Saying goodbye

     It hasn't been an easy day for us today, as the time finally arrived to take our co-worker Stacia to the airport in Budapest and see her off on her return trip to the States.  It's been a great two years, though, and as her term has now ended we can only praise the Lord for letting her be a part of our team. She's been a blessing in many people's lives - ours included.  We know that she'll continue to stay in touch with good friends she's made here, and will keep on mentoring them and drawing them closer to the Lord.

    Please be in prayer for her over the coming hours, that she and her luggage will all arrive safely, and that her reunion with her family will be a great time for all of them.  As she adjusts back to life in the U.S., please pray that she will find a job to support herself and work on paying off college loans, and that the Lord will guide her as she begins seminary in preparation for future ministry.

   Stacia, thanks for your heart to serve the Lord, and for all that you invested over these last two years. May God richly bless you as you move into this new stage of your life....we'll miss you!

August 20 - St. Stephen's Day

August 20 is St. Stephen's Day, celebrating the founding of the nation of Hungary over 1000 years ago.  As they consider their history, pray that Hungarians will find a personal relationship with Christ that goes beyond tradition and national heritage.



    

Here in Debrecen a big part of the celebration is the Flower Carnival, which includes a huge parade drawing participants and spectators from around the world.  Flower covered floats, marching bands, flag teams, baton twirlers, and marchers in traditional dress represent countries such as Italy, Germany and Israel, as well as those above wearing traditional Hungarian clothing.

**The photos shown above were actually taken a previous year--our camera is currently having serious problems which we hope to have repaired soon.**

Camps going on this week - UPDATED WITH PHOTOS

    We are partnering this week with the Grain Game team to provide camps in Puspokladany and Karcag.  Another team, which is from Weems Creek Church in Annapolis, Maryland, arrives today to partner with Pac Kerti Mission in Debrecen.  Pray for Kingdom impact! 

UPDATE - Pictures from that week

Kids at both Grain Game camp locations, Puspokladany and Karcag, learned truths from the Bible in a fun way...lots of games and object lessons to make the nuggets of truth stick in their memory. 

   
Photos from the Grain Game camp in Puspokladany - Grain Game staffers are in the blue T-shirts

The Weems Creek volunteer team made a big impact in Debrecen at the Pac Kerti Mission, too.  They made a lot of good relationships among the kids and adults that were there.  At the closing ceremony of the camp the mission had a baptism for three new believers (unrelated to the camp that week), and believers came from the mother church, (Debrecen Baptist) and from other area churches.  A lot of people from the neighborhood also came out of curiosity, and they heard the Gospel shared over and over through music, testimonies and preaching.  It was an awesome day! 

  
The Weems Creek team with kids from the camp.......Justin, Weems Creek team leader, giving his testimony

  
Pastor Tibor from Hajduszoboszlo baptizing our new sister...Pastor Lajos (Debrecen Baptist), Pac Kerti Mission pastor Csaba, and Pastor Tibor pose with the baptismal candidates.  Please pray for these new believers as they continue to live out their faith with joy even in difficult times.

31 Days of Prayer for Eastern Hungary

Join us in May for a month-long prayer emphasis on eastern Hungary.  Download the prayer calendar from our website and pray each day for specific prayer needs and people here in our area.  Thank you for joining us in the work through your intercession!

Meet our new team members: the Hathcock family

 

Darrel and Kimberly have three daughters:  Arianna (13), Abigail (11), and Sophia (7), and a small black dog, Ella (see below).  Darrel was born in Amory, Mississippi, and is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.  Kimberly was born in Big Rapids, Michigan, and is a graduate of Missouri Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  

During seminary, Kimberly and Darrel were parts of separate evangelism ministries in New Orleans’ French Quarter.  That is where they met in March of 2003. This experience continued to remind both Darrel and Kimberly of God’s desire to reach the nations, and on June 4, 1994, the couple married.  Before serving with the IMB, Darrel served as a campus minister with Baptist Student Ministries in Carthage, Texas, and in Springfield, Missouri. 

The Hathcocks have served with the IMB since April 2002, first in the country of Belarus, followed by a second term in the country of Ukraine. During their next term the Hathcocks will join us on the Eastern Hungary team, moving to Hungary in June of 2011.  Following a year of intensive language study in Budapest the family will move to Debrecen, where they will focus on student ministries.  Please pray for the Hathcocks as they continue the process of following Him and seeking His Kingdom.

While the Hathcocks are in the U.S. Ella has been staying with the Millers, helping with computer work and other tasks.  She will be very happy to see her family arrive in Budapest in June!

Urgent prayer requests re: concert tonight - UPDATED

We’re getting ready right now to leave for Nádudvar to set up for Aubree & Seth's (our interns) concert tonight, but we are having technical difficulties with the trailer electrical system, also one problem after another in everything we’re trying to do. Please pray that we can becalm, think clearly, work through things, and get the team and equipment there and back safely.  

Pray that Seth and Aubree will be able to keep their concentration and energy level up, and will communicate the joy of the Lord through both their music and their conversations after the concert.  Most of all, pray that what the Lord wants to accomplish tonight at the concert and afterward will NOT BE HINDERED by the multiple problems that we are having, and that He will receive all the glory! 

UPDATE:  Thank you for your prayers!  The technical difficulties with the trailer were overcome (at least for now--we do have to get repairs made this week) and the concert went very well.  We are so thankful!

Coffeehouse continues

It was a busy Thursday afternoon at the Millers' house....we were getting ready to leave to set up for coffeehouse.  Gary was brewing the coffee and putting it in the pumper jug, and I was wrapping up a couple of trays of muffins that I had baked earlier in the day.  Cappuccino muffins just seemed to belong at a coffeehouse, and they were so yummy (thanks, Jennifer, for sharing the link to the recipe!)

 
Cappuccino muffins and our coffeehouse cups are ready to go...we rent the room but bring all our own things in bags.  Sometimes we even take our electric piano, which is not an easy thing!

 
In February we had American line dancing one week.  As always, there was a lot of time to hang out with friends and talk.

 
Also in February, a Valentine's Day party with cookies to decorate & craft supplies for making Valentines.

 
Something new that month was our first Art Night, with an exhibit of photos, drawings, paintings, and pottery.  In addition to that, Aubree gave a presentation on a 3-D art project she had done in high school, and we saw a Youtube video on sand art by Joe Castillo. 

  
Other popular events we've had recently were a musical evening with Seth and Aubree (February) and an evening of Hungarian folk dancing (March).  The folk dancing was such a hit that we continued it the following week.

Please pray with us that as we have a great time together at the coffeehouse, good relationships will grow and flourish, and that an eternal impact will be made in the lives of these young people from around the globe.