Dear Friends,
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 18th. 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 30th. 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 6th 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 2nd. We are so ready to get back to normal!
Finances:
Thank you for your prayers and faithful support of our ministry!
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