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This post is the text of our recent Christmas newsletter. It was sent out to by regular post to partners in America, Ireland and the UK.

Dear Friends,
Greetings from Győr, Hungary! I hope that this letter finds each of you very well and blessed. As supporters of our ministry, we send you a newsletter once a year by snail mail at Christmas. However, if you want regular updates, please see our website, http://www.hungaryforchrist.com  It contains a lot of stories, photos and videos and is a great way to see more of what we are doing. You can also feel free to call me or write an email (numbers and address above) if you would like more information.

2019 was a year that was filled with ministry opportunities. The church in Győr continues to grow and reach more and more people every week. Our various groups continue to grow and we see new faces on a weekly basis. In particular the work in the orphanage, MOPS (mothers of pre-schoolers) and development of new leaders has seen very encouraging growth! At the orphanage, Kathy now has two other ladies who regularly join her on Wednesdays to minister to the kids on both the temporary and the permanent floors of the orphanage. We also hope to have some of the kids join us at worship on Sundays in the near future. MOPS continues to bring in more and more young women and we are starting to see some of them join us for worship on Sundays. I will hand over the role of pastor of the Győr church in January to a friend and colleague, Wick Anderson (Wick and his family are missionaries from America) and we will also appoint an assistant pastor, a Hungarian lady named Sylvia. Sylvia has begun her studies in theology and is feeling called by God to serve His people. Please pray for these wonderful leaders!

As I step out of the role as Győr church pastor, I will continue to minister but more on a national and international level. I now have responsibility for leadership and development of ministry in Hungary, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and am looking at some potential partnership(s) in Moldova. These ministries include church-planting, a rehab center for alcohol and drug addictions, work with orphans, the homeless, Bible studies and education for people considering ordained ministry. I cannot explain well the excitment and honour I feel at being involved with so much wonderful ministry! Many of those involved in these ministries face significant challenges financially and some even face persecution from authorities. Please pray.

Of course, all of these ministry opportunites and responsibilities also include a tremendous amount of travel. I have become no stranger to airports and by the end of this year I will have totalled 36 flight segments for ministry travel and several international car and train journeys also. 2020 will also include significant travel with flights already booked to America, Bulgaria and Russia. I am currently booked through to November of 2020 and have little room for extra travel but am always happy to connect with you and your church through Skype or Zoom. If possible we would be delighted to join your worship service via video and spend a few minutes sharing about ministry in Hungary and across Europe. For those of you in the New York State area, I will be in America March 13th to 24th and will speak at five churches. Please contact me if you would like to know times, dates and places of my speaking arrangements.

On a more personal note, we celebrated the wedding of our daughter Zsuzsi in April which was a blessed occassion. Both Csilla and Zsuzsi will graduate from University in February with Zsuzsi then continuing her studies in theology. Csilla is considering both further education and work possibilities. Katica is doing very well as she contiues her studies in physiotherapy. She is nearing the end of her third semester and next semester in April she will begin the first of her practical placements and will be in Győr for that. We are thankful that she will have more time at home! Kathy and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary in May and enjoyed a wonderful holiday together in October to celebrate. It was only a week away but it did much to recharge us both physically and spiritually. We all continue to pursue a number of hobbies and interests that include weightlifting, walking with our dogs, reading and enjoying coffee.

I would like to particularly thank those of you who so kindly hosted me this year at various times in your homes, took me out for a meal or bought me a coffee. I really enjoyed wonderful time with people in Oregon, Louisiana, UK, Ukraine and numerous other places. Thank you all! Your conversation, prayers, friendship and willingness to listen to what God is doing here in Europe means very much to me indeed.

You are our partners in this ministry and without your prayer and financial support, none of this would be possible. Please feel free to write to us, ask us more questions and send us encouraging notes We enjoy hearing from you!

Blessings,
Gerry, Kathy, Csilla, Zsuzsi and Katica McNamara

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Please not that this newsletter has been sent to a number of churches that support us. The newsletter itself has been slightly modified for the internet.

Dear Friends,
A big Hello! from Győr, Hungary. After an unusually warm Autumn, the weather has recently turned very cold and we expect to see snow soon. We have really enjoyed this wonderful weather and are already looking forward to Spring 2019.

We are so pleased to report that ministry in Győr has grown incredibly well this last year and we are seeing so much fruit! Our many years of faithfulness and hardwork are being blessed by the Lord! Our local church has grown, as have all the related ministry programs. We have more and more people coming to worship regularly and they are also bringing friends and family with them. MOPS (mothers of pre-schoolers) is growing significantly, with up to ten young mums present on each occassion. The ladies coffee morning has had as many as twelve women present when they meet and is helping to bring women closer to God and to have a place where they can discuss significant issues in their lives. We now have two Bible study groups, one in English and one in Hungarian and are grateful that God is raising up local leaders who are taking responsibility to lead. Our high school program has as many as twenty five teenagers coming together! We also continue our ministry in the orphanage and had a great VBS there in July. We also continue to offer counselling for those experiencing marriage difficulties and for others who are struggling with problems, such as mental health issues. I am pleased to report that one couple I counselled with this year have experienced the healing power of Christ and are living in marriage together rather than in divorce! God is good! Please pray for wisdom and strenght as we meet and counsel people who are stuggling in life.

I was blessed to travel this year. Although I didn’t make it to Ireland (which I am sad about), I did make it to England. I was pleased to play a part in encouraging a partnership between Garstang Free Methodist Church and our work in Ukraine. The church in Garstang is helping to financially and prayerfully support this ministry in Rivne, Ukraine, which involves alcohol and drug rehabilitation. Contact me if you would like to know more!

I also traveled to Romania with a mission team from the Győr church we lead. Five of us worked with the homeless and the poorest of the poor. We peeled vegetables, played games with kids, did handcrafts and offered medical care. Our church raised money and we were able to stock the shelves and freezer of the ministry centre for a whole month. We also saw the need for a new washing machine (the old one was falling apart) and our local church (along with a sister church in Spain), have raised the funds to buy a new washing machine. Other travels included preaching and teaching in Belgium, studying church planting in Greece and education and leadership meetings in Spain.

We also continue to be very involved in figthing human-traffiking. We were involved in rescusing a young woman we know from a dangerous situation in Greece back in April. It was complex, with numerous people involved, including the Greek police, the Hungarian embassy in Greece and others. After a short stay in hospital in Greece she was returned to Hungary, where both Kathy and I visited her and her infant child. We prayed with her, gave her advice and promised to help her as we could. She promptly went back into a former dangerous and unhealthy relationship. Much of ministry is discouraging and frustrating. Pray with us for this young woman ‘L’.

Support is becoming an issue for us. Unfortunately I just received an e-mail from a wonderful pastor who is leading a church that has been one of our main supporting contributors. The church has run into a difficult financial situation and therefore has decided to stop supporting us. We absolutely understand that finances are often a difficult area for many churches, however, without your support this work will struggle to carry on. Don’t misunderstand, we are in no immediate danger of stopping this ministry, but if we lost another large supporter it would have a significant impact on our ability to serve. Would you or your church be willing to commit to us? Perhaps you know of someone seeking a way of supporting God’s work? If so, let them know about our ministry.

Our three daughters are all well. All three are in University now. Csilla is studying social education and is due to receieve her degree in May of 2019. Zsuzsi is also studying social education and separately she is studying theology for a second degree. Katica started studying physiotherapy in September. Both Csilla and Zsuzsi live at home but Katica has moved to Pécs in the south of Hungary (about a four hour drive) and we miss seeing her every day! Zsuzsi is engaged and her wedding is scheduled for April 13th of 2019. She is engaged to Zsolt Mecséri, a wonderful young man who came to Christ through our ministry in Győr. Zsolt recently finished his University degree and is an engineer.

We are grateful that you are our partners in this ministry and without your prayer and financial support, none of this would be possible. Please feel free to write to us, ask us more questions and send us encouraging notes We enjoy hearing from you!

Enjoy some photos from ministry this past year$

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Dear Friends,
Greetings from a Hungary on this rather cold late Autumn day. We hope that our Christmas newsletter finds you happy and healthy. We have had an incredibly busy year and hope that you will take a few minutes to read a little bit about what the Lord brought before us this year.

We have been blessed in ministry this year and seen a lot of growth in many areas. Relationships have begun and grown and old relationships have become deeper and stronger. You may remember from our newsletter a year ago that we asked for prayer as Kati was building a friendship with a blind lady. That friendship has grown and now that lady is attending the ladies’ coffee morning group and even hosted it once in her own home! We have also been blessed to now have a once monthly English language worship service. In conjunction with the Lutheran Church (we use their building for free), we lead a service for English-language speakers. Our first service had twenty-eight people present! We hold a Christmas service on December 11th and ask you to pray with us that many people would come and be blessed and that they would hear the Gospel message clearly. We are also pleased to announce that we started a weekly meeting of University age students in our home. We meet every Thursday evening for fellowship, Bible study and lots and lots of snacks! Typically, we are eight or nine present but hope and pray that this number will grow. Please pray for Gergő, Tobi, Zsolti, Zsuzsi, Katica and Reni that they would grow in the Lord and be bold and invite others to come along.

Our other ministries are going strong. Weekly adult Bible study meets on Wednesdays and we have just finished the book of Daniel and are now starting a study on apologetics. The work in the orphanage is going very well. We visit every Monday and help the kids with their English language skills, play games and speak into their lives. Many of these children are at risk of being trafficked into prostitution and our goal is for them to know the Lord, to develop strong moral values and to develop their language skills to enable them to do well in their studies and help them find good jobs in the future. In July we held a five-day club/vacation Bible school for about twenty kids or so at the orphanage. A team of seven from Northgate Free Methodist Church in Batavia, New York State came and were a tremendous blessing to all the kids at the orphanage. Kati also continues her work of food and clothing distribution and we currently have six large boxes of clothing in our living room that will soon be distributed to people in need in the east of Hungary.

We have also traveled a significant amount this year. I have been blessed to preach and teach both in Győr and Budapest in Hungary, in Brussels and Ostend in Belgium, in Ireland, France, Romania and Ukraine. I have been grateful to begin new relationships with people in places such as Riga and Kiev and I hope and pray that these will develop into partnerships in the future to see the Kingdom grow in a wonderful way. Although this travel may seem exotic and exciting it can be very exhausting and spiritually demanding. Often I go to places where people need encouragement and someone who will listen to their hearts. Please pray for good health and wisdom as I see that 2017 will also be a year busy with travel.

Our daughters are doing well. All three of them are working hard (two in University and one in high school) and are also all keen on keeping fit. Csilla and Zsuzsa are both studying social education in University in Győr and Zsuzsa is also doing a degree in theology with Calvary Chapel. Katica is doing well in high school and is currently considering her future studies. Please pray for her as she is unsure of what the Lord would have of her. Kathy has been enjoying lots of long walks with our handsome dog Barney and Gerry has been busy with sports and writing. His latest book, ’So you want to be a missionary…’ is currently available both in paperback and kindle format from Amazon. His other book ’Light in the Darkness: Christianity in Saudi Arabia’ was a big hit last year and we continue to support the persecuted church and Gerry hopes to travel to the Middle East in 2017 to teach and encourage the believers there. If you would like Gerry to speak at your church please feel free to contact him as soon as possible. You can write to Gerry at g.k.mcnamara@gmail.com

We appreciate your prayers, we love you and hope to see you soon!

Blessings,
Gerry, Kathy, Csilla, Zsuzsi and Katica McNamara

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Today we went to the orphanage to hold a Christmas service for the kids. What an honour to present the Gospel to these kids! Nine of the twelve kids were present and we enjoyed singing worship songs, a drama presentation, prayer and the giving of gifts.

Afterwards we had some really meaningful chats with the kids. One of the older boys (L – 17 years old) and Gerry talked for a good twenty minutes. Please pray that this will open the door for further conversation in the future.

We are grateful to so many people. Financial support from a kids group in New York, local fellowship folks who made beautiful cards with Bible verses and donated soft toys, and you all for praying for these kids!

One of the older boys got the following verse: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

Our prayer is that all these kids will know the truth and be set free!!!

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Today we had the pleasure of bringing six of the kids from the orphanage to the cinema. For Mark it was only his second time at the cinema and he had a blast! All the kids enjoyed a 3D movie with plenty of soft drinks and sweets!

This Sunday we will go to the orphanage to hold a Christmas service and give gifts to the kids. Please be in prayer that the Gospel message would touch them and the carers who are present.

Many thanks to a great group of kids in New York State in the USA for raising support for this work!

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Earlier this month the ladies group got together to bless children in need. The ladies packed soft toys, sweets, games etc and then passed it on to the Baptist church. The Baptist church then passed these gifts out just before Christmas to families in need.

However many of the ladies involved are not believers, so this was an opportunity for them to experience the love of Christ in action and to see Christians living out their faith.

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Please pray that these women and the children who received the gifts would come to know Christ as their Saviour!

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Hi friends,

Zsolti and I (Zsuzsi) are writing the blog today.

Today we went to the children’s home with mum and Katica. The children’s home is in Győr and we visit it often. We have started this ministry about 4 years ago with our youth group. There are 10 kids in the home, beetween the age of 7 and 17. We told them the Christmas story which they really enjoyed. We thought a lot about how to tell them this story because it is a story they all know and we wanted it to be meaningful. We talked about God’s love and the purpose of Jesus being born. We felt it went really well. Of course the kids were really happy for the gifts we brought to them. Think about it if you would like to support this ministry in the future. Pray about it and let us know. We are telling this story again tomorrow at a Christmas programme for kids. Please pray for us that it will go well. Thank you! 🙂

“And these are the days of great trials
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still we are the voice in the desert crying
Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Be0qJw9ZE

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This morning our local fellowship had a Christmas service followed by a meal together.

Roy spoke wonderfully on the Christmas message and it was a pleasure to sing ‘Silent Night’ in English, German and Hungarian.

Afterwards we celebrated with a meal together. Everyone brought meats, salads and sweets!

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We also wanted to help others and as a group we put together a lot of food items for a family in need.
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One of the fellowship members has access to wood and is able to provide the family with enough wood for the rest of the winter with the first delivery due tomorrow. What a blessing!