Friday, May 25, 2012

You Gotta Love This Place...

I had to laugh today as I came home from work. How many places around the US have a grocery store parking lot that has parked in it: golf carts; a four-wheeler w/ a pick up bed; the regular cars & trucks; horse trailers (full & kicking); moped; motorcycles; and a Jaguar with an extension ladder roped onto the top?? All of these people driving these vehicles came shopping for groceries or something else that is available at this local grocery store/strip mall.

Oh yeah, the Orca whales are out in the bay, too!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Why are you here?

  Nearly two years ago, we said "Yes". "Yes, Lord, we will go where you send us - wherever it is."  From that point on it has been Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  Now we hear, "Why are you here? I thought you were in Hungary."   "Well, we need to be fully supported by monthly pledges before we can go", is what we usually say.....  but that "Why are you here?", hearkens back to our survey trip, when we first encountered Hungary and its spiritually famished people....

First, I (Carrie) need to preface - Many of you know that I am a fabric artist/quilter. That has been a huge passion for quite a while. As I could sense that God was drawing us down the path towards the mission field, I asked God to take away this passion, since I probably couldn't use it on the field. He was kind enough to suppress it greatly before we made our decision to say "Yes, Lord".

A few months before we left for our survey trip, I was asked by our Area Leader if I would be willing to speak to a women's outreach at the church plant. I told her I would be happy to, what should I speak about?  "The Lord will bring it up.", she said.  "OK", I replied. So, a great number of subjects came to mind & I had my talk all planned out until the day before we left, when God asked me, "Do Hungarian women want to know about these things?"  Hmm, I had planned for something general that traverses cultures, but I didn't "know" that their interests were in this path. Hmm, then God gave me an idea.

When we arrived,  I thought I ought to ask more questions. "What does the outreach do?" I asked.  "I'm not going to tell you!" she said. (with a gleam in her eye that came reflected in the rear view mirror, even in the dark). Oh, ok. We laughed. God's idea will work well:) "Well," I replied, "Since I don't exactly know what the women are interested in, I thought we would do a question and answer - well God inspired that after He nixed my talk." "Great idea!" She said.

So the next evening we arrive to the outreach.  We walk in the building and You could hear the excitement and chatter of women who are enjoying what they are doing, and it was exciting to be with them tonight, even though I couldn't understand a word of Hungarian. I was to go first up the stairs. When I got to the top of the stairs, I burst out laughing - they were quilting! We mingled around and it was a delight to see the projects unfold as the ladies were working. Afterwards, we had the question/answer time.

"Why are you here?"  It was the first question I was asked . It was asked much differently that Americans would have asked - this was forced, intimidating, interrogatively strong. After that question was answered, "What does God care about us?"  asked in much the same manner. After that question was answered, "Why would he care about us?" also asked in much the same manner.  Thus went the question and answer time... on and on, gloriously down to the final question, "Who is Jesus, anyway?"

You could feel the intenseness and leaning of the hearts of the 30-40 women in the room, and the anticipation of my answer. I looked at the leader, she leaned over & said, "It's your gig, go ahead!" and so I further answered, "Jesus is the Son of God, who came down from Heaven to take our sins away by dying on the cross for us. He lived a completely sinless life, but he took our sins upon Himself on our behalf. He died, but He rose again after three days, stealing the keys from hell and death, so that if we believe upon Him, we could truly live eternally!"

The power of the Good News is a force! There was not a dry eye in the room. Many were sobbing. These seemingly tough, hard hearts were cracking and, God willing, opening to His Life! 

I was shocked, I guess. Well, this is an outreach - but in the states, we have outreaches and hopefully one or two unbelievers come.  After we were done, I had asked the leader how many were believers in the room. She had said that there were just the seven of us that were known believers - the four of us included. Wow, seven out of 30-40! 

Why are we still here?   We are directed to be fully supported to be over there and not take a job, as we had hoped. The reason is simple - we are viewed as "Rich Americans", and to work over there would be considered as stealing a Hungarian's job! Then, the door to further conversation is closed.   Would you like to help?  Just click the support tab on the right.  Let's get going!!

Monday, May 14, 2012

55%!

We are so thankful to the Lord to provide 55% support! Hooray! We are SO close to reaching our goal and getting onto the mission field, finally!! It has been a long time coming & we appreciate you all. Thank you for listening to Him & getting the word out about us, so others can join in the privilege of supporting us, too. There is still time for them to help.Just click the link to the right and you can join in, too!

Feel free to follow us, as well and "like" us on Facebook (Hungary4Jesus). Then you will get quick updates & know when we have posted next.

Also, we would thoroughly appreciate donations to start an archery ministry in Hungary! Do you have new/used equipment? Would you like to send us a gift card for purchasing some? You could also ask sports stores or archery centers around if they would like to help donate!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Light in the darkness

"The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it."  John1:5

Spring has come to Washington state - the tulip fields are astounding, lilacs are starting to come out and the wild dogwood has been blooming. 

When you see white blossoms, bees actually see them as neon blue, and vice-versa.... just a bit of trivia for you! When humans see white blossoms - well, they are pretty, but not astounding... until you see them against dark tall cedars and firs - then they pop! Literally, the dogwood blossoms look like small fireworks against a night sky as they bloom heavenward.

One time, a friend and I were driving in really gloomy, heavily downpours. Midday looked like 6pm in winter! We were passing a nursery and there was nearly an apparition in the nursery among the rest of the plants! A  huge lovely cherry tree was bursting out in blossoms! It looked like it was floating and brilliant in light because everything around it was so dark and gloomy.

Are you willing to be that light Jesus speaks of?  Are you wiling to be the light of Christ's glory in a dark and gloomy world?  Don't be surprised if you are, therefore, when others notice you! Rejoice! Jesus is shining through you!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Celebrations in many ways!

   Today (and every day) is a reason to celebrate!  PTL, we are OVER 50% of our monthly pledged support!!! Hallelujah! We are getting closer and closer, thanks to many of you!  Please continue to pray that the remainder will flood in so we can get on the field more quickly. You can refer people to this page, and the link is on the right hand side.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Our house is under contract, PTL! (Please pray that it would continue to smoothly proceed through & we could have a quick closing.)

  We have also had 300 "hits" on our blog since we started in January!  I think that is pretty darn good! It's exciting to see where everyone is viewing us - literally around the world! Hopefully, we can meet you all someday!

   Not only have we been working on our language studies at home & on the computer, but God has brought a native speaker into our lives &  our town, & we have been meeting with her one day a week, as well! It has been so helpful to learn more about the culture, the questions getting answered that we have had, and she is another believer, too.

  God is SO amazing, how He connects us with others who are like-minded. The ways He encourages us, helps us through each other, shows His love for us and helps to strengthen us amongst brethren  - it is huge!  I pray that we can come alongside and encourage you, as well.