Reflections from Romania: July 2017

August in Romania

We are traveling Tuesday to Romania to spend a month with our church family in Gherla. We spent the month of March there training the leaders and doing other teaching and will do the same in August. Please remember us and the Romanian Open Bible brothers and sisters in your prayers this month.

Some of the scenery we enjoy when we travel in Romania

Happy Anniversary, Margo and Sanyi!

Yesterday at church two of Margo and Sanyi's daughters surprised them with flowers and announced their 40th wedding anniversary to the congregation. It was wonderful to hear the testimony of how they loved and honored their parents and then to hear a couple of stories from the couple about their wedding mishaps. The best part, though was their testimony of how they came to Christ. Sanyi is a painter and twenty years ago he was hired to paint the new sanctuary. He was invited along with the other contractors to the dedication of the new facility. They enjoyed the music and the atmosphere and when they were invited to come back, they did. Not too long after that, each of them gave their lives to the Lord. Both Sanyi and Margo have completed first level Inste, so we consider them as some of our "kids." Happy anniversary, Margo and Sanyi!

Back to Work

This past week has been spent catching up on the work that we missed while on vacation and on catching up on sleep. We are now over the jet-lag, but it takes a few days for us to get back to normal.

Last Friday an Inste Hungary board meeting was held. We are so thankful for the men and women who give their time and abilities to further the work of God through Inste in Hungary. There is no ground-breaking news to report from the meeting, but things are moving forward.

It is almost time to leave for a meeting with a pastor interested in Level Two Inste. Thanks for your prayers!

Our Time in the US

We got back home to Hungary on Friday from Open Bible Convention in California followed by two weeks of vacation visiting our sons and their families. It was all very exciting and refreshing.

Part of the crowd at the Missions Banquet at Convention

At convention we reconnected with our American Open Bible family and enjoyed participating in the services and activities despite the 120 degree heat! Thankfully, the air conditioning worked well and we were able to stay indoors for all of the events. Our hearts were touched when one retired missionary told us she was happy to see many current missionaries at convention. She said she felt like a lost orphan when she was on the mission field and could not attend convention. We thank the Lord for the opportunity to be there this year.

Lucy with Grandma

Our visits with our sons and their families after convention was wonderful. We were able to hug each one and love on them. The little ones are growing quickly and we were able to spend one-on-one time with each of our seven grandchildren. It was a special joy to hold our newest grand baby, Elysha, at two weeks old.