Budapest Outreach Week 6 Update!

I can't believe how quickly the last few weeks have flown by. It feels like we just got to Budapest, but we're actually already finishing up this outreach! Just 8 days left in this beautiful city... Crazy! 

Central Europe Staff Gathering Family Picture!
We're in there somewhere!

Last time I sent an update we were just about to head to Vajta for the YWAM Central Europe Staff Gathering. We had an amazing and exhausting week at the conference. It was such a privilege to be able to hear from YWAM's founder, Loren Cunningham, but I think even more of a privilege to get to spend the whole week with the teens of YWAM! They are such a special group of people who also give so much as missionary kids along with their missionary parents! We had an amazing time worshipping with them through music and creative arts, sharing devotionals, hearing about their lives and all of the adventures they've already been on, and just hanging out being goofy with them! We played lots of games, went swimming, and enjoyed meals together too. We were all sad when our team had to head back to Budapest! 



It's been pretty crazy since we've been back in the city. Rachel (our DTS school leader) and Dani (another staff member) came from Seamill last Monday for a pastoral visit and were with us until Friday! It was so great to have them here in Budapest and it was a huge blessing to our team. 

Testimonies!

I just want to share a few highlights from the last couple of weeks:

The first happened yesterday during our street evangelism time... Anna got to lead a man to Jesus!! She was so excited!! She was just sharing with him about what Jesus had done in her life, and he decided he wanted to have that in his own life! She is hoping to reconnect with him next week. Please pray they'll be able to talk again and that he will continue to seek and encounter Jesus in these coming days!

Celena giving her testimony while Gabor translated

Another cool thing has been seeing how relationships we've built are growing, and we're seeing fruit from them! Celena met a guy in the first or second week we were here named Gabor. He had just come to Jesus a couple weeks before we came. He's actually homeless and living on the streets, and before meeting Jesus, he was addicted to drugs. Jesus immediately set him free from his addiction, and he has been experiencing so much more joy and freedom since then! Over the weeks, Gabor has been coming to the Friday night cafe, and Celena and the others have really been pouring into him. This last Friday at the cafe, he told Celena that he wants to become a pastor and tell everyone about Jesus. That night they got to pray for another guy at the cafe whose knee was completely healed, and Gabor was the one who prayed! He is so on fire for Jesus! And he actually joined us yesterday for our street evangelism time. He translated the gospel and shared his testimony through the microphone, and was hard to keep up with in his enthusiasm to just walk up to people on the street and tell them about Jesus' love! And all of this was his first time doing any sort of evangelism... Jesus is so good!

I also want to share about God's faithfulness to what He spoke before we left Seamill. He had spoken a lot about friendship/relationships and also encouraging the local church, and He's been faithful to bring opportunities to us for both! This Sunday we got to share at the International Baptist Church of Budapest. They gave us twenty minutes to share testimonies and some music. Celena and Kevin shared testimonies about what they've seen Jesus do in this city, and I got to share a word of encouragement from the things we'd gotten in prayer for their church. Sharing in churches is one of my favourite things, and we all got really positive feedback from the people there. I think it was also a really good experience for the trainees to share in a church before heading back to their own churches this summer! 



A personal highlight for me was getting to spend time with Dan and Katy Beth Searls a couple weeks ago. When I was 8 or 9 years old, I remember looking at the bulletin board at Labish Church and seeing the Searls' prayer card. I thought to my 8 year old self, "It would be so cool to go visit the Searls in Hungary someday!" Fast forward around 14 years... It happened! Jesus is SO ridiculous. I randomly ran into Dan and Katy Beth a few weeks ago in Budapest, and then two weeks ago my team and I got to enjoy a beautiful Sunday with them. We were so blessed by their hospitality and joy, and I'm slightly overwhelmed by how much Jesus loves to answer even the most passing, seemingly unrealistic, thoughts and desires of our hearts.

Some ways to pray! 

- Good health for everyone! Celena has had a pretty bad cold for a few days now, but she's pressed on like a champ! A couple others have had sore throats/stuffy noses too, so please pray for a healthy last 8 days!

- Continued passion and energy for the ministries we're involved with 

- More salvations and people encountering Jesus!!!

- A good finish: that we can leave Budapest without feeling like there are loose ends or things left incomplete 

- Breakthrough in a couple of relationships, especially with Bryce's buddy Laszlo. He is so close to giving his life to Jesus, and we are all praying that he will make that decision while we are still here! 

- That we would become even closer as a team, in ministry and at home; that we would know how to encourage and build one another up and how to really pursue Jesus together! We've really been asking Jesus how we can end this outreach well and strong individually and as a team. It's so easy to just coast through the last couple weeks of an outreach, but none of us want to do that! 

Thank you for supporting us in prayer! It has been such a privilege to serve Jesus with this team in Budapest! 

Cheers!
Katy