A Certain Woman in Eastern Europe

Arden has been up for hours still working on the power points for worship. It was a very ambitious project translating 3 bands songs into english. The group from Croatia sent 19 songs. One song took 6 slides! It is sunny out whic is a huge blessings - it has been cold and rainy for the last 2 days. Kata just sms'd (texted) this to me...."How wonderful to be in Szeged today with u and the rest of the team. Wherever u r, u bring me the feeling of home and belonging! Szeretlek! (I love you!)Kata Life is sweet and the coffee and so much more..awaits...

What a GREAT time we had tonight at ICF. The presence of the Lord was so sweet and Erik is doing a great job leading us into worship. Tonight he used the mic and amplifier as he played the guitar and it was much easier to follow along with the songs. We did get the projector to work with my laptop so that was good. We were going to do an abbreviated version of our time together so that everyone could help us make 200 sandwiches and still leave by 9. Jim was going to speak but they didn't get here until late because of the traffic in and around Budapest. After worship and fellowship we gathered in a circle and just shared what/how God was using us this week. One of the univ students shared a portion of scripture (John 12.1-8) that had really helped her this week in a practical way. We all discussed that and prayed together for some people God was reaching out to this week. Then Erik played again a new/old worship song "Father we ask". It is a song about healing our land an...

Edith and I drove down to Szeged on Thursday to help Arden with all the preparations. We have had time for planning and then the practical - a trip to the "Metro" (local wholesaler) because every good Hungarian event includes a "buffet". We are preparing sandwiches (sonka, sajt és paprikas) ham, cheese and peppers and drinks for donations. While Edith and I were busy in the kitchen, Arden was preparing the putting all the worship songs on to power point slides. Every song was translated and we will project on one screen English and on another screen Hungarian. More of the "team" arrives tonight and we will have the second (unannounced) "Friday at 7" meeting. Tomorrow at the concert, we will announce the official start up, next Friday, October 5. Thanks for your prayers.

Well, we had our first "practice" as we met in our rented room on Friday. We knew we needed time to adjust from a living room situation to a public service. We are still working out a few things, like the projector BUT God met with us and we had a new girl meet with us that no one knew. That sure encouraged us. It turns out the new medical student attended the Reform Church where we rent and the pastor told her about the english service on Friday evenings. He has been a real blessing to us already. For this first unannounced attempt, we had 12 in attendance, from 7 different nations. The room can hold 200, so we have plenty of room to grow. :-) It is so satisfying to see a dream, or vision begin to come into plain sight. I think too, of the scripture in Zechariah 4.10a For who has despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice.... We will "practice" again on Friday eve and this Saturday - 29th is our big concert. Please pray for us that all goes well to t...

Sunday, we (International Church of Debrecen) were part of baptism service with a local Hungarian congregation. A member of our church Pablo is shown here giving his testimony and being baptised. Our Pastor, Ed Courtney having the honour. Pablo fled from Castro's Cuba in 1999. He settled with his sister and her family in Slovakia. In 2002 he made a trip to Hungary and was denied access back into Slovakia and has lived as a refugee here. When asked why he was in Hungary he used to reply, "I don't know, it is a mistake". Now, he replies, "God wanted me to know Him, and to know the power of the Gospel." Next, Pablo wanted to follow Christ's example and be baptised. Pablo is now waiting to return to Cuba and tell his family about Jesus, which is a real change of heart. Please, keep him in your prayers as he goes through the process to get permission to return. Thank you. This was a great time as young and "older" got baptised. I especially enjoyed ...

We are enjoying having our roomate Tammy here this week. She lives in Zhitomir, Ukraine most of the time, but we are blessed when she, Edith and I are all in residence at the same time. You can check out Tammy's blog by looking at "Certain Friends" on the left column of this blog. Her blog name in INSTE. Here are some photos of us enjoying our yard and harvesting our walnuts. Notice Edith's lovely garden and the new house next door.

Last March on our first prayer walk in Szeged we stood at an important intersection and asked God to bring down the occultic and witchcraft high places in Szeged. As we lifted our eyes we noticed hanging from a nearby building, 2 bronze figures, one a witch, the second a warlock. We prayed at the same corner last weekend and look - no figures!! In fact, they were removed within weeks of our first prayer walk!! Yeah God!! While in Szeged, one of our young team members, David shared that he had been asking the Lord for a guitar so he could learn to play and help with the music for "Friday at 7". Well, Erik one of our university student leaders from Sweden had an extra so.... We thank you God for answering David's prayer and so quickly. I was so blessed to go to Budapest last weekend and be at the International Church when Pastor Glenn Ford preached on his first Sunday back in the pulpit after a 7 month battle with throat cancer. His voice was strong and anointed as he spoke...

When we started meeting to discuss the viability of "Friday at 7", I kept seeing the image of an arrow head. It was such a good illustration from the Lord. We identified Arden as the "point person" as she is on site in Szeged. Jim Person family and myself are the "sides" to strenthen and the university students make up the shaft and the Holy Spirit the feathers. While in Alaska, I shared this illustration with the mission council and James Kurth told me some of what he has learned since he has taken up archery. The tip of the arrow is the trailblazer and it pierces the skin and makes the initial entry. It cuts the trail for the rest of the arrow...if the point is sharp, it goes 25% deeper. The initial cut into the thick skin makes an easy way for the rest of the arrow. The points/sides are to expand and widen the effect of the arrow head. The function of the these corners is to expand. As the point breaks the skin, and the corners expand the wound, the wo...

"Friday at 7", International Christian Fellowship-Szeged is the official name of our outreach to the english speaking high school and university students living in Szeged, the Hungarian town on the southern border. See posting from March 17 for the story of the beginnings. Please pray for us as we meet this Friday to finalise the plans for unofficial start, Friday, Sept 14 and the concert, Sept 29 to announce the new fellowship. Because our meetings will be in "english only" and on Friday evenings, we are getting a lot of great support from the local pastors. Praise God. We have a very good location secured, we have worship teams and guitars but please pray with us for the rest of the sound system we need. Life is exciting but we all need your prayers. Thank you!