TX team arrived safely!

PTL the Texas volunteer team has arrived safely with all of their luggage!    We had a great Hungarian dinner together and the team is now settling in at their hotel.  Tomorrow morning we'll be heading to the little Baptist church in Kaba, where one of the team members, Scott, will be preaching the morning message.  Christy, Rusty and Deborah will also most likely be asked to share their testimonies, so please pray for the whole team to be able to communicate clearly from their hearts even while dealing with jet lag.  A good friend of ours from our church in Debrecen, Marti,  will be translating the sermon to Hungarian, so please pray for her, too.  We appreciate her willingness to help.

After the service we have all been invited to a cookout at the church--which does seem appropriate for the 4th of July!--and then we'll be driving on to Hajduszoboszlo, where the team will be introduced at a Pinter Bela Christian concert.  This could draw a lot of new people to the English camp this week, so we're really excited about it....and a little unnerved.  We could have way more people show up than we feel equipped to teach, but we know the Lord has a plan and will do great things! 

Cross Timber team arrives today!

Four friends from Cross Timber Baptist Church in Burleson, TX are arriving today in Budapest--we can't wait to see them!  Sunday will be some outreach, including a concert on the square in Hajduszoboszlo, then the whole week we'll be providing an English camp for the residents of that town.  English lessons will be based on the life of Moses, and I'm sure there'll be a lot of great discussion.  Attendance has been very high at this camp the last several years, and some of the classes have to meet in the churchyard because of lack of space inside.  Please pray for good weather so these classes won't get soaked or blown away!  Also please pray that many will be drawn to know the Lord through all the activities this week, along with new friendships made and language skills learned.

Pastor Tibor recently broke his arm quite badly, so pleases pray that it will heal properly, and also that the music situation will work out since he is unable to play his guitar for the camp as planned.  A young man has said he'll play for us but we haven't had the chance to get together with him yet. 

Thanks so much for lifted up everything that's going on this week!

A couple of urgent prayer requests

1.  Violent storms and flooding have affected many here in Hungary and around the area in Europe--there have been some deaths in addition to property damage and the necessity of evacuating thousands of people.  Please pray!

2.  We just found out that we are not going to be able to use the building where we had hoped to hold our upcoming volleyball tournament.  The event is scheduled for next weekend, so we urgently need prayer for wisdom and guidance in what to do now.

One more thing....we are now on day 18 of our annual "31 Days of Prayer for Eastern Hungary," but it's not too late to join in!   The prayer calendar can be downloaded at http://www.hope4ehu.com/prayer.html.

Thanks to all who are praying!

Spring volleyball tournament coming up!

A.P. and Stacia are busy planning the March 5 spring volleyball tournament, which will be held at a school gym here in Debrecen.  Please pray for all the details to come together and that a lot of students will get involved.  This morning Gary and I talked with a young man at our church who said the youth group is definitely forming a team to participate--one of the guys will also be sharing about how his life was changed, which we are really excited about!  The other teams will be from local schools, with one possibly coming from the refugee camp.

Our December 4 "Mikulas Kupa" (St. Nicholas Cup) volleyball tournament was a lot of fun for those who came.  Here's a video showing highlights (thanks for your expertise, Lee!)

Coffee house evenings in Debrecen

Thursday evenings in Debrecen have been a lot of fun...this semester we began having a free coffee house for the young people of the area, where we can get together and practice English, play games, and get to know each other better.  Of course there's always coffee, tea, snacks, and the opportunity for deeper conversation for those who are interested. 


Stacia and Holly setting up for the coffee house...........playing games and chatting


"Cornucopia bowling" with fruit juice (in plastic!) for bowling pins and giant oranges for the balls


The winning bowlers congratulate each other.........."Win, Lose, or Draw" night


"Fear Factor" night.......................................chatting over coffee and tea

First night of coffee house outreach / Recycled in the news again

We'll soon be heading out the door to set  up for the first night of our coffee house here in Debrecen (Zsuzsanna guest house basement, Péterfia u. 34, near the Debrecen Plaza.)  There'll be coffee, snacks, games, and English conversation for anyone who wants to drop in any time between 8 and 10...there was going to be live piano music, too, but unfortunately the pianist, Viktor "Jimmy" Fercsik, has gotten sick and won't be able to play for us tonight.  Please pray he feels better soon.  Lots of nasty bugs going around these days.  Also pray that this new outreach will provide many opportunities for relationship-building and sharing.

Someone at the Euro School gave Gary a photocopy of yesterday's article about the Recycled concerts here in Debrecen.  Here is what they said...


                     From the Hajdú-Bihari Napló, Sept. 7

...and here's my rough translation.   Any Hungarians out there may feel free to correct it for me and my feelings won't be hurt (this language definitely keeps me humble!)

Recycled in Music

The American Christian classic/alternative rock music group Recycled has made their debut in Hungary. Their first concert in Debrecen was held in the gymnasium belonging to the Euro High School/Tech School and Baptist Bilingual High School at Angyalföld Square. The school's English lector, Gary Miller, arranged for the program. In their songs the band gave voice to Christian feelings and interpretation of Bible stories. The following day they were on stage at the Bridge Cultural Center on Miklós Street.

Pray for the Bereczki family - updated

I just found out that Szilvi, the young daughter of our pastor here in Hungary, passed away unexpectedly while studying in Spain. From what I’ve been able to find out, yesterday she went into a coma for unknown reasons, and they took her to the emergency room.  Pastor Bereczki and his wife got to the Spanish hospital as quickly as they could, and tests found that she had leukemia.  This morning she passed away…..we are all in shock.  Please be praying for the family, the church (Debrecen Baptist) and all her friends.  She was such a lovely, vibrant, talented girl…this is truly hard to comprehend.  We know that one day they will be reunited, but for now the grief must be overwhelming.  Only the Lord can give the strength the family needs to make it through this tragic time in their lives.  Please hold them up in prayer.

Addendum: here's a link to the Debrecen Baptist Youth webpage, for any of you who read Hungarian. It has updates, and at the time I write this has a picture of Szilvi on the right. Currently offerings are being collected to help in the family's expenses in travel and in bringing her home; these costs are horrendous, around 16,500 USD. Please pray that the Lord will supply, and that He will continue to bring the family, friends, and church through this time of shock and grief.  http://debreceniifi.hu/news.php