Weekly Update

ANSWERED PRAYER!

Here is a report of answers to last week's prayer requests:

Healing for Allen and Kira and for teammate Dezső who is also experiencing flu-like symptoms.
GOD'S ANSWER: Kira was able to return to preschool on Monday and is doing much better. Allen and Dezső are still recovering, please continue praying for them.

Wednesday English Bible Study (That more would come and hear the Gospel through this class)

GOD'S ANSWER: After only having one student two weeks ago at Bible study, I asked you for prayer. I was asking God to show next steps and to draw new people into the group. This week we had a total of six students! Two of them were brand new and two others had only attended once before. They all expressed their intent on continuing to attend. One new student, Klári is the daughter of Klári (a bit confusing) who has attended our study for months.

In our study of Jesus, when I highlighted Jesus' claim to be the only way to the Father (which stands opposed to the 'modern' idea that there are many ways to God and salvation), Teenager Klári was engaged and was shaking her head in agreement. As we continue to go through the book of John, I pray that these students will have a clear understanding of what Jesus taught that they may properly respond in faith in the Son of God.

Klári's daughter, Klári was recently diagnosed with the same celiac disease that Ben and Elianna have, and Sharon has had more points of connection because of this to build a relationship with her. Klári's teenage daughter seemed to enjoy the time and was very thankful for some gluten free chocolate cake that Sharon offered her before she left our Bible study. Please pray that she will return.

Thursday Dinner with friends (That our dinner would lead to open doors to share the Gospel with our dinner guests)

GOD'S ANSWER: After the first people we invited canceled at the last minute, we ended up inviting Kati and her children Gabi and Niki. Gabi (church member) was the first to be saved in his family and Niki followed. Kati seemed to be close to putting her trust in Jesus, but then drifted away from our church and from house group meetings a few months ago. This was a great opportunity to reconnect with Kati as we pray for her salvation. God was faithful to open up a door to talk about the Gospel when Kati spoke about a co-worker who believed in reincarnation. We talked about the necessity to examine the source of such teaching, or any religious teaching. Who is the founder? Is the founder trustworthy? Jesus who not only taught, but was confirmed to be God's Son by miracles and a true prophet by dying and being raised from the dead on the third day is trustworthy. We also talked about the current state of the world and how much it has changed. I was able to read out of 2 Timothy:

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,  4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

What an accurate picture of where the world is headed and where the world is today! I told her how many people will have the "appearance of godliness", practicing different forms of spirituality, but not truly having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. At the end of the night we were able to share prayer requests and pray for Kati, Gabi and Niki. We praise God for the opportunity to reach out to Kati and trust that the seeds that were planted tonight will bear fruit.

Friday-Saturday-Sunday teen conference. That Norbi, Niki, Peti and Hugi would be encouraged in their faith and in their prayer life as they attend a conference that teaches about the importance of prayer. Also strength and help for Sharon who will be at home with our three kids while Allen attends the conference.

GOD'S ANSWER: On Friday afternoon, Sharon began to feel sick. Praise God that He sustained her and she was feeling better by Saturday morning as she was with the kids by herself while I was at the conference. One of the young men who attended with us, Peit almost decided not to go last minute after feeling exhausted from a long and physically draining work week. In the end, he decided to come and by Saturday, he repetitively said, "I'm so glad I decided to come." The entire conference was focused on lessons on prayer. The organizer was amazed at the response, thinking that the topic of prayer might not attract many teens. By Saturday, the church was packed with over 200 teens from different areas of Hungary.

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Above: Norbi helping us to haul sleeping bags to the conference.

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Above: The Baptist church of Szekesfehérvár where the conference was held.

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Above: Saturday prayer walk praying at different stops throughout Szekesfehérvár.

One conference speaker told the story of a girl over 50 years ago who was one of the first to come to faith in the town. Because of rejection for her decision from her family, she was kicked out of her house and had to sleep outside for two nights. That night under the trees in an empty field, she prayed that God would build a church there. It turns out that we were sitting in that very place she prayed! A place where there was once no church and just a few believers where there is now a Baptist church holding a conference for teens focusing on prayer. Praise God!

Peti who is a new believer said that God freed him from fear of man when praying publicly. He said He has a greater understanding of his personal communion with God while praying out loud and no longer is concerned with what others may be thinking. After a pastor spoke about the idols of our day and our calling to turn from them to Jesus, he gave an invitation for anyone to come forward before God to repent and receive His forgiveness and to live in His grace which is freedom. When I opened my eyes as we began singing worship after the call to repentance, my whole row was emptied into the center aisle on their knees. Practically all the pews were emptied and the teens were on their knees filling up the aisle. Niki also responded to Saturday's night call for repentance and said that she felt the burden of sin fall from for the first time. She said that she wanted to walk as a new creation in Jesus Christ and no longer in sin. On Sunday, Niki told me in our church service that she would like to be baptized. Please pray for her as she will begin attending a class designed to bring clarity to various aspects of the gospel and to help her to count the cost in this decision of becoming a follower of Jesus Christ by faith.

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Above: Hindsight: Probably not a good idea to play tackle footbal with Hungarians at the conference when you have flu-like symptoms. But I couldn't resist. In the end no one was hurt and we closed our game in a huddle and praise to God for our time together.

Please pray for continued financial provision as we have increased financial needs. Pray also for financial provision for our teammates, Miki and Erika and Dezső and Marcsi.

GOD'S ANSWER: Last week, we got news of a few supporters giving an unexpected amount that will help us cover the extra costs involved with medical bills related to the loss of our child and increased grocery costs due to the kids specialized diets. Praise God! Moreover, while grocery shopping last week, the store Sharon frequents happened to have a new stock of gluten free foods that were not put on display on time leading to a 50% reduction of the whole lot. This gave Sharon an opportunity to stock up at a reduced cost on gluten free foods for Ben and Elianna.

RANDOM PICTURES:

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Above: Sisters, Lidia and Eszti with teenager Niki at our Sunday worship service.

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Above: Ben's craft at school had him take natural objects to make pictures of animals. 'Béka' means frog.

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Above: Elianna taking part in a special presentation for the retired folks in Petőfibánya. She was able to recite a Hungarian poem from memory and had a lot of fun participating in folk dancing with the kids.

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Above: Cute Kira in the kitchen.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Complete healing of Allen.
• Niki's faith to be strengthened and stability in her decision to be baptized.
• Wenesday night house group, and English Bible Study (students: Klári, Klári, Eszti, Heni, Gyula)
• Thursday night marriage class. (Pray for strengthened marriages, for healing of hurts, forgiveness and love. Pray for couples to follow Jesus in their marriges)
• Saturday Evangelistic Lecture: Dr. Eric Barrett, a british scietist will join us for the second time giving a lecture entitled "Are we alone in the universe?" Please pray for the word to get out for God to draw people to Himself through this outreach. Pray for new relationships to be developed through this outreach and for old relationships with the lost to be strengthened.
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