Children’s day In Hajdúböszörmény at the Gypsy Church

This Saturday our team of ministers held the Annual Children’s day outreach at the gypsy church. Many people came besides those who attend regularly. We had about 80-90 all together, many new faces. Dani had a short teaching, and than we had games and crafts for the kids. And Ice Cream of course. Our friend and fellow minister, Carol, who has been the part of this ministry since the very beginning, set up a slideshow of the photoes she took. Here is the link, log on and enjoy. Do not forget to pray for the people there to get to know HIM and start walking with HIM. Thank you. Through your prayers you are part of this ministry.

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d7a637a4d7a41324e673d3d0d0a&campaign=blog_playback_link&blogview=true

 

Ministry updates

• Youth ministry is growing. They are really active taking part in diferent ministries. Most of them are attending regularly on Sundays too. Pray for their spiritual growth in every way.

• We are all preparing for the Annual Summer English Camp — 13-19 July.

• A few weeks ago we had 110 people from the Budapest Calvary Chapel doing street evangelism. It was a great blessing for us and for them too. Pray for those who heard the Gospel that weekend and pray that God would make them come to church.

• 3 girls (university students) asked me (Andi) to regularly meet with them and study the Bible together. These times that I can spend with the girls are a huge blessing for me (I pray and hope that for them too).

• It really seems that with time (I do not know when) the Consuming Fire, a book by Brian Brodersen, that I translated will be published. I hope and pray that this book will be useful and will be a blessing for those who will read it.

Tooth fairy again

Well, yes, she lost another tooth. Was not as smooth as the first two, but finally it is out. The tooth fairy brought her a Snowhite dvd for that tiny tooth. Soon we’ll post a picture about her two growing and one missing teeth.  

God is moving–we are moving. Pt. #2

Well, a lot of time went by since I last wrote. Sorry for that. And I will not be able to write about all that had happened in details while I was silent, so I will just state facts.

God is GREAT!!! In every sense. He is bigger than we would ever think. He acts more greatly as we would ever think. He moves in ways we would never think. Why? What happened that makes me say all this? Let’s see…

Using ways we would never thought, God made it possible for our church to buy that property with two separate buildings that we were praying for. We are already paying back the loan, and we are just about to start remodeling one of the buildings. Please pray that the church would be able to pay the loan, and that we would get the permits for the remodeling/building.

As you probably remember in the past period (more than a year, oh, almost 2 years now) we are seaking the Lord’s will about our own housing situation. We wanted to buy our own apartment instead of renting, but it just did not; could not happen. And again, God moved in ways we could not dare to think. According to the plans at the church’s property there is going to be a small, nice apartment on the top of one of the buildings where we could move in, rent it from the church, which will be a help to the church in paying the loan. In return we would be somewhat like custodians of the building. In that apartment we will have a livingroom that will only be a livingroom, something we have never had before (right now the livingroom is our bedroom at the same time). So we will need some new furniture, but we are praying that the Lord will help us furnish it (most probably picking up a loan). There is only one small problem. I will not have a tiny office, not even a corner like now, so most probably we will have to sell our pc and buy a laptop. But that is future. And HE will work ou these details just like HE did it before.

As the work will start we are going to take pictures and post them. Pray with us for HIS leading in the process and for HIS timing. Oh, and for the weather. Right now the church gathers in a big tent on the property. Back to the OT times :)

   

Ode to a Ford

I love this commercial! 

Evolution of dance

ENJOY!!! 

God is moving – we are moving

Well, we as a church are praying for a church building that could be our own. For that we need to be a good steward of the the church’s money. So we found a place to rent that is cheaper than the old one we were renting, so we could save money on that. Right now we rent that building for the Thursdays and Sundays, for the church services so the Friday night youth group will be at our apartment from now on. We are happy for that. Anytime the youthgroup came over we had a lot more informal conversations, so we could get to know them better. And for me (Andi) being there at the youth group meetings was always hard because of Anna running around, distracting conversations but at our apartment she is home, and she is not interrupting while daddy is teaching, because she is in her own room playing.

We would like to ask you our friends to pray for us, as we have the weekly gatherings at our home, that the Lord would really use us and that atmosphere that a home can give and that after the meeting is over, kids would stay over for a little more time and fellowship. Also, our livingroom is our bedroom also, so because of the big bed, we do not have too much space to have them confortably seated. We are praying and planning to make our living room/bedroom more like a living room and make it to be more more functional. In order to do that we are already saving money and we are planning to sell some of our furniture and buying new ones that are more functional (like couches that could be folded out to make a bed and a guestroom bed). We will let you know how things go and how God moves.     

Herd of locusts

Well, not literally, but now we can kinda picture how it was when the locusts came upon Egypt and eat up everything.

28 December. The place we rent for our church was closed up for the Christmas season, so on Friday 28th we could not gather there with the youth group, so we invited them over to our apartment again. It is always a lot of fun and it is always about eating We had some left over money from the pizza money we got for the youth group Christmas, so Dani and I decided to cook a lot of spaghetti and we asked them to bring some drinks and cookies. Well, I bought 1 kilo meat (a little more than 2 pounds) and I made sauce. When it was ready to eat it must had been around 3-4 liters. (between 3-4 quarts) I was totally sure that there is no way they will eat that much up. Even if the guys come. Well, I totally misjudged them They brought cookies and started to snack as we waited for everyone to arrive. Than I told them you should stop snacking because I have this much food and you guys have to eat it. They we laughing at me. Well, within 30 minutes it was ALL GONE!!! Man! These kids can eat! I was again happy that they liked it. 

  We had some bible study time and than seemingly endless fellowship. Anna was awesome, she was nice with the youth and went to bed while they were here (note that we only have two rooms. one bedroom for her, a dining room, and a room for us which is our bedroom and living room. The two rooms are opening from the dining room, and there is just a thin wall between Anna’s room and ours, where we were with the youth) Well, we are always delighted to have them over at our house. The fellowship is always a lot more lively when we are at our house, and here they stay as long as they can while at the church we have to leave around 8 pm, because we are renting it.

So again  we thanked God for this awesome privilege to be able to know them and see how they grow in HIM. Pray with us that they would continue their walk with Him and grow in Him.

Tooth Fairy – again

Well, just before Christmas, 24 December, the tooth fairy visited Anna again as the forerunner of Santa. Again, she herself pulled the teeth out. Now she did not get scared and it did not even bleed, she has some sort of practise now.  Here is how she looks now.

Providing help to the needy

As you know, Dani is pastoring a Gypsy fellowship in a nearby town, Hajduböszörmény. These brothers and sisters live in poverty so around Christmas time we help them with some food bags. Our dear friend, Carol is ministering towards them for a lot longer time as Dani, so again I thought I should let her share about it so that you would see this event through her eyes. (You can log to their blog, just find her name under Them we read on the side of this blog. They are part of other ministries, not just the gypsy church)

A Gift of Food And The Promise Of Hope Through Jesus Christ

Most of us can go into the pantry and select from a variety of choices for our next meal. Not so for our Gypsy brothers and sisters. Poverty is a way of life and the next meal is not always a sure thing.

God once again moved hearts to partner with us to provide a variety of food staples, cleaning products, and a treat or two for the families who attend the Gypsy church in Hajduboszormeny. Saturday, December 22nd, a team of volunteers had the privilege of being the Lord’s helpers and seeing the joy on their faces when we brought large bags of much needed and appreciated food.

As we were invited into each home, we were once again struck by the poverty we encountered. For some, whole families live in one small room which serves as kitchen, living room, and sleeping room. At one home, there was only one bed for 4 small children and the mother and father. In another home, their two small rooms both had dirt floors. Hygiene is nearly non-existent since it is necessary to walk to the community well and haul their water home and cleaning products are definitely a luxury.

Leaving bags of food, cleaning products, toothpaste and toothbrushes along with sharing a prayer of thanksgiving to God filled us, the volunteers, with a heart of gratitude. Gratitude for being allowed to be a part of His ministry and gratitude that our small congregation once again, saw how much the Lord loves them and was showing it through His provision for them.

Hope for the unsaved was high as Pastor Dani prayed and offered words of encouragement with each family we visited. At one home an unsaved family member sheds tears of gratitude for God’s goodness towards her family.

For all those who have joined us in praying for our brothers and sisters in Boszormeny and provided financial support so that the ministry among the Roma people could continue, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We pray the Lord has added another jewel to your crown in heaven.