Eastern Hungary News Update
April 2009
Dear Family, Friends and Prayer Partners, What a wondrous time is spring! It is awesome to see new life as the trees that looked so dead turn green and bloom. The Easter holiday reminds us of the new life that Christ died to bring. We pray that hearts that seem dead and cold will sprout forth with new signs of life as they meet the Life Giver. Before I go further let me first give a quick list of items in this newsletter.
In our last newsletter we asked you to please pray about the Scripture distribution in the town of Nádudvar on the morning of Tuesday, December 23. That was our final Scripture distribution in connection with the Year of the Bible in Hungary. It turned out to be the best single day of Bible distribution of the year, with 324 copies of Scripture given out. What made it so ironic is that many had doubted that we should even try in this town, but in God’s timing and calling He is putting a hunger for His word in their hearts. Pray they will read the Bibles they received and for the work we will have there this summer. On the student ministries front: Holly is holding regular Bible studies to help younger believers grow strong in their faith. In addition to that, she and A.P. are helping with conversational English every Wednesday at a local high school. So far it is going very well; they are building good relationships with the students and teachers. A.P. has started coaching volleyball at the Euro School, which we talk about later. They both meet for a lot of one-on-one time with individuals, investing time and energy into the students' lives. The English course in Hajdúszoboszló continues to do well. As expected, attendance dropped off a little as the semester went on, but there are several faithful students who come and the church does a great job of making friends and ministering in a variety of ways. It is time once again for the annual 31 Days of Prayer for Eastern Hungary in May. This year we are asking people to pray for the different ministries that we have either going on or currently in development. Some of the ministries are taking place in May, so you can pray for them as they are happening. Others are planned for later in the year, so the prayers are in anticipation of what is going to be done. The prayer calendar is available in electronic form on the team website, or in print. It may be copied and shared with anyone who is willing to join us during this special time of prayer. This prayer calendar is separate from the Heart for Hungary Prayer Guide, which is also available on-line or in booklet form. During the Millers’ last Stateside they gave out small paper models of a traditional Hungarian house as a reminder to pray for the Hungarian people. A number of these remain and are available in packages of twenty-five. They make a great project for missions classes, Sunday schools, or other groups. We have found they also make great conversation pieces to share about the work here in Hungary. To request your houses write prayer@hope4ehu.com. Please note that they come as a flat sheet, ready to be popped out and glued together. Assembly time is roughly ten to fifteen minutes, most of which is the time it takes for the glue to dry. Let me give you a quick overview of some of the events on the prayer calendar. One of the events is an aviation camp in Romania. Gary is going back to Timisoara to teach at the Angel Wings Foundation’s semi-annual camp. You can see more about that ministry on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg6uPFkeE_g After many years of praying and trying to recruit skateboarders, we finally have a skateboarder volunteer coming for three weeks in May. Please pray for Nick as he reaches out to the extreme sports crowd and kids who hang out on the streets. Pray that the Lord will lead us to the best way to follow through with these young people. A team is coming from Cross Timber Baptist Church’s college and career class to hold a baseball camp May 18-23 in the town of Püspökladány. This will be the second camp we have organized there. It will function like an after-school program during the week with a wrap-up tournament on Saturday. This year we have the added blessing of having help from Good Sports International and the Mikepercs Mosquitoes, the Hungarian little league team they sponsor and coach. Pray that God will use this camp to minister to the kids of the school. At the end of May our summer interns, Michael and Taylor, arrive. After a week of orientation they will hit the road "cycling for souls." They will be helping us branch out into Tiszafüred, a new town for us to focus on. They will also be helping us continue the work in Balmazújváros and Nádudvar. As an added bonus, they will get to help Good Sports International with a week-long project in an orphanage in Miskolc the last week of June. A second team is coming from Cross Timber Baptist Church to hold an English camp in Hajdúszoboszló from July 6-12 at the local Baptist church. This will give the church an opportunity to further minister and strengthen connections within their community. Four of the six on the team are returning from last year, which will help establish continuity in the program and form closer relationships. Starting in September the IMB will help provide teachers for the new Baptist high school in Debrecen. The school is being administrated by the Euro School, which is an accredited private school here in town; the Baptist program will be the fourth under this umbrella organization. The relationship is a little unusual because the Euro school is not a Christian school. Both the Baptist Union and the Euro school administrators think that this opportunity will be a win-win situation; the Baptist church can start their program right away, and the school will have its required native English speakers and religion teacher. Holly will be taking on most of the conversation classes, with Gary also teaching. A.P. will be coaching volleyball and Carolyn will sub in the English classes as needed. It may seem a little strange on a May prayer calendar to list the "Back-to-School Bash," but Holly and A.P. have to start way ahead to plan and carry out a large project like this. Pray that God will lead them not only in planning and executing this project, but also in the student outreach for the entire next school year. One project is not on the May calendar, but we would very much appreciate your prayer. After the interns head home at the end of July, Gary and Carolyn are going to visit their daughter in Africa. While there, Gary will have the opportunity to teach a weekend course at a Bible School. Please pray for safety, for a good time of reconnecting as family and for the week-end course at the school. Busy schedules often keep us from sending out updates as often as we would like, but those with internet access can keep up to date by checking out our blog at http://www.xanga.com/gcmiller2hu. Carolyn updates it as often as she can with pictures and news from special events. Holly and A.P. each have their own blog. Holly’s is http://hollyshungary.blogspot.com and A.P.’s is http://web.mac.com/apcrouch. Thank you again for your prayers and support. Your encouragement is greatly appreciated. We are also eager to pray with you about matters affecting your life. It has brought us great joy to be able to lift many of you up as you have done for us. In His Love, Gary for the Eastern Hungary Team |