Ippistle 42

Dear Friends and Family,

We are beginning our fifth year in Hungary with much anticipation, coming from what we have seen God doing over our past four years here. We are delighted with all of the relationships that He has put us in with students, colleagues, and other friends that we have made along the way: Hungarians, Americans, and other internationals. It has been a great journey. Our first year we jokingly talked about staying as long as Jack's freshman class, to see them graduate. It is hard to believe, but now four years later that will be a reality.

We are once again going to The Bridge, the Tuesday evening supper and Bible Study that we are a part of. It is really a house church. The three Trefort students that attended last year have been faithfully attending all summer. Their maturity and spiritual growth causes us to grow in our anticipation of what God will continue to do in their lives and in the lives of others that we meet. Keep praying for Christian, Akos, and Szilvi.

We were able to bring “Coffee Break” Bible study materials back with us to Hungary. Cindy is hoping to begin a women's Bible study along with our pastor's wife at Talipont, our Sunday worshiping place. Talipont is a church plant of the Hungarian Reformed Church. Eneh will invite several Hungarian women to study “The Sermon on the Mount” material with Cindy and Eneh leading the group together. Pray for the right timing for this to come together. We anticipate that God can use this Bible study to transform lives as well.

Because we are considering that this will be our last year in Hungary, we are being even more intentional in our relationships. Understandably, once Hungarians hear that we plan to leave, they begin to divest themselves of the relationship. We are praying that we will be able to grow and share our relationships with others who will be staying, so that they can continue to build on what God has begun through us. We have a young couple as our new teammates this year. Erin graduated from Calvin a couple of years ago and was a part of our TeachOverseas Hungary team in 2010. Paul taught with TeachOverseas that same year in Kazakhstan. After Skype dating that year, they got married in October of 2011. They both teach with Jack at Trefort and have shared with us that they are hoping to continue teaching here for several more years. We are excited to have them come along side us and to begin building on the relationships that we've begun. Pray that God will bless the connections that we make together.

After a summer hiatus our blog is once again being updated frequently, with a look into our day to day lives in Hungary—through text and pictures. We have just posted our second entry this week; please click on the link below our signature or go to www.hopeinhungary.blogspot.com. We do appreciate your connection with us, a partnership that has existed since March, 2008. Your prayers and financial support are very important for us and our work here in Hungary. If you wish to contribute to our ministry, please go to www.teachoverseas.org and click on “contribute”.

Blessings!

Jack and Cindy