Final Newsletter June 2019

This is my final newsletter as a missionary and a teacher in Hungary. I can't believe it's been almost seven years! I remember being sent out on a Wednesday night along with Nick Groenewold. I said I was only going to be in Hungary for 6 months... shhh, don't tell anyone I stayed longer!


I have learned and grown so much in my time here. It is so overwhelming that God has used me. I thank Him every day that He has worked through me here, often times despite me. I think you know what I mean.
I guess what I am saying is that I have learned to give grace, not only to others, but also to myself. I think of Psalm 8, "What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you should care for him?" How could God have used me? I see my brokenness, my failures, my insecurities, but what does He see? He sees Himself. Wow. God uses us! I need to see myself as God sees me. Not as a failure, but as His child! When I live in this revelation, the guilt, the fear, the shame vanish in His presence. I John 4:18 says, "God's love drives out fear." There is nothing like God's love. I am so thankful for it.


Two weekends ago I attended what was my last GGIS graduation. It was a beautiful, anointed time. All 14 seniors stood up and gave speeches about their time in the school. The thing that impressed me the most was when, one after another, the graduating Chinese students (many of whom accepted Christ during their high school years) shared their favorite verses in their speeches. No one asked them to do this, but it was on their heart. I have never felt God move so mightily in a graduation! There wasn't a dry eye in the room and even now, as I type this, I feel a little misty eyed myself.

This past weekend, we had a baptism at school. One graduate, who has also been my translator in the Korean church that I work with, asked if I would baptize her. I am so proud of this young lady. I have known her since she was in sixth grade and now, she is going off to college with a treasure in her heart. She said she wants to come visit Baltimore for the convention next year, so please keep that in your prayers! (I'm still trying to convince her to go to Bible College too.)


While I am certainly going to miss Budapest, I am looking forward to what God has in store in the future. Thank you all for reading my newsletters these past seven years, thank you for your prayers and support, and most of all, thank you for the encouraging words you've shared. It has truly been a blessing to live and grow up here, and it wouldn't have been possible at all without you.


Love,
Jon

May 2019

Have you ever felt like God has put you somewhere for an exact time, maybe even an exact moment? Some might call this serendipitous or a coincidence, but I have to believe it's the hand of God.

Looking ahead to the month of April, I was thinking, "Wow, this is going to be one of the best months of my life." I was finally going to Korea after years of anticipation and then the school would have a high school retreat with a special guest speaker, Pastor Love.

As March turned to April, things didn't go as planned. In my last newsletter, I asked for prayer for some health issues I've been battling and those only issues only became worse. I was going to the doctor a couple times a week for different tests and was wondering if I might have to cancel my trip to Korea. (Luckily I didn't.) There has also been a lot of discussion going on in the school on various things about which I have a very strong opinion so there was a meeting about that right before my trip. Perhaps you've been in a meeting before where your stomach just churns, your hands become sweaty and your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth. It's not fun.

All of this happened, I believe, as an attack to try to distract me from the incredible things that were about to come.

Korea is fantastic. It's everything I imagined it would be. In all sincerity, I am so thankful that Korean people exist. God has truly blessed them and I feel blessed to be able to work with them in school and church. I also want to thank P. Dunbar again for hosting me while I was there for a week. Watching him, completely in his element, glowing as he walked down the streets of Myeongdong smiling at everyone who walked by, was like watching Moses come down from the mountain, shining with the presence of God.

Here is a picture of a group that went on outreach after church the Sunday I was there. 

The second part of April was the Retreat. I love retreats. They are my thing. I love to plan them, run them, and see how God moves during them. This one was no exception and was one of the best ones we have ever done. However, the bus for the boys didn't show up on our day of departure. It was so obvious that the enemy was trying to hinder us that it was almost laughable. We sat for an extra two hours, but we made it. God moved. The Spirit filled every message and chapel service. Students prayed to receive Christ. The testimonies shared revealed God working and moving among so many students. Amazing.

This all brings me back to my original thought. Looking ahead to April, I was ready to have the best month of my life, but during it, I had to realize that I am in a spiritual battle. While there were seemingly difficult circumstances, God used everything for good. I also fully believe that I was led to return to GGIS this year, just for the month of April. Actually, on second thought, maybe it was just for that one meeting at the beginning of the month. I feel like God used me, even though, at the time, things got a little bit rocky.

Thank you all for your prayers! Stay in the battle! Follow God's leading, you may be where you are (even if it looks bad) at exactly the right time for His purpose.

Please continue to pray for those same things I asked for last time, including my ongoing health issues. I go for more tests later this month.

April 2019

As my time in Budapest is winding down I would like to ask you to keep me in prayer for several different things. 1. I have been dealing with some physical problems lately which while not really serious are still concerning for me. 2. The details of my move back to America, specifically that I am able to find the perfect place to live. 3. I am taking a one week trip next week to Korea to visit P. Dunbar. 4. For my final days in GGIS to be fruitful.

My dad came to visit for Eurocon a few weeks ago and we had a wonderful time together. It's funny to think that when I move back, it will be the first time we have lived in the same location (Maryland) as adults. There has always been distance between us and I have never really lived close to any of my family in my adulthood.

 

At times I grow impatient with life. I like to do everything quickly and move on to the next task. I have been learning more and more that that's really not how God operates. There are many things that have been on my heart and that I am praying for, and at times I think I get a little frustrated because they don't happen when I expect them to. Do you ever feel like this? I know that there are several reasons for this, God is working patience into my life, maybe it's not His will for that thing to happen or maybe it's not His perfect timing, but I am reminded of another possibility. Do you remember in Daniel 10:12-13 when the angel appears to Daniel and tells him that from the first day he began to pray that his prayer was heard, but there was a spiritual battle going on.

I think often times we can forget that our battle isn't physical but spiritual. Daniel prayed for 21 days with seemingly no response from God because there was spiritual warfare. We need to realize that we are also part of this war. What happens when the answer to my prayer is delayed? Do I give up? Do I keep praying? I think that this has been happening in my life. I can only remember one other time when I have prayed as much as I am right now.

Even though the answers or solutions I want have not yet (and maybe never will) come, just the prayer itself has been enough for me. I believe it was Pastor Schaller at Eurocon who asked the question, how often do we go to God in prayer with a complaint only to find that we are just complaining and not actually praying? I think there is an attitude which differentiates complaining and persisting. Complaining is focusing on the negative whereas persisting is a constant seeking of God to intervene.

Perhaps this newsletter is a little convoluted, I am continuing to ponder these things in my mind. I hope were able to follow that winding train of thought. Please keep me in prayer.

March 2019

I have been thinking recently a lot about love. I Corinthians 13:13 says that the greatest thing is love.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a chapel for the high school and spoke about I Corinthians 13, but really the second half, “Now that I have become a man, I’ve put away childish things.” The next week in the weekly Bible study, we spoke about how I love allows me to put others ahead of myself. The week after that, we spoke about how powerful our words are, not only in our lives, but also when we speak to others. Finally, last night, our topic was God is love.

Each of those thoughts is really incredible. Think about them with me for a few minutes.

Maturity is loving not only others but myself. I put away childish thoughts and speech, and just love.

When I am motivated by love, I lay down my life for others. No greater love has any man than this- that he would lay down his life for his friends.

God created us in His image, and He created everything by His word. We obviously can’t create physical objects with our words, but we can influence people for good or bad with our words. I can create barriers for someone or tear them down with my words. With loving words I can inspire hope in someone, I can encourage someone in their faith, I can impart Christ to them.

Finally, God is love. What a powerful statement. What does it mean? At first it seems like a nice Christian phrase, but when you think about it, what is the point of John writing this?

God is love.

God isn’t childish. He is our Father.

God is the best I can ever give someone.

God is who I need to speak about.

There are so many things to speak about in the world today- celebrities, politics, education, finances, even religion, but don’t forget that God is love.

Let’s put aside idle talk and talk about God. Talk about Him when you are with your family. Talk about Him when you’re with your friends. Talk about him in school. Talk about Him at work. Talk about Him when you are alone. God is love and love is greater than anything else in the world today.

God bless you guys! I hope to see some of you at Eurocon!

February 2019

Recently I have had quite a few thoughts swimming through my head about life and what it means to walk with God as a Christian today.

January and February are brutal for schools. You are cooped up inside all day, get to school as the sun rises and leave as the sun sets. In these times, (and again, this happens especially with students year) I think it is very easy to become negative or pessimistic about what’s happening around you. There also seems to be a trend in our world today in which it is fashionable to pass blame. It reminds me of like that old saying, “I’m rubber and you’re glue, what you say bounces off me and sticks to you,” except this is happening with responsibility for personal decisions- it’s always easier to blame someone else than to accept responsibility for my own actions. This attitude has cultivated a culture of outward negativity and pessimism.

The more I thought about negativity and how it metastasizes, the more I wondered what the best way to curb its effects would be. The conclusion I came to was rather simple- focus on the solution rather than the problem. Perhaps you just read that sentence and felt a little deflated, it’s not a new idea, in fact, over and over the Bible tells us to do just that, “Look to the hills where our help comes from,” Peter looked to Jesus when he started sinking after walking on water, Hebrews 12 tells us to look to Jesus.

I don’t know why this simple thought I had just a week or two ago has seemed to capture my mind other than that the idea and the spiritual principle behind it needs to be clearly reinforced.

Let’s stop looking at the negative and focus on the solution. We have Christ! There is nothing greater in the universe than Who we have inside of us. Imagine exercising our mustard seed of faith rather than focusing on the mountain in front of us. It may not even be a mountain we even need to pay attention to!

The second thought I have been ruminating on lately came just a few days after the first and that is what is the balance of consumerism versus creation in the Christian world today? I came upon this idea last week as I observed a room of Christian high schoolers, all staring blankly at their phones. I know, I know, I’m starting to sound like a crotchety old man now, “Back in my day we created rather than consumed!”

But that’s true.

As I looked around the room, not a single kid was creating, they were only consuming. This set me on a trail of thought that I have not yet come to the end of, but which I hope to, in the future, write more about as the idea becomes more and more fully formed.

For now, I think I will just say this, we, and especially we who are Christians, are not meant to be consumers, but rather creators. We are made in the image of our Creator and with that comes the very characteristic of creating. Christians are meant to explore, to use, and to reveal God in the incredible world we have been given. Throughout history it has been Christians who have led the way in science, technology, medicine, music, art… the list goes on. But as I looked at each face gazing at their rectangles of glass and plastic, I can’t help but wonder where the desire and drive to discover new things has gone. It seems that the content created (yes, I know, content meant to be consumed is created by someone) is created more and more by the world and more and more Christians are consuming it mindlessly. Could that be why there is so much negativity, even in the church? Are we being force-fed content from a depraved world rather than actively challenging ourselves to do new and exciting things with God? Could that be why we are seeing such a radicle shift in the minds of young people today? What happened to Christians creating content that the world consumed and thereby actually winning hearts to Christ rather than the other way around?

In January I built the desk at which I am currently typing this newsletter, the light by which I seeing, another lamp (pictured below) for a lady in my church, and started work on creating a video for the school. Now, those are my gifts, and when I use them, I, to paraphrase the classic movie Chariots of Fire, feel God’s pleasure. I don’t need to seek entertainment, I am alone, but utilizing my gifts, which then bless other people. There is incredible, eternal joy in just doing what you were created to do.

You have a gift, please use it. Don’t be a consumer, but rather live in the image of Who you were made and do something for the glory of God. It doesn’t have to be something incredible, just enjoy the world that God has given you and use the resources at your disposal to exalt and bless others in Him.

January 2019

Imagine standing in front of 15 or 20 young teenagers every day who have no interest whatsoever in what you have to say, don’t want to be there, and if they have to be, would rather talk to their friends.

Imagine, even though you are sick or tired, you feel an inner compulsion to come to work, knowing that it is more work to miss a day than to just push through it.

Imagine, in your free time, outside of the previous two circumstances, you find your mind wandering to lesson plans and how to make your class better in someway so that those students will actually want to be there.

This is pretty much the day to day life of a teacher.

You might wonder why anyone would put themselves through this.

Now think about this- the joy on one of those faces as they finally “get it”. The note you receive saying “Thank you, I’ve learned so much in your class.” The realization that even though they seemingly refused to learn at every step, your students are now making huge strides.

That’s why teachers do what they do. That’s why I do what I do. All of those things have happened, and most recently one happened on New Year’s Eve.

I was invited to go out to eat with a Christian Egyptian family, whose two children I have taught in my time here in Budapest. Admittedly I don’t know them so well and felt very uncomfortable at first (I was also severely underdressed in a sweatshirt and jeans while everyone else looked like they were going to attend a banquet).

Whenever I am invited to join families for anything, I always gravitate toward the teenagers. Luckily, as I said, I had taught both of them so I quickly shrugged off my initial discomfort as I chatted with the two kids.

As the night wore on the older of the two mentioned how much she has enjoyed being in my class the last two years, how my encouragement helped her realize how much she enjoyed writing (by the way, she is the best natural writer I’ve ever taught). Shortly after this I was taken by surprise as she turned the conversation toward Christianity and her faith. I haven’t ever spoken to her about this topic, though I know she is a Christian, and the faith that poured out of her as she spoke was palpable.

She spoke about how she will be looking for a community of Christians in her college next year, how she has grown in her faith more and more each year, and how she longs to learn more.

After all I have mentioned, I suppose it may seem like I am bragging, but in reality, I have never considered myself a great teacher, and rarely do I think that I am even any good at teaching. The one thing I have always tried to do, however, is form a bond somehow with my students. It could be around anything, for instance, I started watching Korean Dramas because I constantly heard the Asian community in school talking about them. I don’t actually like watching them… ok, maybe I do a little… but I’ve come to realize that that connection is vital. That love and desire to connect with them is vital.

This is the same in ministry. A connection based on love is vital. You may not feel like a good or even great evangelist, but when it comes down to it, you don’t need to be. All that you really need is a love for the people.

I hope you all have a great new year.

December 2018 (Goodbye)

Hi Everybody,

In Ecclesiastes 3:1, the Bible tells us “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” I don’t know who or how many people read this newsletter, so this might be old news to those of you who do read it, but my time living in Hungary is ending. I have resigned from GGIS and will be moving back to Baltimore in June, 2019.

I remember when I first met with Pastor Schaller about coming to Hungary back in 2012. God was moving in mighty ways in my life at that time. I was just starting my third year of Bible College at MBC&S and all summer I had been going to the week night outreaches. I remember praying for hours on end about what God wanted me to do in my future. I knew I wanted to go somewhere, I had gone to Eurocon to visit Hungary and loved it.

I moved here the following January to do my practicum. That was supposed to be for six months.

Here I am six years later, and now this chapter of my life is coming to a close.

The first part of the Ecclesiastes 3:1 is what I have always thought about; however, recently I have been thinking about that second part more and more- “A time for every purpose under heaven.”

It’s amazing that an eternal God uses time to accomplish His purpose in our finite physical lives.

What was the purpose in my time in Hungary?

I have learned what my gifts are. I have learned what I love to do. I have learned who I am and who I am not. I have learned to lean on God and less on myself. I have learned patience and how to trust God when things don’t go how I want them to. I have learned how to apply the knowledge I acquire from the Word. I have learned that I have nothing to offer people except what God has given to me. I have learned that God’s unfailing love is the greatest motivator in people’s lives. I have learned that serving money leads nowhere. I have learned that I am a changed person.

I have learned that more than one-fifth of my life has now been spent on the mission field.

I have learned that I hope that someday when I am much older I can still say the same thing.

God has truly blessed me in my time here. It will be very difficult to leave when the time comes, but I know that just like God gives new seasons, He has a purpose in that season.

I look forward to seeing what God’s purpose is in this next season.

November 2018

Have you ever had one of those days that feels like three days? That’s how this month has felt for me, but in a good way. So much happened. Are you ready for a ton of pictures?

First there was a Harvest Party at GGIS. I made a costume. It was awesome. I was getting eaten by a shark. 

 

Next, the Korean youth group had fun day where we went to play laser tag and to a trampoline park. 

 

After that, it was my birthday week. I was overwhelmed by the love that I was shown from all of my “families” here. My ninth grade students decorated my room and brought and presents and my church had a cake. 

 

The next week the Korean church had a young people’s retreat. We went about an hour outside of the city for a weekend and prayed, worshipped, and of course ate amazing food. 

 
Looking back it was quite the crazy month. I realized a long time ago that with all of my activity it is vital that I find time to clear my head and get with God so I started walking every day. I listen to messages or pray as I do a multi-mile loop around my neighborhood every night. That private time is what fuels my public ministry. I highly recommend finding time to just be with the Lord one on one without thinking about the cares of this world.



My pedometer tells me I walked 300 miles in October. 300 miles with God.

October 2018

I always feel a little funny when I write these because my life mainly revolves around school and education, but this is a missionary blog. I struggle with the idea that while I am a teacher, I am actually a missionary. I mean, I know it. Every day I am sharing the Christ with students, but it's not like I am planting a church or something. Maybe you understand what I mean.
With all of that in mind, I would like to share something I wrote after a recent Bible Study I led at GGIS.

"Usually my week of preparation for a message is doing a little reading, thinking, and praying each morning of the week. Last week I thought the theme "Give Me Your Heart" from Proverbs 23 would be a good topic; however the more I prepared, the more I fully expected it to just suck. Fall flat. I kinda just wanted it to be over with so we could all go play frisbee.
"As we sat and began talking (usually the message is me presenting some small ideas which the students talk about for a minute, then I ask questions that I want them to answer, and we repeat that several times) but tonight I couldn't believe what the students were saying. Incredible. Doctrine was pouring out of each and every one of them.
"Reka mentioned how making decisions for God can be so difficult but in the end you see a great result. (Hugi, keep her coming out!)
When we talked about how sometimes hearts can become hard, Seung Hee compared it to ice. Ice takes a long time to freeze, it doesn't happen instantly, but when it is heated up it melts quickly. That can be like us, our hearts can become cold, but when the warmth of the love of God is again realized in my life, I can have instant restoration.

"I wish I could go through what everyone said, it was so amazing. What I expected to be 15 minutes tops turned into 45 in the blink of an eye."

I think it can be hard for us to see the impact we have in our ministry at times. I have been here for six years and I am just now realizing the fruit of investment. I have been able to watch these students grow from crazy third and fourth graders into mature, God-seeking teenagers.

It is missions. Everything we do is missions. Remember, you and I are not at home here, every ministry we have is a mission, no matter where we are or what it is. A cup of cold water is a ministry if it's given from the Spirit of God.

The last thing is that in ministry, you can make connections that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. I walked into my classroom the other day and found the following list that various students have been adding to the past few days:


Thank God that he has and continues to use us!

September 2018

Hi Everybody!

I just returned from the annual GGIS High School Retreat. This is a time when we take all the students from grades 7-12 out into the country side in Hungary and spend three days playing sports, getting to know each other, having competitions, and of course praising God.

It is always so much fun to watch the new students during this event. While school has already been in session for two weeks, we had three new students start school on the morning of the Retreat. Their jaws all collectively seemed to hit the floor as they saw what incredible life there was.

I pretty much run the show, but I base almost everything off of what I learned from Camp Life growing up. It’s my job to make the schedule, make sure events run smoothly, kids are supervised, and that equipment is brought. Besides that, I also ran most of the events, did the announcing, made sure that things happened on time, and I also lead the barn dancing, campfire songs, and I preach one night.

Wow, writing that out it’s a lot.

I remember something my good friend, Pastor Barry, once said to me. Some people are excellent receivers, they are like sponges and soak up everything, but I am more of a producer. I have found that when I am active and busy in ministry, I have the most to keep pouring out.

My message was Friday night during the campfire. Last year I spoke about how to keep the fire in our hearts burning, and how we can’t just leave incredible times with God and forget that they happened. This year, I spoke about what to do now that the fire in us is burning.

In Exodus 3, the Bible says that Moses stopped what he was doing, turned aside, and drew near to see a great site. This was the burning bush in the wilderness. Out of the fire came the Word of God. This is just like us. People stop, turn aside, and draw near to the fire of God in us. We have words for them, we can encourage and edify, we can share God’s will with them.

A final point I made was that we can sometimes be shy about the fire of God burning in us. Sometimes there is a temptation to hide it. Maybe our reputations are at stake, maybe we are afraid that if people know we are on fire for God, they will think we are weird.

We can’t let that hinder us.

Remember in Judges 7 when Israel broke the clay pots and let the light from their torches shine, there was a miracle that took place and their enemy was defeated. That’s the exact same thing that can happen with us. When I am broken, that’s when my light will truly shine.

Lastly, if you could, I would like you to pray for a young man. He was in our school for three years, but just returned to his home country. He came from a bit of a rough background, but really became part of the GGIS family in his time here. Not only that, but he prayed with me to accept Christ last year however, his family are all practicing Muslims, which is why I am omitting his name.

In his final days with us, I asked him if there is anything that I could pray for and the one thing he wanted was to find other believers with whom he could fellowship in his new school.

July-August 2018

I just returned to Budapest from a great summer spent mostly in Baltimore. It was great to be with friends and family, this was actually the first time I’ve spent a prolonged period of time in Maryland since I moved in 2013.

I left a little early, though, this year to come back for Camp Life Europe.

Wow.

It was amazing.

There were a few students from GGIS who came as well as about 80-90 other people. There were sports, and games, but also times of worship, prayer, and time in the Word.

There was one Korean boy who came who was not a Christian but by the end of the week accepted Christ as his Savior. Incredible!

Here is the group who came from Hungary.



This is a picture of Dasha, a student at GGIS, and Rae, a camper from America.



This is Boti, he is from Miskolc, in the countryside of Hungary. I was glad to get to know him as I have seen him and his family over the years, but never really made a connection with them.



Overall, while my time in America was short this year, I am so glad I was able to go to Camp Life. I remember the times I spent as a camper were life changing and I know that this event is still changing lives today.

Thank you so much to all who had a part in putting this together, P. Love, P. Pete, the Romanians who hosted this year, and all those who laid down their lives to make this thing possible.

I am looking forward to another great year in GGIS as I return to work next week.

If you think of it, please keep me in your prayers.

June 2018

This will be my last newsletter before I come back to America for the summer.

So much has happened this month, we had a spring high school retreat which I already told you about, I went to two graduations and two banquets, and now we are wrapping up the end of the school year with final exams this week.

Last Saturday was the GGIS graduation. It was probably the best one I have been to. This was also the first year I wasn't the photographer for the day since I taught a senior class and was sitting on the stage. Traditionally we have our graduates each give speeches (we have small classes). It was fascinating hearing the impact that this school has on the lives of its students. I think I still don't comprehend it fully, but this week I saw more and more how vital this type of ministry is. The other graduation I attended was much different. There seemed to be no connection between the teachers and students. I caught myself wondering if this was how school should be and that I am just too personable as a teacher, but then I realized how different GGIS is. I think of Acts 3:6 when Peter told the lame man that he had nothing physically to give but he had something far better. GGIS can't offer the extracurricular activities, honors programs, or campus that the other school has but we have something far greater, we have a ministry, a connection with students that goes beyond the human level. It's spiritual. Lives are changed, not just temporally, but eternally.

I must say that my life has also been changed being here.

There are quite a few staff members who have or who are leaving this year. As I think back on all the memories I've had with them, it's amazing that we have had the opportunity to be here as a team, doing this for this long. (I'm not leaving, but others are.)

One fantastic event we had this past month was a Middle School boat trip. This is a three hour cruise along the river with dinner and games. It happened a couple weeks after our High School Banquet so naturally the Middle Schoolers all called it their "banquet". It wasn't meant to be but it was kind of cute to see them all get dressed up and try to bashfully ask each other "out" (we all rode a bus together to the boat then sat at communal tables for the food).

On the boat trip there was a seventh grade girl who has been in our school for six months, she is not returning next year and is instead going to that other school I mentioned earlier. She is so depressed! She loves it here, but there is a perception based on outward appearances that the other one is a better school so her parents will send her there next year.

Outward appearances are deceptive. More and more I see it. When I look at certain students I often times see no outward change. Maybe their grades are bad, their attitude is bad, or they just seem lazy, but then all of a sudden they will tell you that they accepted Christ months, or even years ago, and they have been going to church, and want to grow as a Christian. It's incredible. This actually happened with a student this year. I didn't want to speak to him, I went to his study hall three times before I finally pulled him out to speak to him, and right away he told me he has been waiting for the opportunity to accept Christ. My how that young man's life has been changed in the months since then! Amazing.

Thank you all for your continued prayer and support. I look forward to being in Baltimore all summer before returning to Hungary for Camp Life in July.

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!

April 2018

Hi Everyone,

This past month, spring has finally come to Budapest. In a recent teachers’ meeting, it was mentioned that sometimes the winters here, which are pretty dark and gloomy, can wear you down. You can start to wonder why you’re here or what is going on, but then, boom, before you know it, the sun is back, the kids are normal again, and you remember why you live. This is very true, but it actually didn’t happen to me this year. I have seen God working so mightily in different ways, I feel like every day something new and incredible is going to happen.

I went to Eurocon in Warsaw, Poland at the beginning of the month. It was a great time to be with people I don’t often get to spend time with. It was also neat because ever since I moved here, Eurocon has been in Budapest, but for me, living here, there can be a lot of distractions. Now that it was in Poland, I had nothing to do except go to the conference and spend time with the people there. I didn’t think about that until afterwards, but it was an interesting side note.

I asked my friend, Pastor Love, if I could video him speaking for a minute about his work in the chaplain program in the NBA to show to the basketball team at GGIS. Here is a picture of them listening to him.

It was really neat to see them paying such close attention and they asked a lot of questions afterwards.

As you may know, I have been talking individually to the high school students in GGIS and have now spoken to 57 of them. Please pray that I keep having these opportunities as they are very special. Last week, the day before our Easter break, three students prayed with me to receive Christ, two of which were boys who you see in that picture, listening to Pastor Love. Amazing!

I have been talking about Camp Life with my students because it is now happening in Europe as well as the US. I will be coming back to Hungary a bit earlier this summer so that I can attend and the kids I have talked to about it are very interested. This is a fantastic program and for me, both as a camper, and a counsellor, it was life changing.

I wanted to show you another picture that I took recently at the Korean church I attend. This is in the chapel at GGIS. During Eurocon, I was able to speak to P. Dunbar, who is a missionary in South Korea. It’s cool to me to have a connection about a love for people. I can’t wait to someday go to Korea and visit him!

 

March 2018

I have been working with a Korean church in Budapest as a youth leader for about a year and a half now. Generally what happens is after the main service, we all get together, sing, talk, and discuss the message. We also do events and had a two day retreat last year. It's been really great, but I also see that most of the kids only have a very basic Biblical understanding. (The couple students who also attend GGIS are like spiritual giants, though.) Anyway, a couple weeks ago, the two ladies who also help with the youth group were both sick so it was just me. We had about 15 kids and we divided up into groups. I had two students lead groups to discuss questions that I wrote down and I led another group. I realized there might be some confusion with one of my questions so I regrouped everyone and asked if they had questions.

Then!

It happened!

The moment I've been waiting for a year and a half!

They had questions!

We spent the next hour talking about some really big, theological questions they had. It was awesome. I won't say all of them were in tune, but most were.

Question after question.

It was incredible. "How does God measure faith", "can you explain eternal security", "what are some verses that go with that", "what do I do when I'm slumping spiritually", "what is hell like and who goes there"?

These questions were so good! I was ecstatic as I left. Please pray this continues! These kids are amazing and are longing to have these deep questions answered. It takes time, I've realized, for teenagers to open up. It reminds me of Proverbs 20:5. There has to be a drawing out of the questions and thoughts, but it takes time, you have to build trust before it can happen. I have built that trust at GGIS to the point where every free block I have in my day I have a student in my room talking to me, and now I am so happy that I am starting to build that trust with the Korean church!

Since I have this Korean connection, I am the go to guy when we divide our high school by language (I don’t speak Korean, but I can read it!) for Bible class on Fridays about once a month. I look forward to these times that I can spend with the small group of Koreans that we have in the high school. This past Friday I had one of the students lead us in worship and then I spoke about our value. I have found that this is such an important topic in the Asian community. So often identity can be tied into what you do- grades, work, extracurricular activities, but people can forget that we are valuable because God says we are. We looked at Micah 6:8 which asks the question, “What does the Lord require of you?” There are three things listed there, but the last one is the one I focused on- walk with God. If I walk with God, it doesn’t matter what I “become” in life. I could end up with the least desirable job ever, but if I walk with God in it, it’s the most valuable thing I could be doing. I think that the students understood what I was saying. God’s will is so much greater than my plans. He wants me to have the best, but His best may not be what I have mapped out for my future.

As I write this, I am looking forward to Eurocon, a conference of many Greater Grace churches in Europe, in a couple days. This is the first time since I’ve lived here that it hasn’t been in Budapest. I think it will be good. Having it in Budapest is a bit distracting for me since it’s my home and I always find something to do here. Now that it’s in Poland and I know nothing about Poland, I think it will help direct my focus a bit more if that makes sense. I feel a little like I did when I first came to Eurocon in 2012. I am excited and looking forward to what God is going to do!

Hopefully I will see some of you there!

February 2018

I don't know where to begin.

Let me rewind to last week.

I was able to sit down and talk with one of my ninth grade students for a while last Wednesday. She is a Chinese girl who was born and raised in Europe in a Christian home. Most of our conversation consisted of her talking and me just listening. She talked about her life, GGIS, going to church, "American Christianity" vs. "Chinese Christianity" and also how she feels that sometimes God is leading her to do and say things but she feels intimidated because she is so young.

I think that often times as a teacher I talk down to students. I view them as probably every other school teacher in the world views their students. I am here to teach them. I am here to instruct them. Discipline them when necessary. I am here to bless them. I am here to minister to them.

But in that meeting, I realized that this girl is my sister in the body of Christ.

Yes, I am her English teacher, and she is a fantastic student, but more than that we are Christians. I was so blessed by what she was saying that I almost had tears in my eyes. Some of our students have a remarkable amount of doctrine hidden away in their hearts.

My purpose was to minister to her but ultimately she blessed me far more than I could have imagined.

Another Chinese student I spoke to told me that because she is a Christian but comes from a Buddhist family, she has to think of new lies every week to tell her mom so she can go to church on Sunday. If her mom found out she was going to church she would be disowned, kicked out of the house. Yet she said her only prayer is that one day her family would become Christians.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t sacrificed much in my Christian life. I come from a Christian home in a Christian country with Christian relatives. I was born and a week later I was in church. I never had to lie to my family so I could go to church. In fact, I got in trouble for not going.

I have been having a sort of renaissance year at GGIS. For a while, and especially the previous year and a half, it was tough being here. I felt sort of out of place. I knew I was called here but I wasn’t necessarily operating in that call. Perhaps I was distracted by outward circumstances rather than trusting God that He would take care of those things so I could focus on His call on my life in GGIS.

The reason I’ve been meeting with these students is, as I said in a previous newsletter, because I felt compelled to. God made it so clear to me that I needed to do this that I pretty much couldn’t say no with a clear conscience. I have now spoken to over a third of the high schoolers individually. (Three of them have prayed with me to receive Christ!) I have a running list on my computer and it turns out that around 60 percent of the high schoolers at GGIS have at one time or another accepted Christ. I am shocked to read that number (I just double checked it as I was writing this). I thought the number was much lower. Do you remember the verse in I Kings where Elijah is praying and asking God why he is the only person in the whole country who still follows Him? I wonder how many of my students feel that way. I know I have before. But what was God’s answer? “I have 7,000 who haven’t bowed their knees to Baal.” Don’t get me wrong, that’s a small number relatively. 50 Christian students is a small number (even though it’s the majority). But with God that doesn’t matter. My goal for the rest of this year is to get those kids together. Fridays during the last period I have started gathering a group of students for a prayer and fellowship time. I showed them that list I keep and they were shocked as well. There wasn’t a dry eye. They had no idea. It seems that due to an influence of a small number of students, the Christian population was shut up. Pray that this doesn’t happen anymore.

I am also keeping a running list of prayer requests. Here are a few from students: Genuine friendships, knowing God’s will for the future, boosting of self-esteem, and finally for their unsaved family members to become Christians.

Please keep these things in prayer.

Lastly, people often ask me when I am moving back to America. I honestly don’t know the answer to that. In September I was thinking that this was it. My last year. I begged God, pleaded with Him to change my circumstances, get me through the year so I could move back. I think that prayer was answered to a certain degree, circumstances have changed, but more than that He changed me. I am not (as of now) planning on moving back to America. This is not a spur of the moment decision either. As I said before I am having a renaissance year here. I have felt God working and moving in fantastic ways. Since about November I have been praying about my future in Hungary. If I had left at this time, I would have been defeated. The impact that I am seeing in GGIS may not be happening. This change in my life may not have taken place. My eyes are opened to the 7,000. God is moving and I know that this is where I am supposed to be. There have been hard times here, times when I have wanted to give up. Times where to even write a newsletter I had to wrack my brain for something encouraging to say. Through all of this God was working. How foolish I was to think that because of the attack I should give up. Now I am seeing the wall being built like in Nehemiah. My thoughts aren’t fixated on the attack but on the work.

Thank you for your prayers. We are about a great work. We will not come down.

January 2018

Happy New Year from Budapest!

I have been on Christmas vacation for two weeks now and am kind of over it at this point. Vacations are nice but being with students and teaching is where I should be.

During our break I spent time with some families here, helped a couple move, and I built a desk for a former student. On Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve I was with the Korean church. New Year’s day we got together for a service in the morning and had a lunch together. This is a bowl of soup that we ate. I couldn’t finish it it was so filling. The white stuff is like giant rice noodles. 

I was talking to another teacher and she was saying how she has realized over the break how important Body life is and how without it you kind of just drift off into your own little world. It’s so true. I like to think about the verse, “Without a vision, the people perish” from Proverbs 29:18. It’s not just a corporate vision, but also a personal one; however, the two are inseparable. Without the Body, I won’t be able to have a personal vision and without a personal vision, I can’t operate in a corporate vision. God truly designed us to be together. I find that when I am alone my viewpoint can become twisted. I start to think only about myself and I can even start to have a negative outlook about people or things happening in God’s work. I start to look inward and forget who I am in relationship to God and His people. When I am where I am supposed to be, in the Body, in my call, that’s the place where I find that my view point becomes outward and my personal vision extends to and connects with the corporate vision. In fact, doesn’t Psalm 73 say just that? Before the Psalmist went to church he was jealous of the wicked, he saw that they had everything his flesh wanted, and they didn’t have any problem using other people to obtain all they could from life. He lost the corporate vision he had because his personal vision was inward. Once he went to church, however, that personal vision became rightly related to God and his corporate vision was restored because he could see the end result. That didn’t come from looking inward but outward.

I have been thinking about this more and more recently and it’s really remarkable. Please don’t stop being around God’s people. Get to a place where there is a corporate vision and where your personal vision is encouraged and cultivated. That’s where we see the result of our walk of faith and that’s what encourages us to keep going.

Please pray for the second half of this school year that will quickly come and go. Pray for my students to have an outward vision, and pray that we encourage each other to keep going to that place where the corporate vision is manifested.

December 2017

As I write this, it’s snowing. That statement is completely irrelevant but it’s ok. I think this newsletter will jump around a bit.

GGIS normally has a chaplain but since our last one moved we haven’t had anyone to fill that role. I decided (secretly) that I would take on the job of speaking to every student in the high school. So far I have spoken to about ten percent of the high school students. It’s been incredible. Two of those students have accepted Christ and another one I have to follow up with this week. He is a Chinese boy in 11th grade who has really been questioning his family’s religion of Buddhism since he entered GGIS. When we spoke on Friday we talked about karma and how God doesn’t see us in terms of good and bad. It’s actually really good that I am speaking to him now because he is in my Bible class and we were talking about how God views our self-righteousness. I said that in Buddhism every one is kind of neutral, but then can choose to be good or bad. In Christianity, without Christ, we are just bad and the only way to produce good is to first accept Christ. It’s a heart change. I think a lot of Chinese people can feel stuck, I know you and I can, and think that everything good that we try to do always just turns out bad. In fact, isn’t that what Paul said in Romans 7? The things I want to do I can’t but the things I hate doing I find myself doing over and over and over? We don’t need to chase after perfection, just accept that God sees us as perfect in Him. After this time together, he thanked me and said that it was the most convincing thing he has heard yet as to why he should become a Christian. Please be praying for him.

Last week I spent Thanksgiving with my friends, Tim and Myriah who also invited about 20 other Americans over. We had two turkeys and a ton of other food. It was a wonderful time of fellowship. God is really doing things here in the life of the GGIS team. I think there are ebbs and flows in team life where people can go into hibernation and then come out again. It seems we are coming out again. I am so thankful for Tim and Myriah and all that they do here. On Friday nights they faithfully open their home to all of the GGIS staff who want to come over. We eat and play games and talk about the things God is doing. It’s so necessary.

I recently preached a message about negativity with our teen group. Studying for that message was amazing. The more I studied, the more I realized what an impact negativity and positivity can have on our lives. God never called us to be pessimistic and negative. He called us to declare His works. Is that what I am doing? I hope so. I need to focus on Him and His life and then that negativity fades away. The other thing I was thinking about was that negativity is just a manifestation of me not getting my way. Think about Jonah. He saw the works of God but instead of realizing how awesome what happened in Nineveh was, he simply pouted because he didn’t get what he wanted. Hebrews 12:15 says “see to it that no one fails the grace of God and by it a root of bitterness springs up in your soul.” If you recall, Jonah sat under his root of bitterness because in his eyes, the people of Nineveh, and God for that matter, had failed him. When my expectation for people isn’t met, I can become negative, but when I have God’s mind, people don’t need to meet my expectation. I can actually “see to it” that people aren’t put in a place in my brain to fail the grace of God. This allows me to live in positivity about things, rather than negativity.

I am so stirred up about this. God is doing mighty things. I am so proud to be a part of this.

November 2017

Have you ever been angry? Like really angry? You feel your blood pressure rise, your head starts pounding, your scalp starts to burn. It happens to everyone once in a while. It happened to me this past month. I was mad about a situation that I had no way to fix. I tried to calm down, I went for a walk, I thought my situation over and over and over with different scenarios, but there was nothing that I could do about it. Honestly, I simmered like this for a couple days before I realized that God had a plan in it. I don’t think this is a great epiphany or anything. We know that God works all things together for good, that He has a plan for every situation, but still, in that moment, in my anger, God comforted me. My perspective changed. I readjusted to God’s mindset and my outlook in the face of this problem changed.

I have been thinking more and more recently about God’s plan and the way He directs and shapes circumstances in life to draw us to Himself. We always have a choice to accept His leading or reject it, but God wants to use everything that happens to me as a way to get to know Him in different ways. My situation that angered me so much was one of those ways.

Also, this past month I celebrated my birthday. My students all know my birthday (I tell them weeks in advance… I’m an only child), and I had lots of cards and classes sang to me, but I also had one very special surprise. At lunch time, I had a feeling that people were trying to get me out of my classroom. I usually work through lunch because I teach before and after and those thirty minutes are a nice time to prepare. Anyway, the middle school science teacher came into my room and asked if I would go downstairs with him. Ok, I see what’s going on. My 8th grade girls are all standing in the lobby, not in the cafeteria where they should be, whispering and suddenly becoming quiet as I walk by. Ya, something is up.

We sat awkwardly in the teacher’s lounge for a few minutes before I asked if I could go back up to my room. We both figured that enough time had passed that it wouldn’t appear like I knew what was going on.

The bell rang and as I walked down the hall toward my room I could see that the lights were off and there were banners and balloons hanging from the walls. I could see the tops of a dozen heads behind the desks. As I walked in they all popped up and yelled surprise. It was the best surprise party I have ever had. 

I don’t know how to describe what I feel for my students. I feel like their parent, their sibling, and their friend all at the same time. I didn’t get a picture of it, but on one of my white boards the wrote, “We Love You, Mr. Cook”. I love them too.

This is why I need my perspective to line up with God’s mind. God loves these kids more than I do and He is using me to help them get to know Him.

October 2017

Last week a student from my Bible class walked into my classroom during a break and just stood there smiling at me. It's not uncommon for this to happen, but this time it was a little strange. This student is new to GGIS this year so I don't have such a strong relationship with him yet. I smiled back. We stood like that for a few seconds. It was kind of awkward. He then said "I became a believer yesterday" and walked out.

Ummmmm.

That's amazing! I caught up with him later during my break and talked to him for a minute. He said that he had been praying and thinking about becoming a Christian and decided to the day before he spoke to me.

If you've read my newsletters before, at the end of every school year we have a survey that we give to all of the high school students asking them some spiritual questions, "do you understand what it means to be a Christian, are you a Christian, would you like to be" etc. Once we receive these back we can pretty easily gauge where our students are after all of the teaching we have given them through the year. I have never had a student come to me and tell me that they accepted Christ five weeks into the school year, though! Incredible!

I think that often times, if I am not actively aware of spiritual things, I can miss what God is doing.

I lead a Bible study on Friday nights for our High School students and our theme in September was "How to Keep the Fire Burning". Often times during our High School Retreat we have this amazing anointing and kids are fully aware of the presence of God. I have seen (and experienced) though, that just like the Parable of the Sower, there can be circumstances waiting to snatch away the seeds that have been planted. In our Bible Study we talked about how I can continue to live in that life, that spiritual awareness that I had in those anointed times. I don't know if the kids got anything out of it, but I sure did!

Another big part of my ministry here is working with a Korean youth group. Last weekend I was able to go to the Korean Sport Day which brings together the Korean community here in Budapest. I was shocked to realize how many of these awesome people I have met in the past year working with the youth group. It’s amazing to me that I get to do this!