My dad came to pick me up in the morning and I thought my mom was coming as well but she wasn't with him so I asked my dad if she had to work but he said she had some medical problems and she's in a hospital. And then I asked what's wrong with her and he said she had a pretty big heart attack on tuesday morning.
They didn't want to tell me before because they didn't want me to worry. They thought I couldn't do anything but that's not true. I could pray. Thanks to God my mom is better, out of the hospital today with no consequences. She will need to change her lifestyle though. She hasn't been smoking for the past 5 days and hospital signed her up for some kind of a exercise training.
I'm still shocked, I can't believe she almost died. It was so close.. my dad drove her to the emergency room at 3am and she was barely with him. They went through all the red lights and my mom was so weak.. it was terrible hearing what all happened and.. I'm so scared. I don't want my mom to die!
Please, please, please... pray.
I know God is with her, I know He'll use all of this for good and I can't tell you how thankful I am that things are changing, concerning the smoking.. but please pray for soft hearts right now, please pray my mom, dad and sister will all realize they need Jesus. Please, pray for my mom's strenght and her body and especially her heart.
Please.. pray.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The last day
It's the last day in Vajta, I'm leaving tomorrow at 11-ish. I'm so excited to go home but saying goodbye to people made me feel so sad to leave this place. It's only for 6 weeks but this castle became my home and people here became a part of my big family in Christ. Most of them are returning next semester but some aren't.
It's hard.
The ones that are still here are together in the Coffee shop, spending time together, watching movies, listening to music.. and I think we'll go and play in the snow, we have a lot!! :)
I'm so thankful I got the opportunity to study the Bible every day and got to be a part of this College. Sweet times.
+ I'm thankful I'm coming back next semester :)
And I'll see you guys in just a day or two... ;)
It's hard.
The ones that are still here are together in the Coffee shop, spending time together, watching movies, listening to music.. and I think we'll go and play in the snow, we have a lot!! :)
I'm so thankful I got the opportunity to study the Bible every day and got to be a part of this College. Sweet times.
+ I'm thankful I'm coming back next semester :)
And I'll see you guys in just a day or two... ;)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
The last month.
Finland outreach.
It was great and at the same time a bit discouraging but it's not anymore. What I mean by that is that everything went smoothly, there was no real opposition, there was unity in the team, our friendships got better, we enjoyed Finland and snow.. but the discouraging part was that I thought we would do more. We were a part of everything that church there usually does + we did some street evangelism but I felt like I'm on vacation.
I talked to a bunch of people about it and I learned that God sent us to Finland for different reasons than I imagined.
I know why He sent me there. I was able to experience how to lead an outreach, how to be in charge of certain things, He helped me to prepare for sharing morning devotions on the book of Ephesians, it was perfect for an outreach and He really spoke through me. It was amazing. It was one of the steps in faith that I had to do, even going on a plane and spending some hard time up in the air with turbulence and snowy weather. But I knew He was with me. The team was great, guys went to home sauna while us 2 girls didn't want to go (we don't know each other that well yet :) and we had a lot of time playing games, fellowshipping and just having fun.
The flight back was so scary. It was snowing in Finland and raining heavily in Budapest and the whole flight was shaky. I was praying for the whole 2 hours and a half, but knew God is in control.
I did learn a lot on that outreach.
Finals.
I had Acts, IBS and G. of Mark Finals and they were.. well, a bit easier than Midterms. I had to do the same thing for Acts Final as I had to do for Acts Midterm. I chose to write about prayer because I learned how important it is on our 10-day outreach.
For our IBS Final we had to do a study on the book of Philemon. First of all, I didn't even know there's a book of Philemon in the Bible. It's really short. :)
We had to do 5 steps;
The 1. one was to do a background study on it and we could use internet to find info.
The 2. step was to read the book in 3 different versions (NIV, ESV, NKJV) and write down 100 observations altogether and to breakdown the whole book.
The 3. step was to answer some questions that teacher gave us.
The 4. step was to come up with a theme title for the book and 3-5 points that backed up that theme title.
The 5. step was to write a 4-5 page message – sermon.
It wasn't that easy, I struggled with it for a while but I finished it on time.
Mark Final was.. interesting.
The 1. step was that we had to read the whole gospel of Mark and write down 50 principles of leadership (of Jesus or His disciples) and we needed to write down why do we think that's a principle of leadership.
The 2. step was to pick 10 weaknesses of ours from that list of 50 principles of leadership and write down why do we think that's our weakness, what the Bible says about it and what is God teaching us about it.
The 3. step was to pick 10 strenghts of ours from that list of 50 principles of leadership and write down why do we think that's our strenght and what is God teaching us on how to use it.
The 4. step was to pick 10 positive characteristics of others here at CCBCE from that list of 50 principles of leadership and write down who they are and how they demonstrate it.
It was a 40 pages long Final and it took me forever but it was great to think about our own characters and just see what God thinks about it.
Sickness.
I finished my Finals on Saturday morning and then went to babysit 2 precious girls but I didn't really feel ok. I woke up with a huge headache but went to babysit anyway. During the day my sickness got worse and I ended up throwing up and having fever. That was Saturday evening. I slept during the whole Sunday and didn't drink a lot, threw up a lot.. so I got dehidrated. I went to the doctors on Monday evening and … it was horrible. I was so dehidrated that the minute I got to the doctors I fell into a shock, my whole body was in a biiig cramp, I couldn't talk and my throat started closing up. They examined me right away, gave me water with calcium and a shot. It was the scariest thing I've ever went through and I literally thought I was going to die. BUT I also learned a lesson of trust. God didn't leave me, He was the one that told me and our nurse here at the same time that it's time to go to the doctors. It was so amazing.
I didn't sleep all night from Monday to Tuesday; I was waking up every 7min, drinking a few sips of water because I was still throwing up big time. I wasn't doing better on Tuesdy evening and I talked to my mom and dad and my dad was REALLY worried and said he can come and get me the next morning. I was almost ready to go home but I prayed to God and told Him that I'm scared of not getting better and that I'll stay if He shows me I'm doing better. In less than 30min I was eating, drinking, sitting up and laughing. It was amazing how He answered my prayer so quickly and told me to stay here and not go home because He's going to take care of me. And He did, He is so AWESOME! :)
I'm doing better right now and am trying to do homework that I didn't do during the week. Thank you all so much for your prayers, they helped!!
The last week.
We're in our last week of school right now. As I said, I'm finnishing my homework during the weekend so I can be free during the week.
On Monday we have Dove Awards which is a Christmas party with a game and a lot of fun. Check out the pictures on facebook :)
On Tuesday we have Graduation dinner and it's gonna be all fency and pretty. Check out the pics :)
On Wednesday we have cleaning day when ALL of us will clean up the whole castle. It's gonna be a lot of work but also a lot of fun :)
People start leaving on Thursday and I'm leaving on Friday! :)
Esther, my Korean roommate is coming with me and it's gonna be a lot of fun having her with me. I'm so excited :)
But mostly I'm really excited to go back home, to a known place, with known people who I love. It's been a wonderful semester and I'm thankful I'm coming back next semester but it's also so nice to go home and enjoy some family and friends time.
It was great and at the same time a bit discouraging but it's not anymore. What I mean by that is that everything went smoothly, there was no real opposition, there was unity in the team, our friendships got better, we enjoyed Finland and snow.. but the discouraging part was that I thought we would do more. We were a part of everything that church there usually does + we did some street evangelism but I felt like I'm on vacation.
I talked to a bunch of people about it and I learned that God sent us to Finland for different reasons than I imagined.
I know why He sent me there. I was able to experience how to lead an outreach, how to be in charge of certain things, He helped me to prepare for sharing morning devotions on the book of Ephesians, it was perfect for an outreach and He really spoke through me. It was amazing. It was one of the steps in faith that I had to do, even going on a plane and spending some hard time up in the air with turbulence and snowy weather. But I knew He was with me. The team was great, guys went to home sauna while us 2 girls didn't want to go (we don't know each other that well yet :) and we had a lot of time playing games, fellowshipping and just having fun.
The flight back was so scary. It was snowing in Finland and raining heavily in Budapest and the whole flight was shaky. I was praying for the whole 2 hours and a half, but knew God is in control.
I did learn a lot on that outreach.
Finals.
I had Acts, IBS and G. of Mark Finals and they were.. well, a bit easier than Midterms. I had to do the same thing for Acts Final as I had to do for Acts Midterm. I chose to write about prayer because I learned how important it is on our 10-day outreach.
For our IBS Final we had to do a study on the book of Philemon. First of all, I didn't even know there's a book of Philemon in the Bible. It's really short. :)
We had to do 5 steps;
The 1. one was to do a background study on it and we could use internet to find info.
The 2. step was to read the book in 3 different versions (NIV, ESV, NKJV) and write down 100 observations altogether and to breakdown the whole book.
The 3. step was to answer some questions that teacher gave us.
The 4. step was to come up with a theme title for the book and 3-5 points that backed up that theme title.
The 5. step was to write a 4-5 page message – sermon.
It wasn't that easy, I struggled with it for a while but I finished it on time.
Mark Final was.. interesting.
The 1. step was that we had to read the whole gospel of Mark and write down 50 principles of leadership (of Jesus or His disciples) and we needed to write down why do we think that's a principle of leadership.
The 2. step was to pick 10 weaknesses of ours from that list of 50 principles of leadership and write down why do we think that's our weakness, what the Bible says about it and what is God teaching us about it.
The 3. step was to pick 10 strenghts of ours from that list of 50 principles of leadership and write down why do we think that's our strenght and what is God teaching us on how to use it.
The 4. step was to pick 10 positive characteristics of others here at CCBCE from that list of 50 principles of leadership and write down who they are and how they demonstrate it.
It was a 40 pages long Final and it took me forever but it was great to think about our own characters and just see what God thinks about it.
Sickness.
I finished my Finals on Saturday morning and then went to babysit 2 precious girls but I didn't really feel ok. I woke up with a huge headache but went to babysit anyway. During the day my sickness got worse and I ended up throwing up and having fever. That was Saturday evening. I slept during the whole Sunday and didn't drink a lot, threw up a lot.. so I got dehidrated. I went to the doctors on Monday evening and … it was horrible. I was so dehidrated that the minute I got to the doctors I fell into a shock, my whole body was in a biiig cramp, I couldn't talk and my throat started closing up. They examined me right away, gave me water with calcium and a shot. It was the scariest thing I've ever went through and I literally thought I was going to die. BUT I also learned a lesson of trust. God didn't leave me, He was the one that told me and our nurse here at the same time that it's time to go to the doctors. It was so amazing.
I didn't sleep all night from Monday to Tuesday; I was waking up every 7min, drinking a few sips of water because I was still throwing up big time. I wasn't doing better on Tuesdy evening and I talked to my mom and dad and my dad was REALLY worried and said he can come and get me the next morning. I was almost ready to go home but I prayed to God and told Him that I'm scared of not getting better and that I'll stay if He shows me I'm doing better. In less than 30min I was eating, drinking, sitting up and laughing. It was amazing how He answered my prayer so quickly and told me to stay here and not go home because He's going to take care of me. And He did, He is so AWESOME! :)
I'm doing better right now and am trying to do homework that I didn't do during the week. Thank you all so much for your prayers, they helped!!
The last week.
We're in our last week of school right now. As I said, I'm finnishing my homework during the weekend so I can be free during the week.
On Monday we have Dove Awards which is a Christmas party with a game and a lot of fun. Check out the pictures on facebook :)
On Tuesday we have Graduation dinner and it's gonna be all fency and pretty. Check out the pics :)
On Wednesday we have cleaning day when ALL of us will clean up the whole castle. It's gonna be a lot of work but also a lot of fun :)
People start leaving on Thursday and I'm leaving on Friday! :)
Esther, my Korean roommate is coming with me and it's gonna be a lot of fun having her with me. I'm so excited :)
But mostly I'm really excited to go back home, to a known place, with known people who I love. It's been a wonderful semester and I'm thankful I'm coming back next semester but it's also so nice to go home and enjoy some family and friends time.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Things are moving..
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!
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!
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 :)
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