Maureen

Wednesday evening we were invited to speak at First Church of the Open Bible in Clear Lake, Iowa.  This church is pastored by our long-time friends Will and Joyce Hunsaker, so they invited us to their new home for supper before the service.  They also invited Maureen Dawson to join us for the meal.  What a pleasure it was to meet this dear lady and to hear her story.

Actually, we had met Maureen before, the last time we were in Clear Lake on itineration.  Maureen told us that she and a friend of hers had been visiting churches in the Clear Lake area and were new to Open Bible when they "happened" to be present at the service where we spoke.  Both ladies were passionate about teaching new and immature believers to help them grow in their faith.  They had looked for good material to help in that pursuit, but had come to the place were they thought they might have to write it themselves, which they could have done since they are both educators.  But, when they heard us talk about INSTE and how it is being used around the world to disciple believers, they knew they had to find out more about it.

By the end of the summer, just a few months after she had heard about INSTE, Maureen was trained as an INSTE facilitator and asked Pastor Will if she could start a group.  Since that time, she has led multiple Level One groups and just this week held the introductory meeting for a Level Two group with eleven members!

We praise God for the way he orchestrated so many lives and circumstances together to disciple believers and train church leaders in Clear Lake.  May God bless you, Maureen, as you continue to follow His direction in your life!

Lacon and Waterloo

Eileen and Nancy

Last Wednesday we were guests at the Christ New Covenant Open Bible Church in Lacon, Illinois. Pastors Erick and Donna Thompson and their congregation welcomed us back for a third time.  The service was wonderful and we enjoyed a powerful time of prayer afterward.

One highlight of this visit was staying again with Eileen.  Eileen is a dear lady in her 80's who enjoys hosting missionaries in her home, ministering to the "old folks" in the nursing home and working twice a week cleaning a neighbor's home. 

Pastor Aaron interviews the Burmese pastor.

Sunday we spoke at the Open Bible Church in Waterloo, Iowa.  Pastor Aaron Keller and Nancy grew up in the same church, Sunshine Open Bible Church in Des Moines, though many years apart.  In fact, Pastor Aaron mentioned that he enjoyed playing on the worship team in that church with Nancy's dad years ago. 

The people of the Waterloo church welcomed us warmly and were responsive to the news of what God is doing in Hungary.  We were excited to meet the pastor of a new Burmese church who was visiting the service.  The Waterloo church is helping the Burmese congregation by allowing them to use their youth building.  It is awesome to see cross-cultural ministry happening in so many places.

This Wednesday and Sunday we will be in Clear Lake, Iowa and Sedalia, Missouri.  Our time in the US is quickly coming to a close.  We have only six weeks before our flight to Hungary!

Ankeny and Marshalltown

Open Bible has the most wonderful people!  This weekend we were welcomed at Open Bible Fellowship in Ankeny and at Faith Open Bible Church in Marshalltown, Iowa.  In both churches we felt very much at home.

Open Bible Fellowship in Ankeny, IA

Enjoying the food & fellowship

 Sunday morning in Ankeny we were treated to a homemade feast after the service.  The entire congregation enjoyed a turkey dinner and wonderful c
onversation.  As we were leaving, their INSTE group was setting up for their meeting.  These folks know INSTE and are eager to help Hungarian INSTE expand, too.

Visiting after the service

Pastor Terry & Linda Fristoe- Faith Open Bible in Marshalltown, IA

Sunday evening in Marshalltown we learned that they do not usually have service on Sunday evening but that they had arranged a special meeting just for us. We were honored that they all came out and listened to us.  Then, as we were leaving this church, pastor's wife Linda Fristoe excused herself.  She had a meeting with the Level 2 INSTE student she is mentoring.  We love seeing INSTE in action!

Missions Blitz Celebration

Yesterday we were at First Church of the Open Bible in Des Moines and participated in their Missions Blitz Celebration.  It truly was a blast!  Each of the missionaries present was interviewed by Pastor Spencer Keroff.  We were invited to pray for people who came forward and at the end of the service, we were prayed for.  There were stories and laughs and confetti blasts.  What fun!  Thank you, First Church friends and especially the First Church Missions Board who worked so hard to pull this off.

We participated in the service along with (left to right), Sherry and Tom Moore, Mike and Pam Lumbard and Leona Venditti. Not pictured is Linda Wilson who returned home right after the service to be with her husband Ron who is recovering from a heart attack and Tammy Swailes who joined the service by Skype from Ukraine.

Ames and Ottumwa

Pastor Doug Lumpkin and his family at Grace Bible Church in Ames

The last two Sundays have been cold ones here in Iowa, but that hasn't stopped faithful people in Ames and Ottumwa from coming out to church.  And when they came, they greeted us warmly, received our reports about Hungary kindly and gave generously to help us to continue to minister there.  One interesting note is that both of the pastors who hosted us attended Bible college with our son Paul.

At Grace Bible Church in Ames several people we had met before we began our ministry in Hungary six years ago assured us of their continued love and support.


At the First Church of the Open Bible in Ottumwa, we missed seeing Senior Pastors Bill and Kathy Hornback.  Pastor Bill had just had surgery a couple days earlier and Kathy was very sick with the flu.  Of course, we joined with the congregation in prayer for them.  The associate pastors, Mark and Jennifer Hornback and the congregation, however, made us feel at home.

Worship service in Ottumwa

This coming Sunday, March 9, we will be joining several other missionaries for a special missions Sunday at First Church of the Open Bible in Des Moines.