer and began writing down a list of questions that I want to find the answers to as I follow through to study the life of Jesus. I felt as if the hour and half flew by and I was very happy that I received an answer that would help me rekindle my relationship with God."



Above: Jászmin had this to share about her time with God: "I’m the type of person that has trouble sticking with one thought in my head. I have millions all at once. I went walking and simply prayed that I would be able to be still and be able to hear God. In that time, thankfully, I was able to still my soul and be able to listen to God. I had many questions and I heard one important answer, “I love you.” And that was all I needed to hear. That answered all my other questions."



Above: Áron shared the following with the group: "I was led to a verse in Proverbs 3:5-6. 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.' This really hit my heart because I began to realize how much I rely on my own strength and try to solve everything with my own understanding instead of trusting in Him. So I was encouraged to keep my trust in him when experiencing problems so that He can be my help.



Above: The writing on this memorial rock says: Depend on God.



Eli, pictured above, has had a tough year. Her father recently abruptly left their family for a relationship with another woman. What is more shocking is that he is a long time church member and last summer his faith seemed to be stabilizing and he seemed to be growing in the Lord. You can imagine the way the enemy can twist Eli's dad's irresponsible actions and sinful decisions to cause turmoil in her soul. Thankfully, Eli has been with us most of the summer serving at both our children's camps which brought her support and encouragement. On the last night, Eli shared what had happened in her time of solitude at camp:

"I was in my tent by myself and ended up writing a poem. In this time in my life I have many questions flooding my mind. One question is about my life. Is it really valuable? Is life worth living? After I wrote the poem, I closed my eyes and received these simple words from God: “I love you.” My eyes were still closed and God began to give me images of why my life was worth living. It was an amazing encouragement."

Here is the poem that Ellie wrote with the English translation in bold under each Hungarian line:

"Uram kérlek válaszolj, hogy miért is élek.

"Lord, please answer me, why am I even alive?

Mond meg nekem mi értelme van szánalmas életemnek?

Tell me, what is the purpose of my miserable life?

Miért van, hogy mindig csak elhagynák?

Why is it that I am always abandoned?

Miért engeded, hogy egyedül maradjak?

Why have you allowed me to be left alone?

Kérlek segíts, hogy megbékéljek.

Please help me to find peace.

Segíts nekem, hogy én te benned életét leljek.

Help me to find life in you.

Töltsd be azt az űrt amit bennem hagytak.

Fill the void that was left inside me.

Kösd be azt a sebet amit nekem adtak.

Bind the wound that was given to me.

Segíts, hogy megtudjak mindenkinek bocsátani és, hogy véletlenül se tudják nekik ártani.

Help me to forgive everyone, that I may not cause any harm to them unintentionally.

Hogy tudjak a csendben többet rád figyelni.

Help me to pay more attention to you in the silence.

Hogy ne érezzem többé azt a sebet fájni.

So that I no longer feel my wounds hurting.

Bűnösök vagyunk, de te alázatos isten vagy.

We are sinners, but you are a humble God.

Csak benned lelhetünk békességet magunknak."

Only in you can we find peace for ourselves."





Above: Teammate Roger offering closing thoughts about our weekend together and how to apply what we have learned in the everyday interactions of life.



Praise God for this special time together to wrap up the summer with these teens. It was very encouraging to hear how God continues to minister to this young generation who will be future leaders, husbands and wives for the glory of Christ in Hungary. As each of them prepare to go into the school year, please pray for them to remain in fellowship with believers, to be mentored and experience a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank all of you that continue to support us through prayer and financial gifts that have allowed us to serve in Hungary for over 23 years! We are so grateful for your kindness and faithfulness toward our family and the ministry here.

Above L to R: Some of our volunteers Lilli, Jázmin, Alexander, Patrik, Anna with their child Nóé. Alexander who is dating our daughter Ellie had been doing an internship in Bulgaria and made a stop in Hungary to meet our family and also serve at camp with us. He did a great job connecting with the kids and serving throughout the week. Alexander also attends Moody along with Ellie in Chicago.

Patrik and Anna are looking into serving on an OM ship ministry. Please pray for them as they look into this mission opportunity and seek God's direction for their family.

In contrast to the cooler temperatures of our first VBS, we began our camp in a heat wave with temperatures in the nineties. Also, Janka who was scheduled to give one of the teachings in the main meeting time had Covid (now recovered) and was not able to attend camp. Thankfully her daughter was able to remain the whole week with no issues. Also, the set up was much easier as we were able to store our tents and most camp items onsite. I am very thankful for the number of youth that volunteered as helpers at camp and did all of the heavy lifting. We are also thankful for the power of God's Spirit that was at work to keep us unified throughout the week. I believe this unity in Christ had a tremendous impact on the children and parents that visited on the last day.



Above: We had close to fifty volunteers serving together in unity at our second camp.





Above: Abigél with her grandmother Edit. Edit was saved years ago through the ministries of our church and has had the privilege to take her grandkids to our VBS for many years. Now Edit's grandchildren are old enough to be volunteers and Abigél was Edit's helper in their small group.



Above: Ellie's helpers in her small group, Hanna and Csanád. Csanád is also one of Edit's grandchildren all grown up now. Earlier in the week of camp, I saw Patrik sitting down one-on-one with Csanád. I was curious what they were talking about as I know Patrik is an evangelist. Later Ellie told me that in a conversation they had in their small group, Hanna said, "It's been one year since I was saved!". Csanád jumped in and said, "It's been three days since I was saved." Praise God that the Gospel is being passed on from Edit to her grandchildren! Patrik told me later that there wasn't much that Csanád needed, he just had a few questions that God led Patrik to answer the day they talked and Csanád put his faith in Jesus.




Above: Szabi serving as "Camp Leader" in charge of communication and keeping the campers on schedule throughout the day. At this second camp, I was struck by how God has raised up wonderful young men and young women who are taking more and more ownership of camp ministry. This is always our desire as we seek to disciple and mentor so that Hungarians are equipped to serve in proclaiming the gospel when we are long gone. Szabi, along with three other youth from our church, will be in their second year of theological training. Please pray for this new generation to continue to mature in Christ and be equipped to continue carrying out the calling to proclaim His good news to all nations.



Above: Ellie providing the main teaching mid camp with the topic of finding our value and worth in God. The "Mona Lisa", Benni also recently shared that he has put his faith in Christ sometime last year after faithfully attending youth group meetings. I will never forget first getting to know Beni years ago at one of the first VBS's he attended. Running with the other kids in a Nerf battle, he tripped and broke his arm. We were concerned about the reaction his parents would have. His mom said, "Oh, this kind of stuff happens all the time with him." And Beni was back at VBS with a cast the next day! This is the first year he was able to serve as a helper at camp.



Above: The older helpers fully engaged in all the motions for this year's songs at camp.













Above: As a remedy for the heat wave, we began our slippery slide midweek every afternoon. We praise God that even though the rest of the town had a temporary water outage, the campsite which is at the edge of town was not affected.







Above: Teammate Heidi distributed papers to kids in camp asking them to write down one thing they learned this week. It was great to see the collage on display for parents of encouraging images relating back to the Bible stories that were taught and verses that were memorized in small group.



Above: Most of these kids are from our village Petofibánya and return every year learning more and more about Jesus and life as a believer. Unfortunately, we don't see most of these kids attending church afterwards. Our hope is that they, along with their parents, will come to put their faith in Jesus and that we'll see the same miraculous pattern at work that we see in Edit's family. On the last day of camp, we invited parents to attend and held a small group just for them. We discussed the contrast between the way the world loves and the way that Jesus calls us to love. We discussed the challenge of the type of love that freely lends not expecting anything in return. I was able to share about how Jesus displays his definition of love in His own sacrifice for our sins on the cross and was able to share some personal testimony about how His love has changed my life. We had many evangelistic books and Bibles set out that many took afterwards. Also, we had a few parents respond to an invite for an upcoming Bible study that will be launched later this year indicating their desire to attend.

On the last day of camp as we had our closing ceremony showing the highlight film of the week, the skies began to look as if a thunderstorm was quickly approaching. There was a bit of drizzle off and on, but in the end by God's grace, because of the overcast, the temperature cooled down and we were able to pack up everything without any pouring rain.

After a few days of recovery and rest, we're off to our last camp of the summer which is designed for older teens, the majority who were volunteers and serving at our VBS together. This is a mixed group of believers and unbelievers and a great opportunity to help them more deeply contemplate what God has been teaching them throughout the summer and how they will continue to follow Him once the school year begins. We ask you to pray for the younger youth group leaders who have taken on more responsibilities for planning and leading. Pray also for those who have heard the truth of the gospel for years but have not yet made a decision to be convicted and turn to Jesus to be saved.





Above: A view from our home after the end of our first VBS, God sent a beautiful rainbow.

Here are highlight films for this year's second VBS camp in Petofibánya. Enjoy!

As we began our first day of Vacation Bible School (VBS) for children from our hometown and surrounding villages, the sky’s were clear and cooler temperatures had finally displaced the extreme heat in Hungary. What a gift from God as our entire VBS is held outside under large tents. We had over 100 kids all the way from first grade to twelfth grade and plenty of volunteers from our church who served in unity throughout the week.









Above: After meeting together for registration at the local community center, we chaperone the kids on a ten minute walk to the camp grounds where we spend the rest of the day together.













Above: Our first hour is spent with learning the songs we'll be singing throughout the week along with Miki giving brief teaching on various themes in the lyrics. We used to have the lyrics projected on a screen, but found that the kids were able to quickly learn the songs with the help of motions from the front.













Above: Ellie teaching in the main meeting time. After worship, we present the main teaching for the day that the children will continue to discuss afterwards in small groups. Our theme this year was on the miraculous power of God's love. We used various stories from the Bible to express the ways God's love is completely different than the world's definition of love and how this is culminated in Christ laying down His innocent life for sinners to be restored to God.



Above: Dáriusz watching over Barnabás. As with every VBS, this year we had a few 'problematic' kids that brought many challenges with their extreme behavioral issues. Barnabás was one of those kids that needed extra attention and help throughout the day. Many years ago, Dáriusz was also 'one of those kids' and it is a blessing to see the fruit of many who were patient with him and continued to love him through those years at VBS. Now Dáriusz is helping someone that was just like him was he was younger. Every year before camp begins, I put up specific requests for our church to pray so that we are spiritually prepared for VBS. One of those requests is this. "Let's pray for the "troublemakers" to have a powerful encounter with Jesus as Paul did in the dessert. Let's pray that they become passionate followers of Jesus Christ." Although Dáriusz is not passionately following Jesus yet, it is clear God has been gracious to bring many changes to his life. Please pray for these young kids who may cause the most disruption because of their behavior at camp to be transformed by God's grace and turn to Jesus.



Above: Younger helpers, Barbi and Eli (right) helping in small group time. Eli had just recently learned that her dad who had attended our church for years abruptly decided to leave his wife and his four kids for another woman. This was shocking and disturbing news as her dad had shown so many signs over the years of believing and times of growth in discipleship. Needless to say, his kids were devastated. Thankfully his wife is in a great place with the Lord and has been experiencing God's faithfulness to direct her steps and provide in this challenging time. Please pray for Eli and her three siblings who are still processing all of this. I was thankful to see how Eli was enjoying serving and also being ministered to as she was surrounded by the loving community of saints. I'm sure being at VBS was an encouragement to her and a reminder that God is the sure foundation of her life, even when everything else seems to be crumbling apart.



Above: As I mentioned above, we also had older kids attending all the way up to 12th grade. In their small group, Miki usually invites staff to give testimony as to how they met Jesus. Morgan (above), who came from the U.S. to serve with us this summer, was able to share her testimony and also able to develop relationships with a few of the girls who speak English. One text that Morgan shared was one of the older girls saying, "I really do want to have a more serious relationship with God and would like to talk about it more." Praise God for these open doors. Some of the girls that Morgan has been talking to had made a decision a few years ago in camp, but their parents do not allow them to attend Sunday worship service. Pray that the seeds planted may flourish in these teens' lives and that Morgan may have opportunity to keep the conversation going with those she connected with now that she has returned to the U.S..







Above: Adilene was able to continue to be with many of the kids she initially began connecting with in the local middle school in Petofibánya. You can often see kids hanging onto her, going to her for hugs and just being in her presence. We're very thankful for her hard work since she has been here and thankful for how she pours out the love of Christ to these kids.











Above: Kids have a variety of things to do at free time from baseball, to soccer to crate climbing to crafts. Throughout the week, our Hungarian teammate said she received great feedback and even had parents calling and asking if they could send their kids to the following VBS which is scheduled for next week.





Above: Ellie wrote and produced this year's drama that ended each day with a cliffhanger. Ziva even had a role as "Mercer-Mama", an affectionate name for grandma Mercer.





Above: On the last day of camp, the parents and children look forward to seeing the highlight film of the week. We had a great turn out and perfect weather for the event.



Above: We also had a small group designed for the parents who attended Saturday. Over the past few years, we've noticed a bit of hardness in these meetings with not many being willing to openly share. I began this year with an ice-breaker to get everyone involved which helped parents feel more at ease with each other. Afterwards, I turned their attention to the important topic of love that we taught throughout the week and read a passage from God's word about the contrast between God's love and the world's love. I was thankful to see more of an openness from parents to participate in the discussion. We had a table set up with evangelistic material and Bibles that were free to take and by the end of the day the table was empty. We also had children's Bibles available and one child commented after taking one, "I can't wait to get home and read through it. But it may take a while."

We thank God for keeping unity among 46 volunteers, serving over 100 kids in the name of Jesus Christ! It was a great week and we have another VBS just around the corner starting Monday. Please pray for us and for the children attending that this would be the place that they hear and understand the good news about salvation in Jesus Christ. Pray for a continued spirit of unity in the Lord and for the power of His love working though us to be used to draw many into His kingdom. Here are some highlight films from this past weeks camp to enjoy :)