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These past two weeks have been very revealing, and there is a lot to share.

On Wednesday, the 23^rd, we traveled down to a town called Révfülöp for our National Staff Conference. All of the Campus Crusade (Timoteus Társaság in Hungary) staff in Budapest came together for a time of fellowship, administration, and teaching. Révfülöp is on the Balaton, the largest fresh water lake in Central Europe, not far from Keszthely, where we held the SpeakOut camp. It’s a good thing that we were busy with meetings all week, because Révfülöp is quite small, with not a lot to do. It also rained a lot, so when we did have free time, we were restricted inside. One day was nice, though, and Julie and I hiked up the local mountain.

The meetings were long, and somewhat tiring, but were overall very effective. We discussed many Campus Crusade global documents and priorities, as well as administrative and scheduling details. We also got to hear from Don Mansfield, a very involved senior Crusade Staff member, who has served in several countries, including England and Macedonia, and as the Country Director of Albania.

We read through 2^nd Corinthians and discussed our calling and roles. Here are some verses concerning the ministry that stood out to me this week:

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” 2^nd Cor. 2:14-15

“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” 2^nd Cor. 3:6

“Therefore, since through God’s mercy, we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” 2^nd Cor. 4:1

God has called me to Himself, and to the people here in this specific place and I am so excited to see where He leads me now that I am here. I am looking forward to and praying for growth in the Lord this year. I hope that you are praying for that as well. The closer I am to the Lord, the more apt I am to go out and try to win people for Christ!

Another exciting thing that happened at the conference is that the High School Fék (Fiatalok Elet az Kuszobén, Youth on the Threshold of Life) team came together for the first time and had our first meeting! Our team consists of the three STINTers: Me, Ashley, and Kirsten, a Bulgarian couple, Jordan and Villi that are working with us this year, András and Timi, tow Hungarian Fék staff members, and Zach and Julie, our ministry directors.

I am so grateful for each person on this team and so excited to see God use us all together for His glory.

This was also a hard week, because we were without our fourth STINTer, Kenzie. We found out that due to unforeseen circumstances, she will not be joining us in Hungary this year. Please pray for her as this is a hard thing to deal with; and pray for us, as this was unexpected news to hear and we will have to adjust the ministry, as well as our living arrangements.

Now that we’re back in Budapest from Révfülöp, our ministry year is beginning. Our first student leadership meeting was Tuesday night. We all gathered together and sent emails, text messages, and made phone calls to students that have either been involved or are interested in getting involved with our Friday night ministry.

Our first official weekly Fék team meeting was Wednesday morning. We were together for several hours, discussing details and expectations for the year. We also received a list of names of students that we will specifically be working with individually.

Our first Friday night meeting is tonight. We are meeting in a large park next to the coffee shop where we usually meet. It will be a fun first night of games, food, and getting to know one another. Please pray for good weather, and that lots and lots of students would come to this first meeting.

Please also pray for our team and the local students that we’ve invited to a part of the leadership ministry.

Thank you all so much for your prayer and support. I’ll update again soon J

posted by Lauren @ 9:22 AM