Friday at 7 - International Christian Fellowship

October 5th has come and gone! October 5th was the "official public start" of Friday at 7 - International Christian Fellowship - Szeged! God really blessed us with a wonderful worship time, great fellowship, good time looking into the Gospel of John, and after it was all over, a time to process.

We were blessed with 28 people from 8 different nations including Hungary, Serbia, Norway, Sweden, Nigeria, New Zealand, United States, and Germany. We had university students, a university professor, missionaries, a lawyer, a small businessman and his 12 year old daughter, and high school students. Bela, my friend from my former church, who speaks very little English, said afterwards, "I wasn't able to understand everything, but one thing that I noticed is the peace of God is here and it was very tangible. I've visited many churches with great programs, but God's peace was missing...it is here and that is what is important!"

All glory to God for what He did and is doing and will continue to do through this, HIS ministry in this city!

Children's Home kids...all grown up!

Yesterday, I was invited to birthday celebrations at the children's home where I used to go and befriend young people and teach some English. Lots has changed in the past year...All the girls are gone, now in different homes in different cities, all the boys age 18 and older are living in flats in the city, and the only boys remaining are the younger boys, ages 14-18 who also have some "special needs".

But yesterday, the "old guard" came back together to celebrate 4 boys' birthdays. It was so much fun to see some of the kids I invested time into over the years...they're so grown up looking and acting; all are in school and/or working, and many have girlfriends! It was precious to see them and share a short time with them, getting caught up on life.

Pictured above is the birthday celebration table!

Elijah List

I just received an email from a friend who forwarded something from Elijah List. I've pulled a couple of excerpts from it, which are poignant and relevant for many people I know who are facing challenges, including myself.



"This is the season to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is faithful and He will not allow us to be tested beyond what we can bear. We must be careful not to pass judgment and to not make conclusions based on outward appearances. Things will not be as they seem."



"We must be aware of the enemy's tactics this season---he will be twisting the meaning of what we hear and see from one another."

"Jericho was conquered not by physical fighting, but by silence and praise. So today, the weapons of our warfare will also be nontraditional.

As we struggle through our difficult situations (questions, negative thoughts and feelings that overwhelm us mentally, spiritually and physically, and grasp at why these things are happening to us, trying to make sense of what God is wanting to teach us)--our Loving Wonderful Heavenly Father is reminding us today that HE KNOWS WHAT WE ARE GOING THROUGH (see Psalm 139).

BE HONEST WITH OUR FEELINGS TO HIM. We need not be afraid to verbalize and express all of our negative emotions (doubts, anxieties, disappointments, questions, anger, frustrations, jealous feelings, etc.). Reading through the Book of Psalms, we can see how God's suffering saints of old had struggles with the same emotions and they were so open in expressing these feelings to God. We need to do the same today.

LETTING GO. We are to daily and continually practice the art of yielding and surrender. As these burdens overwhelm us, let us consciously learn to "pass the ball" back to God. It is not an easy task sometimes to learn and relearn to "live one day at a time."

Beyond What We can Imagine or Perceive
Our Father's message to us today:
"My child, I know what's happening. I know that 'you knew' that I am in control. I know in this season, you don't feel anything, yet your heart continues to trust in Me. I know about all these things and I Am pleased with you.

Don't let the enemy deceive you. He will make you feel unimportant, insignificant, useless, weak, and of no use to Me. But THIS IS FAR FROM THE TRUTH.

Where you are standing now, many times seemingly in the valley of the shadow of death--is where YOU ARE THE STRONGEST. Just like My Son Jesus when He struggled in the garden of Gethsemane, where His sweat became droplets of blood--that was His moment of triumph. So the same is happening to you, today."

I hope this is an encouragement to someone out there who may be in a battle.

Movie night

Late this afternoon, I decided I wanted to try to get to the movies. Part of the adventure of living overseas is that you have to figure out which films are in English, with Hungarian subtitles, and which have been dubbed. Plus, all the titles are in Hungarian, and the descriptions as well. So, sometimes it's a shot in the dark.

I found a drama whose Hungarian title is: Mother, daughter and granddaughter...the English title is "Georgia Rule". I didn't read the description very carefully...I just noticed it was in English and decided that Jane Fonda would be good to see in a film.

Well, to my amazement, within 5 min. of the films' start, a friend of mine from university, Dermot Mulroney, appeared on the big screen! Of course he's been in many films, but I didn't know he was in this one, or that he would have such a significant part.

The film is interesting...deep and definitely not a chick-flick. The messages are serious, the characters average American people...definitely worth seeing. The film raises the question numerous times, "who are you going to believe?" The daughter has had a pattern of lying and rebellion, and so when she is confronted about being molested by her step-father, she is thought to be lying...do you believe your daughter or your husband? I love the fact that in the end, truth prevails, the lies are exposed and there is forgivness and reconciliation. The process of getting there is ugly and not fun; sometimes the most valuable things in life that are worth fighting for take a lot of work and sometimes, that work can get messy. But when Truth wins out, it's all worth it.

The Vision and the Reality

I love Oswald Chambers' devotional book "My Utmost for His Highest". It is chocked full of wisdom and penetrating truths which continue to be timeless. Some thoughts from today's reading are especially poignant for me right now.

"We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.

There are times when we do not know what God's purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God.

Our little "I am" always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little "I am" be shriveled up in God's wrath and indignation---"I AM WHO I AM...has sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate. Isn't it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does."

No need to add to what Chambers has already written....

Cutting grass

I absolutely LOVE cutting grass! I cannot remember the last time I got to cut grass, so today was a BIG day for me! The grass in our back yard area of our building has been needing cutting for months....finally, the building bought a lawnmower, and I got the privilege of cutting the grass this afternoon!

I love before and after pictures, like the ones above...difficult to see, sorry. As I was cutting, I had to stop quite frequently and empty the collection "bucket" on the back of the mower. If I didn't empty it, the mower wouldn't work properly and grass shavings started to collect underneath, eventually cutting off the motor. As I dumped the cuttings into the pile, I realized how much it's like our lives and how the Lord works. He's got to cut away things that are keeping us from being His beautiful children...and we've got to dump those things which will keep us from being sharp and even keep us from functioning properly. It's a regular process of cutting, cleaning and being made fresh by His Holy Spirit, if we are willing to allow Him to take his "mower" to our lives. The end result is ALWAYS beautiful, even if the process may be a bit challenging!

More concert pictures

Here are Prika and Amos from Croatia!

Concert blessings!

Zoltan's hearing was restored that day! Eva Takacs blessing us with her gift of singing! Anita with miracle Tamas and Eszter translating!

More concert pix!

A day of blessings! Pizza for the workers and bands! Prika and Amos! Hip hop dancers from Debrecen!

Concert!!!

Fun preparations for concert! Prazsak Laci and his group setting up! Filip and his band, Prika and Amos, setting up their table!

First Concert Report

I'm still in the "aftermath" stage of the city-wide concert a team of us organized and put on this past Saturday here in Szeged...in other words, I'm tired! This will be a short blog, with more to come, but just want to say that in many ways, it was a tremendous "success". God was lifted up and glorified, and that is basically all that matters. Of course we had our pre-concert minor glitches and major enemy attack, but when one walks with Jesus, these things are to be "expected"...it's how we face them that is important. The organizing team here was just GREAT! The picture above shows our pre-concert sandwich-making party which took place at our Friday at 7 - International Christian Fellowship meeting the night before! Many hands make for quick work! Great idea MJ!!! Stay posted here for more pictures and stories. Thanks to everyone who labored faithfully over the months and these past couple of weeks to make sure it all happened!

God's mercy

Haven't blogged in over a week; largely because I've wanted people to see the advertising for the concert next week. However, the advertising will have to change. Yep, there's been a spiritual battle in all of this.

First, most of you don't know that we had invited a group from Ukraine called Amaro Del, a gypsy band. Well, tragedy struck their community with two deaths in one evening, one a member of their youth group. So, they cancelled their coming to Szeged to take part in our outreach concert. God lifted up two other groups to come!

Then, this past Thursday, I received an email from one of the groups and a severe illness has struck the family of one of the group leaders; so that group pulled out. Hmmm, anyone seeing a pattern here? Yes, this is a no-brainer, but it's obvious that the enemy is trying to take out worshippers of God. However, God in His amazing grace and mercy gave me incredible peace as I read the email about the second cancellation. I put the prayer word out, and I know people prayed and God heard.

We confirmed just this morning that another group can come! So, we have slated a Christian rock band from Croatia, a Christian rap and hip hop dance group from Debrecen, and a Christian worship band from Budapest! God is just too good to provide such diversity! So, the concert goes on on September 29th! He is merciful!!!

September 29 concert!!!!!

See below for concert info in English!!!!!

29 September - CONCERT IN SZEGED

September 29! September 29! September 29! Mark it on your calendars! We are having a city-wide Christian concert here in Szeged! Entrance fee is FREE! The goal is to welcome back students and unite Christian believers in the city in praise and worship of Jesus Christ!

Lunch with Jewel Brown

I had lunch with Jewel Brown today. Maybe you don't know who she is...I must admit, I didn't either til I looked her up on the net. She sang with Louis Armstrong for years!

What a SWEET lady! 70 years old and going strong! I had the privilege of meeting her and her manager this afternoon, taking them to get massages and then going out to lunch together after their arrival here in Hungary! Talk about a down-to-earth, totally for REAL woman! I loved talking with her and learning more about her life!

She will be singing 3 concerts, two in Serbia and one in Pecs, Hungary this coming weekend. Unfortunately, I won't get to see her sing, but I might try to sneak in on the rehearsal tomorrow evening if they'll let me!

This picture is of the two of us and I think she looks GREAT after 24 hours of travel, a massage, lunch and NO SLEEP!!! Thanks Jewel and Paul for a great afternoon together!

Someone famous

Tomorrow, I'll be having lunch with Jewel Brown. She is famous...she sang with Louis Armstrong...yep, I've got connections...not really, but I am looking forward to meeting her and hearing stories, I hope. But she is meeting someone famous too....me! I'm a child of the Most High King!

School, Church, Friends, Cats

I'm writing this blog after having read TF's recent blogs in which there are multiple themes in one blog. Thanks for the inspiration!


I had my "long" day at school today....5 lessons, and each was really blessed! After my last lesson, one of my favorite senior boys, who has started coming to Bible study, asked me if I would dance with him during the teacher/student dance at the prom in February! I was honored and said, "of course!" This is the first time in 9 years of teaching at Deak that I've been asked, so I was very happy. Zsolt is a sweet kid...I'm praying for his salvation...he is becoming an active part of Bible study and a huge helper with all the organizational stuff needed for ICF! Pray blessings upon this young man!


I was sitting in church on Sunday when the pastor started talking about Luke 7. The Lord put that chapter on my heart a couple of weeks ago, and I cannot seem to get away from it. During his sermon, suddenly, the Holy Spirit starts giving ME a "sermon" on the same chapter! So there I was trying to listen to him preach in Hungarian and listen to the Holy Spirit downloading HIS sermon to me! Kinda cool!


I got a sweet text message on my phone the other day...a friend wrote "I miss u." In the same message this friend wrote, "I love you my friend." I think I read that message about 5 times that day and about 3 times daily since....why? I've been wondering myself...and a couple of conclusions have popped up. I am realizing how important it is to tell the people in our lives what we are FEELING toward them. Also, living cross-culturally, one experiences as the years go by, the emails and communication wanes, so to hear these words from a good friend far away means MORE than one can ever imagine.


Finally, today I heard a cat fight.....yep, my boy Simon was picking on one of the neighbor cats who had come into "Simon's territory". It would not have been so bad except that Simon literally scared the s____ out of the other cat and it got ALL over Simon!!! Not fun trying to bathe a cat covered in another cats' feces. Ah, getting tastes of what it must be like to change diapers...haha ha ha haha!

ICF Szeged leadership team

In the first picture, you can see Sara Gisel in a field of flowers. Sara, a medical student at the university here in Szeged, is one of the student-leaders on the leadership team for Friday at 7, International Christian Fellowship, Szeged. The second picture includes the other core leadership team members: Edith Bond, the Person family - Jim, Tanya and three of their four children, Arden Campbell, Mary Jill Callery, and Erik Ottosson, another medical student. This core group spent the past 24 hours together worshipping, praying and planning for the kick-off concert on September 29th and the start of International Christian Fellowship on October 5th! In addition to these folks, we have a great team of students from a Bible study Arden leads who are excited, helpful, willing and ready to see God do great things! Thus far, we have Bibles on their way to Hungary, sound equipment which will, Lord willing, be on its way in October or November, a meeting place, and a tremendous core group of people who have a vision to see the Lord bring many people and move in those people's lives for His glory in this city and to the world! We need your prayers!

"New" computer

Some wonderful friends brought my laptop home to me in Szeged from Budapest. The whole main program was "corrupted", which meant nearly an entire revamping of the laptop...which means, I'm having to relearn my computer...I just spent the last 1/2 hour trying to figure out how to get pictures from my camera onto my computer...but I figured it out, which is a minor miracle! Thank you, Tanya, for patiently sitting and putting programs BACK on to my computer! Wow, what a blessing! So, I'm back online from home...and once I get wireless hooked back up, I'll be "golden".

Internet cafes

I have gotten to know the world of internet cafes this week as my laptop has been in Budapest being repaired. I did not realize how much I depended on technology, how much I love checking email, how "out of touch" I feel not being able to connect via email or skype. The blessing in all of this has been that I have gotten things done I may not have without the distraction of the computer, "tugging" at my heart. I have actually decided that I need to become much more disciplined in staying OFF the computer...so, blessings in disguise.......many more to come I am sure!