Show Christ to the world!

This weekend student retreat was in the Silver Beach Hotel in Siófok. The weather was beautiful, the atmosphere was cheerful and the teachings were deep and instructive!
We organized this weekend to Christian young people who want to serve God and want to develop in their faith, their knowledge in the Bible and their personal relationship with God. During the weekend we heard several presentations in these subjects.

From the feedback we know that God is the life of the students pointed out how all the lectures. It's good that the "real talk" we do not, but the Holy Spirit will really teach them. I do not know how it went out this weekend, but I believe that God is within each of us has completed his formation, construction work during the weekend.
Romans 8.19 "For the creation eagerly waits for the sons of God."
Christ is in us! We live in! The Christ whom the world is so much waiting. Let's back it with our lives, that He is small, what is and what he and the Father of His holiness.

I wanted to tell you a little bit in high school evangelization event. Evangelization was held after the university on Oct. 9. The goal was the same: the more students are invited for this event (in English for hours, or an invitation in person), contact with them (getting feedback cards) and tell them the gospel. The highlight of the evening, two improvisational theater (only Impro later :)) and the drama team was.

The drama team is presented some drama about Jesus and how God wants to set us free from the burden of our sins. After the drama a student came up to the stage. First, the words he told the drama lessons, on the other hand, shared their testimony with them.

That is very important for the students saw a young student as them, and talked about his faith and they can see Jesus in his life, and Christianity is not a boring, old thing, but a really relationship with God, and follow him to the coolest thing!

Campus Evangelization

On October 7, Wednesday was a the big evangelization event in the campus ministry, which was very well done. The room of the usual weekly meeting was full. The staff had not been able to sit down because there were no free chairs. We could not close the door, because there were students outside! God’s glory that brought so many people and open their heart!

The presentation spoke of the emotional intelligence! Many of the really important things we have heard. But let me show you it might be a more important issue, whatever it was that night.

„God can forgive! Jesus Christ died for our sins. Because of Christ, God is not angry anymore for us if we confess our sins; He is faithful and just forgives ...”

Thankfully we had opportunity to share the gospel with these students. So good that has had both heard God’s forgiveness through Jesus! Glory to him! – Now we can sit back in our chairs? No! Each student who was here completed a feedback card.

The feedback in general can be said to be very satisfied with the performances and have been through a lot. If a student open to talk about a personal relationship with God, the staff members call them back and invite them to a personal meeting.

Speak Out 2011

"SpeakOut 2011" ended with great blessings and success beyond our hope. Numbers are very inadequate way to summarize the camp, but represents at least some of the impact of the camp.

• We sent teams to 4 cities in 3 countries.
• Over 360 non-Christian campers came to spend 3 x 1 week with us.
• Our student volunteers approached over 2,700 students at those cities and offered the opportunity to discuss about Christ.
• Over 1,600 students have heard a personal gospel presentation from one of our student volunteer or staff.
• 97 students indicated a decision. We never saw such openness and results!

We had so many programs for the campers, morning class, SpeakOut groups, sport afternoon, staff hunt, American culture night, Hungarian evening, etc. But we wanted to put this camp together mainly because we wanted to share the gospel with them. Each camper had different opportunity to hear the gospel in different ways throughout the week. While the Americans spent time with the Hungarian campers in the afternoons we Hungarian staffs and students went to the beach and shared the gospel with students there.

A special weekly meeting

Two days ago we had a full house at our weekly meeting. 210 students showed interest in coming to an event where we had two speakers. One: a media star, the other a baptist pastor. One: a non believer, the other a believer. They are good friends. How? The pastor leads the Baptrist Charity Organization in Hungary. The media star writes book son disaster areas of the world. So they traveled a lot together.

Two days ago they agreed to come and share their stories. Both from the world and from their personal lives. So the Gospel was presented in a unique way! The students loved it! So did I!

I love the many different ways there are out there to present the one message Jesus has entrusted to us!

And now: we will follow up all those students who are interested to meet with us becuae of this fun, unique, meaningful event!!

Purple Day

When you take blue and red, what do you get? Purple! That is why we chose the name “Purple Day” for our “Girl-Guy” day – a whole day where we teach Biblical principles about relationships between the sexes. For many students, this is the first time in their lives to hear what God has to say on these topics.

Our staff could spend a very blessed day with our student on the “Purple Day” where we had more than a hundred students. Many-many students were interested in many seminars e.g. “Friendship between guys and girls – is it possible?”, Respect Between Men & Women, What Youʼre Communicating, The Heart Of A Godly Woman, Win with your eyes, mind and heart!, Danger of pornography.
It was a really blessed!

Fall Retreat

Close to 200 of us were at the Fall Student Retreat! In Hungary, that is a huge number – I remember having 20 students less than ten years ago… The theme of the weekend was “God’s faithfulness”. The topic came from the line with Hebrews 13:7 “Appreciate your pastoral leaders who gave you the Word of God. Take a good look at the way they live, and let their faithfulness instructs you, as well as their truthfulness.” (The Message translation)

We invited 2 missionary couples who have lived in Eastern Europe in the last 30 years. Trent and Vivien were the first CCC missionary couple in East-Germany. Virgil and Kathy they were the fist CCC missionary couple in Hungary in 1979! They are still in Eastern Europe with Campus Crusade.

They shared about how they experiences God’s faithfulness throughout these years...

They were great examples to us. We asked them to share their stories with us. We learned for example that these Americans were here on tourist visas. And although they had a family and a home here, every single month they went to Vienna, applied for another 30-day-long tourist visa and prayed that they would receive it! And they did this for almost 10 years!

Speak Out English Camp

Here is a fun video about Speak Out. Please send the link to your friend who are interested in a mission trip.

www.speakout.hu/staff

Improvisational Theater

On that sunny Friday afternoon our high school team just finished the preparation before any of the kids arrived. We rented out an old movie theater for this event, which had a kind of theater feeling. Close to 200 teenagers were in the auditorium. The show started, and I can tell you they loved the improvisational theater. I think this was one of our best shows! At the end my colleague introduced one of our student leaders who shared his personal testimony. It was so great to see the boys and girls who were laughing in the last hour, now listened very carefully and quietly about God’s work in this fellow’s life. After that the host of the night summarized the Good News that changed our life, and can change their life too. One hundred thirty of them gave back a comment card! Their reactions are very positive. So, the next step is to meet these new students in the next few weeks.

Mission opportunity for students

Every year we organize the Speak Out English Camp. About 30-40 christian american students come to talk with Hungarians. We would like to ask you to forward this invitation to your friends, maybe one of them or their relatives or friends knows somebody who is interested in. Thanks!

Student Survival Kits

Campus team was working hard in Budapest. We've already got permissions in every major university to be a part of their freshmen orientation and give out the Evangelistic Student Survival kits (SSK). Thousands of students filled out the survey attached to it and now we are processing to see how many would like to hear personally about God, so than we could call them.

The growing student leadership volunteer team is greatly helping this work, and by now they do most of these evangelistic appointments. Students are leading other students to Christ and disciple them!

Speak Out English Camp

69 Hungarian Student Staff + 30 American Volunteers + 22 Hungarian missionaries were hosting over 330 non-Christian students and sharing Christ with them as well doing evangelism on the beach, and in many other cities. We've trained a team from Slovakia - they've came to observe how they could start this camp in their country. Also, we've sent a team to Albania and Romania to reach students there.

I would like to transmit to you a letter, Eszter, who participated in Speak Out English camp as a staff. Eszter is a leader in our campus ministry. I thought you would better see the camp through the eyes of a student.

Dear Ibi!

It is just one week ago that I arrived back from Speak Out. I would like to say thank you for your support and to share with you some wonderful things that happened to us in this month.

For us, staff, the camp started on 27^th June when the group of 41 enthusiastic Americans arrived to Keszthely. Our orientation week consisted of talks, trainings and games that prepared us to the challenges and difficulties of the next few weeks and they also helped us to become a team that is ready to serve together – not just towards the campers but also towards the people at Keszthely and each other. The deep spiritual teachings of this week meant a source for all us in the following 3 weeks, and so did the prayer chain that deepened the unity even more. The prayer chain started on the last night of the orientation week at 11 and we all took part in it, even the staff families. We were praying by rooms for the campers coming in the following weeks: each room prayed for 6 campers by name. The chain was symbolized by a candle that was received by each room and passed on to the next one after 15 minutes of praying. So the way of the candle started at 11 and ended at 7. Our room was to pray from 2:45 to 3:00. It was simply wonderful to see how this team could faithfully pray through all night and how God strengthened us to be able to wake up and pray for unknown students after that tiring week.

That is how we finally started the first camper week on 4^th July: full of enthusiasm and ready to challenges. It was an awesome experience how we could see God working daily at the camp: on Sunday we started by chatting with the campers, but by Tuesday these conversations turned to serious and were able to build a relationship on them. Through them the campers finally understood why we, staff are so different from them, why we are so ‘normal’ (as one of the camper girls said). And even though the love they could experience among us and towards them was already a testimony, we also had the chance to share the gospel with all of them during the 3 weeks. Related to this I would like to share with you one of my deepest experiences that happened on the first week. I got the chance to see how the image of God changed in a camper’s mind. His name is Mike. At the first tutor time he declared himself as an atheist, but in spite of that he was thirsty to hear about spiritual issues. Other campers spent the nights having fun but this guy I always saw sitting in the hall, talking to his tutor about spiritual issues. And even though he did not get to point where he gives his life to God, but the way how he thinks of God and Jesus changed radically by the end of the camp. This is just one of the miracles we experienced – there were hundreds. They way how God was holding us through this month was also a miracle. We didn’t have strength by ourselves for all these overnight conversations, for evangelism four times a week, for the cheerful presence at the programs of every night, for the tasks we had to keep in mind and to organize: we got our strength from God who is source of everything. If we had wanted to do this by our own, we would have failed on the first week for sure. But as we fully relied on God, we were strong enough to do that. Personally, I lived through the strength of the Holy Spirit and of the prayer like never before. These experiences seriously transformed my relationship with God.

One thing I also learnt is that we always need to be ready to share our faith. There were days when I felt like I was useless for God’s purpose because I was so tired or busy with my own problems. But I realized that these were the times when God was using me the most in conversations with the campers or during evangelism. Maybe because my strength was not enough any more so I just let God talking through me. Everything, including the trainings, the fellowship, the Bible study, the ministry was teaching me how incapable I was to live the Christian life by my own. We shared the gospel with 1599 people (including the 336 campers), 94 of them decided to give the control of their life to God and we made the follow-up with 55 people so that they could experience the wonderful life God wants to give them. It would have been literally impossible by our own.

And let me tell you finally what was the most astonishing for me – and I think for the campers too – during Speak Out. The whole staff was made up of 99 people. 30 of us were Americans and 69 of us were Hungarians. Each one of us came from a unique background, situation of life, family, some of us had problems or difficult situations left behind. But in spite of all that these 99 people could serve together with such a godly love and unity that this could be a testimony towards the world. We prayed a lot for this unity before the camp and even throughout the camp. And one thing that everybody experienced this summer is what it means to form one body in Christ and what Paul writes about in 2. Corinthians 3:18: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” That is why it was really hard to say goodbye to this team, but one thing comforts me and it was actually said by an American guy: “The good thing is that when we, Christians say goodbye, we never say it forever, because we know for sure that we will see each other again.”

I just want to say thank you because you supported me and helped me to experience all this. I am very thankful for the financial and prayer support. I am thankful because I could be the part of such a blessed ministry and a wonderful team. I am sending you some pictures with my e-mail that was taken at the camp and also a list about the students that I personally talked to during the 3 weeks and who got closer to God. I will keep praying for them namely and I ask you to pray for them too if you can. Thank you once more!

God bless,

Eszter

Student retreat in Csilleberc

Twice a year we spend an entire weekend at a local youth camp with all of the students from the high school and university ministries. These weekends have historically been amazing experiences because the students who come (both Christians and non-Christians) are often treated to incredible moments of spiritual growth.

One incredible moment during the weekend was on Sunday morning when three of our colleagues, (Kriszta, Zsuzsa, and Gyuri) each shared about some great difficulties that they have been facing in recent months. Kriszta was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 8 years ago. From one day to the next she simply couldn’t stand on her own power anymore. What followed was many years of physical therapy, surgeries, a lot of confusion and prayer. In spite of the doubts of her doctors, Kriszta and her husband Roland gave birth to their daughter, Sonya, two years ago. Kriszta shared with the students that even though she would never have imagined that this was God’s plan for her life…she knew that He was sovereign and in complete control. Zsuzsa shared about the birth of her third child, Kamilla, who has Downs Syndrome. In her own words: “Even though we didn’t desire this for our daughter, we also are so happy to have her. She has brought an indescribable joy to our family.” Finally Gyuri shared about the recent death of his mother (in February) in a car accident on a snowy road. Gyuri stood before the students and said, “Of course I wish my mother was here, but I do know that she is in a place now where there is no more pain…and I know that I will see her again.” The students sat absolutely riveted to these stories. What made the moment so special was precisely because the staff were not talking about things that are easy in the Christian life. They were talking about the special joy that comes alongside moments of great difficulty.

Mark

During the sharing time at the end of the weekend one of the new students who one of our staffs started to talk just two weeks ago, Mark (in the striped shirt below) stood up and confessed that just a few weeks earlier his uncle had passed away. He said that his uncle was close enough to him to feel like a brother. Mark said that he felt he had received the same love this weekend as he used to feel from his uncle.

Rahel and Agi

And, finally, joyful news about a new believer. Agi (on the right) stood up at the end of the weekend and tearfully said, “As I was sitting here this morning I felt the presence of God. I decided to begin my relationship with him!” Agi has been coming to our weekly meetings since February. We are so happy for her!! Here is a shot just after she confessed her faith to the audience. She is hugging Rahel, the daughter of the Campus Crusade director of the country (she is the girl in the left above). Rahel’s mother told us later that Rahel had been specifically praying for Agi to trust Christ.
We are blessed to be involved in such a ministry. It is God’s ministry and He permits us to experience these amazing moments.

Prayer movement

It's very encouraging for us to see God at work through our prayer ministry. We organized a prayer night in the beginning of February. We praised God, confessed our sins, prayed for our ministry, for the World, Europe, Hungary. We were taught about fasting, and a few students were lead to begin fasting.
Two of our disciples (Zsofi and Emese) lead a religious radio broadcast and two other FEK girls were interviewed about fasting on the show. God lead one of our staff members to encourage other believers in praying regularly for a spiritual change among the Hungarian nation. Last Saturday we began a month long prayer chain for this purpose. We have an online prayer calendar with Bible verses and questions to provoke thought and lead to confession. Also prayer requests for Hungary. Pray that many would be renewed during this prayer month.

Transylvania

Two weeks ago a team of 8 went back to Kolozsvar, Transylvania. Three staff and five students set out from Budapest, Hungary. For four of our students, this was the first time leaving our borders on a mission trip. The goal was to help the campus ministry in Kolozsvár and that our students would get a wider perspective and experience of missions as well.

This trip was paved with God's blessings. Our students took the initiative and boldly stepped out of their confort zones. As a result of it there were about 50 one-on-one evangelistic conversations with hungarian university students. Many came closer to God, two trusted Christ.

About 170 new students came to an outreach on Tuesday night and we were able to contact most of them on the phone as well afterwards. Our relationship with the believers and Campus students in Kolozsvar grew as well that week. It is a special joy for us to have witnessed how much the Kingdom grows through FEK: We had three evangelistic and follow-up trainings, three follow-up meetings, one Bible study for guys, and even an outreach among Romanian students. Another joy was to see students from local churches get excited and boldly step out in reaching other students.

God does have a plan with Transylvania!

Thank you for praying for the ministry there.

Girls and guys day

Thank you so much for your prayers for the girls’ and guys’ day on February 7th. Of course the theme of the conference was about dating. Some of the topics were for example: the role of the leadership as guys, God is the one who satisfies not relationships, how to dress, purity, etc...

As I talked to some of the students about the day, they told me that they heard so many useful informations at the conference. Praise God for that!

Over 50 students came to this event.

Pray for students

These students are "diciples" in our campus ministry. That means they have deeper commitment for God and for our minisry. We pray for them the same as the previous group, but they live their relationship in a deeper level than the new believers.

In this pictures you can see how the students connet to each other in the dicipleship. We are so thankful to God there are several students who can lead other students in their faith and life. Please pray for wisdom to lead, their life and faith will be an example in other students' eyes.

Student retreat Nov 6-8.

We had a very encouraging weekend with over 120 student. This is the largest number of students (both high school and campus) coming to these weekends. Once a semester we have this special gathering to deepen the students’ commitment in their walk with God, to grow their knowledge of the Bible, encourage them in their faith, worship together and enjoy fellowship. It was a fantastic weekend with lot of fun. Of course sometimes it happens that non-Christian students are coming to these weekends. This was the case at this weekend, too. The theme for the retreat was "Is Jesus enough?" Throughout the weekend students were challenged to trust Christ fully, maybe for the first time in their life.

One of the students, Adam, took a huge step forward this weekend. During the last meeting of the weekend he stood up before the entire audience and said, "I made a decision to become a Christian today!" Everybody began to clap and cheer for him. It was a terrific way for the retreat to come to an end.

Student retreat in Csilleberc

Last weekend we had student retreat. This video is a promo video. Soon I upload pictures and more details about retreat.

Improv Theatre Night

On October 9th we had almost 200 students who came to our Improv Theatre Night in High-School Ministry. It was fantastic! We had a “referee" and we had two comedy teams on either side of the stage who "competed" for laughs from the audience. Periodically we would have the audience vote on which game they liked most by applauding for their favorite team. The students loved it so much! Improv is only now starting to really take off in Hungary...and we are hoping to get a lot of mileage out of this team of actors who have begun to gel very well with each other. At the end of the evening Zach, our High-School team leader shared the Gospel through some personal stories. We collected comment cards from the students based on their thoughts on what Zach said...and then we used the cards to do a raffle at the end of the night. The main prize was an IPod Shuffle. The lucky winner was a girl from one of the new high schools where we had been speaking this week. Now in these weeks we contact these students, to follow up with them.