Above: Kira getting cleaned up for church.



Above: Ben and Elianna were excited to see their friends from church in Hungary.



Above: Sharon making the rounds with Kira.
Above L: Marcsi (Dezső's wife) with daughter Adrienn.
Above R: Hugi and husband Gábor.

It was so encouraging to see this couple on our first night back to church. When we broke up into small groups to pray for Petőfibánya, both Hugi and Gábor prayed. We look forward to seeing how this couple will grow in their relationship with Jesus.



Above L to R: Our worship team, Heidi, Dezső, Miki and Brenda. We practice every wednesday night together and enjoy having fellowship and learning new worship songs to share with the body on Sundays.



Above: Csaba preaching for the first time in our church. Csaba has already taught many in our church through meeting one one one and in small group settings. He encouraged the church tonight to find a place of refuge to meet the Lord in prayer. Thank all of you who prayed for him! Please continue to pray that he would mature in his faith and that his giftings would be cultivated.



Above: After the message, we invited our special guests and close friends (and Pioneers teammates) Tamara and Attila to share about their plans for church planting in unreached towns and villages in Hungary. We pray that God will bless them and use them in this great endeavor for His glory.



Above: Gabi S. on Piano and Zoli on guitar. No, these two didn't play during worship service, but we have hopes that some day they will! Miki has begun giving lessons to both of these teens, and we hope that they will use their talents in our worship team someday.



Above: Kira thinking: "Daddy did you shave?" This is my 'twin brother' and Pioneers teammate Roger. People get us mixed up all the time.

We had an encouraging time being back in church and seeing God continue to work in the lives of his children.

Above: Constraining Ben for a goodbye kiss from aunt Becky.



Above: Kira saying her goodbyes to grandma (left) and uncle Bob (right).



Above: Elianna and Ben making collect calls at the airport.



Above: Some sights of our plane and Frankfurt.

We are back in Hungary from our vacation in the US. After a rough first night adjusting to the time change, the family is feeling back on track.

Elianna and Kira have suffered the most. Elianna has been extremely clumsy because of her sleep pattern being interupted. While eating breakfast with her the other day, I helplessly watched as she dragged her spoon in her cereal bowl, only to tug the entire bowl off the table full of milk and Cheerios. Later, she ran into things, tripped, and fell backwards off of our kitchen bench onto our tile floor. Ouch! Praise God she is o.k. and doing much better today. Kira had a rough first night of sleep here and is still recovering from a cold.

We are excited to be back with our friends in Hungary, but we will miss our family and friends oversees. God blessed us with a time of refreshing rest and quality time with family.



Tomorrow, we will see all of our Hungarian friends at church. Up until this point, we have been unpacking and adjusting to the time change. Csaba (pictured above), who has been helping our team for some time will be preaching for the first time tomorrow. Please pray that God would bless him with wisdom as he speaks and that we would be edified by the message he brings.

This vacation has been a special time for us as we have had the opportunity to catch up with family and even meet little cousins for the first time.




Above: Fun at mom-moms and pop-pops house. This weird plastic toy expands many times it's size.





Above: Last week, we spent time with our teammate Brenda's family in PA. Now we know where Brenda got her sense of humor. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and one of Brenda's favorite desserts (sorry you couldn't be there Brenda.)





Above: Later in the week, we celebrated cousin RJ's sixth birthday! It is so great to see Elianna bonding with cousin Annabeth and Benjamin with RJ.



Above: The joys of being a grandfather. Allen's dad enjoying some quality time with Kira.





Above: Later, we were off to Washington D.C. to visit Allen's brother Sam, his wife Tania and son Matthew.



Above L: Ben having some fun at the dinner table. Above R: Cousin Matthew getting Kira's attention.



Above: Kira just being cute with uncle Sam.



Above: I have a running joke with my Hungarian friends that there are no squirrels in Hungary. Squirrels are scarce there, and I am used to seeing them all over the place in the US. So here are more photos for my friends in Hungary showing how easy it is to see a squirrel.





Above: Allen and Kira resting before a trip to the Natural Museum of History in D.C.





Above: Friends Karen and Matt spending some time with us yesterday. We also got to see snow for the first time this winter (though it didn't last very long).

We are so thankful for this time of vacation to spend with family and friends. We have also been able to do some ground work on Ben's schooling when we return to the US for furlough in the fall. We will be returning to Hungary next week and look forward to seeing what God does in 2007 in the region we are serving in. Stay tuned!

Where have you been? Well, we've been packing, traveling, visiting and of course resting.



Above: A few weeks ago, we boarded our flight from Hungary to the US for vacation. God provided the best possible seats on the plane with plenty of leg and wiggle room. The kids were so excited when we were landing that they began shouting "we're going down." Let's hope that didn't scare any other nervous passengers on the flight.



Above: Welcome to America!



Above: Four generations face to face. From L to R: Sharon's grandfather Sam and her father (also Sam) enjoying time with Kira.



Above: Elianna with her cousin Annabeth



Above: Ben finally gets to taste an American donut. His favorite flavor is strawberry sprinkles.



Above: Uncle Sam (Allen's brother) receiving a warm greeting from Ben and Elianna.



Above L: Uncle Sam's son Matthew with Grandma. Above R: Kira having some fun with 'Grandpa' (otherwise laughingly called 'Grumpy' by Ben and Elianna).



Above L: Mom-Mom taking Ben for a ride. Above R: Just taking it easy.



Above: Our home church Brandywine Valley Baptist. We were thankful for the opportunity to share a ministry update in Brandywine's 4 services. Our kids enjoyed Sunday School, and we enjoyed catching up with long time friends.



Above: Last week, we visited Cousin Alvaro, Antonia and their daughter Sophia.





Above: God provided a beautiful 70F day to visit the Philadelphia Zoo (I thought I was in Florida).





Above: Cousins, Sophia, Alvaro and Antonia. We were thankful for their hospitality and their special treat taking us to the zoo!