Continued growth
among Roma in Bogacs

Above: Maci and Imi with their daughter Szimonetta.

Each week I continue to commute to Bogács to hold a bible study with Imi and Maci and other family members that happen to drop in. Roma families are tightly connected with their houses in one area often sharing resources just to have enough for their families.

Above: Imi holding his child Jenny after returning from
a long day's work at a nearby factory.

Above: Imbi top left along with his brother Dávid (red sweatshirt)
do not usually attend but God had plans for Imbi this night.

Imbi (Maci's nephew) happened to drop in and say hi as we were beginning our study time together. Imbi shared about how he had injured his back at work. The moment he shared, I thought to myself, here is an opportunity for Jesus to reveal His mercy and love to Imbi.

Maci drew him in from just lingering in the adjacent room and coaxed him to grab a seat. Imbi began asking questions about fear and shared some situations that sounded like oppression from evil spirits. This led us to talk about the reality of Satan and evil spirits and the great damage they intend to inflict upon us. I called Imbi over and told him I want to pray for his back in Jesus' name. We prayed for healing and I told him to move and do something he couldn’t do without pain. He began doing deep bends left and right and looked at Maci with a big grin, “I’m serious, it’s gone. I don’t feel any pain.” I told him that this healing was just a little thing (although a great gift from Jesus) and that Jesus’ desire was to bring us ultimate healing in our lives from the damage of being separated from God and living in sin.

Church member Erno who came along with me this particular night led with some worship songs and we were able to share about the hope we have of salvation in Jesus and His provision of the Holy Spirit in our lives which leaves no room for the evil spirits to have their way in our lives. It was clear that God had been working on Imbi’s heart and he continued to lean in as we continued to talk about God sending His only Son Jesus to provide the way for us to become forgiven, beloved children of God. After taking Imbi through a few key passages of Scripture and explaining in various ways the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, Imbi said he wanted to give his life to Jesus.

Above: Imbi next to his brother Dávid when they were kids.

Krisztian (Maci's brother seated far left above and pictured below) was also glowing and sharing how Jesus set him free from panic attacks and drug use and now has a desire to share the good news with others. I told him to not rush toward the big exciting things but to begin with being faithful with his own wife, his children and friends in his community.



Would you please pray for Maci and Imi along with their family members and relatives that the Gospel would take root and begin flourishing and bearing fruit in each of their lives and in this Roma community. There are so many challenges for them to remain faithful as they are tempted to move back to past habits and generational sinful ways of thinking and behaving. Pray for them to have persevering faith and the gift of a growing spiritual maturity that would shine the light of Christ powerfully in their community.

Roma Network Conference in Romania

Last week, I took a 7 hour road trip to join fellow PI missionaries Josh and Manda (pictured above) to help document and promote their ministry with equipping workers reaching out to Roma communities in Hungary, Romania and Moldova.



There are many Romanians that can speak Hungarian and I was able to connect with a few and have some great conversations during lunch and dinner. One shared about how God helped him to begin a work in a village and the younger kids were so drawn in and committed to attend bible studies that no matter the dreary weather, or even storms that these kids would faithfully show up. The number grew rapidly and they were in need of a larger meeting place. Teachers at the public schools noticed the changes in the kids that were attending these Bible studies and they ended up inviting them to use the school building as a new meeting place for ministry!













It was a beautiful area with beautiful family members in Christ encouraging one another throughout the week. God is doing amazing works among the Roma in Europe through these faithful servants. Please pray that this network would continue to grow, along with shared resources that would further strengthen the spread of the Gospel and church plants among the Roma.

Youth ministry

Above: Our Hungarian partners in ministry Erika and Miki with their son Bence.

For years, Bence has been helping lead the youth group along side of his theological studies. We are so thankful for his spiritual growth and for his love for the younger generation in our church.

Above from left to right: Our daughter Ziva, Panna, Barbi
and Emi (who was recently was baptized).

These are some of the young teens that are growing up in Christ together and were helping at our recent Children's Playhouse ministry in the community.

Above: Church member Erno with his daughter Johanna (white t-shirt)
and Rebus helping with motions to songs at our Children's Playhouse ministry.

Bence recently made some changes to the youth group to invite in the pre-teens that were in need of more discipleship. At the same time, another young adult, Zsolti in our church, had been praying for God to show him where he could begin serving when he received a message from Bence asking if he could help with this new initiative in youth group. With this answer to prayer Zsolti began serving a few weeks ago. Praise God for giving new direction and initiative to help the youth group to grow and for provision of faithful workers who seek to listen to and follow God's lead.



Please pray for this new group of teens and pre-teens that are now attending youth group. Pray that they would receive the spiritual care they need and have a strong bond of fellowship together as they all mature in Christ.

Church member Misi's unexpected passing

Above: Misi at his baptism in 2023.

God used this shock in Misi’s life to help him to begin thinking more seriously about his own life. "Who am I? Who is God? Can I know God? What happens if I die? Am I really living my life for God?" And this was the beginning of Misi's first steps to finding that Jesus died for Him and was raised from the dead to give him a new life reconciled to the Father.

As I shared Misi's testimony at his funeral with unbelieving family members, friends and acquaintances that attended, I said: "And maybe the unexpected passing of Misi was a similar shock to you. You were just going along, living the same way every day, getting up, going to work, getting home, going to sleep, never really thinking about the most important questions in life. Maybe this unexpected loss will help you to turn your eyes to Jesus Christ as it happened in Misi’s life."

God used that shocking news about the elderly woman’s death to turn Misi back to Himself and find true life, true joy, true peace in Jesus Christ. When Misi began following Jesus, he received a new life and the answers he was looking for. Misi sought to be a faithful father, a faithful helper each Sunday at church, a faithful worker at his workplace. He was set free from alcohol and addictions by God's grace and now Misi is experiencing the ultimate freedom and joy with our Savior Jesus Christ.



Above: Pray for Moni and Misi's son Noel. Moni has been dealing with mental health issues and Misi's son has learning disabilities that are a struggle. Pray for Moni to fully return to a life of following Jesus and for Misi's other children to also come to saving faith (Odett, Jászmin).

Teach me to Abide Retreat

Above L to R: Sandi and Livia (blue shirt) are some of the
newest additions to our mission organization.

Over the past few months, Sharon has been helping with the planning and organizing a retreat for the area members we are responsible for in Europe as area leaders.



Sharon's introductory words summed up our heart for those attending:

This is also a great time for missionary kids from different countries to keep building their friendships each time they reunite at conferences.



Our guest speaker, Dr. Neely from Moody Bible Institute did a great job taking us through our theme of abiding in Christ.





Above: It was a good time to find spiritual rest together, be edified by God's word and have quality face to face time with one another. This was the first time for Sharon and the others on the facilitation team planning a retreat of this scale and we praise God for everything coming together that left many encouraged to press on in their mission work in Europe.

Yeah! Ellie Graduated!

We praise God that Ellie graduated from Moody Bible Institute! She has been diligent in her studies and done a great job developing relationships with students that most likely will last a lifetime. We are proud of her and so thankful for her faithful pursuit of Jesus in her life. She’ll be working as an intern at BVC this summer and moving back to Illinois afterward to continue to prepare for mission work focused on discipleship on military bases in Europe. We appreciate your continued prayers for her.



Above: Members from her church in Chicago praying for Ellie before she returned to Delaware.

Pray for Viktor

Above: About once a month, instead of a sermon from the front, our church breaks into small groups to go through Scripture together and pray for one another.

Above: Viktor (top next to red pillar) has begun attending church with his wife No

mi.

U.S.A. in June

In just a few days, we'll be returning to the U.S. for Kira and Austin's wedding in West Virginia. Ben's Hugarian girlfriend Niki (above center) will also be visiting and attending! A week after Kira's wedding, we'll be going to my (Allen's) niece's wedding in Delaware. We look forward to lot's of celebration and joy with family, relatives and close friends. We will also be spending time with my mom who has had struggles with memory and other health issues. We appreciate your prayers for us.

Thank you all for your continued partnership in giving financially and standing with us in prayer. We feel so privileged and blessed to have your help enabling us to remain on the field to continue church planting in Hungary. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." (Romans 15:13)