Hungary English Camp

I made it safely to Hungary a couple of days ago. I had been in Belgium for a few days and stayed with a missionary family there.  It was refreshing for me to be able to relax in their home as I was getting sick. Thankfully, I'm better now, but that was my time to recuperate from the craziness of Ukraine.  As I left, they had just started their annual Summer League, a ministry to reach people through basketball. They started the FormaSport nonprofit about 20 years ago as a way of establishing relationships and witnessing to Belgians. You can be praying for this ministry and all the other Christian camps that go on in Europe during this time.  On Monday night, they had the first round of tournaments.  It was fun to watch since those guys can really play basketball!

in downtown Brussels with Chelsea

Belgian waffles and CHOCOLATE!

So, I'm now in Vecses, a small town where FEC missionaries Attila and Tamara live.  I stayed in their apartment on Tuesday night and awoke early the next morning to their adorable kids Levi and Lily who are 4 and 2 years old.  They have a lot of energy!  We spent the morning in the park with the kids and then bought camp supplies later in the afternoon.  Today the rest of the camp staff are supposed to arrive and settle in.

Please pray for:

-Good communication and flexibility among staff members

-Strength for staff members who have jetlag

-Newly converted campers to increase in their faith and to be a good witness for other campers

-the Gospel and staff testimonies to be presented clearly to campers (through conversations, actions, and the Gospel Night on Thursday)

-New believers as a result of this camp!!

I learned something very interesting in my devotions today in reading Colossians 1:13.

"[The Father] who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love".

From my devotional book: Some versions of Col 1:13 say 'translated' and others say 'conveyed' even though both are correct. 
-'Conveyed': When a buyer purchases a house, the deed conveys ownership to the buyer's name.  In other words,  God officially owns us since we were bought with a price.
-'Translated': We used to live in the ways of this world and spoke the language of this world.  Now that we are part of God's kingdom, we should no longer speak the words of the world.  The new birth calls for a new language!

This stuck out to me after reading this passage: Since God owns me as His child, He has the right to send me anywhere and ask anything of me.  I must respond in obedience no matter what the circumstance.  There is a reason I'm in Hungary at this time, so I must serve Him and glory Him in everything (1 Co 6:20). 

Other translations use the verbs 'brought us', 'put us', or 'transferred us'.  These different verbs brought an image into my head of a dad carrying a child who is kicking and screaming from one place to another to protect the child from a bad place.  Many times, we want to return to our old ways of sin and sometimes respond with rebellion when God draws us back to Him.  But He is a loving Father who has bought us with the biggest price of all- Jesus Christ! Praise God!

Thanks for all of your prayers! I may not be able to post again until after the camp which ends on July 28th.

I hope I did a Super Pooper job!

You heard right- a Super Pooper job! This is what Ukrainians say instead of 'super-duper'.  Apparently, the word duper is a bad word in Ukrainian so they say 'pooper' instead.  Tell me how this is any better? I could not stop laughing when my friend told me this the other day!

Yesterday was the last day of classes with the students.  We had a closing ceremony where all students were presented with their certificates and outstanding students were recognized.  Each group of students was in charge of making a skit/song/dance together.  Each act was interesting.  All the teachers sang a farewell song accompanied by Linda playing the flute.  We each prepared a short farewell speech for the students.  It was sad to say goodbye to the students but they promised to keep in touch.  Even after only 2 weeks with them, I felt attached to them.  I'm excited because some of them will enroll in LCC in the coming year.

Today the teachers will take a bus to Kiev and some of us will spend the day there. Then I will be meeting up with friends in nearby towns to stay with them for a few days. Then I'll be visiting a friend in Belgium for a couple of days. I won't be in Hungary until the 17th when I will meet the rest of the team. Pray for safe travels!

 Potluck with students

We let off a lantern in the city's Valley of Roses.  There were 2000 that were lit that night. It was beautiful!

Boatride on the Niepr

Psalm 118

"Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the Lord. These gates lead to the presence of the Lord, and the godly enter there. I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory...He is for me; What can man do to me?...This is the day that the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalms 118: 19-20, 6, 24

Psalm 118 has really stuck with me during the past week.  I was challenged to genuinely desire the Lord and to be intentional about seeking His presence.  It was also an encouraging reminder to live with an eternal purpose and a hope that we will one day enter His gates and be with Him forever!

I've also been burdened to pray for people at home too from things people post on Facebook or prayer requests from church.  For one, Pastor Jim, my pastor from church, is battling an unexpected cancer and he was just put on hospice.  This was hard news to hear, but I also read that there would be a prayer vigil at 7pm at my church.  After reading Psalm 118, I asked God to wake me up at 2am if he wanted me to pray with my fellow church members at the same time (with the time difference).  Anyways, I went to bed that night only to suddenly wake up to my roommate yelling in Russian.  By the way, she also started slapping me!  When I looked at my clock it said 2:11.  Oh my, God works in funny ways! :)
There are so many people suffering and hurting, but we can trust in the Lord's might strength and provision.  One of my students mentioned that he didn't see how the Bible related to his life now thousands of years later.  This was sad to hear, but I'm praying for him.  He has been coming to all of the evening activities, including the discussion of the book of John.  There is a small group of students who are Christians; they came to church with us on Sunday.
Thanks for your prayers and let me know how I can pray for you as well!

Group A students in class

Out to lunch with Group B students

Singing and Dancing was the afternoon event on Monday.  Here we are learning how to line dance Canadian style.  I taught them the Cha Cha slide as well and some of the girls taught some Ukrainian moves.  It was very hard and involved leaping into the air!