Baby and Youth Ministry

[Esy]  Taking part in the summer youth camp made me come to the decision of taking part of the youth ministry during the school year too. I liked this young group that treated Zoe well. Not only the nice personal experience but also the lack of female leaders motivated me. I can only be there every other Friday, when there is someone to take care of Zoe, but thank God my colleague Ildikó is there too at the youth meetings whenever she can. We mainly help with leading the small group conversations and simply we are  available whenever the girls need us with their questions or anything. By late March/early April my role will come to a pause in this youth ministry, because God willing our second child – whom we are expecting with great curiosity – will be born that time! Unfortunately we don’t have an ultrasound picture of him/her yet, so you have to do with the photo of my growing tummy! We are thankful that everything has been going well with this pregnancy so far. I am not sure how much Zoe can understand of having a little sibling but she sings to my stomach once in a while. )) 

Hiking with the youth last Friday

The above mentioned “tummy-picture”

 

4:1

If you read our blog on a regular basis, it’s no news for you that our support situation changed dramaticly in the past year. It was not a positive change – I have to admit. We waited for a while but by now it became clear to us that God probably wanted to provide for us by other means, so I had to look for an other job.  Thank God that our friend Zotya started a language school at the Paulus and he welcomed me among the teachers. The summer -at least partly- was  preparition time for me for this new role, and starting from September the machinery got going. Another reason for thanksgiving is that thanks to the precious and generous support of our brothers and sisters we didn’t have to leave mission for good: our needs would hopefully be met by my 4 days of teaching English, and the support frees me to pastor the youth in the remaining one day. Talking about youth: the youthministry seems rather promising, we had bunch of kids joining us after the summer camp, and the leadership team is forming step-by-step. When we find someone to babysit Zoe, Esy can join the crew, too, and she is a GREAT help, as we had no woman leader.

This 4:1 format also allows us to jump back to full-time spiritual ministry, that we definitely want to do too, as soon as we would be fully funded. I enjoy the English teaching for sure, but it is not our calling.

Please, pray that

- God would provide enough students, and His help that I would be able to stand my ground as an English teacher

- the non-believers in the youthgroup to accept Christ, the believers would grow, and that we would have more young leaders.

Thank you for persevering with us.

 

Sziget – thanksgiving

It was 15 years ago that I first set my foot on the island – the Sziget Music Festival. Back in those years the Sziget meant everything to me, I still remember how painful it was to wait for the moment the festival started and how empty my life felt when it ended a week later. I think the reason for this was that the Sziget for me seemed to be the manifestation of total freedom that I longed for and that I never had reached – ironically- by being there, but that I have found only in Jesus Christ.

There were more new people on staff this year, so I was challenged to lead one of the shifts. The idea first seemed scary as I didn’t know what I was required to do, but I accepted it anyway, and I am happy I did so because I could develop much deeper relationships within the team than last year. I had so many meaningful and deep conversations that I’m thankful for, and I sense that this resulted in strong unity and harmony that we really needed to accomplish our extremely hard task – to reach the festival “tribe”.

I could have gotten used to the countless crazy things one can encounter on the Sziget, but I still get shocked a lot – and now I only have in mind the conversation I had with those who entered our program-tent. Let’s take for example the strange philosophy or this Dutch guy. (By the way, it seemed that this year the Sziget had more Hungarians than last year) At first I hesitated if I should approach him or not (and typically these are the situations that turn out to be the best ones ) as he was hanging around in the tent with a few of his friends and showed no interest in talking whatsoever. Anyways we started talking and as it turned out he knew a lot about the Bible, but regarded Jesus as a great teacher only and believed that “god” is simply the act of doing nice things to each other to make the others’ lives better. When I faced him with the fact that Jesus referred to Himself as God his response was that Jesus wasn’t any more godlike than anyone of us, and we all impart the possibility to be “god”. “Just think about this, and tomorrow I’ll come back to see where you are.” he said with a wise smile on his face began standing up to leave. I thought to myself: is this trash going to be the conclusion of our talk?! No way! So as I was thinking what to answer a thought came to my mind – probably from God I believe – that his argument leads to a crystal clear conclusion. “Are you God?” – I asked him and for the first time in our conversation I saw that the guy stopped for a moment, hesitating,  like he was scared to draw this logical conclusion. So we continued our discussion for a short while, and even though he did say he was god – and naturally I asked him for a Ferrari which he failed to provide – I believe that was more from pride than conviction, and I pray that God would use this talk to draw him closer to himself. 

One great answer to your prayers –by the way – is the fact that I had no problems with my allergies even though I lived in a tent for the whole week. It felt really great that I didn’t have to deal with this “burden” unlike last year…

Finally the festival week in pictures (thanks to my picture-taking colleagues ): 

Some afternoon concert on the Main Stage – the crowd is gathering

Preparation for the day – morning devotion behind the scenes (our program tent can be seen in the background)

The KözösPont (common ground/point) tent in action

Evening devotion in the Tent – open to visitors, too (11.30 p.m.)

  The guest-speaker of the Tent – a worldwide known specialist, amazing the passing islanders with his abound knowledge – the “Love is in the air” talk on real love.

The freezing Belgian, who clothed himself in his trendy, handmade straw-gown to survive the unbearable cold

In the meantime Esy and Zoé stayed with my in-laws in Miskolc. This week of separation – as a family – is not easy, so it’s always a question whether the sacrifice for the mission to the Sziget is worth it or not. However, if I think about the Sziget and what is going on there (moral-vacuum, proliferation of “truths”, misunderstood tolerance…etc.), and the unity that was displayed in this multi-denominational/national/aged group of ours, I truly believe that Jesus would be there (more over He IS there) every year. So I hope for the next generation to come and take over, I ‘m ready to pass on the baton, BUT Christ must be represented on the Sziget (and anywhere else, too).

Thank you so much for the prayers and the encouraging words (Jeff, Ellis, Lee, the Shoops and many others) God used you in great ways!

 

Sziget – again

Not knowing now dense this part of the year would be, I had decided to go to the greatest music festival again. Anyway if you still remember (if you don’t check out the report on the last festival) this out-reach project was a tremendous spiritual happening for me – for example I got to talk about God 15+ people in less than 5 days! The challenge is even greater this year as I was assigned to lead a shift and also to give a lecture on real love. We already started to experience the spiritual warfare through various means (I don’t go into detail now)
So please, pray for us that…
- God would provide protection
- He would be with Esy and Zoe who will stay with my in-laws in the meantime
- He would give us great conversations with the people visiting our tent
- I would be able to talk His words and lead in a godly way
- we would have unity in the multi-denominational team
Thank you!

 

I can do all things…

…except for up-dating our blog!

Summer=camps – at least that has been our equation for the last two months. There’s only a kids’ camp to go, but we only have roles in the preparations, so it’s going smooth from here. So first we had a camp for our families in the church, that was quite a bit of a challenge as this was the first camp I organized, and I barely had some ideas where to start. Finally it turned out to be very good, everyone was satisfied, we laughed a lot, grew spiritually – as it’s supposed to be, so God worked out every detail great.  As we came home from the camp, the English camps started immediately, this time in Diósd, with American teams. This was a great experience for me – now participating as a prospective teacher –, and I sat in the classrooms as a helper, mostly translating and helping clarifying the grammar.  

The youth camp arrived, too, at last. First the one in Badacsony – at the Lake Balaton – especially for our youth, and then the English and sports outreach camp in Diósd, with the youth team from the States. Our whole family was their for the first camp, and we expected a great deal of adventures because of Zoé, but finally she became the “mascot” of the camp, the kids loved her and vice versa. It would have been such a shame if Esy and Zoé stayed at home – in the comfort zone, we would have missed so much. It was so nice to be able to serve together with Esy again. At the close of the Balaton camp the two teams – Hungarian and American – joined forces and we jumped right into the outreach camp in Diósd. It was scary first for – again – it was the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, and we were drained already from the other camps. BUT God did the miracle again: we felt more refreshed at the end of the camp than at the beginning, it was extremely cool to work together with the great American team, more kids came than we expected (more than 50!), they loved it, and some also came to Christ. I guess our youth-group will double from September! Even now we’re trying to figure out how to continue, and we can hardly wait to see how many will come back on Saturday to our special youth-meeting.  We’re putting the program together today for this special youth meeting, and it is clear to us that we need a great smashing plan to be able to ride this BIG wave!

One of my friends with whom I’ve been wrestling for a year now, got saved finally, so all I have is good news!

I’m doing good with teaching English. I teach 2 lessons 3 times a week and enjoy it to its last bit. I’m supposed to jump into this full time from September but because of this new situation God put us in with the youth everything is still in question. We are open to Him to use us however He would, and I know that if He wants it He will provide everything to make it happen.

 

Drivers License

After suffering for a long time, struggling, failures, a desire to give up, stress and a God experience I passed the driver’s test this last Tuesday. I was the first one to take it that day.  Sanyesz and I arrived to the exam place a little sleepy and anxious  where a car with a fish sticker on it ><> was parking. My beloved husband started joking immediately:  “I bet it belongs to the exam commissioner!” He turned out to be right! More over,  I recognized the guy’s name when he introduced himself, I knew his daughter! He did not know me and I did not say a word to him about who I was – I didn’t want to make anybody feel awkward. During the exam, driving went well but at the end I parked funny – because I had not been practicing this kind of parking since April (my teacher didn’t make me to). The commissioner and my teacher were chorusing to me what to do. But the main thing is that I finally passed the exam so I’m going to have my driver’s license soon! So WATCH OUT!

 

Men’s Retreat

Though I participated in many men’s meetings, this was the first time for me to organize one. I’m not real good in logistics, and I knew that this retreat was supposed to be the biggest happening for men in our church for the year – so the pressure was great. However, I truly enjoyed the task, especially that a plan started to evolve in my mind not just for this event but the men’s ministry in general.

Good thing was that the leaders of the church were willing to sit down with me and set the goal for the weekend and brainstorm about the further details. We agreed that we would aim for “building the fellowship” and came up with a great deal of ideas. The timeframe was tight – from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon – so it was not easy to balance with the schedule.

The toughest – who dared to ride their bikes to Velence

We had all different kinds of discussions (by the BBQ, while filling out a questionnaire in pairs, in small and large group formats, private talks after midnight…etc.) and the guys were all open to share about their struggles and success. There was also a thought-provoking lecture on Saturday on stress-management.

I was really happy about the attendance rate: of the invited 28 men 17 came for the retreat, 3 of them unbeliever. But what’s even better is that many of the men indicated that they want to be more involved in the church’s life and on Sunday 9 of them showed up to do some handywork in our building, on Wednesday 15 watched the soccer-game together in our new “café”, and other groups are forming, too.

Thank God for the meaningful conversations and the forming friendships in the group!

[OFF] Our future is still uncertain in terms of ministry. I sent out my CV to couple places, but received no answer yet. What might seem a workable solution is to teach English at the Paulus Training Center – if God provides enough students. This way I could evangelize life-on-life and we could help the church more. We might also have to move to a new place.       

 

PRAYER needed! Men’s Retreat in Velence

Friday and Saturday is our Men’s Retreat – our goal is to build a stronger fellowship. Please, bring us in your prayers as you come before God! Thanks.

 

The time has come

There was this older post (The Decision) that we promised to continue, however we never got to write the second part. Briefly: we were struggling what we should do as we returned to Hungary. Our decision that time was to continue full-time ministry with the Paulus Churchplanting Movement as long as we are able to. Well, things have changed now.

A foreign ministry partner had cut back their support, for which reason our family ended up with $400 missing from our regular monthly budget – big enough for us not to be able to continue our ministry full-time. Still not adjusted to the pace at home – we were the weakest link in our professional team. We are so sad for those, many of them Hungarians who’ve been supporting us faithfully for many years, putting their treasures and hearts in our ministry. And now it all came to an end…

Please, don’t get me wrong here: we’d LOVE to continue with what we are doing, and if there’s anything we can to for it – here we come! And if you who are reading these lines were ever wondering if you should join our ministry team as financial supporters, but never actually did it – I tell you honestly – this might be your last chance to do so!

However it is going to be, I believe that God has something amazing in store for us, and I’m excited – like before a long trip.

This situation is also so ironic, as we just began to feel home and in our place – in the forming Men’s Ministry, the many evangelistic and marital counseling meeting we had – and now the door is closing. (In the meantime some other door is surely opening, but where?)

In this unpleasant place there are some good points, too: we still have a little time to finish the race: the men’s retreat is coming that I can hardly wait (we’re hoping to build stronger fellowship through it) the summer camps (church-camp in June, English-camps and Youth Outreach Camp in July, and the Sziget). Our quit is only due in September (thanks to some unexpected gift we’ve just received)– so we want to use this time wisely and to the full.

Please, pray that

• the transition would be smooth
• if God wants us to stay where we are He would provide what is needed
• God would make us wise to recognize if He opens a door
• we could put ourselves to the above mentioned tasks with God’s blessings

 

The Account of the Trip to the States, Zoé and the Driving License

[Sanyesz] If my travel to the States had been only a fundraising trip I would not write more than a few lines about it.  Of course, even before the departure I knew it was going to be “multi-purpose” for I was invited specifically to a men’s conference and a men’s ministry training. Well, even in one week they made me catch fire… Even though the Paulus already had events designed especially for men (retreats, watching soccer together, pool-contest, and the regular Thursday Prayer-Breakfast), but I viewed these as separate happenings, while now -thanks to this trip and what I experienced there- I began to see these as part of a system with the final goal to disciple men. Make no mistake though – I’m not trying to make a system designed for a different cultural setting work here! But for sure I’m fully burdened now to help my fellow brothers on their road of discipleship, and I gained hope from seeing an already existing and working ministry in person. 

So I’d like to acknowledge all people who were available to God to be channels to bless me with this trip. I’d like to thank Coach Jeff, for “orchestrating” this whole trip and training us, the M.V.P. Gang for bringing me over to the States, and letting me join them for the conference and Monday night and for the many “hang-times”, David and his fine family for hosting me in their home, Lee, Chris (and fam), P. Jerry, Mike, Ellis (and fam), Kevin (and fam), Steve, John for spending quality time with me, and for the whole Harvest CC for kindly hosting us. Also thank you Gary, Ben and Josh for meeting me.

I collected a couple of pictures of the trip that you can take a look here. (Please, note the comments too, you can reach them by clicking on the thumbnails.)

[Esy] Zoé turned 1 on March 10! She’s growing incredibly fast! Since her birthday there have been weeks when she said a new word every 2nd day. Now she is not afraid to walk without taking hold of something. Her favorite animal is the dog (she can imitate its voice with a stunning resemblance) She loves to swing and also sings a little Hungarian song with it – with some of the actual words . However our personal favorite is when she actually smacks kisses and throws them too. She’s very open and friendly even to strangers.

To tell a little bit about myself too, I’m still working on my driving license, and the end of the course is coming very fast (in one or two weeks I’m having the final exam). Please, pray that I would acquire the skills very fast and be able to pass the exam, too, possible for the first try.