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