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.

Happy Easter!

Kisvárda again

Our partnership with the Police and the Presbyterian Church is expanding and leading us to new territories. In the first city (Kisvarda) where we've started to work together, we've spoke to 3,800 students and trained over 250 educators. We've also had been asked to train the Seminary students of the Presb. Church on evangelism. We've spent the last weekend with them at Kisvarda - so we could not just give a training but to show them in practice how it could work. On this picture you can see the last group of students we gave a YTL talk - there were so many that the city had to open the Stadium to fit them in, because none of the school had a large enough auditorium to held that many students!
We had been asked to join into a long-term partnership with the Police and the Presbyterian Church as they seek to take YTL and the exhibition to every major city.

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.

Kisvárda

Last Friday we spent one more day in Kisvarda to give a talk about sex to students from Catlic High School. It was amazing to see the students and go to see the exhibition. I wrote about the exhibition in my blog two weeks ago. It was socked when I looked it. It represent clearly the gospel. God gave a very good idea to a pastor and he obeyed Him. Praise God for it!