Old friend, McDonald's, and Serbia

Yesterday an old friend came by--Chip Riley from Alabama.  A really great guy. Writes books and works with young people, and I'm sure a whole lot more I don't know about!  It's great to see him again, and such an encouragement to hear what the Lord's been doing since we last talked.  Last night he took us all out for supper, which was the first time Levi has ever gotten to experience McDonald's!  He really liked it, and asked me to take his picture next to Ronald:



Today Levi's working on memorizing some Bible verses in Hungarian, watching and answering study questions on the Visual Bible's Matthew DVD, things like that.  This will help his Hungarian vocabulary and get him to thinking more and more in Hungarian before the outreach projects begin the end of this week.

This morning Gary and Chip left for a quick trip into Serbia.  That is, if you consider a 7-hour drive to be quick!   They're going to visit another friend of ours, Zoltán Nyúl, who's an ethnic Hungarian bivocational pastor who also serves as president of a foundation that reaches out to disabled children and their families. (If you want to know more, he has an English website at http://www.bethesda.org.yu/English/kezdolap%20angol.htm.)  Chip and Zoltán are going to discuss possibly partnering together in the future to provide a Christian camp experience for the young people in that part of Serbia.  Chip's been doing this kind of thing in a lot of different countries; his passion is to creatively disciple and mentor young people.  Please pray with us for a safe trip for Chip and Gary, and for wisdom for them all as they discuss future possibilities. 

This picture is a little old, but here you can see Zoltán Nyúl and his family; please pray for them and the ministry there in Serbia, as life is very difficult and the needs are great.
  

 
Some photos with Levi this morning on the front balcony of our apartment. What a beautiful day!

Gary's been working with Levi on how to share his testimony in Hungarian, since his mother tongue is really Romanian and he doesn't have all the vocabulary he'll need here.  Tomorrow (Sunday) we'll be taking him to a couple of different churches, plus we'll be meeting with the Hungarian Baptist leaders who are organizing the upcoming sports camp in Püspökladány [PEWSH-pewk-lŏ-daahñ].  Please pray for good connections and for wisdom in planning.

Levi's here!

Gary and Levi got in around 2 a.m. this morning from the train station in Oradea, Romania.  I thought maybe we'd all sleep in this morning, but everybody woke up so we went ahead and started the day.  This morning was a little tour of Debrecen, a ride on the tram, that kind of thing.  He's been getting to see things that are very different from what he's used to since he's from a small village.  We're still trying to get through on the phone to his family back home to let them know he got here OK....we'll try again this evening.

Please continue praying for Levi as he adjusts to life here, and that the Lord will use him to impact the lives of those he meets.

Levi and Gary in front of the Nagy Templom
(Big Church) on the main square in Debrecen.

 

Levi enjoying the beauty of the day in front of
Debrecen University's main building.

He's got a ticket to ride...

Exciting times!  Even as I type this entry,  Levi--a young Roma (Gypsy) from Romania--is on the train coming this way!  Gary will be crossing over into Romania to pick him up in Oradea tonight a little after 11:30.  Levi will be with us here in eastern Hungary for 6 weeks helping with outreach among the Roma of this area.  A girl named Camilla was also going to be coming, but we heard just the other day that there's an illness in her family and she's needed at home.

Please pray for Levi's quick adjustment to life here, and that the Lord will lead him to the people who are ready to hear about Jesus.  The Roma have a tough life and face a lot of difficulties in society--they really need the hope that Christ gives.  We're praying that several new Bible studies will be started among them this summer, and that as those folks repent and are discipled, new churches will form in several different communities.

A few more pictures from Hajdúszoboszló English camp

My new friend Zizi and I pose in front of the muskátli (geraniums).


Cindy doing sculpting demonstration combined with her testimony.


English camp group picture.


Gary with friends.


Singing "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High."


Deborah W.'s class


Deborah G.'s class


Cindy and David's class with Eddy translating

Last day of class in English camp

Today was the last regular day of the Hajdúszoboszló English camp, and it was fantastic!  Some of the kids who hadn't really spoken up or interacted much before in Deborah G.'s class suddenly came alive; all the teachers said the lessons have been going quite well, and I think the students have learned a lot. It turns out that one of the "moms" that I've been teaching didn't come with her child and just happen to get involved like I had originally thought--she actually came on her own because she wanted to learn English.  She's a Hungarian language teacher in the public school, and she's been very interested in pronunciation and everything else that we've been going over.  I had three ladies today, one who came into my group for the first time.  They all said that they'll be here tomorrow (Sunday) for the closing celebration, when the kids will sing, do skits, and show the parents what they've learned.  "My" ladies are all interested in joining an ongoing, weekly English class, and Gary and I are talking with Pastor Tibi about the possibility of us coming over once a week to lead one.  Maybe Gary could teach the more advanced ones and I could work with the beginners. We'll see what develops!

Tomorrow after the camp closing ceremony we'll have lunch and then go to Püspökladány, where the volunteer team will be leading a children's program with a Bible story and craft.  Later in the afternoon we'll go on to Kaba, where we'll be taking part in an afternoon church service.  We appreciate prayers...it'll be an exhausting day, but we're so thankful for the opportunity to serve and encourage in these little churches.  These are 3 of the 4 churches that Tibi is pastoring; he and his family have a very busy life.

I was going to add some pictures, but every time I try I get a server error...I'll try again later.

Hajdúszoboszló English camp

Once again it's been ages since I posted,  but so much is going on that I want to share about it when I have time...a little now, and hopefully more across the coming days.  So far this week has been absolutely wonderful!  A volunteer team from Cross Timber Baptist Church in Burleson, Texas--very dear friends--have come to help us with an outreach English camp in Hajdúszoboszló.  The camp is actually being done by the Baptist church there in the town, and we are helping since it's important to have native English speakers as the teachers.  We just finished with day #2 of 4, and it was great!  About 35 students came yesterday, and a few new ones came today.  Most of them are unchurched, some are "repeats" from the past couple of English camps held there, and some are kids of local church families.  We also have a couple of grown ups, which really wasn't expected, but we're very glad to have them.  Two of them are moms who came to observe what we're doing with their kids; as it turned out, we have formed a little learning group for them in the same room with the very youngest students.  A couple of the little ones know more English than the moms, and they occasionally come over and give mom a hand with the answers! 

I'll try to write more about it later, but I do want to post a few pictures now.  I don't have many on my camera, but I'm sure the team will have some good shots that they'll let me use as soon as we can  get them downloaded.

This first shot is of some of the students registering (Gary's hand is featured to the right, cutting string for name tags.)  We are very blessed to have some of the girls from the church in Kaba there helping with the registration.




Another shot of the registration process.



Here is Wendi working with the beginner class, with two moms looking on.  One of our terrific translators, Andi, is at the right in the photo. 


Please pray for the students in the camp, that they would learn about the love of the Lord while they are learning English. The English is being taught based on stories from the life of David, which gives excellent lessons on trust, faith, obedience, etc.  Also please pray for the Cross Timber team and us, the Hungarian helpers, and for Pastor Tibor and his wife Marti and the whole church there in Hajduszoboszlo.  I'll try to update you further as soon as I can.  Thanks, y'all!  (See, the Texas influence is being felt!)