Thanksgiving with Friends

There is no national Thanksgiving Day in Hungary, but we celebrate the American holiday anyway.  This year we invited some Hungarian friends to join us for turkey with all the trimmings.  This time the sweet potatoes received the most comments.  They are not a common food here (the sign at the store said ours were imported from Egypt), but our guests were polite enough to taste them and said they enjoyed them, too.  This year, we finally found marshmallows to put on top.  They sell them as a candy in different flavors, but we found some plain ones for the sweet potato topping.

What a wonderful tradition we have in American, to set aside one day a year to give thanks!  Thanks be to God for his indescribable Gift!

We Thank God For...

Here it is Thanksgiving week and we are looking forward to having some friends and neighbors over for an American celebration with turkey and all the trimmings.  This is a fun thing to do each year, especially when guests come who have never tasted cranberry sauce (not quite the same from a can, but it suffices), turkey gravy or apple pie.

But the best part of the celebration is giving thanks to our wonderful God who blesses us with many things large and small.  This year we thank God for...

- new churches using INSTE
- more students studying
- several pastors interested in using INSTE
- fourteen Second Level books translated with three more being worked on now
- enthusiastic testimonies from students
- opportunities to preach in many churches
- ability to get along in the Hungarian language
- encouragement of our Hungarian church family
- support of our family
- generous support of people who give to make it possible for us to live and work in Hungary
- and many, many more blessings

James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." Since we have been given all these gifts and many more, we give the Giver thanks.  Thank you, Heavenly Father!

Romanian Snow

The low light made it difficult to capture the beauty with a little phone camera.

 Last weekend we made one of our frequent trips to Gherla, Romania.  It was rainy when we left and it rained most of the way to Gherla, but we had no problems along the way.  We were surprised when we woke up Sunday morning to an inch of snow.  It was not sticking much to the roads, though, so we had an easy drive to church.  We really enjoyed the church service with a great worship time and a good message from Mike.  Afterward we were invited to have dinner with the church's newly appointed pastoral team and a few others.  One of the pastors, Simi, had a birthday, so the delicious meal ended with the singing of Romanian birthday songs and a wonderful cake.  We excused ourselves early, though, so that we could drive back through the mountain passes in the daylight. Before we left, everyone prayed over us and our trip and over another pastor, Bogdan, who also had to drive quite a distance in the snow.

 The sand trucks were out because the road was slick in spots, but almost all the drivers drove carefully and at a reasonable speed. The mountains were beautiful with the fresh snow on the trees interspersed with dark patches of fir trees from which the snow had melted.  We thank God for a safe trip, his presence in the service, and his guidance all the way. We also thank all those who prayed for us this weekend.

Torch Church

Mike's sermon was interpreted by Pastor Daniel

Sunday Mike preached at Fályka Gyülekezet (Torch Church) here in Debrecen.  We have known Pastor Daniel Kriszt for some time, but this is the first time we have visited the church. Daniel is the brother of Eva Kriszt, the main translator for the Second Level INSTE books.  This service was exciting because they just started their first INSTE group and we were happy to encourage them and pray for them.  We look forward to many more good things coming from Fályka Gyülekezet and their INSTE students.

Anna and Ketura Return Home

Anna and Ketura Veal on Castle Hill in Budapest right at sunset.

Today we said good-bye to Anna and Ketura Veal.  We had a fun, productive two weeks with them here in Hungary.  The past few days they spoke at a home group, participated in the city youth prayer meeting and the regular monthly city prayer meeting, spoke at two churches and attended service at two more.  They made friends with the cleaning lady at their panzio (bed and breakfast), and enjoyed daily walks in the park.  They made friends with several people in the churches, some who spoke English and some who didn't.  We ended our time together with a day in Budapest, seeing some of the highlights of the city including the beautiful experience of seeing the lights come on in the city from the vantage point of Castle Hill. 

We ask God to continue to direct Anna as she makes decisions concerning her future and that He blesses the Veal family and the entire Rapid City Open Bible Christian Center family for their support of missions around the world and especially here in Hungary.