A Certain Woman in Eastern Europe

On a number of levels, the following article and "Call" has deeply touched my heart and spirit. At the end of the article are web sites you can check out for more information. May God divinely lead us, guide us and answer us at this pivotal time. God bless you! May 25, 2007 Lou Engle: "REPOST: CALLING ALL MINISTRIES AND INDIVIDUALS--PLEASE PRAY ABOUT JOINING THIS GLOBAL 40 DAYS OF PRAYER AND FASTING" There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens , and great revolutions, for good or evil, spring up in the vacuum created by these openings. In these divine moments, key men and women and even entire generations risk everything to become the hinge of history --the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing. The rebellious generation of the 60's seized its moment , and history crashed into the deep abyss of drug addiction, sexual immorality, hatred for authority, and a rejection of the law of God. 1967 was a culminating and defini...

Marte on guitar with some of the girls Karlos and Ruslan I just returned from a trip into Ukraine with my missionary friend Arden and a mission director from a church in Atlanta, GA. It was a "vision" trip for Dan, and Arden and I were opening up some new territories for him. We first met with 2 pastors in Debrecen and discussed ways to enlarge an existing church and then drove on to the Ukraine where we stayed in the guest house of a girl's home. This is a very special ministry, " The Good Samaritan Reformed Church Home for Handicapped Girls" . Besides the house for the 70 girls, there is a guest house, a bakery and a bio-farm, a small lake, a swimming pool, horses, pigs, cows, chickens and a "guard" duck. Marte , the young, anointed "pastor" and Laci-baci the director showed us all around and told us about the wonderful cooperation between the village, the local reform church and the Dutch reform believers who envisioned this place 12...

I was only in Uzhgorod for 2 days but I got invited to a traditional Easter concert held in the former synagouge now the Symphonic Hall. Imagine in that setting singing powerful songs about Jesus being Risen!! The musicians and singers and dancers were all dressed in richly embroidered, traditional Ukrainian costumes. There was beautiful music and festive dancing. Enjoy these photos taken by our dear Alla.

Right after Easter I returned to Ukraine. The assignment - relocate "Hope and Life" to our new office in town center, Uzghorod. After a quick trip by train, I was picked up in Csop by Scottish friend Fred Fox. Before we got out of the parking lot Volodya called to say meet me at the bus stop by the Orthodox Church just as you enter town, we need to get office furniture. In only two days, we located and purchased 10 chairs, 3 desks, bookcase/cabinet and telephone and moved into our new space. The above pictures are Fred and Volodya and the chairs loaded into Fred's van and Pastor Joseph and his mentorees (former street kids) moving the desks and he and the boys. Our new space is smaller but in a great location. It will be a very convenient place for friends to drop in. Within the first 3 days we had a prayer meeting of local church youth leaders, a bible class and various visitors welcoming us.

Easter - He is Risen Indeed!!! Friends, neighbors, egg hunt and fun with heartfelt, grateful worship.

April 3 - Ukrainian Pastors praying for their nation A spontaneous, fervent prayer time happened in Mukachevo, Ukraine during the weekend celebration of The Church of the Living God's 15th anniversary. The overseer of this church network is Pastor Sergey Baluk. He is on his knees in the right front of the photo. My roomate Tammy wrote the following blog about what was happening in Kiev at that very hour. Last night Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko dissolved parliament & called for early elections to keep the country from slipping into further political turmoil. Recent months have seen an erosion of the president's power. Immediately, the response of the opposition (the premier minister) was negative, although it is clearly the president's party that would likely lose position in the parliament when new elections are held. Since the announcement, the prime minister has told the people not to obey the president, & that they'd like to put the president in ...

Tammy's new Chevrolet Aveo Spring, wonderful spring!

Here is a picture of me ministering in Budapest for the Woman of Destiny meeting March 25. Carol and I have also ministered together in Latvia and England and Ukraine. Carol says I am the door opener for her as I helped set up Hungary and Ukraine for WOD. This was a special weekend as I celebrated my 15th anniversary on the mission field.

In front of the large Symphony Hall (formerly the Synagoge) Uzghorod. Rozsa, MJ, Monika & Vilma This was a very special for me as it was the first time I have brought Hungarians to the mission field of Ukraine. Remember in September when I was called to the work in Ukraine there was a vision of me on a white horse, crossing a bridge and carrying 2 flags, in one hand the Ukrainian flag and in the other the Hungarian flag. I felt that meant I was to be the bridge and help bring Hungarians into Ukraine. Carol Maiden has been based in Budapest for 3 years and has raised up a team of mighty Women of Destiny, so Rosza, Vilma and Monika joined us (Carol, me and Christy from England) and what a great time we had!! Volodya had done a wonderful job in getting the word out. He had printed up some posters to send to various churches and he had made smaller leaflets to hand out. We had the meeting at the small symphony hall downtown Uzghorod with great results. More than 250 ladies and two men ...

I take this train so often, I have learned where to stand to get into the only car of this loooong train) that goes over the border into Ukraine. Not only is it important to know which car to get into, it is important to know how to quickly and easily get onto the train. Here in Eastern Europe it is very important to know the train/bus/trolley/tram etiquette. You need to approach the door from the side so that the disembarking passengers than have room to get off. In a group, we would send the spryest person up first, and then toss (if at all possible) all the luggage to then. Then the rest would quickly get on. Quickly being the key here, as the train leaves again after only 2-4 minutes! To prepare to disembark, everyone heads for the exit with their coats on and their bags at the ready when the train/bus/tralley/tram has left the stop before your intended stop. The above is a picture of Christy (American in England) and Carol as we wait for the train to Csop, Ukraine. Notice how ligh...

This is Carol Maiden, a friend for almost 10 years. She and her husband Richard live part time in Budapest, part time in Arizona and part time in the nations. Carol heads up a ministry to women called "Women of Destiny" and she is one!! We leave for Ukraine in the morning with a team from England and Hungary to do a series of meetings but today was a Sunday afternoon meeting for the International Church of Debrecen. The above is a picture of Carol with Pastor Ed and Syble Courtney. Our church here in Debrecen is fairly new, 2 years old, built on prayer (Tues, Fri, Sat) and is full of people from the nations. Carol's message, Isa 60.1 - Arise, Shine for your light has come! And the Glory of the Lord is risen upon you, was very well received. We had a very good turn out with people from Hungary, Ethiopia, Cuba, Africa, New Zealand, America and England in attendance. God was faithful to use Carol to speak many healing and encouraging words. A high point was when the ...

the outreach in Szeged started with a bang.... Praise God everyone was alright - after the police took pictures and wrote their report I just put a piece of my bumper and light cover into the backseat and continued to Szeged. This is a very bad intersection, the young fellow was trying to take a left into on coming traffic and failed to yield - therefore, the cars kissed.

Szeged Town Center The colors of the Hungarian flag.

We spent the holiday in the lovely university town of Szeged. Pictured above is Edith Bond, MJ, David and Jim Person and Charlton Burgett. We had joined our missionary friend Arden in a prayer walk downtown and on the various campuses. Arden has had great sucess in gathering university and high school students in bible studies in her home. This prayer walk, subsequent worship night and brain storming session was to help determine the need and viability of an english speaking fellowship that would meet in a more public setting. It seems good to the Holy Spirit and us to join her monthly in Szeged for prayer and worship times, and to organize a concert at the end of September to welcome back the high school and university students. At that event we would like to announce the start up of "Friday at 7" -an International Christian Fellowship. This outreach to students would be conducted in english. Arden already has university students from Norway, Sweden, Italy and Hungary who wi...

March 15 is a major holiday here in Hungary. It commemerates the victory of the Hungarians over the Austrian Hapsburg's. It was a short lived victory - one year, because the Russians teamed up with the Austrians to overturn the Hungarian victory in 1849. This holiday is unusual in that most of the revolutions that are celebrated here ended in almost immediate defeat. On this holiday you wear the national colors like the pin above. There will be a lot of flag waving and political meetings in the town centers. Everyone also gets to enjoy a nice long weekend.

It is a beautiful, blue sky, sunny day in Hungary. I am about to head out on a road trip with friends to Szeged, Hungary. Szeged is a lovely university town on the Southern border of Hu and Serbia and it is where our friend Arden lives. We will join her for a prayer walk around town center and the university. And undoubtably, a visit (or 2) to the best ice cream shops in all of Hungary. We will be there overnight as tomorrow is a big holiday and an occassion of a 4 day weekend. Of course, everyone had to work and go to school this past Saturday to get this long weekend. The weather is so nice for it, too. From a very mild winter, we have entered a full blown spring. All the early flowers are up, cherry trees in bloom and forsythia bushes budded. The Hungarian name for forsythia is arany eső - golden rain! Oh, after the prayer walk some of Arden's friends will join us for a prayer and praise time and we may have some news for you so.....watch this space.

p Just returned from a wonderful weekend in Miskolc, Hu with my long time friends, Pastor Tamas Raki, his wife Gabriella and their children 13 year old Gabika and 10 year old Tami. Although we thought the visit was quite spontaneous, it turned out it was the first anniversary of Tamas's new church building and I was there for the opening meeting last year, so we celebrated together. We had ice cream and special cakes, visited a beautiful old castle and my new personal first......ministering in 2 different nations on the same day! Sunday morning in Slovakia and Sunday afternoon in Miskolc, Hungary. One other thing that made this even more memorable was that we crossed through the border without having the necessary papers for crossing - we were missing the car papers and a driver's license. We were already in Slovakia when we realised it and we really prayed on the way back out that we could cross again without showing these important papers.....and we were never asked for t...

In between Apostolic team trips, it seems that the Lord has been orchestrating opportunities to make "Certain Women Ministries" events in Ukraine. As I feel committed to identifying, helping and even launching other "Certain Women" into ministry, the Ukraine has become a rich field for that. One of those women is a special friend and fellow missionary serving in Szeged, Hungary. You can learn more about Arden by clicking on "CEO" under certain friends. Arden and I met through a mutual friend, Carol Griffith who has now moved to South Africa to work in prison ministry there. Arden and I have worked on a number of projects together and are about to embark on one that you will hear more about on later posts. In February, we traveled to Ukraine together with our friend Jennifer from Atlanta and there I was blessed to see Arden blossom as a minister of the gospel. You can learn more about Arden by clicking on "CEO" under certain friends. She describes...