A Certain Woman in Eastern Europe

It has been a very busy month for our church here in Budapest!  We have had the joy of a joint service with our friends at the Russian Church with Sasha from Moldova leading worship and Pastor Lubov speaking on the " Refining fire of God" ...and it was fiery! We enjoyed being together so much we are planning another joint service. We had a service with our own faithful and blessed worshippers Patricia and Sandor and Ebenezer continued our series on the Holy Spirit. Then missionary friend, Tammy ministered on  "Being and Bringing His Faith Presence" followed by a time of equipping the leadership team with Tammy doing a great presentation on "Hot and Cold Climate Cultural Differences" which both informed and inspired. The month was topped off with Chris & Roger ministering on "Marriage and Family" and it truly was a family day. Since it was "Children's Day" here in Hungary, we then prayed for our church children and gave the...

 ...for our families, for our nations....for all we pray about! I have a television here in Hungary, but it is only for watching dvd's. I am able to catch up with USA news by intenet and sometimes even watch some TV programs but only after they are aired. This was a big week for US television....including the finale of American Idol and the last show of 25 years for Oprah.  I have on occasion watched these shows and as I watched highlights of both finales I was encouraged by a number of things I saw and heard. Not only did this season of American Idol have a number of wholesome singers, some contestants were God fearing, God believing, true believers that sang Gospel songs through the season and in the finale.  Upon winning,  the young, humble Scotty McCreery said "First, I want to thank the Lord!". I truly believe a number of these contestants were like young Esther and Daniel's for such a time as this!! Oprah's finale included, the Queen of soul, Aretha...

God is so good!! In March, Jackie and I were talking about who to ask to speak in May. As my heart turned to the Lord with the question, He dropped the name of my good friend Beth Soper in my heart. I had spent my first 5 years on the mission field as admin assistant to Beth and her husband LaVere but for the last few years Beth had not been traveling.  It turns out 2 days before my call to Beth, the Holy Spirit had been "stirring" her up and encouraging her to travel and minister again.  She said, "Ok, Lord but if this is you, please have someone call and ask me for a specific assignment!!  Imagine "our" surprise and delight!! It turns out, it had been 7 years since Beth had ministered in another country and what a GREAT Word she brought where ever she ministered. Plus, we got to stay together and catch up on all our life happenings since we had last seen each other.  As soon as Beth said, Yes!! a team of wonderful Scottish friends joined and what a blessing t...

Saturday April 30 - Arrived back to Budapest, Non-stop American flight, very crowded! Sunday, May 1 - Mother's Day in Hungary. Preached at the International Church of Budapest Monday, May 2 - 5.00 pm Started  to lead a 10 week Bible Study called "Forgiven and Set Free" for post abortive women:  5 women began the course. Next Monday is last week to add anyone new. Tuesday, May 3 - Dinner with special friends - American Missionary married to Hungarian and their 8yr old Wednesday, May 4 - Back in the country - unpack, do admin, catch up blog and prep for rest of month   thru Friday, May 6   Saturday, May 7 - Back to Budapest for house guest, British friend who lives in Szeged Sunday, May 8 - 10.30 am Intl Church of Budapest (ICB) joint service with Russian Church with luncheon Mon - Wed - Back in country more prep and planning Scottish team arriving for mission trip to Romania Thurs, May 12 - 10.35 Team arrives Ferihegy 1, settle in hotel, time in Budapest ...

While in Johnstown I stayed with my sister-in-law Sue and my brother David. They are so cute! I did not take this photo - that is why it is so good :-) Michael, Mom's first grandson of  10 grands. Here is my Raelene with her sister Lori. We spent Easter with Lori and Eddie in Yonkers . Lori, Bryce, Raelene & Mikhaila. Can you say family resemblance? This is Austin - he will be 13 in Nov - he is good at being a preteen. Back to Easter - I don't think anyone knew I took this. Look, I almost got Austin in a photo!!  MJ with Aunt Lori and her friend Susan I was so glad to be "home" with my son and his family for Easter. I won't go into all I was imagining :-). We did all get GREAT Easter baskets and in fact,  I just finished my chocolate :-) Wasn't that self-controlled of me?  After a wonderful service at the River Church in Poughkeepsie, we piled into the car yelling "Road Trip", plugged into our portable "media...

Diedre drove Alaskan visitors, Deb & Deloris and I up to Albany to shop and then I continued to J'town - this was a mini reunion for all of us and it was great fun!! In Johnstown I got together with friends Jayne and Joan for lunch. Jayne also drove me back to Poughkeepsie Jayne, MJ, Joan. These ladies helped me take care of mom and we all became really good friends. They are both a huge blessing to me. And this is the card group that no longer shuffles :-). We go back so many years and used to meet weekly for  cards. Now we meet for mini reunions when I come to town - we eat and chat and chat some more. Clockwise from me, Sue, Peggy, Milly, Deb, Cheryl and Kathy.  4 of us graduated together, 2 graduated a year earlier and one is the baby of the group. Can you guess the baby??  Of course, one of the blessings of traveling back home is trying to see as many people as possible and trying to get quality time with them.  In spite of being gone only 10 ...

I was asked to do a ladies meeting for the River Church in Poughkeepsie, NY on Easter Saturday. We had a wonderful brunch served by some of the gentlemen from the church. We then moved upstairs for a time of great worship and Word. God had sovereignly given me a message for these ladies based from scriptures in Isa 42.22,23 and Joel 2.25. The title was "Say, Restore". It was an encouraging word about the the very heart of the gospel message - "Restoration". Restoration of us in relationship to God, then each other and restoration to the position and destiny God has for each of us. When God restores it is not just to "as it was before" but abundantly, increasingly better than it was before! It was only in hindsight that  I realized how amazing that Word is for this church as it's main sanctuary completely burned down 3 years before and they are still waiting for an insurance settlement. Meanwhile the congregation renovated the smoke & fire damaged y...

What an eventful time and truly ordained of the Lord!!  Filled to the finish with time with family, friends, family, ministry and more friends and family!! And did I say ministry? Mom & me Raelene, Michael, Mikhaila, Mom, Bryce - A visit with Grandma and Great Grandma Upstate with mom. Great report as mom recognized me ("of course, why wouldn't I?") and called me by name and thanked me for her Easter gifts. She is well liked by the staff and I could see they really knew her and knew how to coax her to continue eating, as she has recently lost interest.  It is a relief for all of us that she is in a safe place.  I was with her for 2 days and then traveled back to Poughkeepsie to minister at the River Church and enjoy time with my son and family for Easter. Then headed north again to spend 3 days with her before returning to Poughkeepsie for a day before I flew back to Budapest.  She was the sharpest and brightest and most coherent earlier in the day. We m...