Thanksgiving: God Answers Prayers                    

30,000 international students live and study in Budapest. Our friend Myriam has been praying for 5 years that God would raise someone to help reach these students for Christ. This year the Lord raised up a small group of believers from our church burdened for these students. Now 30-40 international students gather in the basement of a Christian coffee house in Budapest every two weeks. They desire to experience community. They come to learn how to succeed adapting to a foreign culture. The volunteers don’t hide their faith, they provide opportunities to discuss topics relevant to students living abroad. They also look for an opportunity to share the gospel when they meet with these students throughout a week. I recently spoke at one of the gatherings and met students from Oman, Pakistan, Mongolia, Syria, Australia, Brazil. Two Egyptian students, Yazmine (next to me on the picture below) and Hamen (right bottom corner of the picture above) approached me after the presentation. They shared that they seek something more than just a general understanding of the seasons of transition. THEY TURNED OUT TO BE BELIEVERS who seek to be discipled while away from their home. They were worshiping with us the following Sunday. After the church service, we took them out for lunch to get to know about their journey with Christ. 

Pray that the Lord would bring together a Bible study  through our local church that would be a place of encouragement and growth for young men like Hamen.

Thanksgiving: the life-giving Word
“The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world-
just as it has been doing among you”. Col 1:6-7

What does an Egyptian, a Palestinian, a Kosovar, and an Albanian all have in common? I met them at our church and later had a privilege to talk to them about Jesus! Here are just two short stories…

I (David) and an Albanian colleague (Gusti) met Nazimir from Kosova for lunch to learn about his journey with the Lord. We discovered that Nazimir is a believer who needs a Bible Study. A week later, Nazimir brough Fatian (another international student from Vlora, Albania). I quickly discovered that Fatian does not know Christ. Yulia prayed as I shared the good news of Jesus Christ with Fatian. Pray for the gospel to sprout and grow in Fati’s heart. Pray also for Fati’s relationship with Nazimir to grow so that he could witness first-hand the goodness of God watching a Christian’s life. 

Last week we met with Malik, a young Palestinian student. He shared that he is on a journey toward God. As we met over lunch we gave him freedom to ask any questions. We focused talking about “merit”. Can we do anything to deserve God’s favor. Pray for Malik to continue on his journey toward the Lord.
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Two groups of women gather with Yulia to study the book of Colossians. Simple discipline of gathering around the Word weekly is lifegiving to fatigued and burdened children of the Most High. Here is a message I recently received from one of the members of the study, named Eliso. She is a young Ukrainian/Georgian from Odessa Ukraine, who joined our study in September. She wrote, ”Thank you for the study. For me this is a real blessing, and I really needed such time. While being at home, sick with Covid for 2 weeks, I have been reviewing the study notes, reading Colossians and listening to the recording of our group discussions. And God just revived me through His Word”.