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We were blessed to welcome the Anderson family to join us in ministry this past week. Wick, Sarah, Addy, Sophie, Ruby and Phoebe arrived in Hungary on Monday afternoon (along with their cat Toby) and have been busy since they arrived.

We helped them find a home and prepared for their arrival. Then on Wednesday we prepared a fun orientation game for them. One exercise was to buy strawberries (in Hungarian) and get a photo of someone eating one. You can see Phoebe eating her strawberry, although her father had to be fast to take the photo as Phoebe was hungry! 🙂

They attended worship today for the first time with us today. Over 30 people attended and we worshipped the Lord and felt blessed to have them with us.

Please pray for the Anderson family as they continue to settle into life in Hungary. They begin Hungarian language lessons tomorrow with Kathy. Also please pray that they would have good health and that their ministry would be greatly blessed.

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We had a wonderful trip to England recently. We greatly enjoyed the Free Methodist Church UK Annual conference which was held in Preston. It was a joy to connect with so many great leaders and we really enjoyed the preaching and testimonies. God is doing a wonderful work and we were glad to hear a little of what is going on in the UK.

I also spoke on Sunday evening at the Garstang Free Methodist Church. Approximately 70 people were present and I spoke on missions in Europe, with a particular emphasis on Hungary and Ukraine. The Lord is really expanding the work before us and we are trusting Him to see many souls saved all across Europe!

Afterwards, we enjoyed two days of rest together. We enjoyed walking, shopping, talking, fish and chips and a break from ministry! Lancanshire and Cumbria are just beautiful!

We enter a new and exciting period of ministry as a new family will join us in Győr. On Monday the Anderson family will fly into Budapest from America and will begin to minister alongside us. We are excited for this new partnership! Please pray for the Anderson family as they adjust to life in Hungary and for us to be good friends/colleagues and to help them as well as we can.

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I have a busy travel schedule over the coming months. From May 9th – 15th I will be in the United Kingdom. I will be attending the UK and Ireland Free Methodist Annual conference and on Sunday May 12th I will be speaking at the Garstang Free Methodist Church at 7pm. Why not join us if you are in the area?

May 30th to June 3rd I will be in Kiev and Rivne, Ukraine. I will be continuing to help develop a relationship between the Garstang Free Methodist Church and the ongoing work in Rivne. Several members from Garstang will go on this trip to Rivne and connect with our team serving there. Personally, I will speak at a group for women who have lost their husbands/sons to the ongoing conflict with Russia. Please pray for wisdom and gentleness as I present the Good News to so many grieving women.

From June 7th to 18th I will be in Alexandria, Louisiana. I will speak on two Sundays (June 9th and 16th at church services – I am waiting on the names of the churches). I will also speak five to six times as the missions speaker at the Gulf Coast Family Camp. If you are in the Louisiana area, please feel free to contact me and perhaps we can arrange a meeting!

I will then return to Hungary as we hold our annual vacation Bible school at the orphanage in Győr from July 1st to 5th. We have a team of five people coming from Decatour, Illinois to serve alongside us.

July 14th to 29th I will again be in America. I will be at the Free Methodist General conference in Orlando, Florida from the 14th to the 19th where I am available to meet with people. If you are attending this conference then please write me a message and lets meet for a coffee or a meal together. On July 21st I will speak twice. At 0930 I will speak at Compass Church in Bend, Oregon and in the afternoon at 5pm, I will speak in Lebanon, Oregon at Ignite Hope Church. On the 24th of July I will travel to Missoula, Montana where I will spend a couple of days serving with a local church helping in an impoverished area. After that I will travel to East Wenatchee, Washington State, where I will speak on Sunday July 28th at the Eastmont Community Church.

If you are near any of these churches, I would love to have you visit and hear a little about what God is doing in Hungary, across Europe and in our lives.

You may be asking why travel so much? Well, we recently lost a lot of support. Without adequate support it is very difficult to reach the lost. Travelling and speaking at c hurches is one way of raising support. However, more importantly, we need prayer partners. People who pray for this ministry and for us.

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Sylvia, one of our church leaders came up with a wonderful idea!

She had begun making jars of jam (jelly for American readers) for people in need. She knows that many Hungarians have little to offer financially but many do have fruit gardens and could easily donate fruit.

These jars of jam will be used to help feed children in Romania and indeed help needy people here in Hungary!

If you look closely at the jar you will see the logo of the Free Methodist church on the front and a sticker on the lid showing what fruit was used to make the jam. Sylvia wants people to taste the sweetness of Christ in her offering!

Please pray with us that the local church would respond positively and help with this wonderful endeavour. Please pray for Sylvia as she continues to follow God and seeks to live a life full of the Holy Spirit.

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We meet yesterday to celebrate the Risen Christ. Hearts were heavy for the people of Sri Lanka after the terrible attacks yesterday. Yet we were also filled with gratefullness and joy for what Christ did for us

In the picture you can see ‘H’, a member of our church, himself a persecuted believer (he fled the Middle East after he came to faith). This was the first time he could safely take a photo of a table laid for celebrating the Lord’s supper!

Please continue to pray for him, that he would find favour with the authorities and be granted permanent residence in Europe. Also, please pray for us as a church that we would know how always to best help those in need.

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It was not the nails that held Christ to the cross, rather it was His love for us! As I looked out over the beautiful city of Győr this week, I was reminded how much God loves this city and all the people who live here.

Having served here for many years I can honestly say that although the city is magnificent, the need for Christ is beyond belief. Behind the amazing architecture we see the homeless, along with the Audi cars we see the children who are trafficked, drugs flood the streets and alcohol holds so many in its evil grasp. Sometimes I lose hope, I feel powerless against the flood of evil. Yet, I have a God who rose from the dead, gave sight to the blind and made the lame to walk! Won’t you join us in praying for this great city? For every single person, man, woman and child, to come to faith?

We too are held to Győr by love, not by nails. We love the children at the orphanage, the refugees at the detention centre, the Hungarians and foreigners who live here and worship with us. We love to preach, teach, counsel and help. We have rescued women who were trafficked, counseled men and women with PTSD, visited the ill in hospital and comforted those who mourn. Will you now consider supporting us both prayerfully and financially? We have only 46% of our support needs for 2019 raised and/or pledged. Unless significant support is raised, we will be struggling to make ends meet and will have to consider our future in ministry. We lost support from a couple of churches at the end of 2018. Perhaps your church, your home group or you yourself would like to partner in Kingdom work?

Please help us by sharing this post in your churches and amongst your Christian friends.

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A gentleman who recently began attending our church in GyÅ‘r is a refugee from the Middle East. ‘H’ was born into a Muslim family but as an adult he gave his life to Christ. Forced to flee his country he is now in Hungary and attends worship at our church. He speaks little English and even less Hungarian but we were able to communicate a little. Every week I pick him up from the refugee detention center before worship starts and he helps me set up the church. After service he kindly cleans up our worship area. I have nothing I can offer him except a little food. I wish I could speak Farsi and communicate clearly with him but I am grateful for Google translate!

Having left his home for fear of death (because of giving his life to Christ), he fled to Europe. He is now ‘in’ the Hungarian system awaiting a decision on whether or not he will be allowed to stay in Europe. If he is refused, he will be sent home and that means execution for his faith. He misses his mother and she was accepting of his decision to follow Christ, Sadly other family members were not so loving…

This morning I wrote a letter on his behalf which will be given to the authorities. I ask that you pray that my letter will be looked upon favourably and more importantly, that ‘H’ will be allowed to stay in Europe.

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One photo can say so much. In this case it is of two men. Born into Muslim families in the Middle East, they gave their lives to Jesus and had to flee persecution because of their faith. They ended up in Hungary, 3800kms from home. I was contacted and was able to take them from a nearby refugee centre to church.

‘F’ was part of an underground (secret) church. His church was raided, his pastor arrested. He fled with just the clothes on his back before he could be arrested and killed for professing Christ as his Saviour. Both ‘F’ and ‘H’ have little chance of returning to ever see their family again. Parents, siblings, friends all left behind.

Tortured, beaten and mistreated, their road to freedom has been difficult. Yet now, they are free to worship God and be welcomed into a church family. Pray for them and pray that I and others would show then love of God to them.

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This evening at church we had an unexpected guest. During the service, a young woman (18 years old), came in. She was shivering from the cold and rain, had only very minimal clothing, was obviously high from drugs and was drinking alcohol.

I (with the help of one of our female leaders) was able to give her my jacket, got her to sit in on our service (which is a nice warm room), give her water and food. Afterwards we called an ambulance. She told me a little of her story. It was heart breaking. I will only give some of the details as the rest is too awful

‘N’ was brought up in the care system in Hungary. She repeatedly escaped from children’s homes throughout her years in the system. She began (and continues) to work as a prostitute. Her wish is to go to Austria or Germany and work as a prostitute.

How sad to see a child of God so used and abused. How awful to see the horrors she and others have inflicted upon her.

Where is God? Where is our loving God to protect ‘N’? It is hard at times to see how God protects and cares for those in most need of his help. Yet today I saw God. I saw him as ‘N’ sat with Sylvia (one of our leaders), who showed ‘N’ such love. I saw God as two of our church members spent 30 minutes cleaning the church and toilets after the service. I saw God as ‘N’ was taken by ambulance and as a church body we came together and prayed for her and the paramedics.

Please pray for ‘N’. Pray she will turn to God. Pray she is healed. Pray she will call me (I gave her my business card). Pray. ‘N’ could be your daughter, your sister, your friend.

Matthew 25

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

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As 2018 winds down, we are already deep into planning 2019. Here is a little of how it looks:

Continuing to develop the local work here in GyÅ‘r – Bible studies, worship services, anti-trafficking work, counselling etc.

Focusing more on developing partnerships in Hungary with other churches and possible church planting efforts in other cities.

Trips to speak and minister in Ireland (January), Spain (February), America (June and July) and Ireland again in November. As of yet no dates for potential trips to Romania and Ukraine, but to be organised soon.

Conferences in UK (May) and Bulgaria (September)

Wedding of Zsuzsi and Zsolti in April.

Preparing for and welcoming new full-time partners to Győr (the Anderson family) in April.

VBS at a local orphanage in July.

We still have a limited number of free time slots where we can come and visit your church. Feel free to contact us and we can arrange dates and details.

We look forward to seeing many of you in 2019! May you all have a blessed and joyful Christmas and New Year!

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