Dear Friends: One of our most affecting experiences since moving into the heart of Budapest was hearing the church-bells resound late Saturday night followed by the candlelight Easter processional. What a beautiful (and powerfully symbolic) announcement of Christ's resurrection in the midst of this darkened world!
Second Round (of many...) Shortly before Easter we held a celebration dinner for the 8 guests who completed the first Alpha Course in Torokbalint! It was a bittersweet finale, given the many friendships that had developed over the 10 weeks, but it was encouraging to hear how the course had impacted each of their lives. One lady commented that it was the best experience she had in years. Others shared about how it had caused them to take a step closer to God. But most encouraging of all was being able to pray with our neighbor (whom many of you prayed for) when she decided to surrender her life to Christ!
Without missing a beat, we've already launched a second round of the Alpha Course in Torokbalint with a new set of guests and a slightly different team (our neighbor decided to come back as a helper on this course!).
Please pray that God would continue to bless our time together each Wednesday night.Unexpected Challenges On a somewhat more discouraging note, one of the pastors that John works closely with has been going through a difficult period as a result of his wife's severe health problems. He had to almost completely step back from ministry to care for her along with their 4 kids, something that has obviously brought challenges to the church he pastors. Consequently, we are recalibrating our plans for the year given his situation.
With our love,
John & Zsofi
