Halottak Napja

Halloween is not celebrated here in Hungary the way it is in the US.  All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day are celebrated on November 1 and 2.  Since Hungary is predominately a Catholic country, November 1 is a national holiday and businesses and schools are closed so that people can go to mass and to cemetaries.  Many people spend the day visiting the graves of their loved ones, decorating them with flowers and lighting votive candles in special red jars to set on them.  The reason the Catholics go to mass and to the cemetaries is to help their departed loved ones leave purgatory and arrive in heaven. Unlike in the US, this holiday is not one of fun and candy, but a solemn, serious one.  Please pray that the Hungarians will see the true light of Jesus Christ, the One who has the power to deliver us from death unto life.

Lost

Yesterday we had a package to deliver to a friend in Oradea, Romania.  He gave us his address so we could use our GPS to find him.  We had been to his church before, but decided that since we had been riding with someone else when we were there, using the GPS would make sure we made it.

We had no problem along the way and punched in the address right after we crossed the border into Romania.  As we got closer to our destination, it seemed to the both of us that the GPS instructions were different than the way we remembered, so we took the road we both thought was right. The church wasn't there.  Oh well.  We once again turned to the GPS and followed its instructions, only to have it lead us around in a circle and not to where we needed to go.  We stopped on a side street, got out a map of Oradea, but couldn't find the right street on it.  A nice gentleman who spoke Hungarian stopped to help us.  He looked at the address, put it into the GPS for us and said to turn around and the GPS would lead us to the church.  Two kilometers later, we still were not at the church.  We returned to the turn-off we "remembered" and just drove around, looking for something familiar.  That didn't work, either.

We stopped in a parking lot and again asked the Lord what to do.  Mike decided to try to find someone else who could help us, and found a man in a store who spoke English.  This man not only told him how to find the church, but printed out a Map Quest map for him.  Following those instructions, we found the church and delivered our package.  We were almost two hours later than we said we would be, but we finally made it!

We learned some things in this adventure.  Next time we will be sure we have a telephone number we can call.  We will also not rely on our own memories or the GPS alone.  We do thank God that he is good and gracious and that he helped us.

Meat Soup



Misha, Gabi and Istvan enjoying meat soup

This picture is for all of you who ask what we eat in Hungary.  Yesterday after Mike preached and Misha translated at Örömhir Misszió in Budapest, István and Gabi took us out to eat.  We were served a delicious meal, family style.  This is a picture of the soup course.  It was a "make your own" meat soup.  First we put the pasta, meat and vegetables we wanted in our bowls.  Then we added the meat broth.  It sure was tasty!  Oh, and Hungarians don't eat soda crackers.  If they eat anything with their soup, it is a piece of bread.

By the way, the service was great that morning.  We really enjoy visiting these wonderful believers.  Another INSTE group will be starting there soon!

INSTE Info

We are often asked about INSTE.  INSTE is the reason we are in Hungary, and so many people want to know what it is.  INSTE is an in-church Bible college with two levels.  The first level has four books (two semesters) available to all believers in the church who want to go from being believers to disciples and ministers.  The second level is for those called to leadership in the church.  This level has 24 books (six semesters).

INSTE has some unique features that make it valuable to any church.  First, INSTE is group-based.  No one can just buy the materials and study on their own.  INSTE must be studied with others in the church so that students learn from and minister to each other.  INSTE books are programmed, meaning that the students study five days a week from the books on their own.  When they come together for the weekly meeting, they have already learned the material and are ready to take a test and then discuss what they have learned.  INSTE is also flexible.  Starting and end dates, meeting times, and schedules are all flexible.

INSTE has been translated into more than 13 languages and is being used in dozens of countries.  For more information, send us a message or click on the link below to visit the INSTE Bible College (US) website.
http://www.inste.edu/

Give Thanks

This table decorated the front of the church and displayed some items that represented what people were thankful for, including one young man's new driver's license!

There is no official Thanksgiving national holiday in Hungary, of course, but we enjoyed participating in a thanksgiving service at the Open Bible Church in Debrecen yesterday.  Many people told what they were thankful to God for in the past year. The service was followed by a delicious meal of stuffed cabbage, fruit and cake.  "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."

And the gates of hell...

Every time we drive to Tomor to see the INSTE students there, we drive by the gates of Hell.  Literally. Just about 30 minutes from Tomor is the new Hell Energy-Drink manufacturing plant.  Interesting. I am always reminded of what Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it." (Matthew 16:19b)  No power is strong enough to stop what God wants to do in Tomor or anywhere else!



Hungarian-Speaking Day

Mike and Pastor Csaba discussing INSTE before about a dozen pastors

 We had an interesting day on Saturday.  That morning we met with a group of pastors from the Church of God in Hungary. Bishop Tenkely Csaba invited us to introduce the INSTE program to several pastors who were gathered here in Debrecen.  Mike was able to talk about INSTE in Hungarian (with a few prompts from Pastor Csaba) for about half an hour.  We are thankful that several of the pastors were interested in starting INSTE groups in the spring.


After lunch we drove an hour and a half to lead a new INSTE group in the village of Tomor.  These are brand-new believers who do not have an evangelical church in their village or in the neighboring villages.  It is exciting to be able to teach these dear people the basics of following Jesus.  They speak only Hungarian, though.  Our friend Zoli, who led these people to the Lord and who also speaks pretty good English, was able to help with the meeting this week.  Next week, however, he won't be there to help.  We are totally depending on the Lord!

The INSTE group meeting in Tomor

We are far from being able to speak the language fluently yet.  Saturday morning, Pastor Csaba corrected Mike's pronounciation of the word "level" as in First Level INSTE and Second Level INSTE.  Later, as we thought back on the morning, it dawned on us, that the way Mike had been pronouncing "level" sounded like the word for "holy."  It sounded like he was saying "First Holy INSTE" and "Second Holy INSTE."  INSTE is awesome, but we can't really call it holy!

More Level One INSTE Graduates!

 Praise God!  Fourteen more INSTE students have graduated from Level One!  Last Sunday INSTE graduates from three Open Bible Churches in Hungary received their certificates.  It was exciting to see all of them.  They included the leaders of the new church in Ibrany, the leaders of the church in Nyiregyhaza, and leaders from the Debrecen church. 

 Eszter waited a long time to be able to finish her INSTE courses.  She began several years ago and was only last semester able to complete all four semesters.

The students each gave a short testimony of how INSTE has impacted their lives. They said, among other things, "INSTE helped me change my bad thinking."  "Every week I felt like a miner digging in the mines and discovering wonderful treasures in God's Word." "INSTE helped me establish a daily quiet time with the Lord."

Again we were asked, "When will Level Two be ready?  When can we begin studying?"  We are working on getting it translated right now.  Pray that it goes quickly and well!

We praise God for the lives of these INSTE students!  May they continue to grow in the Lord.

Visitors from the US

Jen, Sarah and Dodi

 We enjoyed a wonderful visit over the weekend with three ladies from the US.  Dodi, Jen, and Sarah arrived about 10 pm Friday night after driving from Krakow, Poland to our home in Debrecen.  Their drive that day took about four hours longer than anticipated because of an accident ahead of them on the two-lane highway and other small delays.  They arrived tired and hungry and enjoyed a supper of our friend Éva's famous stuffed cabbage.

Saturday morning we got to know each other a little bit.  Dodi and Jen are both actively involved in Gateway Church in Colorado Springs.  Part of Dodi's responsibilities includes keeping the missionaries in the minds of the congregation. 

Eating Eva's famous stuffed cabbage

Sarah and her husband are from San Antonio and have daughter who is a year and a half and another child due in March.  They are called by God to be missionaries and are looking for the place He wants them to minister.  Dodi has been a missionary in the Philippines and in Germany.  The three of them began their trip in Germany where Dodi ministered formerly, then drove to Poland to visit friends there, and then stopped by to see us.

"How does my picture of the Great Church look?"

Saturday afternoon we took them around Debrecen for a little bit of sight seeing.  Unfortunately, we forgot that the souvenir shops were closed on Saturday afternoons!  It was beautiful weather, though, and we did enjoy walking around downtown and eating Hungarian food at our favorite Hungarian restaurant.

Sunday poor Jen came down with a bad cold and had to stay home.  That morning was the graduation of 14 Level One INSTE students!  (More about that in the next blog.)  Dodi and Sarah enjoyed the service and meeting some of the people in the church. 

Thankfully, this morning Jen was feeling a bit better as the trio headed on to Austria.  They plan to arrive back in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening in time for Jen and Sarah to catch flights home on Wednesday.  Dodi will remain in Germany for a couple more weeks.

Thanks for coming our way, ladies!  May God bless you and your families!