Mision trip to Hungary

We had a GREAT week in Hungary, serving with Good Sports International. Thank you for covering our mission trip in prayer. It was beyond evident that the Lord was present and active during the week. He provided us with safety - the whole way there, during our week of service and the whole way home. He united our team and they served one another well, and with good attitudes. : ) Our students stepped out with boldness as they interacted with the Hungarian students and taught them English. I was really proud of the way they not only worked with one another, but with the way the reached out to the Hungarians.

 

^ Our staff for the week - they were great and loved our students so well.

 ^Our team spent some alone time in the Word each evening, then we would gather together and worship in song and teaching. We spent time reading Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians looking for one another statements and common themes throughout the letters. We focused on a lot on unity and how we are called to live and treat one another. Our theme for the week, "Shine," came from Philippians 2:1-4; 14-18.

"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me."

Our team time was rich and encouraging as students shared about the time in the Word and what the Lord taught them. It was fun to hear their desire for growth and to be a light to those around them. 

^ The morning English camp was a huge success, and very creative. Each day had a different theme. This is what the week looked like, and an example of some of the questions/phrases students learned: 
Shopping - I would like to buy a girl's shirt. I would like to buy a book for a child. How much? That's too much.

Restaurant - I would like a Fanta. This is not what I ordered. My food is cold. 

Airport Travel - May I see your passport? What is your seat assignment? 

Directions - where is the train station? May I buy a bus ticket? Do I turn right or left? 

American holidays - Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter

^ Our afternoon sports camp was a lot of fun, and we had a great turn out. Each day we did a different sports: soccer, baseball variations, frisbee and water games. Two evenings we played capture the flag with glow sticks - it was a huge hit. The Hungarians were super excited to play on both nights, and it drew a lot of kids (and their parents) out to the field. Some of the Hungarian girls didn't like to play sports, so our girls brought along nail polish, face paint and hair stuff and spent all afternoon doing nails and hair. It was a huge hit and a great way to connect with one another. 

 ^ In addition to the camps we helped with, our team collected donations for Good Sports. We were able to deliver some of the donations to an orphanage for children aged 0-6 in Debreceen. The Good Sports team has ben working hard to develop a relationship with the orphanage director, and these donations helped pave the way. The director even invited us into the building and gave our team a tour of the facility. It was a huge step forward! Praise God!

^ One of the highlights of our week was being invited to dinner by the local Reformed Church of Mikepercs. We were the first visiting group they've invited! It was similar to a good ole' American BBQ, except instead of burgers they served us an amazing goulash soup. It took a long time to prepare, and they let us help out a bit. It was a very special and tasty treat! After dinner, our team sang a few of the songs we'd been doing at English camp for the church members so they could get a glimpse into our week. They were amazed to see so many young people that were excited about their faith. It caused them to consider how they can begin pulling young people into their congregation. Currently, their church is made up of people well over 50, with very few children and teenagers. Our host said they couldn't believe that teens could be so on fire for the Lord and serious about sharing their faith. Seeing our team in action was both an encouragement and challenge to them as they consider the future of their church.

We're starving... going back for thirds

Our annual summer mission trip is coming up! We will be in Hungary July 13-21. For the third summer in a row, we will partner with Good Sports International to help with a morning English camp and an afternoon sports camp for students in the community. I'm excited!! We've got a great group of students (18) and staff (6) on our team this year. For many of them, this will be their first mission trip. They are pretty excited to step out and serve others. We'll be spending time each evening as a team looking through some of Paul's letters. We'll be looking at what it means to be unified and how we are called to treat one another. We will spend Friday afternoon packing and loading our vans, then we'll set out early on Saturday morning.

Would you pray for...
1. Team unity - pray that we'd be encouraging to one another (even when we're tired!), and that the Hungarians we interact with would see Jesus through our love for one another.
2. Safety - as we drive the 12+ hours to our destination and as we serve and play hard with the campers for the week.
3. Teaching opportunities - as students process their experiences throughout the week, pray for our staff as we lean in and encourage and challenge students in their faith.
4. Encouragement for the Hungarian Christians and American missionaries we'll be serving alongside - due to years of communist rule, Hungary is a very godless country and they often labor without seeing a lot of fruit. Pray that spending time with our team during our worship times would be refreshing for their souls.

I look forward to updating you after our mission trip on the work the Lord will do both in and through our team... so stay tuned for stories and pictures!

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In other summer news... 

Our summer teaching series is on prayer in the Psalms. We've spent the first four weeks looking at what it means to PRAY (praise, repent, ask and yield) and we will spend the final four weeks looking at different prayer postures (hands, heads, singing, kneeling). It's been a good study so far and students are engaging well. Last night I taught on what it means to yield to God. We dove into Psalm 1 and compared the way of the righteous with the way of the wicked - and then spent time considering what path we're on and who/what we're yielding (giving way) to.

Summer brings a lot of unknowns to our group. Many families travel to America for the summer to visit their families and others take some time for family vacations around Europe. At the beginning of the summer we said goodbye to a number of students. We've finally begun seeing a few new families move into community. This past week we had 3 new students who are brand new to Ramstein. It's been fun welcoming new faces! In addition to saying goodbye to some students, we've also said goodbye to some key volunteers. A major prayer request we have as we move into the fall, is for more volunteer staff. We've been blessed to have a few new ladies joining our volunteer team, but we are in need of some men to invest in our students - particularly in our middle school group.