May 2018

I just returned from a weekend retreat with the 9th-12th grades. This is something that I have wanted to do for a few years now and am so glad we decided to do this year. Every fall we have a retreat with the whole high school and usually we have class trips in the spring but this time we let the students vote and (with a little persuading) they chose to have a retreat.

Here is a picture from one of our worship times.



GGIS also just crossed the 200 student mark. Isn’t that amazing? That’s two hundred young people from all over the world who come to us and and hear the gospel. Incredible!

We are getting into the busy season as we start to wrap up school. I think every weekend for the next six weeks there is something happening. After that I will be back in America for five weeks.

It’s funny, usually I feel like I am dragging myself to the finish line at the end of the year, I can’t wait to go back to America and just get some rest and relax, but I honestly don’t feel that way this year. I am so excited, rejuvenated, by what God is doing. I am certainly excited to see family and friends in the States, but I also know that seeds which were planted here and in me are now starting to really bear fruit. It’s thrilling to be walking in God’s will.

I like to think of the verse I Corinthians 3:6- “I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” This is a great summary of both ministry and personal growth. I may plant, you may water, but God is the one who gives the result. In the same way, people have planted spiritual seeds in my life, others have watered them, but it’s always God who brings the fruit.

One thing I’ve noticed, and was talking to a friend about today, was there there is so much pollen in Budapest right now. I mean it’s everywhere, all over my laundry, every surface in my house is covered… I should probably clean more… but looking back, we determined that it was because we had such a hard Winter and the plants are all producing more pollen to stimulate exponential growth. Isn’t that just like that verse? I may have a spiritual Winter, it can be tough, I see no growth in my life, but in time (and I don’t know how long it will take) God produces something incredible in my life.

Perhaps you are going through a spiritual Winter, things may look bleak, there may not seem to be any fruit, but don’t worry, Spring is coming. Everything here is blooming and it seemed like it happened over night, but it didn’t, it took a long, hard Winter. In the same way, I see things blooming in my life, but it took a Winter to bring it about.

God bless you!