Our German Relatives visit Szeged

It was great to welcome the relatives to Szeged! It was their first visit to Hungary. Although it was only three days, we squeezed alot of fun into it! We visited the cafés, the Turkish thermal baths, our good friends, the Belaék, and even played on the playground. It certainly was nice to be with family!

Donna's Fall Conference in Austria

Amazing worship! Beautiful scenery! Excellent teaching! Great fellowship!

Over the last two years, I have had the privilege of learning so much from this CRM "pilot development program" for women. Now, how can I invest in other women serving around the world? I hope and believe that there will be opportunity for me in the future to share what I've learned, in order to encourage women in their walks with the Lord and in their ministry.

Fall Party Fun

This year's fall party was a huge success! There was so much laughter! Sarah and Hannah were the planners--Rob and I were the assistants, cooks, and dishwashers!

We played lots of games. Here, Csenge tries to get the spider in the middle of the web!

The mummy wrap game was a bit loud as everyone cheered on their team!

One of the food highlights was giving the children "Dirt with worms." Of course they were pleasantly surprised!!



We carved pumpkins and painted them, too. All the girls were creative!

Women's Conference in Kübekháza

The 60+ women were greeted to the conference by a white rose decorated sign--made by a man from our church.




Our times of worship with Ildi, Móni, and Zsazsa leading were spirit-filled! It was wonderful to sing HIS PRAISES!! It was a beautiful picture, one woman stated, of what heaven is going to be like.






The women enjoyed times of getting to know others during small group sessions. With 8 different fellowships represented, there were many new faces to us all. As you can see in the picture, there were young and old-er!





We were welcomed to the town (just before lunch on Saturday) by Mayor Robi Molnár, a brother in Christ. The food was delicious! Tamás is the best cook!




Shown here from left: Kati, Jenny, Donna, Kata, and Erzsi. Jenny, Kata, and Kati lead our teaching times on spiritual temperaments, hearing the voice of God, and meditative prayer. Erzsi was the main translator for Jenny, as well as my partner in planning.




There were times of personal retreat. We enjoyed the beautiful garden and pond at our hotel.



In our closing time together, we celebrated the Lord's Supper. Each woman received prayer afterwards. There was also time for the healing of relationships, confessions, and encouragement. As tears flowed, hugs and kisses abounded.

It was a wonderful weekend!

Szeged School is Underway!

September 1st is the first day of school in Hungary. No Labor Day weekend here - May 1st is Eastern Europe Labor Day, held over from Communist days. Donna always takes the important first day pictures, and the girls are happy to pose. The first is by the September calendar and the second is on our balcony.











































The evening before the first day, there is always an opening school ceremony. The kids all have to wear traditional black and white and there is a special program, especially welcoming the new first grade classes (each year there are 4 new classes - English, German, Music and Art). Our neighbors upstairs from us have a son Máté who is entering the 1st year Art group (in picture with special school scarf on). Hannah is posing with one of her best friends Boroka from her 3rd year class, which specializes in Art.


More pictures from the event:
*School Principal Mr. Bacsi sitting with our teachers, while the kids read poems.
*The sea of black and white classes all lined up.
*The inner courtyard of the school.

Summer Camp with Zion Church

We had a special week together with our Zion Church friends at our CRM Retreat House. There were 13 adults and 13 kids and lots of fun to be had in fellowship.
We had several important leaders involved in various ministry discussions, and good plans were made for upcoming fall commitments. Pictured below are Szilveszter (church elder, on guitar), Béla (youth leader, small group leader), Ági (children ministry leader), László (growing youth!) together one evening for some spontaneous worship singing.



















Sarah and Regina (Regi) did a great job leading the younger kids in some evening programs, while the adults could have more time together.

We made sure to enjoy the Lake Balaton water and various hikes in nearby villages.

Building a New Fellowship Hall!

In May, with our friend Béla's initiative from Zion Church, we gave support to new construction on his strawberry farmland in Szőreg-Szeged. Béla and Bea bought their neighbor's run-down old greenhouse structure. Now in September the empty frame has turned into a full-blown building of almost 100 feet long to be used for fellowship gatherings! A wooden framework was put onto the metal frame, and a heavy plastic wrap has just been added. The last crop underneath is tomatoes, and then the building will need a floor to be ready for hosting people this fall! The dream is to eventually put more significant roofing and walls on the structure......as the Lord leads.





BÉLA and ROB PLAYING PING PONG BEHIND BÉLA'S HOUSE




Béla and Bea know how to host a great party and there have been a few good gatherings since spring. The ping pong table and playing badminton are great for the youth who come. The latest event was a cookout with the famous Hungarian szalonna (bacon fat), but Béla's version does include some real meat, not just fat! The goal for Christmas is to do a big outreach and invite many families from the neighborhood.

POSING IN THE FELLOWSHIP HALL-WORSHIP TENT - OUR GIRLS WITH REGINA (REGI)

It is exciting to see the potential as Béla and family seek to host various events and dream for the future. We are glad that Zion Church is catching this vision for more outreach and we have friends such as the Hope Together team from Rochester NY participating in the support. Pictured below are friends Reverend Malcolm Moore and Dr. Emmanuel Puddicombe from the Hope Together ministry partnership.

THE FIRST METAL FRAME STRUCTURES GOING UP - WORK TEAM INCL ROB, BÉLA, ISTVÁN AND RICSI