Monday, January 9, 2012

winter update 2012

Happy New Year! it's hard to believe that 2011 has come and gone! It was a year (like any other) with it's up and downs but as we reflect back on this past year we are thankful that in every point of the year, the Lord has been gracious to us and has been with us every step of the way!


family


 the last 5 months have been an adventure, to say the least. no matter how tired we get, and how many hours of sleep we don't get, we continue to be blessed to be the parents of the two most beautiful girls in the world! it's such a joy for us to see how much Zara loves her little sister. there are no signs of jealousy, which we're thankful for.
 zara has been going to nursery for a while now and loves it! she's there every morning till noon. we love it cause it opens so many doors for us to meet people and get involved in their lives for the glory of God. 
 we're so blessed to see how Zara is now able to communicate very well in both English & Hungarian. It's amazing to see how God has formed young lives to be so open to learn so much.
 Odi continues to enjoy being able to be home with the kids, knowing that these early years are so vitally important to their development. I'm also blessed to be able to be around a lot. Our deepest desire is that our kids would love, honor, and serve Jesus.
 now that kiera is a bit "older" we're able to have odi's mom come watch the kids while we get a chance to go out and "connect". these are times we love & cherish.
 we're also blessed to report that God is continually giving us opportunities through our friendships & relationships to share Jesus with others.


ministry


 november saw me reach an important "milestone" in the life of Golgota Szeged. After 10 years, by the grace of God, completed teaching through the Old Testament. because I've taught many of the New Testament books over the years (including the 4 Gospels and Acts) we jumped into the New Testament at the book of Romans. I'm hoping to make it through the New Testament in the next couple of years so has to have a complete through the Bible teaching available on our church website for Hungarian Christians. 
 as is our tradition we had a Christmas Eve service. It's usually at midnight but because Christmas was on a weekend this year we had our service at 10pm. We had 70+ people join with us to worship Jesus on Christmas Eve.
 to kick off our new year, the Lord has lead me to teach a series on Sunday mornings, which I'm calling "foundations of our faith". This is important as many of our members are young and grew up in churches but haven't made the important doctrines of the faith their own or they don't understand them. so we're going to take some time talking through these as we have this wonderful opportunity to train believers who will one day go all over the world (we've got people from many nations in our church - Nigera, India, South Korea, Romania, etc.) and it's our hope that people would leave Szeged with a profession & a solid Biblical foundation for life. 
 more than just training up our international students we want to see many in Szeged and our region come to know Jesus. here is where God is leading us in this.  first in Szeged, the Lord has graciously used me to get the pastors & leaders of the churches of Szeged together for monthly prayer breakfasts. we all have the desire to see people know Jesus and to plant churches. we're praying and asking God for His vision on how we're to reach Szeged. We've been doing this for a few months know & I know it's a process, but I'm very excited already about how the Lord is bringing the pastors together.
 one of the "strengths" of our church is that we're a bi-lingual (hungarian/english) church. and because so many people here in Hungary want to learn English, it's our desire to use English as a tool to reach out to the youth especially. we'd love to do an English camp this summer. if anyone is interested in coming to help, please let us know!
 over the years we've always had people attend our church from Hódmezővásárhely, it's a city 25km from us. it's been on my heart & the hearts of the leadership to venture out that way. We've talked with a few people we know there and in the next month or so will be going our there for prayer & meeting of a possible core group to launch a new Bible study there. 


 a while back I wrote about the legal status of Calvary Chapel Hungary. The Hungarian Parliament is supposed to vote by February 29th if we're to remain a recognized church or if we have to become a "religious foundation". I'm at the point where it doesn't matter what politicians say, we're going to keep loving Jesus, teaching His Word & sharing His love with people & they can classify us however they want. We want to win the hearts of the "man on the street" for Jesus.


 so there is a lot going on, a lot of possibilites & a lot that the Lord is doing, so we need a lot of prayer!



prayer requests

 - that we'd fall more in love with Jesus this year.
 - for wisdom to raise our daughters to love Jesus.
 - that God would continue to use golgota szeged to reach szeged and our surrounding area.
 - for strength in this busy season of life.
 - for God to lead us in our desire for an English camp & bible study in Hódmezővásárhely.
 - that god would raise up people to help in the church in the areas of administration and other practical areas.

ways to help

 - pray!!!
 - give. if you'd like to help support our ministry you can send your (tax-deductible) offerings through calvary chapel costa mesa (https://www.easytithe.com/f/?k=6SSHN0DEHB4KG6DH) or calvary chapel vista (hhttps://webview.shelbyinc.com/app/04423/Default.aspx tabindex=1&tabid=17). please be sure to indicate that your tithe/offering for us. 

 thanks again for your time and your prayers for us. please consider supporting us financially that the kingdom of god might expand in this part of the world.

 may the Lord bless you richly! 

 kyle, odi, zara, kiera