Our Hungary Team, We're Starving!

Hey Team - THANKS so much for praying for our summer mission trip to Hungary. We had an amazing week.

Our team in Budapest... by the castle church (above) and the citadel (below).

^ Our Hungary Staff, Steve, Rachel, Jessica, Ben and AJ

I was super proud of our students - they dove in and loved kids well and really encouraged each other. Our theme for the week was "Greatness Training." According to Jesus, if you want to become great, you have to become a servant to all and be last. Each day we had a "Greatness Sighting" time where students to could give shout outs to their friends for their acts of service. The Lord definitely answered our prayer for team unity!!

Each morning, we met in the town square around 9 and played with kids until camp started at 9:30. Students from Cedarville University led the English camp, while our students assisted them. We had the opportunity to lead skits and songs on a few of the days.

Group 1: Some of our team went to an orphanage to play with kids, sing songs, perform skits and share testimonies. Three of our students were adopted. Two of them, a brother and sister, were adopted from Poland at ages 5 and 7, and they remember living in orphanages. Another gal was adopted as an infant from Russia. It was powerful for them to share their stories of not only being adopted by wonderful parents, but also being adopted into God's family.

Group 2: I took a few students to a second English camp in a town 30km away. This second English camp was a bit different, in that many adults attended. We primarily helped with an intermediate class that focused on vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar. At first our students felt out of place trying to help adults, but they slowly came out of the shells and engaged well.

Group 3: The remainder of our group helped with a sports camp for kids in the community. Each day they learned a new sport - baseball, frisbee, football, and soccer, and they ended each day with massive water balloon wars and watermelon eating contests. Many of the girls didn't want to play sports, so our girls brought nail polish and face paint and spent the afternoons painting away. It was a great community outreach.

Almost Viral

One of the Cedarville gals is a dance choreographer and she came up with a dance we could do in the Debrecen town square (a big town nearby) to promote a future English camp they will be leading. Our students were super stoked to take part in a Flash Mob, and we practiced a lot to get all the beats down. However, we found out that you have to have a special permit from the city to perform anything with music. We weren't able to get the permit and weren't willing to risk a fine. We were able to perform the Flash Mob for the local church at a barbecue and at the Mikepercs town square for our morning English campers. It was fun to get to do it, but a little disappointing to not be famous on YouTube. : )

Our missionary contact in Hungary is involved in a number of ministries throughout Hungary. While we mainly focused on his English and sports camps, he shared with us about a few other things he's involved in. Hungary is an entry point for many refugees who are seeking political, religious and economic asylum. Once they arrive in Hungary, they go before a judge to plead their case, depending on the process, the judge's ruling and the immigration bureau, people may stay for a few weeks/months to a year before they have a final answer. Russ shared about a Sri Lankan pastor who'd been granted religious asylum from the government, but was denied by the immigration board which is causing a lot of unknowns and confusion for all involved in his case. It was a real eye opener for our team to see such harsh struggles people are facing because of their faith.

Our first full day in Hungary was the Fourth of July. It was interesting to celebrate our nation's freedom in a country once ruled by communism. And while Hungary is now a part of the European Union, communism's lasting effects are still visible. Considering this, reminded me how thankful I am for the freedoms we have in America.

Thank you so much for praying for our trip to Hungary. I believe Jesus was glorified through our team and students were profoundly impacted by the experience. It was fun to be apart of what God is doing in Hungary through a variety of ministries. Thanks for joining us through your prayers!!!!