Missions Conference
(Nahum 1:7) " The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him."
This weekend we had a missions conference with a missions organization called Menedék. It means "House of refuge". This ministry's focus is to help homeless people start their lives over again with Jesus Christ. They have done many amazing things. They started in 1984. During this time Communism was the reigningng force. Communisms view on mothers was that they were fit and able bodies for the work force, so that was what they did. The children no longer had a family to go home to after school, Communism was their parents. So the children quit going home and began sleeping on the streets and making gangs of clubs comprising all the other kids that did not want to go to their empty homes. This is when the church decided that they needed to do something about this. The saw the need and started a "tea club" than it just shot out from there. Later they began a home for boys, they started taking in children, and finding homes outside of Budapest for the boys who were stuck in gangs. They soon made a home for girls, and started feeding the homeless on the street. The Lord had provided for them in many ways to start this ministry, and has even provided a place to start the first christian elementary school. (very small) they began a music school, and have housed over 40 families at one time. Each having to take in 5 extra children to take care of.
In Budapest alone, there are over 1,500 homeless people. Wow this was a very sad conference, but made me realize how Great out God is! It did not shock me however the many stories and testimonies we heard, because I have seen alot on the streets of Budapest. The Lord has done so much throughout this ministry! It is so encouraging and awesome that the Lord is working in these peoples lives.
Matthew 25:40 "The king will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me!"
How do we deal with those we are suffering? Who are sick or do not have a place to stay? This gives us insight of the Lord's heart. May we help those in need, let us love others as Christ loves them. See others as Christ sees them!
The Lord has really been working in my heart the past couple of days, and I'v seen many things in my heart that I need to change. I have many battles that I need to fight, and sins that have unveiled. I'm learning that each day we are fighting these battles. The question is... how are you going to do it? We can never do it alone, and how many times is our perseverance and striving pleasing to the Lord?
Pray for me as the Lord is teaching me new things, and that I can personally apply them to my life!
This week we are going through the book of John! Today we had three hours of this class, and only got through the first chapter!! Wow! and it was so good! I have already learned so much! I can't wait to see what else will happen!
PRAYERS!
Please keep praying for my tuition. I have four more months to pay for!! Yeaah!
Please pray for my ministry. My Sunday school kids that they behave well, and that Chaz and I will be effective and that God will work through us! Also pray for this weekend! I am bringing 6 girls from school with me to the coffee house to show them the ministry that is going on there!! Pray that the Lord will keep us safe as we travel!
John 1:29 - "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
1st week back
" The Scriptures were not given for our information, but for our transformation." - D.L Moody
This past week we had a class over Ephesians with Pastor Phil Moser! I enjoyed this class so much! We learned about how our spiritual lives should not be unchanged. What our purpose is, and our opportunities in unity, ministry, change, communication, our walk, relationships, and our battle.
~ The points that encouraged me the most in this course was how God has redeemed us. From all our sin. Jesus said that He has set us free!! 2:15 "by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations." We shouldn't hold onto our past "If Only's..." or our Futures "what if's!" I tend to do that alot. When we do think of those things, it is hard for us to disciple others, because we are too focused on ourselves. Another huge point that I enjoyed was how Ephesians shows our purpose, the reason God made us! It is absolutely beautiful!
Ephesians 3:10-22 " His intent was that now, through the church. the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."
God created us so that we can experience and see His Great power and love, being like Christ. Wow it's so amazing to think that everything God has done and done through us and in us is for His own glory.
Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!"
I wish I could write to you everything that encouraged me in this book, however I can't write you the whole book. So I just encourage YOU to read it for yourself!! I love how it teaches us also how to live our life worthy of our calling!
We have been taking a class on Evolution!! Wow when we first came into the class,
I felt like it was almost impossible to evangelize to someone who believed in evolution. Well NOT anymore! I am writing a paper on this topic and I can't wait to share it with all of you!! If you ever have any questions on this topic or are confused pleased ask!! It's just soooo incredible once you HEAR the whole story and see the HUGE picture of this topic. Did you know that almost every single scientist today believes that Darwinism is not correct, and as hard as they have try to understand the creation of this world and the most intimate detail, once they get closer and closer to figure something out. They get more and more amazed with how much detail and knowledge is in a single cell!! More and more scientist are coming to the idea that an inteligent designer must exist. Ahh ok I will leave the rest for my paper! but i will make sure to past it on here next week!! I have to go finish writing it first!! That was just a little preview!
In my room we are starting a study on "every women's battles." We have only gotten through the first chapter, but already it has made an impact on me. I'm excited to see more of the "lies" us women believe.
This week we are also having a course on "time management" and what we are planning for our future... It seems all common sense. It has truly made me sit down and think about what I want to see accomplished in my life, and where I want to be in 5 years. I have plenty of goals and I am willing to share them with you!! If not, hopefully you will SEE them when i get home!! =D
**Prayer**
I am praying for more support! I need to pay for 4 more months of bible school. So far the Lord has provided for my stay, and it has been very beneficial!
I ask if you would like to support me, please consider even just 10 dollars a month. Please keep me in your prayers!
Pray as well for my health and to trust in Him!
This past week we had a class over Ephesians with Pastor Phil Moser! I enjoyed this class so much! We learned about how our spiritual lives should not be unchanged. What our purpose is, and our opportunities in unity, ministry, change, communication, our walk, relationships, and our battle.
~ The points that encouraged me the most in this course was how God has redeemed us. From all our sin. Jesus said that He has set us free!! 2:15 "by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations." We shouldn't hold onto our past "If Only's..." or our Futures "what if's!" I tend to do that alot. When we do think of those things, it is hard for us to disciple others, because we are too focused on ourselves. Another huge point that I enjoyed was how Ephesians shows our purpose, the reason God made us! It is absolutely beautiful!
Ephesians 3:10-22 " His intent was that now, through the church. the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."
God created us so that we can experience and see His Great power and love, being like Christ. Wow it's so amazing to think that everything God has done and done through us and in us is for His own glory.
Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!"
I wish I could write to you everything that encouraged me in this book, however I can't write you the whole book. So I just encourage YOU to read it for yourself!! I love how it teaches us also how to live our life worthy of our calling!
We have been taking a class on Evolution!! Wow when we first came into the class,
I felt like it was almost impossible to evangelize to someone who believed in evolution. Well NOT anymore! I am writing a paper on this topic and I can't wait to share it with all of you!! If you ever have any questions on this topic or are confused pleased ask!! It's just soooo incredible once you HEAR the whole story and see the HUGE picture of this topic. Did you know that almost every single scientist today believes that Darwinism is not correct, and as hard as they have try to understand the creation of this world and the most intimate detail, once they get closer and closer to figure something out. They get more and more amazed with how much detail and knowledge is in a single cell!! More and more scientist are coming to the idea that an inteligent designer must exist. Ahh ok I will leave the rest for my paper! but i will make sure to past it on here next week!! I have to go finish writing it first!! That was just a little preview!
In my room we are starting a study on "every women's battles." We have only gotten through the first chapter, but already it has made an impact on me. I'm excited to see more of the "lies" us women believe.
This week we are also having a course on "time management" and what we are planning for our future... It seems all common sense. It has truly made me sit down and think about what I want to see accomplished in my life, and where I want to be in 5 years. I have plenty of goals and I am willing to share them with you!! If not, hopefully you will SEE them when i get home!! =D
**Prayer**
I am praying for more support! I need to pay for 4 more months of bible school. So far the Lord has provided for my stay, and it has been very beneficial!
I ask if you would like to support me, please consider even just 10 dollars a month. Please keep me in your prayers!
Pray as well for my health and to trust in Him!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Love in Christ.
This past week i have been reading the book of 1 John. It focuses on warnings against false teachers, God's love, and how to love others. This week while reading through this scripture and having several thoughts pass through my mind. My eyes always lead me to the perfect Love and sacrifice of Christ. It reminds me of how beautiful God's love is and the gift that he freely gave to us. How important it is to feed our spirit with righteous things and to continue our walk with Christ everyday so that we will not be ashamed on the day of judgment. That we can stand with confidence knowing Christ has taken our place. As Christians we have the love of God in us. So we should share this love with others and with our brothers in Christ.
(4:16) And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
I notice that it is so easy for us to try and rely on other things or people for that Love. Only in Christ can we find that perfect love.
(4:18) There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear. because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
This week I have been realizing how much I do fear. When I do fear I notice that my heart isn't right with God, and I am not fully trusting in Him. I can find my self struggling in areas that I try to fix on my own. That's when life seems to be unclear, but when I hand them to the Lord. He suddenly unveils my eyes to see the perfect picture! There is no reason to fear because the Lord Holds EVERYTHING in his hands. When I act as a child without fear my life becomes more clear. The Lord has done so much already in my life! and i see the blessings that He gives when you just trust and rely on Him!
(5:14-15) This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.
CLEANING DAY/TRASH STORY!
While I was staying at my Friend Eva's flat, we decided to have a little cleaning day to finally get rid of things that needed to leave! It was funny! we had piles of shoe boxes and trash stacked high. John was taking the trash down three flights of stairs to the huge trash bin. The second time he came up, he grabbed me to come with him! I was a bit confused but he told me that I had to see something... We brought a "track" with us. (a track is a booklet that has the gospel in it in Hungarian. We use these when we go out street evangelising!) So he brought me down to the huge trash bin for all the flats. I noticed a family digging through the trash. The mom pulled out half a lemon and gave it to her son to eat. He ate the whole thing! my heart sank to my stomach. I mean we see so many homeless people on the street here in Budapest, and as I have been living here for a month, I really experienced the pain. We approached them, and her son seemed almost frightened, knowing that what he was doing prolly wasn't right. John spoke to her, and shared with her the gospel and how we wanted to help them. How we are praying for them! The lady understood us and was so thankful!! She rejoiced and said that she believed in God! She also told us how she had another son upstairs. We helped them out and went back to Evi's flat.
This break had made me realize to be content. It opened my eyes to see that the MOST important thing in our lives should be the ones we LOVE. We shouldn't think about the "things" we have. Who cares? things are just things... I'm sure you could live without having a car or warm water for a day. Reminds me of (1John.2:17)I realized how blessed I am, growing up without having these kind of experiences of having less than we should. I am even more thankful that I have now, and have seen the reality of what most of how the World lives. There is no reason to expect to have the things you have. Shouldn't we focus on People more than ourselves? What happened to the Care of the World? It breaks my heart to realize how selfish I have been. I took me a long time to get to this point of being content. I pray that I can continue to say this.
Hypocrite?
I had the privilege to stay with one of my best Hungarian friends from school over the break! We had several good conversations together and one of them was about being a hypocrite. I believe that everyone is!! It's hard to tell the truth sometimes, even when u don't realize it. I noticed that I need to start a change myself. Sometimes I just tell people what "they want to hear." And it's not what is truly on my heart. I need to start looking deeper and let my character express itself. And when i don't have an answer for someone, I should be honest and say i don't have the answer now. Being a hypocrite is... its like being a sinner. before being a christian you don't know that your a sinner. so why change. but once you are.. you start to change. but that doesn't make u a sinless person. you still will sin. once you realize that you are not totally honest. that you are a hypocrite. I believe that you can make some major changes in your thinking. and what you do and say. but that doesn't mean you wont still make mistakes even if they are smaller.
BUT their IS HOPE!! when we realize these kind of things. we can share it with others and put our focus on Christ, making ourselves more and more like him IN LOVE!! ♥
LOTS OF LEARNING AND GROWING!! Please keep me in your prayers as school is starting this week! My goals for this new year is to keep Christ as my first focus! so i can be mentally fit for my ministries! Pray for me as I disciple Evi, and others at school. That I can trust the Lord with my future plans and my needs for tuition to be payed would be met. My personal goals of being more neat and organized. Also putting the Most important things first. =)
Köszönöm!!!
Amanda Joy
"Appreciate the goodness of God. Count your blessings. Learn not to take....pleasures for granted."
J.I. Packer
(4:16) And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
I notice that it is so easy for us to try and rely on other things or people for that Love. Only in Christ can we find that perfect love.
(4:18) There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear. because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
This week I have been realizing how much I do fear. When I do fear I notice that my heart isn't right with God, and I am not fully trusting in Him. I can find my self struggling in areas that I try to fix on my own. That's when life seems to be unclear, but when I hand them to the Lord. He suddenly unveils my eyes to see the perfect picture! There is no reason to fear because the Lord Holds EVERYTHING in his hands. When I act as a child without fear my life becomes more clear. The Lord has done so much already in my life! and i see the blessings that He gives when you just trust and rely on Him!
(5:14-15) This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.
CLEANING DAY/TRASH STORY!
While I was staying at my Friend Eva's flat, we decided to have a little cleaning day to finally get rid of things that needed to leave! It was funny! we had piles of shoe boxes and trash stacked high. John was taking the trash down three flights of stairs to the huge trash bin. The second time he came up, he grabbed me to come with him! I was a bit confused but he told me that I had to see something... We brought a "track" with us. (a track is a booklet that has the gospel in it in Hungarian. We use these when we go out street evangelising!) So he brought me down to the huge trash bin for all the flats. I noticed a family digging through the trash. The mom pulled out half a lemon and gave it to her son to eat. He ate the whole thing! my heart sank to my stomach. I mean we see so many homeless people on the street here in Budapest, and as I have been living here for a month, I really experienced the pain. We approached them, and her son seemed almost frightened, knowing that what he was doing prolly wasn't right. John spoke to her, and shared with her the gospel and how we wanted to help them. How we are praying for them! The lady understood us and was so thankful!! She rejoiced and said that she believed in God! She also told us how she had another son upstairs. We helped them out and went back to Evi's flat.
This break had made me realize to be content. It opened my eyes to see that the MOST important thing in our lives should be the ones we LOVE. We shouldn't think about the "things" we have. Who cares? things are just things... I'm sure you could live without having a car or warm water for a day. Reminds me of (1John.2:17)I realized how blessed I am, growing up without having these kind of experiences of having less than we should. I am even more thankful that I have now, and have seen the reality of what most of how the World lives. There is no reason to expect to have the things you have. Shouldn't we focus on People more than ourselves? What happened to the Care of the World? It breaks my heart to realize how selfish I have been. I took me a long time to get to this point of being content. I pray that I can continue to say this.
Hypocrite?
I had the privilege to stay with one of my best Hungarian friends from school over the break! We had several good conversations together and one of them was about being a hypocrite. I believe that everyone is!! It's hard to tell the truth sometimes, even when u don't realize it. I noticed that I need to start a change myself. Sometimes I just tell people what "they want to hear." And it's not what is truly on my heart. I need to start looking deeper and let my character express itself. And when i don't have an answer for someone, I should be honest and say i don't have the answer now. Being a hypocrite is... its like being a sinner. before being a christian you don't know that your a sinner. so why change. but once you are.. you start to change. but that doesn't make u a sinless person. you still will sin. once you realize that you are not totally honest. that you are a hypocrite. I believe that you can make some major changes in your thinking. and what you do and say. but that doesn't mean you wont still make mistakes even if they are smaller.
BUT their IS HOPE!! when we realize these kind of things. we can share it with others and put our focus on Christ, making ourselves more and more like him IN LOVE!! ♥
LOTS OF LEARNING AND GROWING!! Please keep me in your prayers as school is starting this week! My goals for this new year is to keep Christ as my first focus! so i can be mentally fit for my ministries! Pray for me as I disciple Evi, and others at school. That I can trust the Lord with my future plans and my needs for tuition to be payed would be met. My personal goals of being more neat and organized. Also putting the Most important things first. =)
Köszönöm!!!
Amanda Joy
"Appreciate the goodness of God. Count your blessings. Learn not to take....pleasures for granted."
J.I. Packer
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