Summer 2015 | Nyári 2015

St. Stephen's Day, is celebrated each yearin Hungary on August 20th. It is alsoknown as Foundation Day, ConstitutionDay, National Day and the "Day Of TheNew Bread".

What is the history of the holiday?

St. Stephen (Szent István király) was thefirst king of Hungary. He laid thefoundation of the country by convertingthe Hungarians, the Magyar people, toChristianity, the term he used for theCatholic religion.

How do the Hungarians celebrate?

Many events take place during this mostcelebrated day. One ritual includescarrying the case containing the relics ofSt. Stephen’s right hand in processionsthroughout the streets of Budapest. Thecenter of celebration is always the St.Stephen Basilica where the kings' hand isnormally kept. The priest sancitifiesbreadat theBudacastle by thestatueofSt.Stephen.

The highlight of the St. Stephen's Daycelebration is a massive half-hourfireworks display in the evening on thebankof theDanubeRiver. It isattendedbymany people on both river banks and iswatched by many from the hills on theBuda side of the river and from therooftops of both Pest and Buda.

Is this the hope of the Hungarians?

Sadly,yes. It is tragic to thinkthat thehopeof theHungarians lies inakinga thousandyears ago converting them toChristianity.How sad to put all one's hope in a humanking rather than the King of Kings.

St. Stephen's Day, "Szent István ünnepe"Missions Quote

This isaquote byamemberofourhomechurch, Grace Baptist Church inMiddletown, Ohio.We are so blessed tobe a part of a church family with a heartfor missions!

"When we think on the greatcommission in Matthew 28:18-20 andActs 1:8, it is plain to know that thegreat commission was given to thechurch at Jerusalem. Thus, the greatcommission has been given to eachlocal church down through the ages. Itis now our responsibility at GraceBaptist Church to do all that we canreach the world with the gospel of theLord Jesus Christ. We at Grace BaptistChurch must realize that evangelizingthe world with the gospel of JesusChrist is OUR responsibility. Only thencanweseeamajor shift inourmissionspraying,giving,andgoing.Godhelpusto catch this vision and do what God

has commanded us to do!”-Phillip Flannagan

"God's work done in God's way will never lackGod's provision." -Hudson Taylor

Happy HeidiHeidi is about as cheerful as theycome! Not much can turn that littlegirl's face to a frown. One day, herdaddy was teasing her trying to getthe lip to pucker out as it sometimesdoes when she's sad. "Heidi," he said,"I'm leaving and won't be comingback." Heidi smiled brightly and says,"Well I'll just follow you," and battedher little eyes. Jason tried again."Heidi, I'm going to die soon." Shesmiled again, this time mischievously."Can I have your phone?" All of uslaughed at this comment! One last tryfrom Jason: "Heidi, you have to doschool all summer long." This commentproduced the puckered lip, but shesoon broke out into laugher as sheknew very well her daddy was kidding.

It is a neat thing to be able to find"the light at the end of the tunnel", soto speak, in any given circumstance.How easy is it for us to see thenegative right away in a negativesituation. I want to strive to see thepositive in the negative as this littlegirl does.

And what is Heidi's favorite Bibleverse, by the way? Why it isPhilippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lordalway: and again I say, Rejoice."

"Thanks for being my little ray ofsunshine, Heidi!" Love, Mom

PeopleIn theparable inLuke 16of the richmanandLazarus, the rich man in verses 27 and 28begs father Abraham as he burns in Hell tosend Lazarus to tell his family the truth ofwhat awaits them upon death: "Then hesaid, I pray thee therefore, father, that thouwouldest sendhim tomy father's house: ForI have five brethren; that hemay testify untothem, lest they also come into this place oftorment."

Hungary is a nation of people just waiting tohear the good news of the Gospel. Thefollowing testimony comes from a pastor inNagykanizsa, Hungary who recently led afamily to Christ in the neighboring town ofPapa (and by neighboring, meaning twohours away). This Pastor sent out an emailthat started out with this:

"Praise God for the opportunity He blessedus with to serve Him in another townbesides Nagykanizsa called Papa, a smalltown of 33,000.

A few years ago we were connected with...an American layman, who works at thelocal airbase at Papa, which is two hoursaway from Nagykanizsa. Last year hisfamily applied for membership at ourchurch,becausetheydesiredtohaveahomechurch and a pastor in Hungary. We arestill praying that God would send someoneto start a churchat Papa, a townwith greatspiritual potentials."

The national pastor in his email proceeds totell about a Hungarian woman that theAmerican couple led to the Lord three yearsago. After she was saved, she immediatelystarted praying for and witnessing to herfamily: her 62-year-old father, her 61-year-old mother, and her 83-year-oldgrandmother. She was especially burdenedfor her father as he was struggling withdepression and knew only God could helphim.Andasked the twomen and theirwivesto come talk to her family. When theAmerican and his Hungarian pastor alongwith their wives arrived at the home of thefamily, all three family members she had soearnestly been praying for were eager tohear what the solution was to the problemwith depression. The pastor's email went onto say, "BeingCatholics their only hopewaspurgatory, so we opened the Bible and

showed themwhat God has tosay abouteternal life andforgiveness ofsins. After anhour ofdiscussion, themother burstinto tearssaying: "Youmean we weredeceived for allthese years?"The father wasastonished too:"How were wenever told aboutthese thingsbefore?"

The Lord wasd e f i n i t e l yworking in theirhearts: father,mother, and

grandmother all confessed their sins andasked Jesus to be their personal Saviour."Tears of joy flooded all of them as theyunderstood that they received eternal life.Praise God for these three souls!"

There aremany towns all acrossHungary inneed of a church. Papa is only one of them.Praise the Lord for souls being saved andnow prayers are being requested for thosewho need a church home to belong to."...prayye therefore theLordof theharvest,that he would send forth labourers into hisharvest."

This Hungarian pastor ends his email withthisplea: "Andyoumightaswell be theveryone whom many Hungarian familiesawait. Would you please seek Godregarding His will and please pray forHungary!"

"Being Catholics,their only hope waspurgatory, so weopened the Bible andshowed them whatGod has to say abouteternal life andforgiveness of sins."

"After an hour ofdiscussion, themother burst intotears saying: "Youmean we weredeceived for all theseyears?" The fatherwas astonished too:"How were we nevertold about thesethings before?"

www.gothyway.org

Cost of Living: Fuel and FoodQuite often when we visit churches, thecost of living in Hungary comes up inmost Question and Answer sessions.Some items in Hungary cost less thanwe are used to paying while other itemsare considerably higher.

The currency of Hungary is the forint:$1.00 equals 275.97 HU forint.

Prices for fuel according to expatistan.com as of June 2015recordpricesat1520Ftagallon;$5.51, that is. It'samuchbetterprice than in past times, where fuel has run anywhere fromabout $7-$9 a gallon, so we are thankful for practically any

amount less than that!

Unlike the higher prices of fuel, food tendsto be very affordable. Much of Hungary'sfood provisions are grown within it's ownborders keeping food costs down. Diningout isn't too expensive either.One could eatat McDonald's for 1500 Ft, or$5.44.

Here are some basic grocery items and their prices. The pricescome from numbeo.com as of June 2015.

There's more to come on the costs of Hungary in a futurenewsletter!

PrayerThe Lord certainly has beengood to us our first year ofdeputation! We've had anopportunity to present the needfor Bible believing churches inHungary in over 116 churches in18 states! There'smuch to be done this second year of deputation. Asweget closer and closer to the 50%mark for raising support, prayerswouldbe most eagerly coveted for:

1) A full calender of churches to present Hungary in,

2) More churches to help us reach full support,

3) Hungarian hearts to be prepared to receive the Gospel.

Thanks for your prayer support!

PrincipleMost are familiar with thegreat verse, John 3:16. "ForGod so loved theworld, thathe gave his only begottenSon, that whosoeverbelieveth in him should notperish, but have everlastinglife." It is because of thisgood news that we go toHungary. This verse gives us three reasons why we serve God.

The first isbecauseGodlovesusandcreatedus.Genesis 1:27says, "So God createdman in his own image, in the image of Godcreated he him; male and female created he them." The love ofGod isevidenteven fromtheverybeginningasHedesired towalkwith man (Gen 3:8-9) though knowing very well of the sin manhad committed. Yet Romans 5:8 says, "ButGod commendeth hislove towardus, in that,whilewewereyetsinners,Christdied forus." This leads us to our next point. The second reason we serveGod is because God sent His Son to die for us. Again, inGenesis, we see Abraham in chapter 22 being commanded tosacrifice his only son, Isaac. His father's heart must have beentorn to offer his child!But through that scenario, it is evident thatAbraham trusted God, and Isaac trusted his father. The thirdreason we serve God is because He is believable. Hebrews11:17-19 says "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered upIsaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his onlybegotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seedbe called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, evenfrom the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."AbrahambelievedGodwouldnotbreakHispromise tomakehimagreatandmightynationthroughhisson, Isaac.HebelievedGodcould raise him from the dead had he gone through with theslaying of his son.

Three reasons why we serve God: need we any more?

3 Reasons to Serve Godfrom John 3:16

1) He created and loves us

2) He sent His only begottenson to die for us

3) He is believable

Learn Hungarian!

Hungarian is among the top ten mostdifficult languages for an Englishspeaking person to learn, but withGod, even learning a new language ispossible! Here are a fewwords we havelearned and their pronunciation:

God - Isten (Eesh-ten)

Bible - Biblia (Bib-lee-a)

Congregation - Gyülekezet (Yule-ek-ez-et) ... when the believers refer tochurch, they use this word

Thank you -Köszönöm (kus-uh-num)

Hi - Szia (see-ya) ... love this one!

Bye - Viszlát (veez-lat)

Family - Család (cha-lad)

Friend - Barát (ba-rat)

Yes - Igen (ee-gen)

Good - Jó (yo)