Hungarians Are Praying for You, Colorado!

Mike and members of the home group led by Robi (in the Jesus shirt)

We have been reading reports of the devastating fires in Colorado.  It is especially of concern to us since Mike has a brother who lives in Colorado Springs who had to evacuate along with tens of thousands of others.  Besides this, we lived in Colorado Springs for four years and have many friends there.

We shared our concern with those gathered for prayer at the Open Bible Church in Debrecen on Wednesday night and then again with the small group we are part of on Thursday night.  On both occasions, our Hungarian friends prayed with passion for our Colorado friends and family.  We appreciate their prayers and thought you would like to know, too.

Baby Dedication

Kálman Miskolci praying over Pastor Misi and Márika Gulyás and the girls

  Today there was a special event at the Open Bible Church in Debrecen.  Today was the baby dedication of Pastor Misi and Márika Gulyás' twin granddaughters.  The girls, Ráhel and Rodé, were born last fall to Jetro and Kati Gulyás.  Jetro is Pastor Misi's oldest son.  He and Kati live and work in Kuwait, but are home to visit family here in Hungary.  And, of course, to show off their beautiful girls.

Jetro, Kati, Ráhel and Rodé

Ráhel

Rodé

It's Hot!

We just couldn't help but mention that it is HOT here.  This week temperatures have been in the 90's every day.  Most people (including us) don't have air conditioning in their homes, so we open the windows wide when it is cooler in the morning and then shut them before it gets hot again.  We keep the curtains drawn and fans going, so our house is not too uncomfortable. We feel sorry for our friends who must work outside in this heat, though.  We are all looking forward to a little bit of a cool-down this weekend.  Hope the forecast is right!

Romanian Countryside

Our trips to Gherla, Romania, take about five hours one way, but we have found many things along the way that we enjoy.  One part we enjoy the most is driving through a mountain pass that has breath-taking scenery.  We found a place to pull off the road to take a picture of one of our favorite scenes.  Thank the Lord for safe travel and for the amazing beauty of his creation.

Going to Gherla Again

This Saturday we will be traveling to Gherla, Romania again to minister in the Open Bible Church there.  This will make our sixth trip in as many months.  Please pray for safe, uneventful travel, open hearts and powerful Spirit-led ministry.

From Beginning to End

This weekend has been exciting for INSTE in Hungary.  We had a chance to see both the beginnings and completion of INSTE groups.

Saturday afternoon 5 men from two different churches came to our home to be trained to lead INSTE groups.  Both of these churches were started by former INSTE graduates who went on to evangelize in their villages.  The church in Ibrány has been going for about a year and has been growing steadily.  A few weeks ago they baptized 22 new believers.  They already have one INSTE group going and plan on starting another one this September.

New INSTE group leaders in Ibrány and Gávavencsellő

The other church in the village of Gávavencsellő is newer, but just last weekend baptized 45.  They plan on starting an INSTE group in July with the possibility of another one beginning in September.

Then, today we went to the Élet church here in Debrecen to attend the graduation of 13 INSTE students from Level One.  These dedicated believers have studied for the past two years, and today were able to celebrate the completion of their hard work.

INSTE graduates from Élet Church

We praise God for what He is doing here in Hungary.  We see a real hunger for God with many people being saved and baptized weekly.  We also thank God for the opportunity to help disciple these new believers and raise up pastors and leaders for the new churches that are starting.

Hungarian and Rosetta Stone

Our son Paul shared a link that we thought others might find interesting.  They report that the well-known language company Rosetta Stone has finally come out with some CD's to learn Hungarian!  Read the humorous short article here. Oh, all of the articles on this site are made up. :-)

Baptism in Gávavencsellő

We have mentioned several times about the church in Ibrány that was started by some of our INSTE graduates.  Well, Géza and Gizella Balog were also part of that same group that graduated from Level One INSTE.  They also live in Ibrány but they have been ministering in a nearby village called Gávavencsellő.  Through their ministry this past year many people have given their lives to the Lord, and last Sunday afternoon the Open Bible Church in Debrecen went to Gávavencsellő to conduct a baptismal service where 42 new believers were baptized.

Géza and Gizella Balog

The plan was to conduct the baptism in the nearby river, but that didn't work out so they filled a children's swimming pool and we used that.  The pool was large enough for us to baptize three at a time.  It got a little crowded at times, but it helped us baptize the entire group in less time.

The candidates for baptism and pastors

The six pastors baptizing three at a time in a small pool

Now, this coming Saturday Géza and a couple of other men from Gávavencsellő will be trained to become INSTE group leaders.  We are seeing the beginnings of a revival starting among the Roma (gypsy) people, and we pray that it will spread throughout all of Hungary.  We are also excited that we can have a part in discipling believers, raising up pastors and leaders, and even helping to plant new churches throughout Hungary.