Our first week in Budapest was amazing. The weather is great, the city is beautiful, the people don't really speak English, and the team has been doing really well! It was mostly spent getting to know the city and how YWAM works here, but also getting right to work. There is a team from YWAM Lausanne in Switzerland that is also doing their longterm outreach here. They will be in Budapest until the 26th of May, so we've been joining them in what they are doing in the city. It's been really good to have another team here so we can see how ministry works best in this city! They are a team of 11, so it's also been really fun to have other people to hangout with since we are such a small group!
We do specific street evangelism twice a week on Monday and Thursday afternoons. It's really different from what we normally do at Seamill, but so far it's been really fun and lots of good conversations and opportunities to pray for people have come of it! We set up a couple of speakers and microphones in the metro stations and then just go for it - singing, banjo playing, testimonies, gospel presentations, and the other team does a couple of skits. And of course, you can't forget the Cupid Shuffle dance to draw a crowd! Our four trainees are so bold - they will literally talk to anyone about anything and end up sharing Jesus with whoever is in front of them. They are incredibly self-motivated and willing to do anything!
We have been working with homeless people on the streets on Tuesday afternoons, giving them sandwiches, chatting with them, and praying for them. I think this will be one of our group's favourite ministry times!
We work with refugees on Wednesday mornings who are staying at a homeless shelter in the city. They are mostly from Northern Africa and Afghanistan. It's a great opportunity to just talk with them (most speak at least a little English). We will hopefully get the chance to go to a refugee camp outside the city a few times while we are here.
We also got to hangout with a bunch of Roma gypsy kids for several hours for two Sunday mornings. It was complete chaos but a lot of fun with dancing, Bible stories, and Anna's face painting!
We spend quite a bit of time with the YWAM staff team here in Budapest as well. We are joining them several times a week at the YWAM coffeehouse for base worship, intercession, cleaning, and their Friday night cafe ministry. I think we have all felt incredibly welcomed and immediately included in their lives and work here. It has been an amazing first few weeks, and I am so impressed with Kevin, Bryce, Anna, and Celena's willingness and boldness. We are all doing well and are so excited for what Jesus will do in the coming weeks and thankful for what He has already done in the short time we've been here!
The last two weeks, we continued on with what we were doing the first week It has been really good to have consistency in the ministries so we're able to build friendships and relationships with people!
Testimonies!
From Katy:
Two weeks ago we also had the opportunity to partner with a small international church as they organized a "crusade"-like evangelistic event that took place last Friday and Saturday night. We helped them pass out over 1,000 flyers on Monday morning, and then the 5 of us joined their prayer ministry team for the Saturday night meeting. Jesus showed up in some amazing ways! Over the weekend at least 8 people gave their lives to Jesus, at least that many were healed physically in some way, and about 70 people heard the gospel! The turn out wasn't quite what was hoped for, but as the pastor said when we first met with him a couple weeks ago - if even one came to Jesus, it would be totally worth it!
A Hungarian girl and I got to lead a man to Jesus on the sidewalk outside the venue. We talked with him for about 30 minutes, sharing God's heart with him, praying for him, leading him in a salvation prayer, and then got to pray for him to be filled with Holy Spirit! When we first were talking with him, he said he was so angry and wanted to kill everyone. He was not in a great place... But as we talked with him, he was filled with peace and left completely changed!
Inside, the four trainees were having a party. They were praying and prophesying over people, seeing people getting healed and coming to Jesus.
That Saturday night, our team was part of four people coming into relationship with Jesus! Thankfully there were enough Hungarians for us all to partnered with someone who could translate. It was so fun to be able to do ministry with people who are so committed to seeing the gospel spread in their own nation!
From Bryce about cafe ministry on Friday nights:
Outreach has definitely been a challenge for me, but also very rewarding. I'm sure I could tell you stories for hours, but one in particular is very special to me. During cafe ministry our first week, I met a guy named Laszlo. He's Hungarian. I saw him outside the cafe peering in, and I hoped that he would come into the building, thankfully he did. He looked lost so I thought I would introduce myself. We got to talking, and long story short, he's not a Christian, but he's whats called a straight edge (they don't do drugs or drink or anything like that). He is now a good friend, and has continued to come to the cafe on Fridays and we have been able to hangout outside of those nights. He had never heard the gospel before, and I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to share it with him. When I did, it was outside the huge basilica in Budapest, at night, with all the lights shining on it. I also shared some scripture with him and he responded to it well. He went home and read the parable of the lost son in Hungarian and said " these stories are true, thank you man". He hasn't accepted Jesus YET but there's still more time. Pray that he will choose Jesus!
And here's a testimony from Anna and Celena from street outreach (they're an evangelism power team!!):
On one of the street Evangelism days, we went up to this random guy (we'll call him Joe), found out he spoke English and probably talked with him for about 2 hours. He didn't know or believe in God, but by the end of our time with him he had no reason not too. We were able to speak life over him, pray for him, tell him the gospel, tell him our testimonies, answer his questions, and tell him how Jesus is sooo worth it! It was really amazing because as we were talking to him we were both filled with so much joy talking about our Father and our tiredness or sickness went away as we spoke. You could see the light in his eyes and how his expressions and attitude changed the more we talked. Joe said he wanted the joy and boldness we had, so we got to pray for him and tell him how... (Jesus! ) and he was saying how no one ever comes up to him (a stranger) and just talks to him, especially about Jesus.
As Joe was talking about that 5 different Hungarians randomly came up and talked to us, and since we don't know Hungarian, he ended being used by God as a translator. And every person talked about Jesus! Joe heard so much about Jesus and was speaking it out, practically preaching without even realizing it! He probably heard the gospel three times and each time he spoke it out!
The presence of God was just getting stronger and stronger, and at one point a drunk guy got super angry once he entered the atmosphere of God's presence. He was yelling and being really rude, and ended up pouring his beer on our friend Lorrie's head.. Yet Lorrie responded in love and just said that Jesus loves him... And then the man just walked away! Then this lady came up and told Joe that she had been praying for the drunk man to just walk away. So Joe realized how the man had left even though he was so ready to fight. But Joe witnessed Lorrie's love and faith, and we got to explain all of this to him. You could tell that he was amazed, a little confused but really thinking. Sadly he was leaving for London so we couldn't stay in touch, but I think Joe left with God working so deeply within him that he was already a a changed man. He took a Bible and as he walked away, another lady walked up and stopped next to us for a second. They were playing the song "Oceans", so I turned to her to talk and looked her in the eyes. She immediately started sobbing. And she wept in mine and Anna's arms as we prayed for her. There were others who were nearby who randomly broke into tears as well. The place we were in was just so filled with the presence of God that you could see him working visibly not just in us and the people we talked to, but in random people walking by too. ~ Celena + Anna
Thank you for praying for us! Continue to pray for boldness, ease of communication even with different languages, for us as a team to go into deeper intimacy with Jesus, and for people to encounter Him through us!
We love you all!
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