September Prayer Letter

Here is our September update!

Youth Outreach:

August 14th teens

Thank you for praying for our August 14^th youth program. We were thrilled to see about 25 teens show up! As we mentioned in our previous letter, these were all teens who had attended English Camp in July. We had a great time of games, songs, food and fellowship. We also introduced our church and shared our desire to start regular youth meetings in the Fall. Our first one will be held on September 10^th. We are praying for a solid base of at least 8-10 teens to get started. We have about 10 church members who are planning to be involved in this ministry. Please pray for us to be able to launch a strong youth ministry that will be capable of reaching and discipling teenagers who do not have any church background. 

 

Family Camp:

August 18-22 we held our first family camp in Diosjeno, Hungary. We had about 45 of our people participate. During our five days together, we balanced teaching times with time for sports, games and relaxation. We also tried to do some things we don’t generally do on Sundays, such as a prayer night, a worship night, and a testimony night. One morning we also split the men and the women for separate sessions. We felt like God used camp to draw us closer to him and closer to each other.

Family Camp Hike

 

Passing of Charin’s Dad:

In mid-August we received word that Charin’s father was seriously ill and in the hospital. The day before our camp, Charin decided to fly back to the States to be there with her parents during this time. God gave her four days with her dad before he passed away on August 21^st. We were so glad that she had this time with him. The funeral was held a few days later, and two of our daughters were also able to attend. Charin returned to Hungary on the 27^th just two days before she started her new teaching job. Although this was a very difficult time emotionally, we are thankful to know that her father is with the Lord with no more pain or illness. Please pray for Charin’s mother as she adjusts to her new life without her husband of more than 50 years. Please pray for Charin and the rest of the children and grandchildren as they deal with this loss.

Charin and her dad last summer when he was still healthy

 

I do apologize for not dropping an extra email during this time. Some of you may not be aware that we have a special Facebook group called Focus Church Budapest Prayer Team. I share weekly updates and quick prayer requests on that page. Please let me know if you would like to be a part of this group, and I will get you added.

 

A look ahead:

Four prayer requests for September:

1) Charin’s new job- teaching English at a school here in Budapest. Please pray for her to have opportunities to reach out to students, parents and teachers.

2) Lord willing, we will begin renting an office for our church in the same building complex where we hold our Sunday services. This will give us both a place to work, and also a place to hold smaller weekday meetings.

3) September 10^th we will launch our biweekly youth nights. Please pray for a faithful base of 8-10 teens.

4) September 26^th will be the second anniversary of Focus Church. Please pray for growth - both spiritual and numerical and that we will stay focused on making disciples for the glory of the Lord.

 

God bless,

 

Marc and Charin Patton

 

July Prayer Letter

We’ve Moved!

View from our apartment

We received the key to our new apartment on June 23rd. We spent the next week painting and getting the apartment ready. On June 30th we made the big move. We were so thankful for lots of help on both ends. Some of our people from the church in Esztergom helped us load up in Tat, and then about seven of our men from Focus Church helped us unload in Budapest. I think they had the harder job, as they had to carry everything up 58 steps to our second-floor apartment. We have spent the past two weeks getting unpacked and organized, and we feel like we are almost there. Our bathroom renovation was delayed, so we are still waiting on that, but otherwise we are pretty much done. Charin did a great job planning things and everything looks so nice. We’ve already had guests over several times and look forward to that being a regular part of our lives and ministry. We are a six-minute drive from our church location, and short trolley ride from downtown, do it is so nice to have everything so close. Thank you for your prayers and extra donations during this transition time!

 

Focus Church:

Covid restrictions have been eased over the past few weeks, and we no longer have to wear masks. We feel like we are finally getting back to normal. Services have been great. With summer here, we have a lot of our members gone, but every Sunday we have had visitors. We are really excited about a young man named Richard. He and his mother have come off and on for more than a year, but ever since we reopened in May, he has come pretty much every week, and every Sunday he brings visitors! One Sunday he had five visitors with him. Some of them have come back. Please pray for him to be saved, and all the visitors he is bringing to become committed followers of the Lord.

 

English Camp for Teens:

Because of our move, we didn’t even try to do our own English Camp this year, but we decided to help out with a youth camp run by another mission organization. They run an English camp each summer primarily for unchurched/unsaved teens, and often have teens make decisions during the week. They were looking for a partner church in Budapest to direct these teens too, so we decided to partner with them. Five of our young people helped out all week at their camp, and Charin and I also went down for a couple of days. We made lots of good contacts. Several teens from Budapest made decisions during the week, and we are hoping to connect them with our church. We are also hoping to use these contacts to start a youth ministry in the Fall. We will be holding a special event on August 14^th, and we will invite all the camp participants from Budapest to attend. Please pray for it to go well. The teens of Hungary need Christ, and we want to have a part in reaching them!

 

Family Camp:

And please pray for our first family camp that we will hold from August 18-22 in Diosjeno, Hungary. It looks like we will have about 50 people in attendance. We are praying that it will help our people connect more deeply with each other and with the Lord. We also are praying that some of our new people will come and get to know Focus Church a little better.

 

New Field Address:

I would also ask that all of our supporting churches to update our field address:

Marc and Charin Patton

Villanyi ut 76 2/4

Budapest, 1113

Hungary

 

God bless,

 

Marc and Charin Patton 

June 2021 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,

Here is our June newsletter:

Goodbyes in Esztergom:

On June 6th we said farewell to the church in Esztergom. This was not easy after 26 years of ministry. Some of our members have been with us almost from the beginning, and many memories tie our hearts together. The church was very kind with many gifts and kind words. We closed out with dinner on the grounds. We have not yet found a pastor for the church, so I turned the church over to the elder team (pictured at left). Our worship pastor Daniel is coming with us to Budapest, but the other five men pictured will carry on the work in Esztergom. Please pray for them to have God’s wisdom and power as they move forward without us.

 

Move to Budapest:

Lord willing we will take possession of our new apartment around June 22nd. We will then have a week to get it fixed up, as we need to be out of our house by June 30th. Please pray for all the details. It is a massive downsizing to empty out our house of 24 years and get moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. Our next prayer letter should have pictures of our new apartment. 

 

Focus Church Budapest

We have been back to in-person services since May 2^nd. It has been great to be back together again. We have also had a number of visitors begin attending, and several have expressed interest in connecting more deeply with the church. This past Sunday we had 50-60 in attendance. It has also been great to hear how the Lord used our online presence in the lives of many of those who have begun attending. After reopening we have been able to have several special events. We did our Freedom in Christ weekends for both men and women during the month of May. We also had a retreat with our leadership team and their wives. And one of our church families also hosted the entire church for a cookout on Pentecost Monday. 

 

Family News:

Our daughter Esther graduated from Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, Florida on May 8^th. We were not able to be there, but our daughters Nancy and Hannah and Charin’s parents were able to be there to celebrate with her. Hannah then came to Hungary and spend about 3 weeks with us. She returned to the States on May 31^st and will be working in a Christian camp all summer. Our “adopted” daughter Betty graduated from Word of Life Bible Institute Hungary on May 29^th, so lots of big events in the family.

 

We are excited about entering a new stage of ministry. Thank you for your prayers and faithful support!

Marc

April 2021 Prayer Letter

 Dear Friends,

Here is our latest update. 

Trip to Zanzibar:

In March we were able to make a trip to Zanzibar to visit our son Ben, his wife Kelsi, and our new granddaughter Wonder! It was our first time to see our first grandchild and so much fun. Wonder is not only cute but extremely active, and she reminded us a lot of Ben as a baby. J It was also amazing to see the ministry there. I have never worked in a Muslim environment, and I learned a lot from conversations with Ben and Kelsi and the other missionaries and pastors they are working with. I enjoyed bringing a brief message to one of the churches on the Sunday we were there, but even more proud and pleased to then hear Ben preach. We look forward to going back in the future!

Move to Budapest:

Preparations are coming along well for our move to Budapest. We officially sold our house on March 18^th. This is also a God story, as we never even had to advertise it. The adult daughter’s of one of our neighbors heard that we would be moving and contacted us. They even agreed to pay the full price we were targeting! Charin is going to finish out the school year here and we our official moving date is June 30^th. We also signed a contract on an apartment in Budapest. It is in a fantastic location, just a 5 minute drive from our current church location and pretty much on the inner circle of downtown. Our apartment is easily accessible by both car and public transportation. We can hardly wait to open up our home to church members and guests, which, of course, was our purpose in moving to the downtown area. 

Please pray about finances for the move. The cost of an apartment in downtown Budapest is significantly more than what we received for our house. We are working on getting financing from a Hungarian bank, but it is proving more challenging than expected. We are also in the midst of a major downsizing, as the new apartment is about half the size of our house and has no garage and basement. I am expecially thankful for Charin who is willing to say goodbye to her house of 24 years with lots of room and a big yard and move to a small apartment in the big city. She is also in the process of looking for a new teaching job in Budapest, so please pray about that as well.

 

Esztergom Baptist Church

We had a big disappointment in our search for a new pastor in Esztergom. The couple I mentioned in last month’s letter backed out. This left us scrambling for other options with just a few months until our departure. At our last leadership meeting our leaders determined that it would be better to be without a pastor for a few months, than to bring in the wrong man for the job. I think it is likely that I will just be turning the church over to the elder team when I depart. We have a good team of lay leaders. Four of them are capable preachers, so I am confident that the church will be in good hands, and in time, God will provide the right person. We have set June 6^th as our last Sunday. 

 

In Person Services:

The Covid situation in Hungary is slowly improving. The government has begun the reopening process. We are planning to reopen both churches for in person services on May 2^nd. We are so ready to get back to normal!

 

Finances:

I know that some of our supporters cannot give on a monthly basis, but are happy to give to special needs. We will have many extra expenses involved in our move to Budapest. We need to do quite a bit of renovation before moving into our new apartment. If you would like to give a special gift toward our move, you can send it to our mission board. Here is the link for online giving:

Global Faith Mission: Chattanooga, TN > Missionary Detail

Global Faith Mission: Chattanooga, TN > Missionary Detail

Thank you for your prayers and faithful support of our ministry!

Marc and Charin

March 2021 Prayer Letter

 Covid Update:

The past two months have been pretty crazy due to the Covid situation. Charin and I both came down with Covid at the end of January. We were both very sick for about two weeks and are still regaining our strength 5 weeks later. We also had a breakout at our church in Esztergom. At one point in February, we had 17 church members down with Covid. Two of them were elderly members who passed away. So, it was a challenging time of trying to minister to hurting families, while we were still recovering ourselves. Thankfully, Focus Church was not affected so severely, so we were able to stay open through the month of February. The Covid situation in Hungary continues to deteriorate and on March 8^th the government introduced even more severe restrictions, so we had to move both churches back to online only ministry. Please pray for the situation to improve in Hungary. We would love to reopen our churches on Easter Sunday!

 

Focus Church:

Focus Church was open for in-person services for 6 weeks from mid-January through the end of February. We missed three of these Sundays when we were down with Covid, but it was a blessing when we were able to get back into church for the last two Sundays in February. How we had missed the fellowship of being together with other believers and also the joy of corporate worship! We were also able to have two special events during this time. On February 21^st we had a baby dedication for one of our young couples. On February 28^th we were able to welcome four new members into the church family.  Despite all the challenges that Covid has created, it is amazing to watch God working as  the church continues to grow and move forward.

 

Esztergom Baptist Church

We were open for in-person services the last two weeks of January before our outbreak moved us back to online only ministry. This has continued through all of February and now into March. Despite being closed, the virus continues to spread among our members. We currently have six members down with Covid right now. Please pray for health for our people. We hope to be able to reopen in April. On a positive note, we have made good progress in our search for a new pastor. Our leadership team had a second meeting with a prospective pastor that went very well. We hope to have this couple return in April on a Sunday, when they can meet with the entire church family. Of course, Covid complicates this, but we are hoping the situation by then will allow us to hold services in person. We are praying that if this is the Lord’s will, that we will be able to have the church vote by the end of April. Please pray for the Lord’s leadership and direction. 

 

Move to Budapest:

We are moving forward on preparations for our move to Budapest. We have a verbal agreement on the sale of our house and hope to sign the contract next week. The contract will be set up with a moving date sometime in June, so we will have a few months to prepare. We have looked at several apartments in Budapest and are hoping to come to a decision soon. Please pray for us to make a wise decision. We want the apartment to be a good investment and also a place where we can minister to our people effectively. 

 

Thank you for your prayers and faithful support of our ministry!

Baby dedication

January 2021 Prayer Letter

 Happy New Year!

We hope you all had a blessed holiday season. We were thankful that two of our daughters (Esther and Hannah) were able to be home for the holidays. Our “adopted” daughter Betty was also home from Bible college, so it seemed like we almost had a full house. This Christmas season was definitely different with all the Covid restrictions, but we were grateful to have this time together. It is a blessing to see all of our children following the Lord and serving Him!

 

Focus Church:

On November 10^th the Hungarian government imposed new restrictions due to the rapid spread of Covid 19. That meant that we could no longer have in-person services. This was disappointing, as we felt like we were just gaining momentum in our new location. We have done our best to keep our people involved and serving, and it has been great to see their response. We have often had 15-16 of our people at church helping with the livestream. This included the media team, worship team, setup crew, decoration team, prayer team and chidren’s workers who are often recording the online children’s program for the next Sunday. 

 

We are also having church members record 5 minute Gospel testimonies that we can post online. One recent week I counted 5 different videos going up during the week: the Sunday livestream, our “Focus Kids” program, a testimony, a five minute Christmas message, and a one minute promo video for the next Sunday.  We are hoping that all this exposure will bear fruit and that we will see an increase in attendance when we are able to reopen. 

 

Esztergom Baptist Church

Our search for a new pastor in Esztergom continues. We had one prospective pastor preach on November 8^th, but the following week we had to move services online, so the second prospect was not able to come. Our leadership team  met with him on Zoom, but we are waiting to reopen for him and his family to come meet the church. Please continue to pray for the Lord’s guidance in this matter.

 

A look ahead:

This next year will be a year of transition for us. My last day as pastor in Esztergom will be May 31^st. Charin will also finish out the school year at the public school here in Dorog in mid-June. Lord willing, we will move to Budapest during the summer and be able to give our full attention to the new church there. Please pray that the Lord would work in all the details!  We appreciate your friendship, prayers and support!