Trip to Ukraine

Today 7 of us from the church here in Eger will leave for Ukraine for the weekend. This will be our church's first "mission trip", and we are excited for what the Lord has in store.
Ukraine is a place that I have always prayed for - my family on my mom's side moved to North America from Ukraine, and when I first came to Hungary, my plan was actually to stay in Debrecen for a few months, and then move on to Ukraine. The Lord had other plans for me, but Ukraine's always had a special place in my heart.
For some time now our church leadership has felt that we would like to begin doing some ministry in surrounding countries, possibly in Ukraine - so for us, this is the first step in that direction.
We will be going to the Hungarian speaking region of Ukraine, right along the border, and working with Dankó Józsi, a guy who works with Eastern European mission doing social work, and has started a Golgota church in Berehove (Beregszász in Hungarian).

We have a few goals with the trip. One is that would like to be a blessing and help to Józsi is what he is doing. On Saturday we will go with him to a gypsy settlement and a boarding school for street kids (internátus) - where we will do music outreaches similar to what we do here in Eger. On Sunday we will lead the church service in Beregszász.
Another goal is that I would like people from our church to see what real poverty is like, with the hope that it will change how they view the world. When I was 18, I took a trip to the Dominican Republic to do evangelism. We went into slums where I saw extreme poverty - and it had a big impact on my whole way of seeing the world. To this day I remember it often, and it made me realize how much I actually have - I began to appreciate my material blessings more; it made me complain less, and be more thankful. I think that everyone should have that kind of experience - it changes you.
One other goal with the trip is to "get our feet wet" in Ukraine. We feel like this is the first step for us to take in getting involved in ministry there, and after we do this, we will wait for God to show us the next step.

Here are some things you can pray for, for the trip:

• Smooth border crossing - that it would be fast, and that there would be no problem with customs because of the donations we are bringing. That all the papers with the cars would be in order, and that we would be able to cross quickly and smoothly.
• For the 2 outreaches on Saturday afternoon - that the Holy Spirit would give us the words to speak, and that the whole time would be anointed and effective.
• We aren't exactly sure of how everything will go - so please pray that we would be flexible and led by the Spirit.
• For safe travel and for the cars to run well. My car isn't running as well as it used to, and neither is Jani's - so please pray for them!

I hope to take pictures of our time there and post them here once we've returned.
Thanks for praying!

Thank you for praying

To those of you who prayed for the situation I mentioned in my previous post, about the family who was set to lose their house - God heard our prayers and was gracious to this dear family.
Their case has been postponed for 3 months, which gives them the possibility of keeping the house, if they are able to get enough money together.
Thank you for praying, and please continue to pray for this family, that they would be able to keep their house.

Baptism Postponed

We had a baptism scheduled for tomorrow (Sun, Sept 21st), but since we do our baptisms in a lake, and the weather has been really cold and rainy, we have postponed it for 2 weeks, until Oct 5th.
This is also better for a few other reasons too. One of the guys who was to be baptized has to have a small surgery which got scheduled for tomorrow, and also this way more guests will be able to come.
We're believing that this is the Lord's will, but please pray that on Oct 5 there will be good weather, so we don't freeze and die, since that's getting pretty late in the year!

Courtney

The night our English Camp ended, as we were having our farewell dinner with our helpers from America and from our church, one of the girls from California - Courtney - had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital, where it turned out that she had a blood clot in her head, which is potentially life threatening.
The next day they took her to Miskolc, where there is a Neurological and Stroke intensive care unit, and they have been treating her there, giving her blood thinners to dissolve the clot.
After almost 2 weeks, she just got the news that they will let her out on Thursday!
Praise the Lord that Courtney is ok, and please pray for her continued recovery.

Prayer Request: Jobs

In general in Hungary, it is hard to find work outside of Budapest.
This has been a problem we have faced continuously over our past few years in Eger, as we have said goodbye to people from our church who have had to move away from Eger to find work.
Right now there are quite a few people in the church who are qualified, have degrees, but yet are out of work.
Please pray for these people, that they would find work in Eger, so that they can remain here and be part of the church:

• K. Judit
• Mihály
• Kati
• Marianna
  
• Nóri
• Timi

Post English Camp

The English Camp went really well this year - Praise God for that!
With more kids this year, there were some new challenges, but all in all it was a joy, and the kids and teachers all had a great time.
The Gospel was preached and seeds were sown. A number of the campers made commitments to Jesus, and the youth from our church who attended were strengthened as they were able to share their faith with their peers - many of whom are their classmates in school.
On the last day of camp, we passed out invitations for the students to bring their parents to church on Sunday, and today the church was full and people were having a hard time finding seats! I shared an evangelistic message from Ephesians 2:1-10, and we gave Welcome Packets to the parents and copies of Why Grace Changes Everything and More Than a Carpenter to the kids who came.
Praise God for a great camp, and for those who committed their lives to following Him!
Please pray:
- For the kids who were at the camp and who heard about God's love for them
- For those who came to church today and heard the Gospel Message
- For those who made commitments to Jesus at the camp
- For those who nearly made commitments, but are still counting the cost

Prayer Request: English Camp

Tomorrow we will start our 3rd English Camp here in Eger.
This year we have 80 kids coming, which is the most we've ever had - almost twice as many as last year.
We have barely enough teachers, and have even had a few problems - which God has worked out graciously. Shane's wife's dad will have a serious heart surgery on Monday or Tuesday, and we were really counting on their help to teach. Obviously they need to go and be with their family during this difficult time, but we weren't sure how we were going to cover without them here. But God is faithful, and he provided us with two girls from Debrecen who have taught in similar camps before, and are able to come for the exact amount of time that Shane and Marianna won't be at camp! It worked out perfectly - praise the Lord.
Please pray that God would use this camp in a great way. Previous camps have been very fruitful, and we're excited to see what God will do this week.
Please pray for us to have wisdom and sensitivity in how we share the Gospel.
Please pray that these kids would be impacted, and that their hearts would be receptive to the seed of the Gospel.