August Prayer Letter

Dear Praying Friends,

Here is our August prayer letter.

Family News:

The summer passed by too quickly and Nancy and Esther head back to Jacksonville on August 9th. We have really enjoyed having them here with us. We were really thankful to be able to take a family vacation to Croatia in early August. Esther wasn’t able to walk much, so we borrowed a wheelchair and wheeled her all over Zagreb and Zadar. JEsther continues to recover from her surgery. She is able to walk but still uses crutches for stability as her foot gets sore quickly. Please pray for her foot to continue to heal. She has to return to work on August 13th and school starts August 20th. Ben and Kelsi are just now wrapping up their 3 month missionary training in Zambia and plan to begin deputation for full-time mission work after they return. Nancy will be living in Jacksonville and working at a local credit union.

Ministry News:

Our trip to Ukraine June 29-July 1st went really well. As we crossed the border, we felt like we were stepping back in time. It reminded us of our first trips to Romania in the early 90s. I’m sure there are more developed parts of Ukraine, but the Hungarian speaking areas seem to be neglected. The people we met were wonderful though, and we really enjoyed our time there. I spoke all day that Saturday on the Vertical Church. We had 25-30 in attendance from several area churches. I then preached in two different churches on Sunday. We were especially impressed by the Hungarian missionary couple who invited us. They are doing a great work, and I invited them to come to Esztergom in November and share their ministry with our congregation. I am hoping this will be the beginning of a good relationship with them and the ministry there.

July 9-13th we held our annual English Camp in Esztergom. We have had great camps in the past, but this seemed like the best one yet. We had a fantastic team of Americans to do the teaching. Our church members also did a great job helping with translation, meals and logistics. We had about 70 children participate in the morning day camp. The theme for the week was „Jesus is King.” It was great to see the kids singing songs of praise to the Lord. We also had about 20-25 teens and adults attend in the evening. The Gospel was worked into the evening classes as well, and we had an adult lady make a profession of faith. She has returned to church once since then with her husband. Please pray for Irene, that the Lord would draw her and her husband to a full committment to Christ. We always close out the week by invited the participants to our Sunday service. We had a great attendance with 50-60 visitors in the service. The Lord blessed the preaching of the Word. A few looked shocked, but others were moved to tears. We pray that God will continue His work in their lives.

Because that Sunday was the World Cup championship Sunday, we showed the game on our big screen after the service, and many of the visitors stayed to watch. We even had one family skip the service and just show up to watch the game. JAll in all it was a great week!

A Look Ahead:

1. August 14-18th we will be holding our Family Camp in Salgotarjan, Hungary. Please pray for a great week. Several unsaved family members will also be attending, so please pray for their salvation.

2. In September we will be cranking all our ministries back up to full speed. Please pray for a great Fall harvest in our church!

Marc, Charin, Nancy, Esther and Hannah Patton