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We had a wonderful service yesterday. The Lutheran church were very kind and allowed us to use their temple which has a baptismal font. With forty people in attendance we celebrated four baptisms and one new local ministerial candidate. Bianka, Eszter, Katica and Klaudia all made that public confirmation of their faith as they were baptised. Sylvia became a local ministerial candidate which means she is exploring the possibility of ordination in the future.

For me it was very exciting! To see such fruit all at the same time was a wonderful blessing. Kathy and I have been blessed to devote many years in service in Hungary and across Europe and to see these commitments was amazing! We believe that our fellowship in Győr will continue to grow and that many more will come to Christ in the coming years. Please pray with us for these five women of God! 

Of course, with such joy a little sadness is often found. Our dear friend, Lucas Santana is returning to Brazil after nearly two years in Győr as a University student. He gained his Master degree in engineering and will return home to be with his family. Lucas played guitar for our worship team and we will sorely miss his leadership, friendship and gentle spirit!

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We had the pleasure of leading an English language carol service in Győr this afternoon. Although the attendance was smaller than we hoped (we were 26 in total), we were delighted to be with those who turned up and it was a great blessing to also welcome people via the internet as we live streamed the service on Facebook. People from Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Romania, the USA,and the UK were among some of the countries who joined us this way.  We also had our good friends and colleagues Ildikó and Julia join us in person from Budapest. Thank you ladies for making the trip from Budapest to be with us!

We sang a number of traditional Christmas hymns such as ‘Silent Night’ and ‘O come all ye faithful’. We particularly enjoyed a solo of ‘Go tell it on the mountain’ by our friend and missionary colleague Sarah Berta-Somogyi.  Sarah is a missionary with the Lutheran church and it is through her hard work and contacts that we are able to use the Lutheran church facilities for free. Thank you Sarah!

Many others helped of course. Thanks to András, Gwen, Kathy, Yoli, Katica, Attila, Zsolti and Zsuzsi!

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Over the past 18 months, Rex and Linda Rinne, in partnership with our friend Sarah Berta-Somogyi (all are Lutheran missionaries) have been holding a monthly English language worship service in Gyõr. Sadly Rex and Linda are unable to continue but have been wonderful in handing over the service to me. This service is a blessing to people who want to learn English or improve their existing language knowledge. It also blesses a small group of people for whom English is their first language.

Yesterday evening a total of 28 people came together to worship the Lord, pray and hear a sermon. We had an excellent time of fellowship after the service! Special thanks to Sarah for organising so much!!! Please pray for Sarah. She is a mum of three young children, runs a wonderful youth group called ‘comfort zone’ for teens and administrative work for the English service! 

Our next service is October 9th and you are very welcome to join us!

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Today Zsuzsi and I served in Budapest. I preached on David, using 2 Samuel 9 and 11 and Zsuzsi was my translator.

I have been serving every second week in Budapest by teaching English at a family help centre and I had invited the whole class to come hear me preach. I was delighted when several of the group turned up! Please pray that the Holy Spirit would work in their hearts.

For Zsuzsi it was her third time translating this week as she also translated for an American Lutheran pastor Monday (in front of 400 people) and at Friday night youth group. Please pray for her as she prepares for exams in n May and University studies from September.