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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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The newest addition to the McNamara family has arrived! This little guy is Barney, a ten week old Shar Pei. The girls had wanted a dog for a long time and eventually (after much prayer and discussion) we agreed.

The Shar Pei (also known as Chinese fighting dogs), is easily recognizable by its very wrinkled skin. They are dogs that typically need a small amount of exercise, rarely bark and are incredibly protective of their family. Originally the were breed in China to guard palaces and are considered to be excellent home protectors.

We are super excited to have him home with us! We hope you get a chance to stop by and say hello to him 🙂
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Over the last few weeks we have collected bags of clothes for the kids in the children’s home in Győr. On the 26th of August Zsuzsi and I are going in to give the clothes.

As school is about to start soon (1Sept.) the children in the home need school  supplies. We are hoping to buy exercise books, pens,pencils and etc. If you feel you would like to help us in this work let us know.

And  from the start of the school year I (Kathy) will also be helping the kids  with their English. Please pray that I can talk to the kids about the Lord and His love as I get to know them.

Please also pray for our family for health and a good start of the new school year.

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A short update on us all:

Kathy has begun full-time ministry. These past days have seen her gather clothes for a needy family, spending time with other missionaries in planning and looking after the family 🙂

Csilla did superbly well in her high school exams and will go on to further studies at the University of Pannon in Veszprem. She will be taking her degree in English studies. We are all very proud of her.

Zsuzsi enjoyed lots of vacation time! She spent much of her summer traveling and has had great fun. She will go into 11th grade from September.

Katica was successful in gaining entry to the same high school as Zsuzsi. She will spend four years there before University. As she wants to study medicine she will be on a special course with extra chemistry and biology. She has suffered somewhat recently with a sickly stomach.

Gerry is currently very busy. At a later date we will give you information about his work.

We appreciate your prayers! Blessings to you all!

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After some really busy weeks we took the opportunity to have a few days of R&R. And no place could be better than Good Book Oasis in western Slovakia, very near to the Czech border. Our wonderful hostess, Amber, and her intern, Emily, make this beautiful house a home of peace, laughter and really good food!

Filled with great books, movies, games and comfy chairs, this retreat for ministry workers is a blessing! Check out the link for more information! http://www.LifeImpactMinistries.net

Perhaps our favourite family activity is playing board games and none is better than Settlers of Catan. After a long, tight game, Csilla won with 10 points and everyone else was very close behind!

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