A Newsletter from Bela & Ildiko

Hey, I just thought I would post a link to a newsletter from two of the people we worked with in Hungary. Béla & Ildikó Dobos were an inspirational couple. They were very hospitable and had our team to their home for games and refreshments while we were at the Elet Szava. Click here to read their newsletter.

P. R. About our Hungary Trip!

Lauren Elsasser's mom sent me this article from the Standard-Journal. I think it is so great that we are still talking about our trip. Thanks Lauren for being a good ambassador for our group, the U.S. and Hungary as well. Here is the article.

By Jeff Shaffer
Standard-Journal
Tue Sep 09, 2008, 11:45 AM EDT
________________________________________
Story Tools: Email This | Print This
MILTON — While some students were enjoying the summer sun at the pool, beach or amusement park, one local student found herself playing the role of teacher on the other side of the globe in the Republic of Hungary.
Lauren Elsasser, a senior at Meadowbrook Christian School, joined a missions team from Richfield Mennonite Church, for a chance to visit the central European country, share the gospel and teach English to some Hungarian children.
Through it all, the Mifflinburg teen gained a renewed appreciation for the opportunities available here in the U.S.
In her first week overseas, Elsasser helped prepare the Bible camp, Elet Szava in Toalmasra, a former communist training center.
When it came time to teach, there were some language barriers to say the least. Elsasser said Hungarian is completely different from anything she’s ever seen or heard.
But Hungarians are hungry to connect with the Western world and the first step is learning English.
Elsasser said she and Bria Leister of Richfield spent most of their time teaching things like days of the week, animal names, body parts and the hellos and good-byes to the young pupils. She added she tried to pick up a few Hungarian words in the process.
Other group members, Elsasser said, taught baseball to the natives, a growing trend there.
The Meadowbrook student had many chances to take in the culture. She visited Budapest, and experienced pastimes like horse shows.
Looking around in the country, Elsasser said “you’d think you were old time Europe. Walking to the local store for all your needs. The scenery is beautiful.”
Then there is the food — pork and bread.
Elsasser said that made up a lot of meals. Under communism, she learned the people weren’t allowed to eat pork and assumes they’ve just been making up for it all these years. One specialty is roasted pig fat, into which Hungarians dip their bread. It supposedly tastes just like a BLT, she said.
“We were all like, ‘an Applebee’s or an Olive Garden would be good right now,’” Elsasser said.
That’s something the teen has come to appreciate about her own country, a blend of cultures. In Hungary, it’s strictly Hungarian.
“There was a lot of culture shock, and it took awhile to take it all in,” she said. “Here (in the U.S.) we have the chance to experience everything. It’s a melting pot.”
Don’t let the lack of diversity take away from the people, however. Elsasser said everyone was full of hospitality.
In fact, she admitted it was sad when it was time to leave, but she can see herself returning some day. It meant a lot to her to lead children to Christ or at least put smiles on their faces. Some children there appeared to come from broken homes.
“It’s exciting helping people, and there’s a sense of accomplishment,” Elsasser said.
While Europe was a new venture for her, she is an experienced traveler having been on other missions trips. Elsasser and her classmates were in the Dominican Republic this past spring. A few years ago, she was in Arizona with the Navajo Indians, which she said was also incredible.

Jeff Shaffer: 570-742-9671
jeff@standard-journal.com

See the picture here.

Pics from our Short Report

Here are some pics of some of our group sharing during a rainy, outdoor service about our trip to Hungary. Enjoy

Second Week Pictures

A few more pictures from Hungary. More coming, keep checking back.

Report from Bob

Bob "The Builder" Stauffer gives his take on our trip. More coming over the next few days.

Lauren Z's Comments

Here's Lauren Zearfaus' comments about her trip. This was taped on Tuesday. I am sorry I have gotten behind. All of this takes time and there are a lot of distractions. Keep coming back everyday, I will posting more as I can.

New Video Over At JoelSnyder.net

I just posted a video on my blog, www.joelsnyder.net, that shows a bunch of the "Castle" we are staying it. The video is cute/fun as well. Check it out here.

Video Report from Hungary - Andy

Andy Spade talks about the work he's done this week.

What a Response!

Here is a video of the response to the invitation here at Elet Szava. It was so cool to see SO MANY kids respond. Thanks for your prayers. We don't know their hearts but God does. Continue to pray for the kids and the rest of the week.

Pictures from Elet Szava

Here is some of Casey's collection of pics from our trip so far.

Bruce's "Monday Memo"

Again, Bruce sends out a weekly report to his supporters. Since most of the people that read this blog are supporters of us and we are with him, I wanted to let you know what he says about our trip. Here is his "Monday Memo".

Here we are beginning week four. The English team is teaching. The sports team is on the field. And our evangelistic team leaves for the city in about 30 minutes. We have no idea what we will run into at city park Budapest today. We plan to play music, perform pantomine and illusion, pass out tracks, and talk to as many people as we can. This is a little fearful, since we need to use translators for all of this, but we plan on doing this type of evangelism all week.

The main programs with the children's camp begin each night at 7:15 (1:15pm your time) so if you remember us at lunch time pray for the success of our team on the streets and the meetings at camp to begin in minutes. An invitation will be given on Tuesday evening, and a dedication service on Friday evening. I need to rush back to Toalmas, get a shower (nearly 100 degrees in Budapest today), change and get to the meeting to either play, do magic or both. I am already looking forward to the plane ride home so I can get some sleep.

So the camp is prepared, the staff is trained, and we're into the hands on ministry this week. Pray for all of us here and, Lord willing, we'll be back in the states next week.

Pics of our Hungary Trip

Lauren Elsasser shares some of her pitures from Hungary.

Dead Battery - No Video Report

My video camera battery went dead yesterday and so I didn't get a video report yesterday and I haven't had as much time to get the video stuff done. So I appologize for the lack of report. I did do a video for my blog, www.joelsnyder.net, you might want to see. It is of the roller coaster ride some of the team took. Needless to say, they were not able to complete the ride. The ride came to a complete stop while going up the hill! We had a little fun with the whole thing. Check it out here.

Yesterday was a nice day to relax. The weather is getting warmer now but not too warm until possibly Monday and Tuesday. We have a few small projects to get done today but most of our work is done for the week. The different teams (evangelism, English, baseball) will also be meeting again today to get ready for tomorrow when the campers come. It is also a day to do wash. Most of the group will go to the local "Community Day" here in Toalmas for a little bit as well.

Even More Pictures from Hungary

Monica Rozelle shares some of her pictures with all of us. Enjoy!

First Friday Video Report - Alex Konya

This video is of Alex Konya who is the Director of Word of Life, Hungary. He and his wife Deb invited us for supper at their house this evening (Thursday). I recorded his 12 minute talk to all of us and edited down to about 6 minutes. I thought it would be nice to hear from those we are serving. I also thought it would be nice to hear about who we will be ministering to.

We are basically finished with our work projects and tomorrow afternoon we will go to an "old" city (I can't spell it) for some shopping and a meal. Saturday is wash day. There is some sort of celebration in the town as well on Saturday which we may try to go to. Sunday after church some of us have orientation and the kids register for camp.

Here's the video. . .

Video Report From Hungary

Nathan Brubaker puts his twist on today's video report. It rained this morning so we worked on English, baseball and evangelism teams in the morning and worked in the afternoon.

More Pictures From Hungary

Lauren Z shares some of her pictures so far from her/our trip. Enjoy!

First Wednesday Report

It is raining here so we had a little down time this morning. So, I thought I would get this video report done early. We have been getting a bunch of stuff done already this week. This morning some are working at one of the appartments here on the complex, Seth and the evangelistic team practiced for next week, and the English teachers and the baseball team members have meetings planned. We are taking advantage of the unforseen rain. We will be all working this afternoon. Check out the video to find out what Justin has to say about the week so far.

A Few Pictures from Hungary

We made a slide.com show of some of Andy Spades pictures. Enjoy!

First Tuesday Video Report

Here is a new video post with a "report" from a few of the girls on the team. More later - it is time for us to be working and I am late.