July 2017 Prayer letter

Dear Praying friends,

The past two months have flown by. It is hard to believe that soon we will be on our way to the US for our summer furlough. Here are the highlights of the past two months:

Esther’s graduation:

Our middle daughter, Esther, graduated from high school on May 5^th. In Hungary they do the graduation ceremony first – and then your final exams, so Esther spent the past seven weeks studying and taking her final written and oral exams. She passed with “flying colors,” so she received her Hungarian diploma on June 24^th. She will be joining Nancy and Ben at Trinity Baptist College in August to begin her studies there. It will be hard to say goodbye, but we are excited to see how the Lord will use her in the future.

Marriage Retreat:

We had a wonderful marriage retreat in Lachtal, Austria. 14 couples were able to attend. Lachtal is a ski resort in the Alps, so the location was beautiful. The Lord gave us wonderful weather, so we were able to enjoy taking a hike in the mountains. The teaching was excellent. The theme was “Love and Respect.” It was a huge blessing for Charin and me to be there as participants (not teachers), so we were really able to relax and enjoy this time together. Thank you for your prayers and your special gifts that helped six couples be able to attend who wouldn’t have been able to go otherwise!

Baptismal Service in Tata:

It has been great to see that the church in Tata is doing well under the leadership of Gergo Szimon. Gergo was able to do his first baptismal service there on June 18^th and baptized four young men. We visited the church on June 25^th and three different couples announced that they are expecting babies in the next year! The church is full of young couples, and there is tremendous potential for future growth. Please pray for continued blessings there.

Ben and Kelsi:

Our son Ben and his fiancéé, Kelsi Brock, were with us from June 15-July 2^nd. We had a great time together. This was our first time to meet Kelsi in person. She is a great young lady with a heart for the Lord. They will be married in Panama City, Florida on December 16^th. Ben feels like the Lord may be leading him to come back to Hungary as a missionary. During his time here, he not only preached at our churches in Tata and Esztergom, but also at a youth meeting in Pecel. He also met with various pastors and leaders during his time here to discuss possibilities for future ministry in Hungary. Please pray that the Lord would guide them as they seek His will for their future.

Bible Institute Graduation:

In June we completed the fourth year of our four year Bible Institute. Our Bible institute is now 12 years old, and we just completed our third four-year cycle, thus we were able to pass out certificates of completion to 10 students. It was exciting to hear several of the graduates express how much they learned and grew through this ministry. We have students not only from Esztergom and Tata, but also three other churches. We will be launching a new cycle in September. Please pray that the Lord will give us a good number of students. We have another church interested in participating and sending some students. We trust that this ministry will be used to strengthen other churches as well as our own.

English Camp 2017:

June 26-30^th we held our annual English Daycamp for children, teens and adults. This was one of our biggest attendances ever. We had about 70 children attend in the morning, and about 35 teens and adults in the evenings. The Lord gave us a great team of teachers and helpers, so the camp ran very smoothly. We had several families and teens come to the following Sunday service. Our biggest prayer is always for fruit that remains. Please pray that the seeds that were planted will bring forth fruit in the future!

Summer furlough:

As previously mentioned, we will be in the US for almost 2 months this summer (July 6 – August 29). Please pray for the following requests:

- Our church in Esztergom to do well in our absence.

- Safety in travel.

- That we would be a blessing to the churches we visit.

- Esther to get settled into her new life in the States.

We appreciate your prayers. God bless!

Marc