Winter 2005-06
Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you very much for your continued prayers for the work in Eastern Hungary. As I (Gary) sat down to write this newsletter I realized that we never sent out last fall's. Somehow in the hustle and bustle I just missed it. Sorry for not keeping you updated as I should.
What is happening here is very exciting, and we continue to believe God is preparing a great spiritual awakening across the nation. One of the most exciting things to see is new fervor in the prayers of the Hungarians for their own nation. This movement is cutting across denominational lines, and there is a new stirring is many of the churches. This is something we have not really had a part in, it is simply the God of the Universe moving in their hearts.
Something we have gotten to take part in was a booth for Christmastime in the open market at Puspokladany. We had originally planned to be in the large Christmas market on the main square of Debrecen. The company organizing the event mistakenly put us on the list for another place. Two weeks before the kick-off we were informed that the event was cancelled. After much prayer and seeking, God led us back to Puspokladany where a volunteer team had held a free blood pressure booth in June. During the December project we were able to give out many New Testaments and witness to people. Since then we have been back twice for follow up. Please pray that small home Bible studies will be started as the first step in planting a church in this city. February's feature article on the Heart for Hungary website is about this event. You can read more about it at www.teamhungary.com/spotlight.html.
Another wonderful opportunity God has allowed us to participate in was a fact-finding trip to Serbia. The northern part of Serbia was once part of Hungary, and 300,000 Hungarians still live there. We went to research the living conditions, state of the church, and possible ways to help. The area is extremely poor due to the civil war during the break up of Yugoslavia, economic sanctions, and the two NATO bombings. Much of the infrastructure was destroyed and valuable resources wasted. Today, many people struggle just for basic needs.
Ethnic and religious tensions still abound, but very few of those who claim a religion actually practice it. Pastor Zoli, who showed us around, said that out of the 300,000 Hungarians less than 1000 are true believers. The economic conditions and the missing relationship with Jesus Christ have caused a deep hopelessness. Yet in the midst of the despair, the churches are working hard to meet the people's needs. Through much humanitarian work Pastor Zoli has won the respect of people of all ethnic and religious groups. He says he now wants to feed the people spiritually as well as physically. The needs are greater than the financial resources, but not greater than God. He has a divine plan to call these wonderful people back to a vibrant relationship with Him. Please pray for our leadership team as we plan how to reach Hungarians not only in Hungary, but in Serbia also.
On a personal note, Carolyn hurt her back last spring. The prescribed physical therapy only served to worsen the problem. It came to the point she was almost totally incapacitated by pain. After many months of going from doctor to doctor and many trips to Budapest without improvement, God has graciously provided a specialist right here in Debrecen who can treat the real problem. He is an American doctor who studied medicine here and has returned to teach in the University. In addition to his medical skills, he is believer, and is becoming a close friend. Carolyn is still experiencing a lot of pain, but is once again able to work limited hours on the computer. Please pray that her back will be totally and completely healed, and that we will find ways to catch up on the work that is well behind schedule.
Part of the work that is behind schedule is the planning for our summer projects. It takes a lot of researching, scheduling, planning, and then waiting for pieces to fall into place. That is a major part of our work. Pray that God will put all the pieces together quickly so that we can be as effective as possible.
Also, please pray for workers to come into the harvest and help. We would like four more summer interns this year. Once again they will travel by bicycle across eastern Hungary conducting surveys, prayer-walking and doing outreach projects. So far only one has agreed to come, so we are praying for three more, 2 males and 1female, to take on the adventure.
In June a team will come to do the blood pressure booth in Puspokladany again. This will be our third project in this same city. God keeps leading us back to this place, and we so desperately want to see a new church planted there. Pray that even now God will begin raising up those who should come on the team and providing the resources they will need. And that those who hear the gospel will become true followers of Jesus Christ.
We have also requested two people for a two-year assignment working with students here in the city of Debrecen. Students have become the most responsive segment of the population in Hungary. It is our desire to not only reach students for Christ, but also to equip them to be effective carriers of the gospel wherever they go after graduation.
Prayer is the most important work we can do. As the statisticians study the great movements of God where huge numbers of people come to Christ, the number one common element involved is prayer. The fastest growing of all these movements in the world right now was triggered by a missionary who spends two hours a day on his knees in prayer. He passes this practice on to the new believers. Prayer is what aligns us to God's call and purpose, as well as empowers us for the journey and for the great spiritual battles that rage around us. That is why there is much focus on prayer in our newsletters and emails. It is not something we just talk about, but try to live out in our daily lives.
Every May we have 31 days of prayer for Hungary. The first couple of years we sent out the requests by email, but spam filters have blocked us from many servers even though we do not send out unsolicited requests. We now have difficulty getting regular emails through so we cannot send out the daily reminders, but all of the prayer requests are online at Online Prayer Guide or in booklet form by writing us at prayer@hope4ehu.com. (These are the same booklets as before, because these are items we continuously encounter and we still need to lift them up before the throne.)
They can be copied and passed along in electronic form or on paper. It is not important to us how they get passed along, only that they do. This is one way that anyone can be involved with the ministry here: Praying for us and the Hungarians, and passing these requests on to others who will pray as well.
Also, please send your prayer requests to us. We commit to lifting each and every one of them before the Lord. It is a privilege to stand together with you asking God to work His good and perfect will in the lives of His children.
Love,
Gary
Gary and Carolyn Miller
Eastern Hungary Team
4026 Debrecen
Bem Ter 8, fsz. 3
Hungary
