Silent Night

The afternoon of Christmas day Shalom Open Bible Church had a Christmas program. Of course, there were the usual songs, children's program and message. Then at the end, we sang Silent Night in Hungarian. We recorded the song and I put together a little video with pictures of Debrecen and some of the children from the Shalom church. If you would like to hear it, click on the picture below.

Merry Christmas!

Boldog Karácsonyt!

We want to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a blessed New Year! May 2010 bring you ever deeper in the Presence of Christ, and may His love and power be evident in you and through you in greater ways than ever before!

Mike & Nancy

Well again

We arrived home from our trip to Spain with colds. Bad colds. Our house sounded like a hospital with all the coughing, sneezing and sniffing. We stayed home as much as possible in order to get better and to keep from "spreading the wealth." But now, praise the Lord, we are well again. A bit of cough is trying to hang on, but it is so good not to be sick. We are so thankful that we didn't get sick during the very busy time of traveling that ended with our Spain trip. And we are thankful that we are well now to enjoy Christmas! God is good.

Welcome Winter

The first snowfall this year is just beautiful. The picture above is a path through the Big Woods Park not far from our home.
We can either enjoy the beauty of the snow or gripe about the cold and inconveniences it causes. The cashier at the corner store today was huddled in her coat and commented as I was checking out that only the children liked the snow. I said, "But it looks so Christmasy!" She smiled a little and said, "Yes, I guess it does." "Then, Merry Christmas!" I said. "To you, too," she answered back, this time smiling broadly.

INSTE Classes

Last Saturday I went with Misi (Michael) Gulyas, the pastor of the Shalom Open Bible Church in Debrecen, to Ibrany, a town just north of Nyiregyhaza, to visit our INSTE groups there. The group that Pastor Gulyas leads is studying Discipleship 2 while the other group, led by Judith Bakos, is in Discipleship 1. We had a good time with these loving people. After class we had communion, and then ate lunch together.

This group is in Discipleship 2. The lesson for the day was on the Holy Spirit. Before class began we prayed that those who had not been baptized in the Holy Spirit would be filled. We had a powerful prayer time and four did receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit!

On the left is Judith Bakos with two of the students in her class. They are in Discipleship 1.

Here are the other two young men in her class. We are excited to see the desire in these young adults to study God's Word and grow in their faith.

A future INSTE student.

As Pastor Gulyas and I were coming back to Debrecen that night, we discussed the number of churches we know that are without pastors, and the need in Hungary to raise up good leaders and pastors in the churches. This is why INSTE is here. We want to expand the Kingdom of God throughout Hungary by helping churches train the people and raise up leaders.

Pray for Hungary; for God to raise up the needed leaders; and for revival to come to the country. Also, pray for INSTE as we make plans to have the second level of INSTE translated into Hungarian- pray for the funds we need, and for good translators to help.

Cold Story

We brought back from Spain something we didn't intend to--bad colds. So, we've been coping with them this week without the aid of Nyquil. All drugs, including those sold over the counter in the US are sold only through pharmacies here, so we went to the pharmacy and asked for something to help with our colds. We went with the pharmacist's recommended cold remedy, a powder that is mixed with hot water. It's okay, but doesn't seem to be as powerful as our familiar Nyquil.

Everyone here, as elsewhere, is concerned about the "new flu," and people are encouraged to stay home when they are sick. So, we are staying home as much as we can. We are feeling better today and hope to be able to go to church tomorrow.

Various Spain Pictures

Here are some random pictures of Spain from Nancy's camera. This is some of the delicious food we enjoyed with the brothers and sisters at the Spanish Open Bible Convention. Yumm!

Actual water and rocks from the actual Mediterranean Sea!

This art on a building opposite a cathedral looks to me like a kid's drawing. But I like it.

Ah, flowers in December! It was 66 degrees F when we left Spain and 42 degrees when we got back home.

The Christmas lights in Barcelona were beautiful. We even took a ride on the tour bus in the evening to see more lights.

Home Again

We arrived home to Debrecen safe and sound late last night. Our trip to Spain was wonderful. We'll post pictures of our two days of sight-seeing in Barcelona later. The worst part of our trip was when Tammy's wallet was stolen on the Barcelona subway. The best part of the trip was the Spanish Open Bible Convention. What anointed services we experienced! God is so good! We did not need a translator to experience the powerful presence of the Lord. And the fellowship with the Spanish brothers and sisters was wonderful, too. Pictures and more to follow.