Author: LoveEurope

The Hardest Day of Our Lives

September 25, 2021

Soon after we got back from our trip our daughter told us that there was nothing more the doctors could do for her. Her condition deteriorated fast and two months after our return we lost her. We are grateful to all of you who prayed for the healing of our beloved Olivia (35). The Lord had a different plan for her and called her home. She lost her three years-long battle with cancer and passed into the Lord’s presence on September 5th. Our hearts are broken and we will miss her dearly but will rejoice in knowing that we will see her again one day in Heaven. Please, pray that the Lord fills her husband’s and our hearts with His peace. And that her strong faith and love for Jesus all along will bring her unbelieving loved ones to Christ.

Although our hearts are broken, our God is with us. By opening new doors for our ministry and giving us much more to do He encourages us not to sink into our grief but to know that He loves us and cares for us. He knows that the best way to heal our grief is if we become as busy as possible. He lifts us out of the depth of our sorrow. He gives us a firm place to stand – our reaffirmed calling and enlarged territory to build His Kingdom. He puts a new song in our mouth in place of our cry – a praise for His love and care for us. We hope and pray that through these new opportunities, many will see and fear the Lord and will put their trust in Him!

Mission Trip – Summer of 2021

August 30, 2021


Finally, we were able to travel to Hungary!!! We tried not to fall into our usual mistake and schedule too many things into each day. Every time we went there before to build God’s Kingdom our plans got changed anyway – either by the enemy’s attacks or because God opened new doors for us. During the long time we haven’t been able to visit, Budapest changed a lot, and not for the better.

Among other things, the number of homeless people was simply shocking. And almost without exception, they were elderly Hungarians, who after working all their lives now were not able to pay even their rent. Although this wasn’t in our plans, the Lord showed us the need and the opportunity for ministry. So, wherever we saw any homeless we gave them tracts, listened to, and helped as many as we could. Piroska néni was one of them. We listened to her story and with whatever cash we had, we were able to bless her with one month’s rent.

Later we got together with one of our missionary friends who regularly reaches out to the homeless. We gave him hundreds of tracts for which he was grateful.

In the middle of our trip, we spent a week serving in a full-time Soccer-Bible Camp helping our missionary friends to coach, mentor, and serve 30-some kids, some from the local orphanage. Csaba keeps contact with the older ones via social media and email ever since.

During our trip, Hungary just started to allow the organization of smaller cultural events. So the rest of the time we distributed almost 2,000 tracts on the streets, in malls, cafés, stores, and parking lots. The Lord also answered our prayers and connected us to other ministries. We met with them and discussed, and prayed about how we could work together and help each other to reach more people with the message and love of Jesus Christ not only in Hungary but also in other European countries.

 

Leaving in a Week!!!

June 9, 2021

We now only have about a week left before boarding our flight to Hungary!!!
It looks like finally, we will be able to go. We are excited! We fought the bad habit of planning 48 hours of activities into every 24, and are determined that we will start and finish every day with focused devotional time. We will meet new churches to discuss how we can build the Kingdom together. We will help our Hungarian missionary friends to run a week-long, full-day Soccer-English-Bible Camp for unchurched kids. And of course, we will go from event to event, shopping center to office park, street to street, and hand out as many Gospel Tracts as possible. Please pray that the Lord blesses us with many opportunities to share!

Getting Ready

April 20, 2021

Last year because of the constantly changing travel restrictions we had to cancel all our planned mission trips. It looks like we will be able to go this June!!! We are scheduled to work in a Soccer-Bible Camp for kids, and also hope to distribute several thousands of Gospel Tracts with local churches. So, now we are ZOOM-ing with Hungarian churches, scheduling meetings, planning outreach events, preparing materials for print, and praying that nothing will prevent us from going. Please pray with us that the Lord will go before us!

A Prayer Request

March 18, 2021

Most of you know that our sweet daughter, Olivia (35) has been battling cancer for almost three years now. Twice it looked like she was beating it, but her early improvements did not continue as we hoped. Lately, it is catching up with her and became quite debilitating. She and her husband, Rob love Jesus dearly. Please pray with us for her healing, a miracle, and a testimony to God’s incredible power and love for us. We trust and hope that His will is to heal her, so we can enjoy the sweet blessing she is to us for many more years to come.
Please, pray with us for her miraculous healing!

The Year 2020

February 11, 2021

As you may remember during last year, we tried four times to complete our planned mission trips. We had tickets for April, then in June, then in August, and finally in October, to put our plans in action and mobilize true Bible teaching Hungarian churches to launch their outreach. (Interesting fact: there isn’t even an expression in Hungarian for the word “outreach”. Wow!) All our flights and their re-booked flights were canceled, so in 2020 we could not go. But since most of our work (research, translation, writing, editing, artwork, print and layout design, web development, multimedia content creation, correspondence, and so on…) is done at home, we didn’t miss a beat. On the contrary, during the pandemic, we spent more time at home and were able to focus on the ministry without much distraction. Creating Gospel Tracts, and other short materials in Hungarian specifically for those who believe that the Bible is an old fable with no value for today’s rational man is the passion the Lord put into our hearts.
Please pray that He connects us to the churches and ministries in Hungary He wants us to work together with!

Like a Ton of Bricks…

January 20, 2021

Have you ever read anything that you had to go back and read it again and again because every word hit you like a ton of bricks, yet you were still fighting your disbelief? … I just read an article published in a Hungarian news outlet, … and I’m deeply saddened and at loss for words.

First it equated “belonging to the Hungarian far right” with “being a Christian”. Then it stated that it was “necessary to eradicate this type of ideology from the souls of people in order for Hungary to become a respected nation in the world again.”

According to this article “Christians believe that they should enjoy privileges in this world simply because they are Christians. They have the right to live well without being educated or intelligent, to hold their nose up and look down on anyone who is not a Christian […], to get special treatment from society, […] This kind does not learn. If they were brought up in this spirit, they are hopeless. […] they are selfish and cowardly, they might bow before the new order, but in the depths of their heart they forever cry back the right-wing, Christian, nationalist world, within which it was so beautiful to rob Jewish property, assassinate competitors, or lead large corporations without any expertise. […] This kind never changes. And as long as they have a word or influence, Hungary will not be a nation.”

…

I’m not sure where to start.
First, you need to know that before its not-so-recent communist past Hungary used to be predominantly Roman Catholic. The government in power at the present upholds those traditional values despite being constantly attacked for it by the EU. Obviously, this article was written by the opposition, but sadly, it also describes the general view of “Christians” by the great majority of the EU today. Going there as a Christian evangelist just a few years ago still wasn’t this bad. But since then, the word “Christian” took on a long list of additional meanings most of which light strong resentment in people. Today we face open, fiery hostility.

People simply would refuse to believe that being a TRUE Christian means that:
– we understand our own deprived nature more than them
– we strive to eliminate all pride in ourselves because we know that we are not good, we are only forgiven
– despite to them looking like we are out of touch with reality, in fact we are in touch with the deeper, eternal reality, which they cannot see
– when we meet an unbeliever, we see them as precious children of our God, who without turning to Him, will face eternal suffering. So, when we tell them about Jesus, we are not being judgmental, arrogant, or intolerant, but we do it out of our love and concern for them.  
– And finally, us, true Christians would never bow before anyone, but Christ. Not because we would have no fear of persecution, but because the Holy Spirit in our heart makes us not able to do so.

Some of the statements in the article eerily remind me of an era described in Revelation. Having the view that it is necessary to eradicate Christian ideology from the souls of people strongly points toward a world where being a follower of Jesus won’t be tolerated. Also, the article didn’t give details about what “new order” should Christians bow before, but I’m sure that too sounds familiar to many of us.

So yes, after getting over my initial shock, reading these words just confirmed my conviction that no matter how negatively we are perceived, no matter how passionately we are hated, no matter the intimidation, and even the impending persecution, the need to tell people how much Christ loves them has never been more pressing.

The Times we Live in…

December 15, 2020

When looking back at history, just like today, several times it seemed like the situation fit the description. I don’t know when the Rapture will happen, now or in 20 years, or in 200, but it is sure that we have never been closer to it than today. And once again the world surely looks like it is ready for it. If my heart wasn’t in agony when I think of our loved ones who don’t want Christ in their lives, I would pray for it to happen at this very hour. But I know what awaits them and it hurts my heart more than I can express. What scares me the most is what is written about those who are left behind.

“They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe the lie, so that all will be condemned — those who did not believe the truth…” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 CSB)

Father, I know that You who brought the universe into existence you are also the one who writes history. Things in the world seem to be lining up for the tribulation, so the rapture could happen at any time. You also told us that horrible times come after the rapture because nothing will hold back evil on Earth then. Lord, You reached down to us, opened our eyes, and extended Your grace and mercy to us even though we were so wretched. I ask you, please have mercy on our loved ones! Please open their eyes to Your Truth! Please let them see evil for what it is and good for what it is! Please let them see how desperately they need You. Please don’t let them be consumed by the lie! You love them more than we do, and You don’t want them to perish but to have everlasting life with You.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen

All of Jesus for All the World

October 30, 2020

Unprecedented turmoil in our country, protests, riots, anger, distrust over the validity of the upcoming elections, lost jobs, unemployment, isolation, and the lurking of an invisible virus… It is easy to become overwhelmed or at least preoccupied by all that is going on. And that’s exactly what the enemy wants. When we have so much to deal with, we forget that Jesus asked each of us to spread the Gospel. Not everyone is called to be a pastor or a missionary, but every one of us is called by Jesus to take our small part in telling others about the wonderful truth we were given by God’s grace and mercy. It is easy to forget about all the masses of people who live their entire lives in cultures and societies where they have written off Christianity as an old, worthless fable. But with us you CAN reach many of those lost souls with God’s truth, His love, and the message of salvation if you become a part of our team. We need your help! We are just ordinary people who gave up our main career and said yes to the Lord’s call to fully devote our lives to building His kingdom. Please check out our projects and pray to see if the Lord wants you to become a part of reaching the lost with us.

Change of plans … again

August 15, 2020

This year because of the constantly changing travel restrictions we had to reschedule our spring and early summer trips. Up to a few days ago, we were still hoping that we could leave in mid-August. But with Covid numbers rising and countries closing up again, we had to change our plans yet once more. We are praying that we will be able to go in mid December. That is a perfect time to reach people with the message of Christ because regardless of faith, or the lack of it, Christmas is still celebrated by many as a cultural holiday. Cities will be decorated with lights, Christmas shopping districts will be set up, and families will be getting together. And maybe more people will be open to being reminded of the true meaning of Christmas. So we are praying, planning outreach events, and meetings with local churches there. We are also hoping to visit a few other ministries and missionary friends. Please pray with us that nothing will prevent us from going.