Back from Hungary

Photos:

My daughter Hannah and I in front of the Fisherman's Bastion in Budapest.

JPBC-ers and Bicske-ers overlooking the town of Tatabanya, Hungary.

OK, Howard I'm finally getting around to a new posting. We're back from Hungary. Today is the first day that I've felt like I had a real handle on my jet lag. This was my third trip back to Hungary after living there from 1990-92. I made previous trips in 2000 (to Bekes) and in 2004 (to Bicske). Every time I go back it seems the country has changed more and more from those early post-communist days of 1990-92.

Here is part of this week's Evangel article:

We are back from our trip to Hungary. Here are a few snapshot highlights:

• Having fellowship with the members of Bicske Baptist Church;
• Seeing the church’s beautiful new building;
• Meeting Laci, a young man who is studying in the Slavic Gospel Association sponsored Bible School that meets in the church building;
• Watching our JPBC team lead the outreach English camp and listening as team members shared their personal testimonies of faith in Jesus Christ with our students each day;
• Watching Dalton States, Jesse Scruggs, and Hannah Riddle blend with Hungarian children in the universal languages of friendship and play;
• Standing on a scenic overlook of the nearby town of Tatabanya and listening as Pastor Lajos tells us this town of 70,000 people has only about 200 believers in a handful of small churches;
• Talking with a teen in our camp who emphatically told me he did not believe in God;
• Sitting at an evening campfire cookout and listening as Pastor Lajos tells how some Hungarian Baptist Pastors were imprisoned and separated from their families under communism and how he was berated by his school teachers for going to church;
• Praying with Americans and Hungarians in the town of Tata, Hungary and in Komarom, Slovakia and praying for God to raise up a people to praise his name in these towns where there is very little evangelical presence;
• Seeing several of our camp students attend worship on Sunday morning at Bicske for the first time;
• Listening as Chip Case and Amy Scruggs presented powerful personal testimonies in Sunday morning worship at Bicske.

More Hungary reflections later.

JTR