Giving Thanks in Hungary

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We certainly did. We invited some of our Hungarian neighbors and two missionary friends, Mary Jill and Edith. Nancy fixed a traditional Thanksgiving meal including turkey breast, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, three bean salad and apple pie. We didn't serve two of our favorites, though--neither sweet potatoes nor cranberries were to be found. However, when Mary Jill and Edith arrived, they had a surprise for us--a can of cranberries! They had a can in their cupboard! That was so much fun!

We had a great time around the table. The Hungarians enjoyed the American food (as did the Americans and New Zealander). They laughed when Nancy made a "lake" in her mashed potatoes and poured gravy into it. Istvan said the pie tasted something like he had eaten at McDonald's, only bigger and tastier. Nancy even followed her family's tradition of forgetting something in the kitchen until the meal was almost over--the corn was left in the microwave! We all had a taste before dessert, though.

Not only did we share the food, but we shared what Thanksgiving means to us as Americans and believers, telling what we thanked God for. We thank God for a wonderful first Thanksgiving in Hungary.

Thankful for the Holy Spirit

Last Sunday in church we heard a testimony about the previous week's INSTE class. Of course, the testimony was in Hungarian, so before we told people what had happened in that INSTE class, we wanted to make sure we understood what was said. The good news was confirmed to us yesterday that two students were baptized in the Holy Spirit during the INSTE meeting! It was such a wonderful experience that the class lasted three and a half hours instead of the usual two! Praise the Lord!
This is a picture of László Grepli and his wife Valika. László is one of the students who was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He and his wife were celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary. May God bless them richly.

We thank the Lord for all His goodness to us. We are amazed at what God is doing here and we are so thankful to be able to see it. Our part is so small, and yet we are thankful to Him for allowing us to participate in His work.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Scrabble anyone?

This afternoon we decided that we would do something fun to practice our language skills, so we played a game of Scrabble in Hungarian! Those who know Nancy know that she loves to play the game in English, even to the point of playing her right hand against her left hand when there is no one around to play with! This game, however, was a great challenge to both of us. We had to look up every word in the dictionary to make sure we used the correct spelling, and sometimes we used the dictionary to find words for the letters we had on our trays. It took us three hours to finish. We didn't even keep score--just successfully getting the right letters on the board was reward enough.
Nancy wants to know if anyone who used to play Scrabble with her wants in on this game!?

So what do carpenters build?

Last week during our language tutoring session, we were learning the names of occupations. We were supposed to give clues in Hungarian to one another about an occupation we thought of. Nancy said the person she was thinking of builds houses and other things out of wood, and her dad was one of these. Mike of course said "carpenter." Rita, our instructor, looked puzzled. We explained to her that in America, most houses are made of wood, not bricks like here in Hungary! Here are a couple of pictures of a house being built just down the street from us. Of course, they are using bricks!

INSTE Groups Update

The two Hungarian INSTE groups are going well. This is a picture of the INSTE group meeting in the Shalom Open Bible Church in Debrecen.
These are the INSTE students studying in the Örömhir Church in Budapest. We are hearing good reports from both groups. The students are excited about studying INSTE. They are thorough in their studies, too--some of them spend two hours a day on their lessons.

Work continues in the INSTE office making preparations for the next semester. There are possibilities for other churches conducting INSTE groups next semester. Please pray for all these INSTE students and leaders, both those studying now and those planning to in the near future.

New Mall!

Today we visited the new mall that just opened in town. It looks just like an American mall with lots of stores (mostly fashionable clothing), a food court and lots of people. The place was packed, as we expected. There were balloons, live music and sales. The new mall is just a little over a block from the first mall in Debrecen, which opened less than ten years ago. But this mall is bigger, about three times bigger! And it has a Burger King and a KFC. Now McDonald's is not the only American fast food in town. Lucky us!?

On the way out of the mall, Nancy met the young lady who was her conversation partner this summer. She was with her mother who commented on the opening of the new mall. She said that even before the present financial crisis, she and many other people were surprised that more stores were opening in Debrecen. They believed that the town already had enough stores for its size. It will be interesting to watch how the new mall affects the other shops in town. It is hard to see Hungarians, many of whom live in poverty, experience the down sides of a consumer economy.

Little Helpers

Misha and Alexa Tovtin help us in the INSTE office from time to time. Most office work we can handle ourselves, but with things like translating the data base and reading the handwritten applications and book order forms, we need help. We appreciate Misha and Alexa's help very much.

The best part for Nancy is that the Tovtins bring their little girls with them and Nancy gets to watch them while their parents work. Today little one-and-a-half-year-old Veronika came without her big sister Anastasia, who was in preschool. Veronika had not taken her nap and wouldn't stay with Nancy, but wanted to cling to her mommy and daddy. Soon she fell asleep. Oh well, Nancy will look forward to playing with the girls another day.

Election Perspective

America, we have a new president. A lot of prayers have been lifted up for several weeks and months on behalf of this election, but one thing we need to keep in mind is that the results did not take God by surprise. Words that you will NEVER hear from the mouth of God are: "Boy, I sure didn't see that coming!"

The Bible says that God “sets up kings and deposes them” (Dan. 2:21). And in Romans 13:1-7 we are told that all authority is established by God. So, if God establishes authority, then what is our response to be towards that authority? Read Romans 13:1-2.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

Also in I Tim. 2:1-4 we read:

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

What are these passages telling us? As citizens of the Kingdom of God, we are to submit to those God, our King, has placed in authority over us. Notice, He did not say submit to them if we agree with their policies, or if they are "one of us." Whether we like them or not, whether we agree with them or not, we are to submit to them and honor them. And, if we do not honor those whom God has placed over us, the Bible says we are actually dishonoring God Himself and in rebellion against Him!

We are also told that we are to pray for our leaders. I believe that what Paul is telling the church is that if we humble ourselves in prayer for our leaders (again, whether we agree with them or not), that opens the door for the Spirit of God to move and fulfill God's purpose in that nation, community, family, etc.

In the past, the church has been very guilty of ridiculing, criticizing and complaining against leaders who they felt were not upholding biblical values. We have picketed and protested in an effort to "protect" this country from moral decay, and as a result I believe that we have actually hindered people from seeing the love of God, and kept God's purpose from being fulfilled. Could our dishonoring of our leaders and lack of prayers for them actually be keeping people from getting saved and coming into the Kingdom of God? (reread I Tim. 2:1-4)

The theme of Barack Obama's campaign was CHANGE. Let's use this election as an opportunity to change ourselves. Let's commit ourselves to quit grumbling and begin blessing; to quit complaining about our leaders and begin praying for them. As we learn to walk in obedience to God's Word regarding how we are to treat our leaders, then, maybe we will begin to see God's kingdom come and His will be done in America as it is in heaven.

Lord, I pray for president-elect Obama. I ask that You would keep Your hand of protection upon him and his family. Give him godly wisdom as he leads this country and may Your purpose and plan be fulfilled through him. Bless him, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Celebrating 20 Years in the Harvest Field

Last week was the celebration of 20 years of ministry for the Shalom Open Bible Church in Debrecen. What a celebration weekend it was! There were many pictures showing the history of the church. Many people were remembered and honored.


















There was wonderful worship led by Judit and the Shalom worship team.


There was powerful ministry by the Holy Spirit through Karl Francis, pastor of Living Word Open Bible Church in Cooper City, Florida.

And of course, there was delicious food and lots of good fellowship as friendships were renewed and strengthened in the body of Christ. We thank the Lord for the ministry of Open Bible in Hungary and pray for multiplied effectiveness and many more disciples made in the next 20 years.