February 2016

I am a little bit late on my newsletter this month because I wanted to wait until Eurocon was over. Eurocon is the GGWO European convention, hosted annually in Budapest.

It seemed like I blinked and it was gone. There were so many Americans here this year, many of whom left on Saturday. I am a little disappointed I couldn't spend more time with them, but it's ok. I'm glad a family of friends is still here and I hope to see them a little more this week before they leave. What an awesome family. I am always amazed by their purpose and determination to stay positive. I was thinking last night while sitting with Pastor Barry that a true friend is someone who can correct you when you're wrong or when you've messed up and then forget about the stupid thing you just did. There were several times this happened with me and him and yet there is nothing between us. In fact, I trust him more because of this.

I think God is the exact same way, though we often fail to realize it. Pastor preached on the Friday of Eurocon about Jesus standing there with his arms open all day long. It's difficult to remember this sometimes. I can be so focused on what I did or how I messed up that I don't even see Jesus standing there with his arms open. I forget that He still loves me.

That was such a powerful message and exactly what I needed. It was also a great door opener for two of my students who were there that night. After talking with them after the message, both prayed to receive Christ. I was blown away. These are two students who I had been praying for since I moved to Budapest in 2013, and I am so excited that they made this decision. One of them asked so many questions about the messages and was beaming the next day during the evening session.

We must always remember that it's God's desire that all come to Him. He stands there with His arms open, waiting for us, loving us, even from a distance. He loves the believer and the unbeliever equally. I can become so overwhelmed when I see only the details of life and over the past few months I have been extremely overwhelmed with all that is happening at work and in my personal life, but this conference kind of shoved me back into the right mindset. I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to have my arms open, pointing people to Christ.

I am also thankful that my parents were able to come and visit this week. They had a great time traveling to Vienna and Prague as well as attending the conference. I saw them off this morning (at 5 am) and can't wait to go to bed tonight!

January 2016

Happy New Year! Can I still say that a month later?

This marks my third anniversary living in Hungary.

At the beginning of the month I climbed up Janos Hegy, (John’s Mountain) a small mountain on the outskirts of Budapest.

For a little while I had been struggling with the decision about whether I would want to return next year or not. I really do love living here but I especially love the school. I never thought I would connect with teenagers the way I have and God has really revealed, in a more deeper way, the call He has for me. I want to work with kids wherever I am, and for now, I know that I am called here.

We have had quite the month at GGIS. Please pray for us. There seems to be a bit of a bug going around, spiritually and physically. I haven’t gotten it, but many students have become sick and some teachers are also suffering from it. Also, as some of you know, we are currently in the process of becoming accredited by ACSI, the Association of Christian Schools International. This is a great thing and has taken a lot of work from all of us on staff. A committee comes in April to check things out and give the final word which you can also be praying for. I think that when there is a major work of God, Satan is right there waiting to attack it.

In a recent Bible class, a girl asked me what the difference between a test and trial is. I think the difference is that a temptation is Satan trying to influence you to turn away from God whereas a test is God revealing to Satan that you won’t. So often God can turn temptation into a test. We may not see the usefulness of a situation in our lives but it doesn’t mean that God isn’t using it. I am reminded of Romans 8:28 where it says all things work together for good. I think that God just loves showing us off. We are not perfect but He has given us Perfection. When I trust God instead of turning away from Him, I am living how He wants me to live, not perfectly but just relying on Him. This is what I have learned the most in the past few months and this is what I shared with that Bible class.

I am re-taking Pastor Schaller’s Homiletics class from 2011 online with my friend, Tim. It’s funny to watch myself sitting there on the videos from all those years ago. So much has happened but God remains faithful. The messages are still relevant and just as useful for me today as they were then.

Just a few days ago, my friends Pasha and Ruth had their baby. She looks just like Pash!

Thank you all for praying for us here, five months has turned into ____ years!

November-December 2015

Sorry I haven't written recently according to my normal schedule. GGIS went on Christmas break and I did too. Haha

For Thanksgiving I went to Israel for five days. What an amazing time that was! It's incredible to see all of the biblical sites- Engedi, Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, David's palace and of course the Wailing Wall. So many people go there and to see the things Christ saw and everything but it was cool for me to look at the people that Christ saw. I think this is more important. These are people searching for a Savior but then not recognizing Him when He came. It's like this all over the world, especially at Christmas time. A friend of mine just lost his mom after a long battle with illness (please pray for him) and as we went from house to house together on and around Christmas we were talking about how lonely you can get this time of year. I feel it especially when school is out. There is so much happening and going on and then nothing. The whole world seems to stop and you can forget that you have a purpose. If I feel like this as a believer I can't imagine how the unbeliever feels. This is why Christ came. Below are some pictures from my trip.

I taught a few Christmas Bible classes before the break and spoke all about the importance of the virgin birth, the hypostatic union and a few other Christmassy topics. It was a lot of fun just to study these things out again after a while. I kept thinking about what Pastor Schaller said all those years ago about learning it all over and doing it all over again. That's a good thought for this new year.

Christmas was fun, as I mentioned before, I went house hopping. On the 23rd I went to visit the Jako family, they have been a part of the church and school for much longer than I've been in Budapest and their daughters are all in GGIS. They are such a wonderful family. On the 24th I went to the Knight's (American missionary family/ principal of the school) house where we had a really relaxed time playing with their new puppy and chatting by the fire. It was a very comforting time and very relaxing. Christmas Day I went to an English/Russian missionary family's house where we opened presents, put together Legos with the kids and played games all day. I was so busy those days that I didn't leave my house after that. Haha

That's about it from here. Thank you all for praying for me. I hope you all have a happy new year!

October-November 2015

I can’t believe it’s already been a month since I last sent my newsletter!

We had a Harvest Party at GGIS. Over 600 people attended including students, families, and friends of the school. We had line-dancing, food, and games. The elementary students left around 6 pm then we had a special movie night outside with the high schoolers. It was freezing! The movie we watched was called God’s Not Dead. It’s a Christian movie about a college student who has a debate with one of his professors about the existence of God. By then end of the movie, so many of the students were crying. It was an amazing time. I gave a short devotional and you could really feel God moving there. Quite a few Christian students prayed to get to know God deeper.

My friends who you have been praying for, Pasha and Ruth, finally were accepted to go to the United States. They left last week. What a hole they left, too. It’s strange not having them here. The students still pray for them and their unborn baby. I keep going to text Pasha and then remembering that it’s 3 AM for him. Below is a picture after Pasha’s going away party. We are standing in front of the Ronald Reagan statue in downtown Budapest.

I will be going to Israel for Thanksgiving this year! I am so excited to have this opportunity! I will be traveling with a group from Hungary and we will be there for four days. It’s so easy to fly from here, it’s only three hours. We will see the Dead Sea, Calvary, the Garden of Gethsemane, and other Biblical sites. Please pray for safety while we are there.

Europe is really in turmoil right now with the immigration crisis and the recent terrorist attacks in France. Please pray for peace for our brothers and sisters here. We know that we won’t ever have peace on earth but that doesn’t mean that they can’t accept Christ and have peace within.

Please pray for the youth group at GGIS. It’s a great place to spend time with the students outside of a school setting and we are able to minister to them a lot. The group is very young and loves to be entertained. They are very much drawn to the activities but not so much the messages. (Surprise, surprise). Anyway, you can pray for spiritual growth with them as well as older students to come and minister to them. Also, please pray that a team comes together to help with this. Pasha was leading it and I have since taken over.



Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, and continued financial support!

September-October 2015

As you may know, there is a church in GGIS on Sunday mornings that I attend. This past week, my friends, Pasha, Tim, and I have been building many things for it including a stage, pulpit and cross.

We have had a week-long fall break at GGIS which has been nice but by day two I was ready to see the students again. I am so blessed to be able to teach these kids. It really is a mission field that comes to you.

We had a high school retreat at the end of September where we take all the high school students out to the countryside for a weekend. It was a great time with them, getting to know new students and hearing the Word. One senior, Jay, a Chinese boy, has had a spiritual awakening so to speak. He went to a camp this summer and was really touched by God. He has stepped up this year and become a leader in the school. He asked if he could pray in Chinese for all of the Chinese students after a message one night. It was amazing. I have no idea what he said but many of the students who we know are unsaved walked away with tears in their eyes.

My birthday was last weekend and my friends threw me a surprise party! It was so much fun! I am so thankful for all of them and the different, unique life that they each bring to the team here. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to surround myself with while living here.

Pasha and his wife, Ruth, will be moving back to America sometime in the next few weeks. He has his interview on Tuesday and they will find out shortly after when they can go. Pray for safety and God’s perfect plan for them as they start this next chapter of their life.

Also, if you think of it, please keep me in your prayers the next few weeks. I have been struggling with a few different things lately (nothing serious, Dad) and could use some prayer.

Thank you all for reading! Sorry the newsletter is a little late this month!

Love,



Jon

August-September 2015

School has started here in Budapest! We are now in our second week, the new building is complete and classes are normalizing. I am still getting used to my new schedule and all that some with it, grading, planning etc. but things have been going really well.

We have church at the new GGIS chapel on Sunday mornings and use it for Bible class and special events during the week. I can't believe how much more space we have now! It makes me wonder how we were able to pack our entire school into one building before we got this second one.

I have been teaching the book of Psalms in Bible class. It has gone well so far. I think my favorite part is actually the planning for it. Soon I will speak on Psalm 19. It's interesting if you look at the list that the Psalmist gives. He says to cleanse me from secret sin in verse 12. This is what happens when we see what it says before that: The word gets in me, I have a testimony, His thoughts change me, I can see His will, I have respect for His call on my life because I agree with the things He has said about me.

Please don't believe everything you hear on the news concerning the refugees. I walked through a major train station the other day. You can see the tents which were donated to them and are being used as temporary housing. In this particular camp, there is running water, bathrooms and a doctor present to help out. It is still very rough but not at all as bad as what some people seem to think. These people are fleeing their own country where things are much worse. We have met quite a few Christians who had been persecuted for their faith. They know that this life is just a pilgrimage.

Please keep the refugees in prayer as well as the students here at school. Our weekly Bible study on Friday nights has been going well, pray that more students attend though as I won't be satisfied until the entire high school comes out.

I asked you to pray for my friend, Pasha, in my last newsletter. Good news! He has an interview scheduled with the American Embassy in October and afterwards will be able to emigrate to the Unite States.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support, God bless,

Jon

June-August 2015

I had a great summer in the States going to the international convention in Baltimore and visiting with family in New York and Pennsylvania.

Since I have been back in Budapest I have hit the ground running. We have been working so hard getting the new school buildings ready for our September 1st start date. I have been laying flooring and hanging whiteboards as well as packing and moving tons of stuff. As much as I enjoy this kind of work, I cannot wait for school to start. I really miss my students!

Afghani refugees have been swarming into Budapest as they try to escape the trouble in their own country. This has caused refugee camps to be set up in the parks near the train stations in the city. I’m amazed at how many people are here. Some Hungarians don’t like all of these people “invading” their country but others, including our church here, have stepped up and taken care of the people. We bring them food, clothes, toys, diapers and water. It’s amazing to me that they just stay in the parks. They have no where to go and most are just waiting to be deported as they aren’t being accepted into the EU as refugees.

We have been doing outreach several times a week in these camps and on Thursday, my friend Pasha brought his guitar to play for people.

It’s amazing because he is from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan is one country away. He said these are just like the people he remembers seeing at home. Ruth, his wife, is American and they are trying to move to America this fall. Pasha is almost in the same situation as many of these people we met because if he returned home he would not be allowed to leave again. Please pray for these dear friends of mine: that his visa application is accepted in the next few weeks and he can become an American citizen in the next few years.

I have been thinking about all that God has blessed me with since moving here in 2013. I honestly had very little interest in youth ministry but since coming here I feel that my call has really been defined in that area. I have had the opportunity to speak to so many different cultures and people and tell them about the gospel. There have been difficult times and God has gotten me through them with grace and patience. Looking back, I can see all the small details that God has used in my life to define my call. When I was in Baltimore, I spent a short time working with the preteen ministry on Sunday mornings with Andy, who is now the director of GGIS and one of my closest friends here. I just love that God works everything together for good.

I’m sorry this newsletter doesn’t have much news in it but I think it is important to constantly see the hand of God in our lives. Please pray for the Afghani people here and that we can continue our ministry to them. Also, pray for a blessed school year as I now am in a full-time teaching position. Another thing to keep in prayer is the youth ministries I hope to be involved in this year, one at GGIS and one in a Korean church down town. God works everything together for good!

May-June 2015

This will be my last newsletter for the summer as I will be back in America later this week. I will be in the U.S. from June till the end of July, and hope to see most of you.

I just got back from speaking at one of the Korean churches in Budapest. There are several and a lot of students from GGIS attend this particular one. I had a great time with all of the young people and hope to be able to speak there more often when I return from the summer break. Please pray for this as they need someone to take over the teen ministry.

If you recall, I asked you to pray for a Chinese girl a few months back. She had been struggling with the idea of becoming a Christian and had asked me quite a few questions about Christianity and just life in general. I am pleased to report that God answered your prayers and she accepted Christ as her Savior. I don’t know when or how but I asked her in the hallway the other day and she was very excited to tell me, yes, she is now a believer. I’m so amazed by the ministry we have here.

As some of you know, GGIS is preparing to expand into a neighboring building this summer. It’s a great thing because it will allow our school to grow and we will be able to have more students in our larger facilities. There is a TON of work left to do in two short months but I believe that God is in it and the work will get done. Please keep this in your prayers as well as Hungarian construction is notoriously slow.

We had an end of year baptism at GGIS and over 130 people were there to watch several of our students get baptized. There were families of Chinese students who were baptized and friends of the kids in the school. Afterwards, we had a bonfire where people were able to speak about their school year and how God has impacted them this year. It’s really amazing to hear how this little school in Hungary can change so many lives around the world. We don’t know what the impact is on students but God is working in every heart in a specific way.

As I prepare come back to America, I am a little sad to close out this school year but I am also expecting great things from God in the coming year. I will be a full-time teacher next year, spending all of my time with the middle-school (pray for me). I will most likely be taking over the leadership of the youth group at GGIS and possibly at the Korean Church as I mentioned before. I am so grateful for these opportunities that God is giving me here.

I love you all and hope to connect with you this summer. God bless, Jon

April-May 2015

Has it already been a month since my last newsletter?

As school is winding down here in Budapest it seems time is speeding up. We have been so busy lately, it’s good to stop and reflect on all that has happened.

Recently we had a banquet for our high school, the theme was the Hunger Games so we all dressed up really crazy and went to a beautiful restaurant. There were games and prizes, awards for the best dressed and also the teacher of the year award presentation... guess who won?

At the end of every school year we give surveys out to all of our high school students. On this survey we ask questions such as, are you a born again believer, do you know what it means to be baptized, etc. After the students fill out these forms, we look through them and pick out the ones who seem to be questioning faith or religion and we sit down with them to just talk. It’s an amazing time to be with the students and discuss the real stuff in life. I spoke with one young Nigerian boy last week. He is in 9th grade. It looks like this will be his last year at GGIS so we really wanted to speak with him. I asked him if he had any questions about God or Christianity, he has always professed to be a believer but wasn’t sure about eternal security. I explained to him that once you are in God’s hand you will never fall out. If you trust in Christ for just one moment, you are saved forever. What amazing grace that is! Even if you turn your back on God or decide that you don’t believe anymore, whatever happens, God still holds onto you. I told him that we can be so stupid and we change our mind so often that God had to make a way that if we did change our minds about Him, we wouldn’t be abandoned by Him. I love that God keeps us even when we forget Him. This is an amazing expression of who God is and what He has done for us. He doesn’t change! Anyway, after saying all of this, he prayed with me and I think reconfirmed his belief in Christ. I really believe that conversation helped him realize that he indeed is a Christian and he won’t lose his salvation for any reason. It’s important for us to realize that sometimes too. No matter how bad we fall, we simply fall deeper into the hand of God. Wow.

Last weekend we had a tennis tournament at the American school. We had 7 students participate from GGIS, including the boy from Nigeria... who came in third place! It was a great time and it was a really fun day. Also, I am now really sunburnt.

Well, that’s about all from here, my next newsletter will be the last one before I return to the U.S. for a few weeks.

Please continue to pray for us as we close out the school year. Pray for more salvations in the student body and also for safe travels as we head back to see all of you!

Love you! Jon

March-April 2015

What a spring this has been so far!

I feel like ever since Eurocon I have woken up with the praises of God on my mind. It has been so beautiful here lately and I think it's been really easy to worship God. I thought of this in relationship to the "winter" times that we have in our lives. It's so easy to praise God and rejoice when we have things go our way but what about the times when we feel dead spiritually or even physically?

I have always wanted to preach a message on the two shortest verses in the Bible, John 11:35 and I Thessalonians 5:16. In John 11, Jesus has just arrived at the tomb of one of his closest friends, Lazarus. As Jesus looks around and sees the people mourning, something very interesting happens, he weeps. That’s the first shortest verse in the Bible- “Jesus wept.” How human of Jesus! I think of this as a “winter” time. The next verse I mentioned was in I Thessalonians and is actually an imperative statement made by Paul. “(You understood) rejoice evermore.” Though we experience trials and down times in our lives we are commanded to rejoice. How can we rejoice when everything seems to be against us? There is death, there is sin, there is difficulty in every life and yet we are supposed to rejoice? I think this is why Jesus wept. He identified with us. We all go through “winter” seasons but what comes next? The spring time! Life abounds! This is how we rejoice in every situation, it’s hard, it’s difficult but Christ is there with us, identifying with us through the trial. Hebrews 4:15 says just that- we have a High Priest who has been through the same “winter” we have been through. He is our Comforter and Friend. Whatever you have been going through, remember, the winter is over. Spring is here and God has been through both with you!

Well, I didn’t mean to preach but I just love that thought. I am so excited to see what God will do in these coming months. A few of us have started going to different ministries throughout Hungary on a weekly basis. Two weeks ago we went to Szeged where we have a church. Below is a picture of the Pastor there, Pastor Csaba, he is the one on the left along with a couple of our team members doing a question and answer time after service.

I would like to ask you all to pray for a specific student at GGIS. She is Chinese and in 11th grade. I sat down with her last week for about a half hour just to talk. She has so many questions about God and Christianity. She told me that she began the year as an atheist but has since become a believer in a “higher power.” We talked about God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus’ death on the cross and even about Easter and what it means that He rose again but she just wasn’t ready to accept Him. My prayer request is that while she began this year as an atheist, she would begin next year as a born-again believer.

Thank you all for your continued prayer and support. He is risen! Matthew 28:6

February-March 2015

Wow! What a month it’s been!

We had our international conference, Eurocon, here in Budapest last week. It was an incredible time to be with people from dozens of different countries. There were many visitors from Asia, Europe and even Africa. This year’s theme was “The Open Door” from I Corinthians 16:9. I thought that the whole conference was going to be based around just this verse but, boy, was I wrong. I couldn’t believe the seed thoughts that were being given and received during the messages. Pastors were using verses that I have read over and over and yet they were new and fresh.

I went into the conference with a real need for God to speak to me. I have only asked for that one other time, right before I moved back to Baltimore for Bible College. Right off the bat, God answered my prayer. Every message seemed like it was directed right at me. It was a little scary.

I think the one session that really spoke to me the most was actually the Sunday morning service after Eurocon. Pastor Scibelli spoke about ministering to God, even when people won’t receive our ministry. It’s so important to receive from God, give to others and if they reject that ministry then you are still actually ministering to God. Incredible. Our work doesn’t go unnoticed in His kingdom.

We invite all of our students from GGIS to come to Eurocon every year. We offer to pay for their passes and make every possible provision for them. In years passed we have had very few who actually came and stayed for the sessions. This year, however, we had more than I have ever seen. And they loved it! There were quite a few of our Chinese students who came for one day and brought others with them the next.

One student saw the word ‘outreach’ on the schedule and asked me what it was. I explained to him that it’s when we go out and tell people about Jesus. He said “oh, good, you’re doing that right?” At that point I figured I had to. He, another student and I all went soul winning that afternoon. The next time it was on the schedule, the same student brought a few more students with him. It was amazing to see God using him to reach the lost and his own classmates.

I just got back from a trip to Salzburg, Austria, where the GGIS boys basketball team took second place in a tournament. We had to fight and scrap for three games in order to get into the championship but, unfortunately, the boys were so tired by the end of the day that it wasn’t much of a competition in the end. They had a great time and it was a great bonding experience with them.

Since there was such a great response at the conference, we plan on ramping up our teen program more over the next few months. After Eurocon, please pray that the fire keeps burning in the hearts of these young people!

January-February 2015

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Things have been great here. Not much has been going on, but there is a definite build up of excitement for Eurocon, our annual European Conference that we host here in Budapest.

GGIS is putting on a presentation of the Chronicles of Narnia: the Musical by C.S. Lewis. The students have put in a lot of hard work over the past few months and I am excited to see the end result. It seems the whole school is helping in someway, whether it’s set design, lighting, music or even doing makeup. Please pray for the two performances this weekend. There are technical details of course but also, please pray for unsaved family members to receive the powerful message that this play presents.

I recently finished making a short video/commercial about GGIS which you can see at www.ggis.hu. It’s above the calendar on the opening page. It was a great experience for all of us who worked on the video. I have a technology after school club which meets on Mondays and Fridays. There are four Chinese students and one Korean who come and they did a lot of the work on the video. I am very proud of all of them.

As the weather is getting warmer, we are starting to get moving more and more (which is a very good thing). Our tennis team will begin practicing again soon and I am one of the coaches. Also, I will be starting a wiffle ball after school club with the elementary students. I am very much looking forward to these opportunities to spend time with students.

I have recently been finishing up a paper for one of my continuing education classes and talking
about my ministry here. The things I do aren’t necessarily typical “missions work”. I do go on outreaches, as you know, and I speak in church now and again but the main stuff I do here surrounds GGIS. I think that this has been my favorite part about living in Budapest. Many people don’t realize it, (I know I didn’t when I first came) but GGIS is a full-time ministry in itself. It’s easy for people to look the school and think that it’s just a job which allows you to live on the mission field. I think you have to realize, though, that you are dealing with students from more than 20 different countries, a multitude of different backgrounds and family situations and only about 30% of the students profess to believe in God. When you see this, you start to realize what an incredible opportunity we have here. The mission field literally comes to you.

I am so blessed to be here, serving with incredible teachers, pastors and missionaries!

December 2014-January 2015

Happy New Year from Budapest!
I hope all of you had a great holiday season. It was great for me to be able to relax for two weeks during our Christmas break but I was ready to start school again.

A few of us took a day trip to Vienna before Christmas. It was a great time of fellowship and ministry both as we traveled and as we walked the streets. The city was packed with tourists enjoying the Christmas decorations and kiosks that pop up on every corner, what a perfect time to go soul winning though!

On Christmas Day I was able to be with a few families here as well as call my parents in New York. It was very laid back. That night a few of us went down to the castle district to enjoy the view and ride the Christmas Tram. It even snowed later on that weekend!

This weekend we will be taking two groups of high school students to Berlin and Paris. I am with the group going to Berlin. We will see some sights while we are there (it's supposed to be an educational trip) but we will also meet up with Pastor Stephan Stein who is the Greater Grace pastor in Berlin. Please pray that these trips open the hearts of our students and that they get to see the work that God is doing all over the world. Also, please pray for safety, especially for the group going to Paris due to the recent terrorist attacks.

In 8th grade Bible, we have been talking about a lot of different topics. From relationships to music, how to deal with parents to what the heck the book of Revelation is saying, I have prayerfully done my best to answer the students questions about, well, life. Today we talked about goals. It’s common to make new year’s resolutions, I don’t know that I ever have but I know people do. I wonder how many people actually keep them... Anyway, one of the goals the students came up with was to bring one person to church this year. What a great thing! Wouldn’t it be amazing if we all brought one new person to church this year? What if that one person accepted Christ as their Savior? What if they got a vision for Bible College? The mission field? What if that one person becomes the next Billy Graham? Wouldn’t that be amazing? I think that God uses our teeny tiny steps of faith in more ways than we can ever imagine. I don’t know what the result of a tract handed out today will be years from now. I don’t know what the result of this newsletter even will be. I hope and I pray though that it leads someone to Christ. Isn’t that our ultimate goal? Hebrews 12:1-2 Let’s look to Jesus this year. He is our ultimate goal in life.

God bless, I love you all!

November-December 2014

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's Christmas time here in Budapest. I don't know why, but they are really good at lighting things here, even more so now that Christmas is coming.

We just had Thanksgiving at the house of an American family that lives here. It was a great time to be with them as well as some staff members from GGIS and even some Hungarians who were able to celebrate Thanksgiving for the first time. They were amazed by how much we eat.

We will have a Christmas concert at church, it's a great time to invite people to come. Pastor Kende, the head pastor in Hungary, said people in his neighborhood already started asking him if we were going to have another concert. It seems that people are more receptive to the gospel this time of year. If you stop someone to talk to, they will take time to listen.

GGIS also hosted a Christmas concert this past week. We had a food drive and collected what looks like half of a grocery store. We invite a group from church called the Silver Club, which is the elderly and needy in the community, to come to the concert and afterwards we distribute the food we collected.

I have started teaching a new class at GGIS. It's an English language learner history class for the seventh graders. I have six students and we go at a slower pace than their other classmates who are already fluent. It's an interesting group- four Chinese and two Hungarians. Their linguistic abilities differ greatly though they are quite happy to have their own class I think.

I asked my Bible Class the other week which is more important, the day Jesus was born or the day He died. The way I worded the question, they knew that I wanted them to say the day He died. It's interesting that many people only want to think about when Christ was born. People all over the world who don't have a thought about God 364 days a year love to go to church on Christmas Eve and set up a manger scene in their house and even read the Christmas story from their Bibles but they give no thought to why Christ was born. People always quote "peace on earth, goodwill toward men" but was that the result? Was Christ born so we could get a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling on Christmas Eve as we read the Christmas story? Was He born to make everything wonderful and lovely and to make life painless? (if so, He didn't do a very good job). Or was His birth the physical beginning of a life lived with the purpose of dying? I know this sounds a bit morbid, especially at this time of year, but think about it, the Baby grew up. The Baby, whose birth was fairly ordinary, lived a life that no ordinary person could possibly live and then freely gave that life up for us. He was born to die. Let's think of Christmas not as a time to decorate a tree and pass out presents but as a time to praise God that that Baby who lay in a manger died on a cross and was laid in a tomb. The greatest gift we can receive is salvation. It's free and it was given to us by the One whose namesake is Christmas, though it wasn't on Christmas that the gift was given. This gift cost a lot. We can never match the price that was paid but God doesn't ask us to. The result of receiving God's gift to us at Christmas is what I quoted above, peace. Not encompassing the earth but in us. Peace was on earth in Christ and can be in you too if you accept it.

Merry Christmas! Love, Jon

October-November 2014

We had a Harvest Party at GGIS instead of a Halloween party. It was a great time of fellowship with the students and families at school. I was the MC as I usually am at school events, and I also called for the barn dance and led a camp fire. I had fun and went home and immediately fell asleep that night. I like that we can take a "worldly" event like Halloween and still have fun. I think that was a big thing for the students as well. We don't need to celebrate the death or horror or anything like that but we can still get together and enjoy ourselves.

As you may know I am a youth leader here as well as working in the school. We have a Bible Study every Friday night and events every other Saturday. I realized at a recent event that I am doing the exact same thing I was when I was in the US. When I was in Bible College in Baltimore a group of us had a sports club in a local neighborhood. We would round up the kids every Saturday and play football and preach a short message. Here, we round up all the kids and play games, go somewhere or just relax and preach a short message. It's very similar. Many of the students at GGIS aren't saved but they come to the events and hear the Word. Many of the kids at sports club weren't saved either but they certainly had the opportunity every Saturday. I laughed a little as I thought of this the other day. Sometimes it's easy to think that the "real" missionaries are the ones on the other side of the ocean, they’re the ones you don't see every day but in reality, we are missionaries wherever we go. I had the same ministry opportunities in the US that I do here. The cultures may be different but people are really the same. God loves them and that's why we do what we do. You are a missionary as much as I am!


I have been sick recently. I must have picked up a stomach virus somewhere (and have since spread it throughout the school). I even missed a day of work. I am feeling much better now but please keep me in your prayers as I think my body is still recovering.

Sorry this is a shorter newsletter than normal, I must have lost a week somewhere. Haha

I will leave you with a thought from a recent church service entitled “What is Man?” Pastor Kende, the head Pastor here in Budapest, taught on this theme two weeks ago and it has really stuck with me. We are like diamonds to God. A diamond is valuable in itself, not because of what it can do, though it is useful. We are valuable to God, not because of what we do but simply because He has called us valuable and paid the ultimate price for us. I love this simple yet profound thought. I am valuable, no matter what I do God has placed an extraordinary value on me.

I love you all, thank you for your continued support! Jon

September-October 2014

Hello again from Budapest! 

It seems like these past few weeks have flown by. I have been so busy at GGIS as well as outside of GGIS.

I taught my first ever Bible College class to a group of Chinese students last week. It was a great time of fellowship and joy as we studied the book of Philippians. I love the heart that these people have as they study the Word. They are so eager to hear and hang onto every word you say.

We had a Family Fair at GGIS. The proceeds of the fair benefit a Christian school here in Hungary called Kharisz. It was the best fair I have ever been to. We played games, ate, there was a bouncy castle and sumo wrestling and I even got pied in the face. I love seeing the joy on the faces of the students at this event. GGIS is certainly a unique place. Where else in the world does the mission field come to you? I was counting the languages that are spoken by the students in our school, 15, and probably even more that I am forgetting. I really believe God is using us every day to reach the nations. We don’t know what His plan is in life but we know that He works all things together for good, Romans 8:28.

It seems like we can make so many excuses when it comes to our walk with God. I preached, Sunday morning, on this topic from Song of Solomon 5. The woman in the story (us) keeps coming up with excuses why she can’t come to the door to let the man (God) in. She is too comfortable, her bed is too warm, she’s already washed her feet, the door is too far away... the list of excuses goes on. What happens though when she sees Him? She just barely gets a glimpse of her Beloved in verse 4 and she is stirred up. Things start to change, she goes out seeking Him. She tells others about Him. This is the same with us. A lot of times we have so many excuses why we can’t follow God but when we catch a glimpse of who He is we run after Him. It doesn’t matter what people say, it doesn’t matter if we get hurt or wounded along the way, we have found something greater than our excuses! I can see God moving and working here in Budapest, people’s lives are changing just because they have seen a small part of the work of God.

Please pray that my students here at school would continue to grow in faith.

August-September 2014

Hello again from Budapest!

It has been about a month since I got back from my summer in America. I really had an amazing time this summer visiting the congregations at Trinity Church in Rotterdam, and the Greater Grace Church of Broadalbin, NY. These are two very special groups of people who really have a mind for missions. I had a wonderful time speaking at Trinity and hope to see both churches again soon.

It was also good to spend some much needed time with my family, helping out around the house and just being available for anyone who needed me.

I hit the ground running, starting work the following morning after I returned and then putting in quite a bit of overtime getting the school ready before the students arrived. I also found out that I would be teaching a class full time, Seventh Grade English. I was a little nervous trying to figure out what to do at first but there are enough seasoned veterans on the team here that it didn’t take long to get mentally and academically prepared. So far (we are in our second week of school now) things have gone really well. I love the students and the class has been great.

The GGIS High School Retreat was this weekend. It was an amazing time of fellowship with the students and other High School teachers. The retreat is kind of like a mini summer camp, we play games, have “Olympics” and of course share the Word. On Friday night we opened up our campfire for testimonies and a lot of students spoke. One particular student who struggled quite a bit last year spoke about how he had been unknowingly leaving God out of his life. He is in Eighth grade now, (my Bible class) and believe me, he was a terror last year. This summer he was able to be around the Body and God did a huge work in his life; it was evident from the moment he stepped foot in the school on the first day. He is now taking a Bible College class and is eating up the Word every day. God is really using us here to touch the lives of these students. Below is a picture of the teachers who went on the Retreat.

My friend, Pasha, and I are praying about starting a new outreach in one of the main squares in the city. We have been thinking about it individually for a while and were surprised when we both mentioned it last week. Please keep us in prayer as we decide whether to go forward with it or not.

A few other things to pray for are:
1. Salvations in GGIS and on the streets as we minister.
2. My health, I have been a little beat up physically lately.
3. Finances.