Before I left Slovenia, Dubravka said she would like to contact my parents so they can have tea or coffee sometimes and just get closer since I'm a part of the church now.
Dubravka just sent me an email yesterday, saying that they contacted my parents and are waiting for their reply and their answer if they want to come for coffee and cookies.
I talked to my sister yesterday and asked her if my mom and dad mentioned anything to her about it because they didn't to me and she said they did and that they're thinking of going tomorrow afternoon/evening.
I know my dad doesn't trust Zvonko at all. He has known him for a long time because they worked in Telecom together for many years and then Zvonko quit his job there and became a full time pastor.
They don't know why Zvonko and Dubravka invited them and they're nurveous. It's huge thing that they even said they're going.
Please, pray that their hearts would be soft and open and not hard and stuborn. Please pray that they will see how great Zvonko and Dubravka are and that they are only people, just like them.
Please pray that they would see a difference between themselves and Zvonko, Dubravka, me.. and people from church. So they will see what we have and what they don't.
Please pray for protection of Zvonko and Dubravka's heart, for wisdom when choosing words and topics to talk about, for courage and boldness to say something even if it's uncomfortable, for love they're going to show to my parents and for just a nice time.. pray they're going to enjoy the time together, watching the snow outside.
Please pray for my mom specificly. Pray that she wouldn't be careful of her response because she would be worried of what my dad things about all of it. Pray that she would stand for her own opinion and follow her own choices and not my dad's.
Please pray for my dad specificly. Pray that he wouldn't terorize my mom and wouldn't attack her with words and judgments, please pray that his heart would change and that he would be able to see the difference. He's seen the difference of my old me and my new me and he likes it. Pray that he'll see the difference in other people too.
Please pray that my sister would go with them because my parents would feel so much more comfortable if she would come along. She's a part of our Christmas show now and she knows Zvonko and Dubravka more than my parents.
Please pray that God's hand would be upon the visit and that He'll have things under control.
I trust that He knows what He's doing. This visit is an answer to my prayers for them. It's an unusual answer (that's so God :) ), but it's an answer. And it's another step in faith for me.
Please pray for peace in everyone's hearts.
I'm really excited and scared at the same time. I keep thinking of fearful things, I keep thinking how is this going to effect my relationship with my parents.. but I am excited. My only goal is to follow Jesus and if that means that I won't be in a good relationship with my parents for some time, so be it. But I have hope and I believe wonderful things will happen.
p.s. I'll update my outreach to Finland soon!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
We're leaving for Finland..
.. in 2 hours and a half!
We're super excited and also scared (at least I am) but I know + believe that God wants us to go and He'll take care of us. He has been with me and the team since the beginning; with the tickets (only 50€ for a round trip to Finland!), with organization, arangements.. everything.
We're leaving Hungary at 6.30am and landing in Finland at 10am. We'll settle in and have a mini tour around Turku, the city where we're staying, and in the evening we'll have a group prayer meeting with some worship and fellowship.
We'll gather on Saturday morning, eat breakfast together, do devos and some worship and then go to the mall where we're going to do gospel sharing. We'll eat lunch and then go on the streets to evangelise some more + to the students' village as well.
We'll have some free time then, dinner together and some fellowship with our + Finnish team.
On Sunday we'll go to church, do some work there, then go and cook a meal for around 50 people, have dinner later together, hang out, talk, have fun and close up with a prayer.
We leave on Monday morning; the plane leaves at 10.30am and we land in Hungary at 12.05pm.
That's gonna be our schedule and we really are excited.
There are 6 guys on the team and 2 girls and it's gonna be interesting and a lot of fun :)
Please pray for safety on the plane, for no complications at the airport, for unity in the team, for serving + open hearts. Pray that we'll listen to the voice of God and do whatever He'll ask us to do. Pray that we'll be reminded of the truth no matter what and pray that God will be our shield of protection before spiritual attacks.
Also pray for the church in Finland; that we're gonna be a huge blessing to them and that we'll be able to help them in any given way.
We had church service today and pastor Bud was sharing about Revelation 3:7, where Jesus speaks to the church in Philadelphia. He doesn't correct them, He tells them good stuff. Bud also shared about a missionary, David Livingston. He always said: "God, send me anywhere you want me to go, just be with me." and when I think of this sentence.. I want the same. And right now God is sending me to Finland. It's only for 4 days but He was clear and I know He's the one who's sending me there. And I know He's with me. He promised He would never leave us alone and He doesn't.
I am so thankful that He is my hope now.
I'm thankful I belong to Him.
We're super excited and also scared (at least I am) but I know + believe that God wants us to go and He'll take care of us. He has been with me and the team since the beginning; with the tickets (only 50€ for a round trip to Finland!), with organization, arangements.. everything.
We're leaving Hungary at 6.30am and landing in Finland at 10am. We'll settle in and have a mini tour around Turku, the city where we're staying, and in the evening we'll have a group prayer meeting with some worship and fellowship.
We'll gather on Saturday morning, eat breakfast together, do devos and some worship and then go to the mall where we're going to do gospel sharing. We'll eat lunch and then go on the streets to evangelise some more + to the students' village as well.
We'll have some free time then, dinner together and some fellowship with our + Finnish team.
On Sunday we'll go to church, do some work there, then go and cook a meal for around 50 people, have dinner later together, hang out, talk, have fun and close up with a prayer.
We leave on Monday morning; the plane leaves at 10.30am and we land in Hungary at 12.05pm.
That's gonna be our schedule and we really are excited.
There are 6 guys on the team and 2 girls and it's gonna be interesting and a lot of fun :)
Please pray for safety on the plane, for no complications at the airport, for unity in the team, for serving + open hearts. Pray that we'll listen to the voice of God and do whatever He'll ask us to do. Pray that we'll be reminded of the truth no matter what and pray that God will be our shield of protection before spiritual attacks.
Also pray for the church in Finland; that we're gonna be a huge blessing to them and that we'll be able to help them in any given way.
We had church service today and pastor Bud was sharing about Revelation 3:7, where Jesus speaks to the church in Philadelphia. He doesn't correct them, He tells them good stuff. Bud also shared about a missionary, David Livingston. He always said: "God, send me anywhere you want me to go, just be with me." and when I think of this sentence.. I want the same. And right now God is sending me to Finland. It's only for 4 days but He was clear and I know He's the one who's sending me there. And I know He's with me. He promised He would never leave us alone and He doesn't.
I am so thankful that He is my hope now.
I'm thankful I belong to Him.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Lesson learned
As a leader of an outreach team, I'm being put in different awkward and hard situations. Since everything's new, everything's even harder.
There was a question of doing the skits in Finland or not and I decided to do them even though none of us was excited about it. We were suppose to practice it on Tuesday when the doors got closed because interns had a meeting and Travis, the intern didn't have time, later on I didn't have time.. it just didn't work out. Later on I talked to Travis and he said that when he went to Finland last year in October, they weren't able to do it and that maybe we should ask Kyle, the Finland guy, about it again.
I did (and I didn't get his answer yet) and I asked everyone from the team to pray about it. It's been 3 days and I still didn't get any answer from God.
BUT I realized something today. I don't think I'm going to get an answer from God because He's giving me a choice to do it or not. I don't think there's a wrong decision that can be done but it's about me learning a lesson as a leader.
In these past 3 days I was leaning more on not doing the skits because it's gonna be awkward and hard and we don't have to do it and none of us wants to do it.. perfect, we're not gonna do it! But what I realized today was that I wasn't looking at God, but at us and our comfort. What kind of servant is a person who looks at himself and decides what's best for him based on comfort and awkwardness? No servant!
We had a prayer meeting yesterday and I told the team what I've learned and I also told them that it's hard for me as well (I need to be a model in the »Everything skit« which I don't know how to do and I don't want to do it) but it's a sing of humbleness and it's not for us, it's for God and for lost souls that might get saved!
They agreed and when we prayed, most of them prayed for strenght from Him, for courage and not awkwardness for the skits. I know they don't want to do it because they've never done it before but I think we might enjoy it and connect even more as a team.
Anyway.. we tried it today and it was a lot of fun! It was awkward and we weren't comfortable doing it but we tried and we're gonna try more tomorrow.
I'm so glad I decided to do it because we are getting closer as a team and we're getting to know each other more.
Nice job, God, like always :)
There was a question of doing the skits in Finland or not and I decided to do them even though none of us was excited about it. We were suppose to practice it on Tuesday when the doors got closed because interns had a meeting and Travis, the intern didn't have time, later on I didn't have time.. it just didn't work out. Later on I talked to Travis and he said that when he went to Finland last year in October, they weren't able to do it and that maybe we should ask Kyle, the Finland guy, about it again.
I did (and I didn't get his answer yet) and I asked everyone from the team to pray about it. It's been 3 days and I still didn't get any answer from God.
BUT I realized something today. I don't think I'm going to get an answer from God because He's giving me a choice to do it or not. I don't think there's a wrong decision that can be done but it's about me learning a lesson as a leader.
In these past 3 days I was leaning more on not doing the skits because it's gonna be awkward and hard and we don't have to do it and none of us wants to do it.. perfect, we're not gonna do it! But what I realized today was that I wasn't looking at God, but at us and our comfort. What kind of servant is a person who looks at himself and decides what's best for him based on comfort and awkwardness? No servant!
We had a prayer meeting yesterday and I told the team what I've learned and I also told them that it's hard for me as well (I need to be a model in the »Everything skit« which I don't know how to do and I don't want to do it) but it's a sing of humbleness and it's not for us, it's for God and for lost souls that might get saved!
They agreed and when we prayed, most of them prayed for strenght from Him, for courage and not awkwardness for the skits. I know they don't want to do it because they've never done it before but I think we might enjoy it and connect even more as a team.
Anyway.. we tried it today and it was a lot of fun! It was awkward and we weren't comfortable doing it but we tried and we're gonna try more tomorrow.
I'm so glad I decided to do it because we are getting closer as a team and we're getting to know each other more.
Nice job, God, like always :)
Pécs outreach
It's been 2 weeks since we got back but I just didn't find time to write the update of our outreach. This is kind of what I wrote for my outreach paper..
While we were having meetings in the month before the outreach, we prayed and I did expect God to do a lot of things but I'd never thought God will do so many miraculous things.
There were 15 people on our team and our schedule was busy all the time. People who run church in Pecs are Leah and Balazs and a correspondance couple from Australia who are helping them. It's not a really big church but it's growing.
We had 2 youth nights, we went to 2 different nursery homes, we went to prison, fed homeless people at the park, hang out with kids in the park and played soccer with them, had a »give-away« thing for people in need, we went to the worst high school in the city and did the »Everything » skit there.. and while doing all of those things, we did things the church usually does; church service on Sunday and Wednesday and prayer meeting on Tuesday. It was a crazy time but it was so good.
We got to Pecs on Friday and had a day for our team; we got to meet the church people, we all shared our testimonies, hang out and prepared things for Saturday when we had youth night. We went to the park to invite kids and didn't really find a lot of them but on Saturday, on youth night, there was around 30 kids! It was amazing, unexpected, and 80% of kids were new ones! That was the first sign of God's work and we were all so amazed how well the outreach started.
We went to old folks home on Monday and Balazs asked me + Mike and Cindy, a couple from Australia, to share our testimonies. We also played some songs in Hungarian and English (yes, I learned 2 songs in Hungarian), we baked a lot of cakes and cookies.. I had no idea what to share with people about my past, I had no idea what kind of words to use and which part of my testimony to emphasize. Balazs introduced me and I started talking. I'm not really even sure what I talked about. I told the basics and focused on Jesus' love for me and for them and how he's with them and cares for them. I cried by the end of it. It was really hard to see those people's faces at the end of their lives. I really hope something's changed in their hearts and that they'll except Jesus into their lives and go to heaven when they die.
We went to old people's home on Tuesday as well, a different one. We repeated the »program« so the same people shared their testimonies, the same people sang.. It was even more challenging for me because I didn't remember what I said about my testimony on Monday but God spoke through me again and it was great. It was so amazing to see how He takes care of everything, how we don't have to fear at all, we don't have to worry at all. He has everything in control and I realized what it really means to be God's instrument, how it wasn't my strenght, how it was totally Him.
Our team went to prison on Wednesday but I didn't go. Leah told us at the beginning of the outreach that not all of us will probably go because people at the prison sometimes complicate things but we didn't talk about it until Tuesday. I heard God saying to me not to go but to stay at home and pray. Everytime we went somewhere or we did something, at least one person (usually 2) stayed back and prayed.
So, on Wednesday, I stayed at home with Kim, one of the correspondence people. We prayed for almost an hour and a half but it seemed like we'd prayed for 20min. It was crazy! I was really scared of praying for so long and I think that's why God wanted me to stay at home and experience talking to Him for so long. I'd never done it before and didn't know if I'm able to talk to God for so long but I was! It was really an amazing experience but the most amazing part is that God answered all of our prayers! Crazy! When the girls got back, they explained everything that happened and it was funny to hear that every single detail Kim and prayed for got answered. 4 girls got to share their testimonies and women in prison all cried. Even Leah was amazed. + they got to see the whole prison, with cells and everything. God was working in a big way that day!
The church also ran into opposition. It was expected with all the work that God's been doing. Homeless people started coming to church after months of talking to them and inviting them but the problem is that the church is in a building where there is a lot of stores and store owners started to complain. After a couple of days of »arguing«, the owners of the whole building said the homeless people are not welcome in the building anymore. On Satuday a lot of youth smoked in the hallway and was loud and the church was in trouble. We had a meeting and we had no idea what is going to happen. We prayed a lot that evening and believed that God is faithful. We had another meeting in the morning and Balazs said the church is going to move to another buidling, they had no idea which one yet. We were all pretty much bummed. But God really is faithful. We had church on Sunday right before we left for Vajta and so many people came that we ran out of chairs! I talked to Leah and she said:«We're not gonna move because of the opposition, we're gonna move because the church is growing and we have no space for this amount of people!« It's amazing how God showed us that we don't have to worry because of all the trouble we/they had this week. He's gonna take care of them and they really don't have to be stressed out.
It was a really crazy week. One of the most important things I've learned is to pray all the time. We really prayed all the time for everything. We had a big team and so we could afford to leave 1 or 2 people at home to pray while doing things and it was amazing to see how God answered all of our prayers. I've never experienced anything like this before!
One thing we prayed for a lot was unity in our team and we were all amazed how there were no big issues or conflicts. God helped us to be more patient and nice and we tried to be a big blessing to people from that church.
It was awesome to see Leah and Balazs + Kim and Andy and how they dedicated all of their lives to God. In 10 days I didn't see any selfishness or complains. Even in bad moments, they had a smile on their faces (weak smile but it was a smile) and tried to encourage us. They always turned to God and never lost hope. That's how I want to be when I'm a missionary, if I'll ever be. They were a great example of people who serve God with their whole hearts and don't give up.
We had Speakers' week this week and Leah and Balazs came. They went back to run the church service on Wednesday and when they got back, they had wonderful news! Almost all the homeless people got saved that evening! They said it was amazing, they all sensed the Holy Spirit in such a powerful way and.. oh man, God is so GOOD!
I'll write about the Speakers' week too.. I hope it doesn't take me as long as it did for this one :)
While we were having meetings in the month before the outreach, we prayed and I did expect God to do a lot of things but I'd never thought God will do so many miraculous things.
There were 15 people on our team and our schedule was busy all the time. People who run church in Pecs are Leah and Balazs and a correspondance couple from Australia who are helping them. It's not a really big church but it's growing.
We had 2 youth nights, we went to 2 different nursery homes, we went to prison, fed homeless people at the park, hang out with kids in the park and played soccer with them, had a »give-away« thing for people in need, we went to the worst high school in the city and did the »Everything » skit there.. and while doing all of those things, we did things the church usually does; church service on Sunday and Wednesday and prayer meeting on Tuesday. It was a crazy time but it was so good.
We got to Pecs on Friday and had a day for our team; we got to meet the church people, we all shared our testimonies, hang out and prepared things for Saturday when we had youth night. We went to the park to invite kids and didn't really find a lot of them but on Saturday, on youth night, there was around 30 kids! It was amazing, unexpected, and 80% of kids were new ones! That was the first sign of God's work and we were all so amazed how well the outreach started.
We went to old folks home on Monday and Balazs asked me + Mike and Cindy, a couple from Australia, to share our testimonies. We also played some songs in Hungarian and English (yes, I learned 2 songs in Hungarian), we baked a lot of cakes and cookies.. I had no idea what to share with people about my past, I had no idea what kind of words to use and which part of my testimony to emphasize. Balazs introduced me and I started talking. I'm not really even sure what I talked about. I told the basics and focused on Jesus' love for me and for them and how he's with them and cares for them. I cried by the end of it. It was really hard to see those people's faces at the end of their lives. I really hope something's changed in their hearts and that they'll except Jesus into their lives and go to heaven when they die.
We went to old people's home on Tuesday as well, a different one. We repeated the »program« so the same people shared their testimonies, the same people sang.. It was even more challenging for me because I didn't remember what I said about my testimony on Monday but God spoke through me again and it was great. It was so amazing to see how He takes care of everything, how we don't have to fear at all, we don't have to worry at all. He has everything in control and I realized what it really means to be God's instrument, how it wasn't my strenght, how it was totally Him.
Our team went to prison on Wednesday but I didn't go. Leah told us at the beginning of the outreach that not all of us will probably go because people at the prison sometimes complicate things but we didn't talk about it until Tuesday. I heard God saying to me not to go but to stay at home and pray. Everytime we went somewhere or we did something, at least one person (usually 2) stayed back and prayed.
So, on Wednesday, I stayed at home with Kim, one of the correspondence people. We prayed for almost an hour and a half but it seemed like we'd prayed for 20min. It was crazy! I was really scared of praying for so long and I think that's why God wanted me to stay at home and experience talking to Him for so long. I'd never done it before and didn't know if I'm able to talk to God for so long but I was! It was really an amazing experience but the most amazing part is that God answered all of our prayers! Crazy! When the girls got back, they explained everything that happened and it was funny to hear that every single detail Kim and prayed for got answered. 4 girls got to share their testimonies and women in prison all cried. Even Leah was amazed. + they got to see the whole prison, with cells and everything. God was working in a big way that day!
The church also ran into opposition. It was expected with all the work that God's been doing. Homeless people started coming to church after months of talking to them and inviting them but the problem is that the church is in a building where there is a lot of stores and store owners started to complain. After a couple of days of »arguing«, the owners of the whole building said the homeless people are not welcome in the building anymore. On Satuday a lot of youth smoked in the hallway and was loud and the church was in trouble. We had a meeting and we had no idea what is going to happen. We prayed a lot that evening and believed that God is faithful. We had another meeting in the morning and Balazs said the church is going to move to another buidling, they had no idea which one yet. We were all pretty much bummed. But God really is faithful. We had church on Sunday right before we left for Vajta and so many people came that we ran out of chairs! I talked to Leah and she said:«We're not gonna move because of the opposition, we're gonna move because the church is growing and we have no space for this amount of people!« It's amazing how God showed us that we don't have to worry because of all the trouble we/they had this week. He's gonna take care of them and they really don't have to be stressed out.
It was a really crazy week. One of the most important things I've learned is to pray all the time. We really prayed all the time for everything. We had a big team and so we could afford to leave 1 or 2 people at home to pray while doing things and it was amazing to see how God answered all of our prayers. I've never experienced anything like this before!
One thing we prayed for a lot was unity in our team and we were all amazed how there were no big issues or conflicts. God helped us to be more patient and nice and we tried to be a big blessing to people from that church.
It was awesome to see Leah and Balazs + Kim and Andy and how they dedicated all of their lives to God. In 10 days I didn't see any selfishness or complains. Even in bad moments, they had a smile on their faces (weak smile but it was a smile) and tried to encourage us. They always turned to God and never lost hope. That's how I want to be when I'm a missionary, if I'll ever be. They were a great example of people who serve God with their whole hearts and don't give up.
We had Speakers' week this week and Leah and Balazs came. They went back to run the church service on Wednesday and when they got back, they had wonderful news! Almost all the homeless people got saved that evening! They said it was amazing, they all sensed the Holy Spirit in such a powerful way and.. oh man, God is so GOOD!
I'll write about the Speakers' week too.. I hope it doesn't take me as long as it did for this one :)
Saturday, November 06, 2010
Thoughts and struggles
It's been a week since we got back from 10-day outreach and I will write about that, just not right now.
I have a feeling I have to put things out of me and blog is a perfect way of doing it because I can let people know how I'm doing at the same time as I'm putting it out in words.
It's been a crazy week and I can't even believe that's it's been 5 whole days since we got back. I've been dealing with a lot of thinking, in a bad way. I keep having this thoughts in my head that I can't get rid of and I know they're not from God. Even when I pray, I get distracted so easily and it bugs me so much!
We had a prayer meeting with my prayer group yesterday and God put a girl from College on my heart to pray with, we're going for a prayer walk in 15min. I didn't even tell her that God said we have to pray for a whole day because I didn't think it matters but I didn't feel at peace this morning so I just told her. She didn't think I'm crazy which is great. I'm not even sure what we need to pray about.. maybe we just need to talk to the Lord and see.
The other thing that doesn't give me peace is being a leader of Finland outreach. We have a skype meeting with Kyle today, the guy from Finland, and I'm so nervous! I prayed yesterday and told God that I know I can't do this by myself, I know I'm not capable of doing this by myself.. I gave it all to Him but I still don't feel at peace.
I ask you to pray for peace in my heart and that I'd know He's in charge of things.
The other day I had a conversation with my roommate Sarah. We talked about how we see Bible College and she said she sees it as a hospital. She's dealing with a lot of spiritual stuff and she knows she came here so GOd can reveal Himself to her and heal her.
I see Bible College as a military. I came here and God is training me to be his soldier in a way. And.. you know, every military has a hospital or at least a nurse that takes care of sick people.. and while training there, it's not always fun. It hurts when your muscles are strenghtening and you think you can't do it anymore, that you're done but you keep going.. It's the same here. God is strenghtening me in a big way and at times, I have a feeling I'm done and I just want to give up. But He lifts me up and gives me more strenght.
I don't know if any of this makes sense but.. Huh.
I'm ready to hear Him. I'm ready for Him to reveal Himself to me and let me know He's in charge. I'm ready for Him to give me a hug and let me know everything's going to be ok because He's here for me.
I know all of this in theory but I'm not sure I know it in my heart.
I'm ready for Him to give me His wisdom because I don't have any. I'm ready for Him to give me the ability of being a leader because I wasn't born a leader.
I'm ready to be humble and wait for Him.
Please pray for me.
I have a feeling I have to put things out of me and blog is a perfect way of doing it because I can let people know how I'm doing at the same time as I'm putting it out in words.
It's been a crazy week and I can't even believe that's it's been 5 whole days since we got back. I've been dealing with a lot of thinking, in a bad way. I keep having this thoughts in my head that I can't get rid of and I know they're not from God. Even when I pray, I get distracted so easily and it bugs me so much!
We had a prayer meeting with my prayer group yesterday and God put a girl from College on my heart to pray with, we're going for a prayer walk in 15min. I didn't even tell her that God said we have to pray for a whole day because I didn't think it matters but I didn't feel at peace this morning so I just told her. She didn't think I'm crazy which is great. I'm not even sure what we need to pray about.. maybe we just need to talk to the Lord and see.
The other thing that doesn't give me peace is being a leader of Finland outreach. We have a skype meeting with Kyle today, the guy from Finland, and I'm so nervous! I prayed yesterday and told God that I know I can't do this by myself, I know I'm not capable of doing this by myself.. I gave it all to Him but I still don't feel at peace.
I ask you to pray for peace in my heart and that I'd know He's in charge of things.
The other day I had a conversation with my roommate Sarah. We talked about how we see Bible College and she said she sees it as a hospital. She's dealing with a lot of spiritual stuff and she knows she came here so GOd can reveal Himself to her and heal her.
I see Bible College as a military. I came here and God is training me to be his soldier in a way. And.. you know, every military has a hospital or at least a nurse that takes care of sick people.. and while training there, it's not always fun. It hurts when your muscles are strenghtening and you think you can't do it anymore, that you're done but you keep going.. It's the same here. God is strenghtening me in a big way and at times, I have a feeling I'm done and I just want to give up. But He lifts me up and gives me more strenght.
I don't know if any of this makes sense but.. Huh.
I'm ready to hear Him. I'm ready for Him to reveal Himself to me and let me know He's in charge. I'm ready for Him to give me a hug and let me know everything's going to be ok because He's here for me.
I know all of this in theory but I'm not sure I know it in my heart.
I'm ready for Him to give me His wisdom because I don't have any. I'm ready for Him to give me the ability of being a leader because I wasn't born a leader.
I'm ready to be humble and wait for Him.
Please pray for me.
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