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Sent Monday, March 8, 2010
12:05 AM
Dear Friends
and Family,
The Eastern
Hungary Team is going through some busy times, and we appreciate
your prayers very much. Gary and I are moving to a new
location here in Debrecen and will pack up the computer today,
Mar. 6, so this update will be brief.
Praise the
Lord, the spring volleyball tournament went well yesterday.
Four teams played—a high school team, a university team, a team
from Debrecen Baptist Church youth group, and a team of two high
school students aided by Holly, A.P. and Gary. Everyone had
a great time; information about what we believe and invitations to
youth meetings and upcoming concerts were included in their
packets. Please pray for wisdom for our team in what the
next steps should be to follow-up on the new relationships that
are being developed.
Concert
information given was regarding the Green Wood band, coming to us
from Arkansas later this month. From Mar. 22 to 26 they will
be playing at various locations in Debrecen, reaching out through
their music and testimony. Please pray for the band, for all
the logistics, but especially for the people whose hearts will be
touched by what they hear and see. Gary and I won’t be in
Hungary when the band is here, so please also pray for Holly as
she heads up this project. We’re sorry to not be here for
the concerts, but we have a very important reason for being
gone….
There’s a
wedding in the family! :) Our son Danny and his fiance
Nicole Young will be getting married on March 20, so we’re going
to the States on the 11th and will be there celebrating and
enjoying family time through the end of the month. We’ll
arrive back here in Hungary on April 1, so please excuse us for
any time lags with emails.
Beginning today
our Internet access will be intermittent due to our move--we
aren’t sure when we’ll have access at our new place.
Thankfully McDonald’s provides free Wifi, so we’ll make visits
there when we can. Our new address is (in the format
approved by the Hungarian post office):
Gary and
Carolyn Miller
4002 Debrecen
Nagy Mihály Kert 67/C
HUNGARY
Please don’t
worry if you’ve recently mailed us something at our soon-to-be
former address, because our landlady will collect it for us and
we’ll pick it up from her.
Thank you so
much for your prayers, and we do appreciate the encouraging notes
and emails that we get from many of you.
God
bless,
Carolyn for the Millers
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Sent Monday, December 21, 2009
10:30 PM
Dear
praying family and friends,
We wish you all a wonderful Christmas and much happiness in the
new year. The Christmas season is such a wonderful time of
year with family gatherings and all the lights and decorations.
It is lamentable that it has become so commercialized, but is
still a natural bridge to share the good news of Jesus Christ to a
lost and hurting world. Of all the gifts given and received,
the gift of Jesus is still the one the world needs most.
Thank you to all who support our ministry through prayer, gifts to
the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program, the Lottie Moon
Christmas Offering for international missions, and through special
donations.
2009 saw two aviation camps in Romania, a baseball camp in
Hungary, English classes in a national church, two English camps,
every street of 3 cities prayer-walked, 11 concerts, English
classes begun at a local high school, 10 weekly Bible
distributions on the open market, the start of a weekly coffee
house, a health fair, and a volleyball tournament. We also
joined with national churches and other organizations to help with
their projects, including sports camps, English camps, field days,
and orphanage ministry. To say it has been a packed year is
an understatement, but we are so thankful to see God’s Word
going out to the people of eastern Hungary, northern Serbia, and
Romania.
The good news doesn’t stop there. We had another team
member join us in our work. Stacia Haley arrived on the
field the end of September on a two-year assignment to help with
sports ministry. She joins our other two Journeygirls, Holly
and A.P., to expand our student ministry team. She has
already been a great blessing, and we cannot express enough
gratitude to God for bringing the three young ladies together.
In addition to helping with the ministries listed above, these
girls have started a Bible study for discipling women, a weekly
English club, helped start a new weekly student outreach on
campus, and regularly meet with students to share Christ with
them.
Obviously the list of projects and events is too long to go into
detail about in a newsletter. Carolyn tries to keep people
updated throughout the year via our website, our blog, and the IMB
Europe site. You can follow the updates online at http://www.hope4ehu.com,
http://gcmiller2hu.xanga.com,
and http://tinyurl.com/imbeur-ehu.
She’s also on Facebook.
The economic downturn in the US is affecting missions around the
world. The International Mission Board is struggling and
greatly appreciates your prayers and financial support. The
shortfalls came in the middle of a large reorganization, putting
even more pressure on the budget. It looks like 2010 is
going to be a very difficult year for missionaries world wide.
We know that many of the people who receive our newsletter are not
Southern Baptist. Most of the organizations with which we
have personal contact are reporting similar situations. No
matter what your denomination, the mission work needs your prayers
and support. We know these are difficult times, but it
was in the context of supporting missions that Paul wrote, “And
my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory
in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19
Just as Paul thanked the church for their support, we thank you
and pray that God will bless you this Holiday season with a very
Merry Christmas and blessed New Year.
Love in Christ,
Gary for the Eastern Hungary Team
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Sent
Thursday, May 15, 2009 11:59 PM
Dear Prayer
Partners,
Thank you for
your continued support this month as we focus prayer on specific
ministries that are currently going on or will occur later this
year.
Nick, our
skateboarder, is here and getting oriented to the city. We
are not letting the wet rainy weather that moved in to greet him
dampen our excitement about what God has in store for
this very different type of ministry.
The school
changed the location of the baseball camp to a place that is not
suitable. I talked with the principal for a long time and we
looked at other places. She finished by saying we'll work it
out somehow. She then added that we should just show up
Monday ready to have the camp. And that is what we will do.
A Friday night concert has been added. It will be more of a
coffee house type of ministry with a lot of time afterward to have
a coffee and talk with people.
The volleyball
team will have a game Tuesday afternoon at the same time we
have the baseball camp. Pray for A.P. as she works with the
team and tries to communicate with them.
Please pray for
the summer outreach schedule. I had the tentative schedule
ready but today I received a request from a national pastor
for us to help in a camp. It is a pastor we hope to work
with for a new church plant in
another city. Ask God to make it clear which of the several
options we choose.
Last Friday,
Carolyn had what we thought was a reaction to a new pain
medication. We made a trip to Budapest so that they could do
some tests to insure there was not a heart problem or something
along those lines. Everything checked out fine so it was
determined that it was the medicine. The doctors
decided that she should stay and have a full physical with some
checks by specialists. As it turns out there is a new
therapist at the clinic that specializes in her back problem.
The therapy is going very well. They changed her pain
medicine and then yesterday (Wednesday) she again had what they
think is a reaction to her new medicine.
Please pray that God will bring total and complete healing so we
can just eliminate the need for the pain medication
altogether.
Also please
pray for me as we adapt our current activities and plan for future
ones. It is always difficult under the best of
circumstances but even harder without my better half here.
Again, thank
you.
Love
in Christ,
Gary
for
the eastern Hungary team
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Sent Friday,
May 8, 2009 12:29 AM
Dear Prayer
Partners,
Thank you to
all of those who are standing with us in the special prayer
emphasis for eastern Hungary. I would like to update you on
what is happening so far.
The aviation
camp had to be shortened due to too few students. We changed
the format to a two day after-school program at the church
and opened up the classroom time to everyone. Sixteen
different students came. It was interesting to see ages
ranging from 9 to 45 in the class together studying the same
thing. We did not lower the level of the teaching, but it
all went very well.
Due to changes
in liability laws, the foundation will only fly with students 18
and older. Two were able go on Tuesday and the others will
be worked in later. We found out Wednesday morning that
two students had shown up out at the campground Monday morning.
They had inquired about the camp earlier but had not
officially registered. The staff at the campground did not
know about the other classes and sent the students home. Two
more would have given us enough students to hold a longer
program.
Please pray for
the foundation's president, Edmond, and the board of directors.
They are facing major decisions regarding the future of the
foundation as they seek a permanent place of their own instead of
renting space at other campgrounds. Also pray for his family
and the church where he serves as senior pastor.
The
skateboarder ministry in Debrecen has been extended from three
weeks to six, running from May 14 to June 24. We dream
of planting a new church for these young people who feel
disenfranchised from mainstream society. Please pray for
Nick as he comes to work. He has experience in planting
churches among this generation and we hope that when he leaves
there will be at least an ongoing Bible
study moving toward a new church.
Love
in Christ,
Gary
for
the Eastern Hungary Team
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Received Thursday, April 23,
2009 9:25 PM
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.
● Update on Dec. 23 Scripture distribution in Nádudvar
● Update on student ministries
● Ongoing Hajdúszoboszló English course
● May prayer focus
● Aviation camp
● Skateboarding
● Baseball camp
● English camp
● Student fall activities
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 Hajduszoboszlo 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 at http://www.hope4ehu.com/prayer.html
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. (Photo on the
"Prayer" page of our site.) 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 reply to this email or 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.
(Note: For security reasons we will no longer put volunteers' last
names on our website.)
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
www.hope4ehu.com
www.xanga.com/gcmiller2hu |
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Received Tuesday, February 24,
2009 10:45 PM
Greetings
from Debrecen, Hungary!
There will be a health fair this Saturday in Budapest, sponsored
by the Jozsef Utca Baptist Church.
A group of Hungarian Baptist doctors will be giving free
check-ups, consultations and presentations dealing with the health
of mind, body and soul; there will also be a blood drive.
Gary and Carolyn will be going to observe, help, and to talk with
them about possibly partnering together for medical missions in
eastern Hungary. The organizing doctor asks that we pray
that people will come to receive medical care, but not so many
that the doctors will be overwhelmed.
Due to illness, changes in employment, and other life
circumstances, attendance has dropped off in the advanced class of
the Hajduszoboszlo English Course and has decreased some in the
intermediate class; the beginner class is holding steady, however.
Please continue to pray that along with the English, the students
will learn about the Lord and His love for them.
Journeyman A.P. Crouch is following up on opportunities to
interact with youth in some area schools,
and has talked with one P.E. teacher about helping coach
volleyball. Pray for wisdom and direction for her in what
things to take on, and that she will continue to form good
relationships which will lead to opportunities to share her faith.
Also pray for A.P.'s health.
Journeyman Holly McMickle has begun leading a new small-group Bible
study for several girls who are committed to going deeper
in their faith. Praise the Lord
that they are eager for this. Pray that as she disciples
them they will grow strong in the Lord and learn to witness to and
disciple others.
We have been approached about the possibility of teaching each
week in a new Baptist high school here in Debrecen--native English
speakers are required for certification of their English language
program. In addition to teaching those students, we would also be
working with young people in the secular private school which acts
as the umbrella organization for
the Baptist school. Please pray for wisdom for us in making
the decision. It would require a commitment of time and energy,
but we see great potential for reaching many young people from
around the area, as well as forming relationships with faculty,
staff and parents.
So far no young people have signed up for our International World
Changers (IWC) summer project, and this is the week when the
decision will be made which projects to cut due to lack of
registered participants. Please pray that if God wants this
project to happen that He will provide the volunteers. IWC
volunteer numbers over all are down...please pray for the IWC
staff as they make decisions about how to proceed with the summer
plans. (More information about IWC mission projects can be
found at http://www.thetask.org/students/default.asp.)
Gary is currently working on our spring and summer schedule, so
please pray for wisdom in planning for him. Pray that
interns, volunteer teams, and our own personnel will all be used
strategically for the Kingdom, that many will hear and come to
know the love of Christ.
Thank you for your prayers!
God bless,
Carolyn for the Eastern Hungary Team
www.hope4ehu.com
www.xanga.com/gcmiller2hu
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Received Wednesday, December
17, 2008 9:59 PM
Dear
Family, Friends, and Prayer Partners,
Thank you all very much for your continued prayer support. Christmas
is such a wonderful time to think about God’s precious gift of
Himself for our sin. At the end of every year we look
back amazed at what God has done, and this year is no exception.
Before I give the details let me first give a quick list of items
in this newsletter.
- Special thanks for your support
- Bible distribution in Balmazujvaros October
26
- Update on the presentation on the reliability of Scripture in
Balmazujvaros
- First Fridays at Five
- Hajduszoboszlo English course
- May prayer focus
- Have a very merry Christmas!
Our team Christmas card to you is
at http://www.hope4ehu.com.
The special thanks is for all who support our ministry through the
Cooperative Program and the Lottie
Moon offering for missions. That is where our
financial support comes from, and we are so grateful to those who
faithfully give through their churches. Prayer is and always
will be what we are most thankful for, but we want to
express special appreciation to those who give sacrificially to
keep us on the field.
We also want to thank all of those who have given to special
projects this year. Over the past year special gifts have
provided many extras to our ministry efforts. They have
provided over 1200 Bibles and New
Testaments, an espresso machine for coffee house ministry,
150 Visual Bible DVDs, new eyeglasses for our Roma “Gypsy”
church planting intern, and regular help for a young family
in need.
It is almost unbelievable what God has done. I haven’t had
time to list separately all of the different types of Bibles and
DVDs distributed, but the total stands at 1591 Bibles or Scripture
portions – almost all with a signed commitment card to read it.
And we still have one more Scripture distribution to go!
In our last newsletter we asked you to pray about the Scripture
distribution in Balmazujvaros at the open market October
26, and the presentation that evening. One of the
pastors from our church asked the Baptist church in the town of
Hajduboszormeny to help us with it since they were the closest and
at one time had an active mission in the town. The pastor
from that church brought two youth to help, and a friend from our
church also came. It was great to see the young people get
excited about serving the Lord. We passed out 154 total
copies, most of which were whole Bibles.
The pastor was also the one who was to hold the evening
presentation. As it turned out, however, we had to cancel
because no one from the community building staff showed up with
the key to let us in. It was a four-day weekend here that
week and the person forgot all about it. About thirty of us
waited out in the cold for an hour as we tried to track down the
key, then finally we prayed and headed home. The next day
the manager called and apologized. They not only
refunded our money, but we also get to use the building next time
for free. We are talking with the Hajduboszormeny church
about the wisest use of this opportunity, and will likely hold a
special evangelistic program some time in the spring.
One of the thirty we waited with outside the building was the
county president of the Gideons.
They had tried to hold a Scripture distribution in the town
before, but were stopped. We explained that is why we rent a
booth at the market. There is no application through the
government, but instead we deal with just one person – the
market manager. We approach people by simply informing them
about the opportunity. Those interested can stop, and those
not interested can keep going. It is a built-in “filter”
to find those interested in the Bible. When they receive the
Bible they also have the opportunity to sign up for Bible
study or can request further information.
The one remaining Bible distribution this year will be in the town
of Nadudvar on the morning of Tuesday, December
23. This will be the last day of the open
market before Christmas. Friends have told us that it will
be one of the busiest days of the year. This puts us in
contact with hundreds of people from one small geographical
area in a very short period of time.
Volunteers from Kaba, Puspokladany, and Hajduszoboszlo will be
coming to help us. The results of the Scripture distribution
will help guide our next steps in planting a church in this town.
Also in our last newsletter we mentioned that our student ministry
is growing. Holly started holding special events the first
Friday of every month to give students something to do, and to
help us make connections with them. She has held three so
far. You can read about the first two, a traditional
Hungarian bacon roast and a movie night, on the Heart for Hungary
website: http://www.teamhungary.com/spotlight.htm
(Scroll down to the second story on the page.) The third
event was proofreading and English practice held at a local coffee
shop on campus. As we go into the next year we will further
develop the student ministries and add more sports outreach.
Please pray for wisdom and direction for our team and those we
will be partnering with.
November saw the start of the English Course at the Hajduszoboszlo
Baptist Church. These classes meet every other Thursday at
9:30 AM. Since all 20 of the students are working people, not all
can attend every time, but we have still averaged about 10 – 12
per occasion. We volunteer our time so that the cost remains in
reach of working families. The church charges a small fee to
cover photocopies, utilities, and the fuel for us to come. The fee
not only makes the program self-supporting, but it also gives the
people “buy-in” so they don't feel like it's a handout.
The classes will start back up on January 8 and continue meeting
through mid-May. Please pray that along with learning English, the
students will be impacted by the Bible
stories we use in teaching.
It is not too early to start helping us with our 31
Days of Prayer for Eastern Hungary in May. May seems
like a long way off right now, but it will be here before we
realize it. We are trying to increase our prayer support as
much as possible; our goal is to eventually have 1000 committed
prayer supporters lifting up the work here in eastern Hungary.
With every newsletter and prayer update come the usual bounced
emails or returned letters. Since we have not been back in the
States for over a year we have not been able to make new contacts
fast enough to keep up. We need your help. Do you know
someone who cares about missions and is willing to stand with us
in prayer? If you do, and if that person wants to join our prayer
team, please email us their contact information or send it to our
Stateside Prayer Coordinator: Nancy Lucas, 3826
Westlawn, Wichita, KS 67203.
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 typically updates the blog every few days with news and
pictures from special events. Holly and A.P. each have their
own blog, too. 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.
Last but not least, we wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year. Many have lost loved ones this year
and we pray that the God of all comfort will hold you close.
May the Prince of Peace quiet
those who have experienced turmoil. May He bring healing to
the sick and light to those trapped in darkness. Most of all
we pray that you will experience the great Joy that surpasses
explanation.
In His Love,
Gary and Carolyn for the Eastern Hungary Team
Field address:
Gary and Carolyn Miller
Bem Ter 8, fsz. 3
4026 Debrecen
Hungary
Email address: gcmiller@pobox.com
Website: http://www.hope4ehu.com/
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Sent
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 11:49 PM
Dear
Family, Friends, and Prayer Partners,
Thank
you all very much for your continued prayer support. I
(Gary) apologize for not getting our summer update out. I am
not sure where the time went, but somehow it just got away from
us.
Quick
list of prayer items in this newsletter.
Praises:
Summer work
Team is growing.
New residence permits.
Prayer
Requests:
Bible distribution in Balmazujvaros the morning of October 26.
Presentation
on the reliability of Scripture in Balmazujvaros the evening of
October 26.
Possible scripture distribution in Nadudvar November 30.
In
our last newsletter we asked you to please pray for healing for
both Gary and Carolyn. Gary's back problem turned out to be
a pulled muscle, and the doctor said it would take time to heal.
He spent the last two weeks of May going daily to physical therapy
to help relax it and then to strengthen it. It gave him
problems well into the summer but is now back to pre-injured
state. Carolyn is healing very well from the surgery.
Having to lie in bed so much and not getting to do her exercises
caused a flare up of the Chronic Myofacial Pain. She is now
back into her exercise program to help it. Please pray that
it will help.
A
team came from Cross Timber Baptist church in Texas to hold an
English camp in the town of Hajduszoboszlo the last week of June.
Cross Timber is the church where we stayed during our time in the
States in 2007. We have come to love the members of this
church greatly, and it was an awesome experience to get to serve
together on this side of the big pond. They put together a
team in less than two months and organized an excellent camp.
The Hungarian pastor, Tibi, is over four small churches, and the
team ended up holding services in three of the four on Sunday.
Levi,
our Roma (Gypsy) church planter intern from Romania, arrived the
following week and was with us until mid-August. We spent
several days orienting him to the city and to the work. So
many things were new to him since he came from a very small, very
poor village. Until the week before his arrival there were
supposed to be two interns, but the other one's father had a
stroke and she needed to stay and help care for him.
We
had to totally rethink our Roma work after Levi arrived. He
had to spend time studying language because in Romania they speak
an older form of Hungarian. One friend from church told him
that it was actually refreshing for her because she has not heard
Hungarian spoken like that since her grandmother passed away.
But in Levi's village they mix in Romanian and Romany words so he
had to learn the Hungary-Hungarian vocabulary. He told us
when he left that he realizes he now speaks a more proper form of
Hungarian.
In
July, we partnered with the church in the town of Puspokladany,
which is one under Tibi's care. We held a Scripture
distribution while the church held a tent evangelistic outreach
and sports camp. We gave out Bibles in the open market on
Friday morning and then set up our booth next to the church's tent
for Saturday and Sunday. Volunteers from all four of the
churches came to help while we were out in the market. One
volunteer was a nurse's aide, so she offered free blood pressure
checks. Gary then preached one of the services during the
outreach. You can read more about that part of the work on
the Heart for Hungary website: http://www.teamhungary.com/spotlight.html.
Scroll down to the third story on the page.
The
following week the church held a sports camp. Levi was able
to attend the entire camp. During the week the attendees got
instruction on many types of sports and physical education.
Gary taught a block on baseball which went over well, but the
complexity of baseball is difficult to get down in one afternoon.
We hope to hold a baseball camp there again next spring.
Each
night of the camp there was a special presentation offered.
On Friday evening Gary held a lecture on Heaven and Hell: What
Does the Bible Really Teach. Even in the church there is a
lot of misunderstanding, and we use words interchangeably that are
different terms in Greek and Hebrew. Since then we have met
many people from the camp who have thought about the presentation
and want to ask more questions.
After
the sports camp we focused on Roma work. Our goal was to get
a group started in Puspokladany and then let a national church
planter or pastor take over. We have a good relationship
with the Roma community there and felt this was the best place to
start. Our plan originally called for the two interns to
help in the Bible distribution and sports camp to get accustomed
to the town, then travel by train from Debrecen to Puspokladany
two or three times a week for outreach. Levi, however, never
got comfortable enough to go alone, which meant that we did not
get to go back as much as we had wished.
In
2007 our interns met some Roma women with whom they began to build
a friendship. We took photographs from the girls back to the
ladies as a way to get our foot in the door for this summer's
work. We gave them the photographs and introduced them to
Levi. We had several rounds of picture-taking and giving,
and each time we went back we got deeper and deeper into spiritual
matters. We then planned a large cookout for the end of the
summer as a going-away party for Levi. This was to be the
point to see if we could get a group started. However when
we arrived no one came out to greet us, and we knew there was a
problem. We called to the neighbor lady and she came out and
invited us in for coffee. The husband in the home where we
were to hold the cookout was drunk and the wife asked if we could
postpone the dinner. We stayed for about an hour, and in the
course of the conversation we were able to share the Gospel.
Even though things did not develop as planned, the door is still
open for future work.
We
have a Bible distribution planned for Sunday, October 26, in the
town of Balmazujvaros at the open market. The church we
attend here will be helping with the distribution, and then we
will help with a presentation that afternoon in the same town.
Our church wants to use it get a new church plant started in the
city.
We
are trying to get one more Bible distribution organized for the
town of Nadudvar. Hopefully this will be the first day of
Advent, which is the last Sunday of November. It is a
special day here for both Catholics and Protestants, and we felt
it an appropriate time for giving out God's Word.
Out
team is growing! Anna Paige (A.P.) Crouch joined our team on
October 15. She will be involved with student ministry and
in helping us to develop our sports outreaches. She was a PE
major and is currently working on her Master's degree in
Missiology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Part of her training is two years practical experience here on the
field. You can read more about A.P. on our website at http://www.hope4ehu.com/team.html.
She also has a blog where you can hear directly from her: http://web.mac.com/apcrouch.
Another praise
report - we got our new residence permits. They are for
three years and are renewable. A number of our colleagues
had received visas or residence permits that are not renewable.
It took almost two months for ours to be processed and we were
afraid that there was some type of problem. It was a great
relief to see them stamp the new ones into our passports.
Busy schedules
often keep us from sending out updates as often as we would like,
but those with internet access came keep up-to-date by checking
out our blog at http://www.xanga.com/gcmiller2hu.
Carolyn typically updates the blog every few days with news from
special events.
The student
ministry continues to grow. Holly keeps people updated
through her blog at http://hollyshungary.blogspot.com
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
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Click
here to view Miller Updates from January 2006 thru July 2008
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