Hajduszoboszlo English camp was great!

Lessons went well, English was practiced, good discussions took place, and new friendships were formed.  In spite of some challenges due to hot weather and some strong winds, classes met each day and studied English from the story of Moses in the Bible.

There were classes in the church sanctuary, in the nursery,

in the basement, in an upstairs guest room,

in the church yard, and under the carport.

Praise the Lord for all that was accomplished!  A big thank you  from the Eastern Hungary Team to the volunteer team from Cross Timber Baptist Church of Burleson, Texas (Rusty, Deborah and Christy - back row from left - Pastor Scott - bottom left); to Pastor Tibor and his family (grouped to the right in the photo); to Eszter (center front), who translated and so much more; also to countless other church members and national volunteers who translated, taught, and chased kids.

Follow-up with new friends is ongoing, and discussion and planning for next year has already begun. Thank you to everyone for your prayers!

Leaving for Day 4

We're about to head out the door for the 4th day of English camp.  Yesterday it did rain, but the classes being held outdoors did fine by moving either into the parsonage or under the carport.  We're still running between 50 and 60 students each day, and it's going really well.  Today we'll be studying English using the story of the plagues and the Passover.  Please pray that we can communicate the deeper meaning of the Old Testament story, so that they will see Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice.

First day of English camp

Today was great!  We had 60 students, which was a good turn-out without being too many to handle.  It did rain early on but stopped well before the 2:00 starting time.  We were so thankful for the cooler breezes we had, since it made it so much nicer to have the outdoor classes.  More students have said they'll join us tomorrow, so we'll see what the new day brings!  Our lessons today were based on the birth of Moses.  It's so good to know that God cares for us and can bring us through those incredibly difficult times in life when everything around us seems so wrong.  Thought for the day was "My help comes from the Lord."  Ps. 121:2a

Our thanks to all who are praying re: the weather situation and for outreach this week.  Please continue to pray!
 

We started off the camp gathered together for a prayer...

 
....and some fun songs.  The song for the week is "Pharoah, Pharoah."

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!)