Weekly Update

FAMILY FUN

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Above: Bombs away! Ben trying out bowling for the first time with dad.

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Above: Last week we celebrated Cathy's birthday. Cathy is a precious long long long long time friend of Sharon's and is currently Pioneers Area Leader in Hungary. Cathy actually served with Sharon in Hungary before Sharon returned to the US and ‘recruited’ me.

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Above: Allen, Kira and Elianna at the birthday dinner party.

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Above: If you look closely, you can see Elianna INSIDE the red ball and Ben in the blue ball. We took a one day vacation/retreat day with our family before the fast paced and full ministry month OF December hit. Because of it being 'off-season', the water park wasn't crowded and the kids had a chance to flip around inside these gigantic beach balls.

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Above: No chance to have fun at the beach in landlocked Hungary, but this may be just as good!

WEDNESDAY ENGLISH BIBLE STUDY

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Above: Picture taken a few months back with Erika, Edina and her daughter Betti. Because of Edina's new work hours she has not been able to come as consistently as she did in the past. However, when she does come, she always lets us know how much she misses the study and how she wishes she could always attend. As we have met with Edina over the past year and a half, it is clear that her understanding about Jesus and the Gospel has grown. It is through this Bible study that we were also first introduced to her daughter Betti who now regularly attends our Friday teen outreach. Praise God that we continue to have opportunity in both of their lives to share the Gospel and to share our lives with them.

FRIDAY TEEN OUTREACH

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Above: Balázs (bottom right) has become a regular attender. After game time when we sing and I began sharing the gospel message last week, I could hear Balázs and his friend whispering back and forth. “Should we go.” “No, let’s stay.” Most likely this is the first time they are hearing anything about having a personal relationship with God through our Savior Jesus Christ. Edina’s daughter Betti (in yellow) also attended and the two other girls in the picture were invited by friends. We are thankful that more are coming by work of mouth and that each week we have another chance to share an aspect of God’s truth and the gospel with them.

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Above: David (left) and Krisztian (right). Although these two young men aren’t teens, they regularly attend on Fridays and are two that have also made the bold step into our Sunday worship service. We are overjoyed with their regular attendance even without the support of other family members. Lots of kids in this town have free reign even late at night and spend most of their time (even at a young age) unsupervised. We pray that these young men will come to put their faith in Jesus and become witnesses also to their family in the future.

CHRISTMAS PUPPET MINISTRY AROUND THE CORNER

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Above: Sharon, Miki and Erika prepping supplies for our Christmas puppet show in our basement.

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We are just weeks away from our fifth year of sowing seeds of the Gospel to over 1000 kids in public schools through our Christmas Puppet Ministry. It is our hope and prayer that this ministry will be used by God to raise up a redeemed generation of Hungarians who put their hope and trust in Jesus.

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Above: Kids from our last Easter show in the neighboring town of Selyp.

The Northeastern region we minister to has very limited Gospel witness. The church buildings that still stand are more iconic than vibrant meeting places of Christians. The majority of children we bring this good news to have no other means of hearing the Gospel. Last year in the schools, when we asked the kids what happened to Jesus after he died on the cross for our sins, they collectively shouted, "He rose again!" We clearly see that the kids are coming to understand who Jesus was and what He accomplished. As they begin to grasp these truths in their hearts, it is our hope they will make personal decisions to believe and follow Him.

Every year, it is our desire to give the children a gift package which includes a CD (that includes the puppet show, music and the Gospel message) and a Christian family magazine. This gift allows the children and parents to hear the gospel repetitively at home. Each of these evangelistic packets is 40¢ and we hope to raise enough money for 1200 kids (around $480). If you would like to donate toward this outreach please contact us via email. UPDATE: $350 already raised.

As is our custom, we hope to raise up a team of daily prayer warriors for this time. Going into public schools to share the Gospel is met with much resistance in the spiritual realms and as Paul says, " Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.” (Eph 6:12) We praise God that every year He has responded to your prayers and blessed these outreaches. We need you again this year to fight with us in prayer. If you would like to join our daily prayer team from December 7-22nd, please let us know via email. We will then send you a specific list of requests. For those of you who would like to pray as we come to mind, please check our blog for regular updates and requests during our puppet ministry.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Sharon hasn’t been feeling well for a few weeks now. Please pray for healing.
• Christmas Puppet practice/preparation. Please pray for Sharon, Allen, Erika and Miki as they practice their parts and prepare for the upcoming two weeks of ministry.
• THURSDAY night we will be having a family over for dinner. Please pray for opportunities for our conversation to go deeper and lead to explanations of our hope which is in Jesus Christ alone.
• SATURDAY advent wreath outreach. Pray for new relationships with people in the community and for open doors to share the Gospel.
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