Marc ('90 MS), Charin, Esther, Hannah, Nancy and Benjamin Patton
Contact Information
Mr. and Mrs. Marc Patton
Gorkij fasor 39
Tat 2534
HUNGARY
011-36-33-445-276
Email: patton@invitel.hu
Mission Agency
Baptist International Missions, Inc.
November 16, 2009
Dear Friends,
I would like to start with a couple items of praise:
1) Profession of Faith: Kata Horvath is a lady in her 40s. Her first contact with our church was through our English Outreach during the summer of 2008. She came to our closing service and began attending church sporadically. During the past several months she began attending very faithfully, and it was obvious that the Lord was working in her heart. Last Sunday she asked for an appointment, and Tuesday we met in my office. She had a few final questions about salvation, but her heart was already well prepared. It was a joy to pray with her, as she committed her life to Christ. Please pray with us that she will stand strong in the Lord and grow in her faith.
2) New church van: We put the final payment on the church van last week, and took possession of it on Thursday. It was a blessing to be able to use it in the ministry this past weekend. The teens used it for a youth outing on Saturday, then our church planting team used it to go out to Nagysap for the service there Saturday evening. It was then used again on Sunday to transport people to church. It is a HUGE improvement on our old van, and we are so thankful for all who gave and prayed, so that we could make this purchase. We pray that it will prove to be a blessing for a number of years. Today I cleaned out our old van and took it to the local Ford dealer (a member of our church), to put it out for sale in his used car lot. We are hoping to get some money out of it ($1,600-1,800).
3) Church attendance in Esztergom continues to be strong, and we have two new families who have begun attending. We also have two adult ladies who have been coming faithfully the past couple of months who also seem to be getting close to making a decision for salvation. Church attendance in Tata has also been good. We were sorry to lose a family that moved farther away from the church, and decided to attend a church locally rather than drive to our church. On the other hand, we have had some visitors in Tata as well.
4) Prayer requests:
1) We continue our missions emphasis month in both churches. We will take up our Faith promise committments on November 29th. The economy here in Hungary is really hurting, so I am not sure what we will see, but we are trusting the Lord that with some new people getting involved that we will be able to see an increase.
2) I would also ask you to pray for Reni Holdampf and her mother Judit. As you may remember Reni's brother (Judit's son) was killed in a car wreck back in June. Reni has really been struggling of late, and they both could use our prayers.
Thanks for joining with us in prayer for our ministry.
God bless,
Marc Patton
November 9, 2009
Dear Friends,
The past two months have been busy, but rewarding. We have enjoyed having some visitors from the US. Trisha, Tamara and Tyler Mock visited us in October. They are grandchildren of our former coworker, Don Rice. Trisha and Tamara have been here several times in the past helping with our English camp. Shortly after their departure, Evangelist Allen Buchanek joined us for about 10 days of ministry in Hungary. He is preaching not only in our churches, but also in several other churches in the country. We are thankful for the many friends who have sacrificed their time and money to be a help to us here in Hungary.
Here are some highlights from the past 2 months:
Thanksgiving:
Hungary does not have a national day of Thanksgiving as we do in the States. Each church chooses a Sunday in the Fall for their Thanksgiving service. We held a combined Thanksgiving service for our three churches on September 27. We were pleased to have a good number of our people from Tat and Nyergesujfalu come to Esztergom to participate in the service. The highlight of the service is when our people come to the microphone to express their thansgiving to the Lord for the blessings of the past year. This year the testimony time went on for a full hour before I closed it down. The amazing thing was that several people said that it didn't seem long to them at all. God truly has been good to us, and we are grateful for His many blessings.
Church Van:
Thank you for giving toward our church van. We actually exceeded our goal of $10,000. In October, we asked our people in Esztergom each to give a special gift toward the van, and they gave an additional $1500. This past week I put down a deposit on a 2005 Ford Transit van. Lord willing, we will have it in hand in another week or so. We pray that it wil work out well for us, and meet our needs for a number of years.
A Look Ahead:
1. Instead of having a week long Missions Conference this year, we will emphasize missions each Sunday of the month and take up our Faith Promise commitments November 29th. I will also be introducing Faith Promise missions giving to our church in Tata. Please pray for good commitmnents, so we can do more for missions.
2. December is always a busy month with the special Christmas programs, our puppet ministry, our Christmas shoe box distribution, and many opportunities to reach the lost with the love of Christ.
Thank you once again for your faithful support and prayers for our ministry.
Serving for His glory,
Marc, Charin, Nancy, Benji, Esther and Hannah Patton
October 28, 2009
Dear Friends,
I have three items of praise that I would like to share with you all.
1) Our Leadership Conference on Missions and Evangelism this past Saturday went very well. We had our biggest attendance ever. We had about 200 people from 25 churches participate. This stretched our church’s capabilities, as we provided lunch and supper for everyone, as well as an all day program for about 50 children. Thankfully, everything went smoothly. The spirit of the conference was excellent, and we received a lot of positive feedback from those who attended. We trust that many went home with a fresh burden and vision for reaching the lost in their communities.
2) On Monday evening we had a special evangelistic service in Tata. Our young people from Esztergom provided the special music, and Allen Buchanek shared his testimony and preached. We had about 70 people in attendance – probably about 30 of these were visitors. God clearly spoke to hearts, and we are praying that we will see some people return to our regular services.
3) Today, I put a deposit down on a 9 passenger 2005 Ford Transit van. One of our church men is the owner of the local Ford dealership and helped us track it down. We drove about 120 miles to Paks, Hungary today to test drive it, and look it over. It cost more than we had originally planned to spend, but thankfully we did receive a little bit more than the $10,000 we had targeted, and I had some extra money of our own, that we were able to put toward it. We will be able to pay the full price when our October support arrives next week, so Lord willing, we will have it in hand within a week or so. Thank you for praying and giving toward this need.
Not too much other news at the moment. We will stay in touch.
Marc Patton
October 19, 2009
Dear Friends,
It has been a month since our last letter, so I would like to update you on our ministry.
Attendance:
Attendance in Esztergom has been excellent. In fact, the past two weeks we have had around 130 in attendance on Sunday. In September we broke the children into three groups (instead of two), and that has been a help, as we are averaging about 30 children each Sunday. Our teachers work on a rotational basis, and we added two new teachers who are both doing an excellent job. This is the highest our attendance has ever been (for normal, everyday Sundays), and we trust that we will see things stabilize at this level.
Attendance in Tata continues to be between 30 and 40. I would like to see some new people plug in, but it has been a slow go. We do have a new young lady in her 20s coming faithfully, and two new families coming sporadically.
Visitors:
Trisha, Tamara and Tyler Mock were here for a visit during the past two weeks. They are our former colleague Don Rice’s grandchildren. Trisha and Tamara have helped us with our English camps in the past, and our people have really grown to love them. They are like family to us, and we really enjoyed their visit.
This week evangelist Allen Buchanek will be arriving to spend about 10 days preaching here in Hungary. He will be based with us here, but will preach in other churches, as well. God has been using him all over Eastern Europe, and we are looking forward to seeing him, as well.
Leadership Conference on Missions and Evangelism:
This Saturday we will be hosting our annual conference on Missions and Evangelism. We have more than 180 preregistered from about 20 churches, so this will be our largest conference ever. Our theme for this year is “Changed Lives.” I will open the conference with a sermon on: The Life-Changing Message: What is the Gospel? Samuel Mike will follow with a message on: God’s Instrument for Change: The Local Church. Brother Samuel pastors a growing church in Kecskemet, Hungary. In the afternoon we will have split sessions on: Discipleship, Freedom from Addictions, Winning our Children to Christ. We will close out the day with a message by evangelist Allen Buchanek. Please pray that the Lord would speak to hearts and challenge all of us to do more to win souls and see lives transformed by the saving power of Christ.
Evangelistic Service in Tata:
On Monday the 26th, Allen Buchanek will be preaching in a special service in Tata. We have been promoting this service for the last month and have invited numerous visitors. We are also advertising quite intensively. We have rented a 150 seat auditorium for the service. Please pray that we would have many visitors come, see souls touched by the Gospel, and see new people brought into our church.
Church Van:
We have been raising money all year toward the purchase of a new (used) church van. Our target was $10,000 which we reached this past month. We also encouraged our people in Esztergom to give during the month of October, and we have added almost a thousand dollars to the total. We are now actively looking for the best van available. Please pray that the Lord would guide us, and that we would find a van that will meet our needs for a number of years.
Thanks for your faithful prayers for our ministry.
Marc Patton
September 19, 2009
Dear Friend,
Our fall has gotten off to a busy start. The kids are very busy, with school, music lessons, church activities, etc. It is a challenge to keep track of everyone’s schedule. Charin’s club for young mothers has started up again. She starts her English classes and her public school Bible club next week. Our church schedule has also been busy.
Bible Institute:
On September 5th we started up a new cycle for our 4 year Bible institute. I was very pleased to have 15 show up for our first day of classes. 12 are taking the classes for credit and three are auditing. Everyone seemed excited to be there, and I trust that they will stay with it. Our classes for this semester are Old Testament Survey 1, Systematic Theology 1 and Hermeneutics.
Wedding:
On September 12th we held the wedding for Andras Bager and Nora Nagy. Nora’s family came to our church about 5 years ago. Andras was saved last year and I just baptized him in June. They are a sharp couple. Andras is already working as an architect, and Nora just graduated from college being trained as an architect.
The wedding was huge. We had stuffed our auditorium with about 200 chairs, but we still had people standing in the hallway during the service. The wedding itself went very well. I preached a brief Gospel message as a part of the ceremony. It was also a joy to see Andras give a clear testimony of his faith at the end of the service. To our knowledge none of his relatives are saved. Several guests commented afterward that it was the most beautiful wedding ceremony they had ever seen. We trust that God will work in the hearts of those who were in attendance.
Nyergesujfalu:
I would ask you to pray for our church plant in Nyergesujfalu. It is in a bit of a crisis situation once again. It has definitely been a tough year, and we are seeking the Lord’s direction to see what changes need to be made. Please pray that the Lord would give wisdom to all involved.
Church Van:
We have received two more letters promising money toward a new church van. When these gifts arrive we will begin looking in earnest for the best available vehicle. I hope to make the purchase in October or early November.
We do appreciate your faithful prayers and support.
God bless,
September 2009
Dear Friends,
With the end of summer, our children all returned to school this past week. Nancy is now in 9th grade, Benji in 8th, Esther in 5th, and Hannah is 3rd grade. They are all attending Hungarian schools. Please continue to pray that the Lord would protect them and help them to be good testimonies to their classmates. We are pleased that our children are not afraid to talk about Christ, and in several cases have seen friends make professions of faith. Charin also continues to hold her Bible club at the elementary school in Tat and is thus able to influence many of Esther and Hannah's classmates.
English Classes
July 20-24 we held our 5th annual English camp. The morning classes are geared for the children and teens. Our evening classes drew primarily adults who come after work. We are very grateful for the Ed Hayes family, who came from the States to help with the teaching. This was Ed's fourth trip but the first for his wife and children. Charin also taught classes both morning and evening. Because we were so short on teachers, Nancy taught the beginners class for children. I was very proud of Nancy and all the hard work and creativity she put into her class.
The week went extremely well. We had around 40 participants in the morning classes and about 25 in the evenings. The majority of the students do not attend our church regularly, so it is a great opportunity for witness and outreach. There was a good spirit throughout the week, and everything went smoothly. The highlight of the week was our Sunday service. We had invited all the participants to come to our Sunday evening service. In the past we were happy to have 50% of the people come. This year we must have had 75% come. Including parents of the children, I believe we had 60-70 visitors! I preached a very clear Gospel message on the Broad Way and the Narrow Way. We are confident that God did a work in the lives of those who came. Charin will be teaching English once again on Monday evenings during the year, and many of the summer participants will be attending. Please pray that we will see many of them get saved and be added to the church. English is a draw for them, but they are still very slow to make a decision for Christ.
Basketball Camp
That same week we held a basketball camp in the early afternoons for children ages 7-12. We had 17 children sign up. Twelve were from non-church families. One of our young men, Gergo Szimon, was in charge. Andras Vers and I helped him out. Andras did a devotional every day and gave a clear presentation of the Gospel. The camp went extremely well. The children were faithful throughout the week, and almost all were present for our Sunday service. I am considering doing some sort of basketball program this fall, although we are still working on the schedule.
Family Camp
August 17-22 we took a group of 69 to Pribylina, Slovakia, for our annual Family Camp. Pribylina is located in the High Tatra Mountain Range in northern Slovakia. The location was beautiful, and the conference center was ideal for our group. BIMI representative Ed Gibson was our special speaker for the week. Our theme for the week was "Discovering the Real Thing." The emphasis was on being genuine in our faith and Christian walk. The Lord really spoke throughout the week, and many important decisions were made. We had two married couples who had been really struggling, and it seems that God began a healing process in their lives. We also had an adult man make a profession of faith. Overall it was a great week with a good mixture of fun, relaxation and spiritual growth.
Tata
The past two months were also good months for our church in Tata.
1) We were able to complete the work on our new Sunday School room. The children are now using it every Sunday. We were also able to use it as a Fewlloship hall one Sunday, as we had a meal at the church.
2) Two families from Tata also joined us for the Family Camp in Pribylina.
3) On August 23 we held a baby dedication for little Jonathan Buchner. Jonathan was born two months prematurely, after a very difficult pregnancy. Many of you who receive our email updates were praying for his safe arrival. We are pleased to say that he is healthy and doing well. August 23 was a day of rejoicing for our church, as we praised the Lord for His graciousness and asked Him for His guidance and blessing on Jonathan's life.
Prayer Requests
1) Bible Institute starts up again on September 5. It looks like we will have 12-13 participating.
2) We have a wedding scheduled for September 123. Nora Nagy and Andras Bager are a great young couple, and we trust it will be a special day for them. They are also expecting a large number of unsaved relatives to be present for the wedding ceremony.
3) September 27 will be our annual "Thanksgiving Sunday." We will be having a combined evening service for all three of our churches.
4) October 24 we will be hosting a one day Leadership Conference. The theme for the day will be "Changed Lives," and I pray it will be a blessing to all who attend.
5) Funds (and promised funds) for the church van are now $8000, so we have almost reached our target of $10,000. Thank you for your help in this project.
Thanks for remembering us in your prayers.
Serving for His Glory,
Marc, Charin, Nancy, Benji, Esther, and Hannah Patton
August 29, 2009
Dear Friends,
Thank you for praying for our family camp. Everything went very well. We ended up with 69 campers throughout the week. The youngest was about 6 months old, and the oldest 86! I do enjoy the Family Camp atmosphere, and I think it’s good for families to be together, and also for the old and young to mix. J
The location was beautiful. We were in northern Slovakia in the High Tatra Mountain Range. Our people love to hike, and several groups climbed the highest peaks around us. On Wednesday of camp we took a charter bus to Zakopane, Poland. It is on the Polish side of the High Tatras. It is probably the biggest tourist trap I have ever seen. J We also stopped at Lake Csorba in Slovakia on the way back. It is a mountain lake with beautiful mountain peaks rising up in the background. The High Tatras are not as high as the Alps, but still beautiful and picturesque.
The conference center worked out well. The rooms were much nicer than a typical camp room, so it was worth the slightly more expensive price. With the exception of Wednesday, we had services each morning and evening. Brother Ed Gibson was our special speaker, and the Lord really blessed his messages. Our theme for the week was Discovering the Real Thing. The emphasis was on being genuine in our faith. Many important decisions were made throughout the week. Two married couples had been going through serious struggles before camp, and I believe that a healing process was begun in their lives. We also had an adult man make a profession of faith Friday evening. We closed out with a camp fire Friday after the service. It was wonderful to hear many testify of the blessings they had received that week. Please pray that the decisions made would produce lasting change.
Back to School:
This week we did some sightseeing here in Hungary with the Gibsons, before they headed back to the States on Wednesday. Charin has been busy getting the kids ready for school. School here in Hungary begins next week. Please pray that our kids would continue to do well and be good testimonies in the Hungarian public schools they attend. Nancy will be beginning 9th grade, Benji 8th grade, Esther 5th grade and Hannah 3rd grade.
Church Van:
We received another $1,000 toward the van in August. We now have more than $7,000 of the $10,000 we are trying to raise. It is still my hope to make the purchase before winter arrives.
Baby Dedication:
On Sunday in Tata we had the dedication service for little Jonathan Buchner. If you remember, he was the baby that was almost lost at 5 months and ended up being born 8 weeks premature. He is still doing great. We had many family members visiting for the service, so the church building was literally overflowing. J
That’s all for now. God bless,
Marc Patton
August 15, 2009
Dear Friends,
Just a quick note to ask you to pray for our Family Camp next week. 69 of us will be leaving Monday morning for a week at a Conference Center in the High Tatra mountain range in northern Slovakia. It is a beautiful location, and we are looking forward to a great week. Ed Gibson and his wife Bonnie arrived yesterday from the States. He will be speaking in chuch tomorrow, and also throughout the week at camp. Please pray that the Lord would bless the messages and work in hearts.
We will have limited access to email next week, so if you send us a note, it may take a while to answer.
Thanks for your prayers.
Marc
July 28, 2009
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your prayers for our English Camp/Basketball Camp. It was a great week.
1) English Camp - Our retention rate for the week was great. Very few missed any days at all. The spirit was good, and God gave many opportunities for witness. Ed Hayes and his wife Denise did a great job with their groups. This was Ed's fourth year in a row to come, and we appreciate his commitment to this ministry. Charin has also begun to enjoy teaching English. She is planning to do another course in the Fall, and many expressed interest in coming back. This was Nancy's first year to teach. She did have some help from one of our Hungarian ladies who is an English teacher. Nancy worked very hard preparing and did a great job. The rest of our kids helped out in various classes and participated in the basketball.
2) Our afternoon basketball camp also went very well. 15 of the children were there every day. Only two missed one day. Gergo Szimon did a great job organizing and running the camp. I helped out, but really he did the bulk of the work. Andras Vers (another of our young men) handled the devotional time each day. He spent about 10 minutes each day systematically going through the Gospel. He did a great job, and we trust that God will continue to work in the lives of these children. Only 5 were from our church, so 12 were prospects.
3) Our closing service on Sunday was the best ever. We invited all participants (and parents) to our Sunday service. Four of the classes had learned Bible songs or verses that they presented. Each participant received a certificate with a "class picture" to keep as a reminder of their week with us. Normally we're happy to have about 50% of the people show up on Sunday. This time we must have had about 75% of the participants show up, plus a number of parents of the children. I didn't get an exact count, but I would guess we had 50-60 visitors with an attendance around 175. In fact, we had people standing until the children went out for junior church. I preached in English for the first time in years from our pulpit. (I decided it would be an appropriate way to close out the English week). Attila translated for me, so the people heard the message in Hungarian as well. :) We also sang congregational songs in both English and Hungarian. Anyways I preached a straightforward Gospel message on the two ways (broad and narrow). The people were very attentive, although a few looked a bit shell-shocked. :) Believe me most of these people have never heard preaching like that in all their lives. :) We are really praying that we will have some come back, get saved, and become part of our church.
Anyways, just wanted to share the good news and thank you for praying.
God bless,
Marc
July 20, 2009
Dear Friends,
Just a quick note to share a few prayer requests, and praise items:
English Camp/Basketball Camp:
Please pray for our English Camp and Basketball Camp which we are holding this week. After a slow start to our registration we ended up with a good number of campers. Our morning English classes had 43. We had 17 children/teens attend the basketball camp this afternoon, and then 21 adults came to our evening English classes. We will be working with these people all week long, and are praying that God will give open hearts. We have devotionals every day during basketball. We also use Bible stories and Bible verses in the English classes, so the participants are exposed to the Gospel during the week. We will be inviting all the participants to our Sunday service, so we are praying that many will come.
Praise news from Tata:
Leah Buchner’s new baby is at home and doing well. She has been to church the last two Sundays in a row. Her little boy is still under 5 pounds, so very small, but cute.
We also finally finished the work on our new SS room. The children were able to use it for the first time this Sunday.
Well, that is all for now. I’ll try to drop a note next week to give an update on the English week.
God bless,
Marc
July 2009
Dear Friends,
As I write this letter, I am sitting in our church building here in Tata. Two of our men from Esztergom are helping me work on the building and grounds. After almost a year, we are finally putting the finishing touches on a new Sunday school room/fellowship hall toward the back of the property. The new room is three times the size of the small room the children have current ly been using, where a group of 6-8 kids seemed like a crowd. We also have finally managed to clean up the area behind the church building and get the grounds in better shape. We want the building and grounds to be a good testimony and also as useful as possible.
Evangelism in Tata:
Thank you for praying for our special outreach weekend in Tata which we held May 22-24. A team from Word of Life Hungary came to help with the street evangelism and music. The street evangelism went extremely well. We passed out 1,000 flyers, as well as a number of New Testaments and Children's Bibles. We were also able to witness to a number of people.
The turnout for the evangelistic services was a little disappointing. We had only 6 visitors show up for the three services that were held. Nevertheless, it was not in vain, as two teenage boys professed faith in Christ! One has been back to church two times, and we are hoping to see him begin coming on a regular basis.
Baptismal Service:
On June 7th, we held a baptismal service at our church in Esztergom. It was a joy to baptize four more converts. Andras Toth is an 18 year old young man who has been coming to our church for seeral years. He actually got saved two years ago, but his parents would not allow him to be baptized until he was 18. Andras Bager was saved during last year's mission conference. He is a very bright young man who already has his own architectural business. He lives in Budapest and is engaged to marry one of our young ladies from Esztergom. They will make a great couple, and I'm looking forward to marrying them in September. Kriszti Varga is a young lady in her late 20s. Her mother was saved and baptized a few years back. For a couple of years, Kriszti was resistant to even coming to church, but she finally started coming to church and got saved a few months ago. Judit Karap is a young lady from our church in Tata. She is a college student and was saved before I became pastor in Tata, but had not been ready for baptism. She approached me a couple months ago expressing her desire to be baptized and join the church. It is always a thrill to see people growing in the Lord and taking this important step. Please pray with us for many more to follow these four.
Funeral:
On June 4th, the 23 year old of one of our faithful church ladies was killed in a tragic automobile accident. Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, he was unsaved. The mother, Judit Holdampf, and her daughter, Reni, are very active members of our church. It was a great blessing, that we were given the opportunity to do the funeral. Funerals in Hungary are generally held on the cemetery grounds in front of a small chapel. The Lord gave us beautiful weather, and the people were very attentive. I would estimate 200-300 people in attendance, so many heard the Gospel who would never darken the doors of our church. Judit and Reni have been great testimonies of God's grace, and I trust that some will be saved through this tragedy.
Church Registration:
Our church registration papers have been approved. Thus our church in Esztergom is now officially registered under Hungarian law. This is an important part of the church being able to function as an independent legal entity. Thank you for praying.
Vacation Bible School, Tat:
I think this was our 6th year to run a VBS in the town of Tat where we live. The Lord has really given Charin a great burden for these children, and she did a wonderful job organizing and leading the week. It is done under the auspices of our church in Esztergom, and we had about 15 adults and teens from Exztergom help throughout the week. Charin felt like this was the best VBS yet. We had more than 60 different children attend with high a day of 46. Several of these children have made professions of faith, and we pray that we will see fruit that remains.
Prayer Requests:
1. We continue to raise money for a new church van. Several more churches and individuals sent special gifts, and we now have about $6, 000 on hand. Our goal is $10,000, so please continue to pray. We would like to make the purchase this fall, before winter sets in.
2. July 20-24 -we will be holding our annual English language camp for children, teens and adults. We will also be doing a basketball camp for children in the afternoons that same week. So far registration is lower than it has been in the past. Please pray that we would have a good turnout, and that we would be able to reach new people through this ministry.
3. August 17-22 -we will be holding our annual Family Camp in Prybilina, Slovakia. It is a beautiful location in the High Tatra Mountain Range. Ed Gibson (BIMI) will be our special speaker, and we are looking forward to a great week.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support of our ministry. Have a great summer!
Serving for His Glory,
Marc, Charin, Nancy, Benjamin, Esther and Hannah Patton
June 30, 2009
Dear Friends,
Just wanted to share a few items of news:
1. A special thanks to all of you who prayed for Leah Buchner. For those who don’t remember, she went into premature labor in her 23rd week of pregnancy. They managed to stop the labor at that time, and she has been in the hospital ever since. The Lord gave her (and the baby) 9 more weeks, which was enough to allow her to give birth to a healthy baby boy on Sunday evening (June 28th). Jonathan Buchner weighed in at 4 pounds 4 oz. They were concerned most about his breathing, but he is breathing on his own and seems to be doing well. They did a cesarean, so Leah is a bit weak, but she is also doing well. We continue to pray that the baby will develop quickly. They are expecting that he will have to stay in the hospital for a few more weeks. Leah is also allowed to stay with him there in the hospital. The family expressed their gratitude to all who have prayed for them during this time. They are looking forward to being together as a family once again.
2. Our VBS in Tat last week went extremely well. We had a total of 62 children participate with a high day of 45. Charin said that this week was the smoothest and best ever. She had lots of help (about 14 adult/teen helpers), so all the work was divided up well. It rained literally every day, and we were worried it would drive down attendance, but the attendance was actually higher than last year. As you know, we live in Tat, so many of these children attend school with our kids. We are praying that we will see the seeds planted bring forth fruit in the future.
3. Judit Holdampf (whose son was killed in the car wreck a few weeks back) wrote a letter which she asked me to translate and pass on to you all. Here is what she said:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is almost impossible to express the comfort, strength and love that Reni and I have experienced from the Lord. The peace that we have received truly passes all understanding, as Paul writes in Fil. 4.7.
Thank you for praying for us! God heard your prayers and strengthens us. During the time of my divorce (about 10 years ago) I experienced much pain and trials, but also experienced the grace of God which brought healing to my heart. But in this time of pain I have experienced God’s love and comfort as never before!
I am grateful to God, that He has truly been a Father to me during this time. Without God I don’t think I could have survived. My life is truly all of grace. 2Cor. 12.9
May the Lord bless you!
Judit Holdampf
I would ask you to continue to pray for them. They still have their better days and more difficult days, but we know that God will continue to meet every need.
Thanks again for remembering us in your prayers. Have a great holiday weekend!
Marc Patton
June 18, 2009
Dear Friends,
Thank you for praying for the funeral. The Lord gave us beautiful weather - about 80 degrees with sunshine. There was a very large crowd who came to the funeral. I am not good at guessing numbers, but I would guess between 200 and 300 people were in attendance. Calix and the musicians did a good job with the music. People were very attentive to the message I brought. Attila Zeman (our laypastor) also spoke briefly at the gravesite. Overall I think everything went extremely well.
Two interesting comments:
1. I shook hands with Norbert's father after the funeral. With tears in his eyes he made two statements: "Thanks for everything" and "Please forgive me for everything." This from the man who at one time was one of the greatest enemies of our church. When his daughter Reni was young (13-14) he would come to church and physically remove her from our services. He also attacked and slandered me to others, and threatened to come to church and tell everyone what a hypocrite I was. When his daughter Reni was older, one Sunday before church he made this statement: "If you walk out that door and go to church, you are not my daughter any more." Reni went to church that day. He did not follow through on his threat, but his feelings toward us were clear. That is why it is so amazing to see the change in his attitude toward us! Please pray for this man to finally be saved!
2. The second interesting comment was overheard by one of our members, as we were leaving the funeral: "That sect leader really spoke well..." This shows what we are up against. Even after 14 years in Esztergom still most people think of us as a sect. But it also shows the importance of funerals, weddings and other special services. These are opportunities to tear down prejudice in the hearts of people who would never darken the doors of our church otherwise.
Judit and Reni are doing well. They were both in church on Sunday and Judit gave a moving testimony to the grace of God in her life. God is working.
Thank you for your prayers.
Marc Patton
June 13, 2009
Dear Friends,
Just wanted to bring you up to date.
Funeral for Norbert Holdampf:
The funeral for the young man I mentioned last week will be held on this Wednesday, June 17th. The family chose cremation, and that always takes longer here in Hungary, so the funeral will be almost two weeks after his death. The one advantage is that it is easier for relatives to make arrangements to be present for the funeral. Believe it or not the father has agreed to let us do the funeral. This is really a miracle! This man was extremely antagonistic toward our church in the past. It seems that God has softened his heart. This is a great opportunity for us to minister to many lost people.
Hungarian funerals are generally held outdoors at the cemetery in front of a small chapel. The family is expecting a big crowd due to Norbert's age and the suddeness of his death. Please pray for good weather. I have done funerals with snow falling, rain falling, etc. In such cases you have to be short, and it is more difficult for people to pay attention. We are praying for good weather and no distractions so that the Gospel can be clearly heard by those who attend. The funeral will be held at 2:30 PM our time which is 8:30 AM Eastern daylight time in the US.
Norbert's mother Judit and Reni are doing remarkably well considering the circumstances. They are both planning to be in church tomorrow, so hopefully we can be a blessing to them.
This and that:
1) Last Sunday's baptismal service went very well. I always love hearing the testimonies of those getting baptized.
2) Tomorrow morning I will be preaching in Nyergesujfalu and also doing the dedication for Calix and Bea's new baby boy. Calix is expecting his parents to be present, and they are not saved. Please pray for the Lord to speak to their hearts.
3) Monday and Tuesday I will be preaching at a Tent meeting in the southern town of Kubekhaza. Please pray for souls to be saved through this special outreach. I will return late Tuesday night, so I can be here for the funeral on Wednesday.
4) The kids finished up school this week. They are looking forward to taking it easy.
Thanks for your prayers,
Marc Patton
June 5, 2009-- Prayer Request
Dear Friends,
Sorry to trouble you twice in one week, but I did want to request special prayer for one of our church families.
I got a call at 3:30 this morning to inform me that the 23 year old son of one of our fine church ladies had been killed in an automobile accident. The saddest thing about it is that to the best of our knowledge he was not saved. His mother was saved and baptized in our church about 10 years ago, but her son did not want anything to do with church. It was a shock to all of us. He was driving alone and went off the road and hit a concrete electric pole. His car caught fire, and he was burned beyond recognition. His mother is a single mother with two grown children living at home. For those of you who have visited us in Hungary the mother's name is Judit Holdampf, her son's name was Norbert, and his sister's name is Reni. Judit and Reni are key, very active members of our church, so it has hit us all hard.
Please do keep this family in your prayers. I am not sure if we will get to do the funeral or not. Norbert's father has been antagonistic toward our church and may insist on a Catholic funeral. We will see.
Marc
June 4, 2009
Dear Friends,
Just wanted to bring you up to date on a few things.
Our kids are very anxious for summer vacation. School does not get out here until June 12th, so they have another week and a half. We are all ready for a change of pace. The weather has also been crazy. After a couple of weeks of warm weather the last week has been very cool with highs in the 50s or low 60s.
Tata
Thank you for praying for the evangelistic weekend in Tata. The street evangelism went very well. The city had a special program at the Tata castle, so there were lots of people out and about. We found a good spot to set up out of the way, but with a steady stream of people. The group from Word of Life was a great help. They did some sketchboard drawings with preaching, witnessed to people, and also helped us pass out more than 1,000 flyers. It definitely gave our church a lot of exposure.
We had three evangelistic services: Friday evening, Saturday evening and Sunday morning. We did not have a huge number of visitors, but those who did come seemed genuinely interested. I believe we had a total of 7 visitors come. Two teenage boys made professions of faith Saturday evening and returned to church on Sunday (May 24th). Their father also came with them on Sunday just to see where they were going. He was not antagonistic and said that he would allow them to come. They did not show up this Sunday, but we are praying for them to come back.
Esztergom:
The past two weeks have been busy with our Mother-daughter Tea on May 23rd and the children’s day program on May 30th. Both events went very well. Charin also wrapped up the spring sessions of her English class, public school Bible club and club for young mothers. Charin is now changing gears to get ready for the special events of this summer.
Baptismal Service:
This Sunday we will hold a baptismal service in Esztergom. We have three converts from our church in Esztergom and also one from our church in Tata. This will be my first time to baptize someone from the church in Tata. We are excited to see the Lord building both of these churches.
Upcoming events:
Please pray for the following events:
June 14th – Baby dedication in Nyergesujfalu for Calix and Bea’s new son.
June 15-16 – I will preaching at an evangelistic meeting in Southern Hungary (Kübekház)
June 22-26 – Vacation Bible School in Tat.
Lea Buchner:
Thank you for your continued prayers for Lea Buchner. She is still in the hospital under strict bed rest and observation, but so far the baby in her womb seems to be fine. She is in her 29th week of pregnancy and the longer they can hold off the birth, the better odds the baby will have. We have been especially grateful for a sister church in Pecs that have taken her under wing and visited her on a regular basis. We appreciate your continued prayers for this family.
That’s all for now. Have a great week!
Marc
May 21, 2009
Dear Friends,
We have several items of praise which I would like to share with you.
1) Church registration approved. On Monday we received the official court statement that our church registration papers had been approved. We are very excited to get this news. This is another step toward the church being completely independent and autonomous.
2) We had asked for prayer for one of our expecting mothers, Lea Buchner. She has been transferred to a hospital in Pecs, Hungary. She is much farther from her family (about a 3 hour drive), but is now receiving specialized care. They were actually able to replace the amniotic fluid that she had lost. She is now in her 28 week of pregnancy, and with each passing day the odds of her baby surviving and being healthy improve. Please continue to remember this family in prayer.
3) Church attendance – Church attendance has been excellent in Esztergom. We have been over 130 in attendance on two recent Sundays. We purchased 20 more chairs and have upped our seating capacity to 165 in the auditorium. We also had an excellent attendance of more than 40 in Tata on Sunday, so we are pleased to see both churches growing.
4) Church van – We received several more special gifts toward the purchase of a new church van including a sizable one from one of our church members. We now have more than $5,000 on hand, so are more than half way to our goal of $10,000.
I also would like to share a few prayer requests:
1) We are conducting a special evangelistic weekend in Tata this weekend. Evangelist Arpad Revesz is our special speaker. We also have a team coming from Word of Life Hungary to help with special music and street evangelism. Please pray with us that we will be able to get the Gospel out to many people and make some new contacts.
2. This Saturday in Esztergom we will be holding our annual Mother-daughter Tea. Charin has been busily preparing for this. Arpad Revesz’s wife Ildiko will be the special speaker.
3. Next Saturday (May 30th) our church in Esztergom will hold a special “Children’s Day” Program for about 60 children from difficult family situations. We work in conjunction with area schools and social services to try to select children with genuine need. Our ladies will put on a program for them including a brief Gospel presentation. There will then be a time of games and crafts. Each child will leave with a gift package.
Please do join us in prayer for these special events. God bless,
Marc Patton
May 2009
Dear Friends,
These have been busy months for both family and ministry. April is birthday month for both Esther and Benji. Esther turned 10 and Benji turned 13. We bought a large trampoline for Benji's birthday, and the kids have had a blast jumping on it. It is a joy to see our children grow and develop spiritually, as well as physically. We know we will not have too many more years with them here at home, and we're trying to enjoy it completely.
Bible Institute:
March 22 was a memorable day in our church, as we held the first graduation ceremony for our Bible Institute. We started the institute back in 2005 with 18 students. Many soon realized that it took a greater level of commitment than they were willing or able to give. Over the course of the 4-year program, we generally averaged about 12 students but only 6 made it all the way through. We were proud to honor them for their perseverance and faithfulness. The four ladies are Sunday school teachers, and the two men are faithful leaders in our churches. Jano Pacz was my assistant and also taught a class each semester. We were pleased to have Brother Brant Holladay, BIMI's European Director here for the service. Please pray for these graduates as they continue to serve the Lord in our churches. In September, we will be starting up again. We have about six students who will be continuing their studies, and we are hoping for some new students to join them.
Puppet Ministry:
The Easter season found our puppet teams working hard to take the Gospel into the area public schools. We now have two teams, one in Esztergom and another in Tata. The two teams combined for 29 puppet shows and presented the Gospel to approximately 2,800 children as well as several hundred teachers. We are confident that God's Word will not return void and that it will accomplish His work in the lives of these children. We are grateful for the ladies (and teens) who sacrificed to make this happen.
Wedding Bells:
Gabor Banfalvi and Monika Sara were married on April 11 at our church in Nyergesujfalu. Gabor was saved and baptized at our church in Esztergom. When we started our church in Nyergesujfalu, he began assisting in that work. Monika was reached through our church in Nyergesujfalu. She was already saved and really blossomed in the ministry there. The wedding was held in Nyergesujfalu. Calix Furus (our church planter) performed the vows, and I brought the message. This was our first wedding in Nyergesujfalu, and I believe it was a great testimony to the people there. Many unsaved friends and relatives were present, and we heard a lot of positive feedback. Please pray for Gabor and Monika as they adjust to marriage, and please pray for the church there to grow and develop.
Youth Conference:
On Saturday, April 25, we held our second annual youth conference. Everything went extremely well. Our youth leaders and teens did an excellent job organizing and planning the conference. We had about 90 teens and 20-30 adults present from 12 different churches. The program was developed to give time for fun, as well as preaching. Along with the three servmons, there were also skits, games and sports. One of my pastor friends, Sandor Toth was the special speaker for the day. His closing message was powerful, and we had several teens make professions of faith. We also had numerous teens recommit their lives to the Lord. All in all it was a great day!
Prayer Requests:
1. May 22-24: Evangelistic weekend in Tata- street evangelism plus 3 special services; Evangelist Arpad Revesz will be our special speaker.
2. June 7: Baptismal service in Esztergom for 4 adults
3. June 22-26: VBS in Tat
4. Goal for new church van ($10,000)- currently have received $3500.
Thanks again for standing with us in prayer.
Serving for His glory,
Marc Patton & family
April 29, 2009
Dear Friends,
Youth Conference:
Thanks to all of you who prayed for our youth conference which we held this past Saturday. It was a great success. We had about 80 teens present from about a dozen churches. Most of the Baptist churches in Hungary are small, so it is good for the teens to be together with other kids their age from other churches. Our youth leaders did a fantastic job organizing the conference, and our youth group worked hard preparing the music, skits, games, etc. One of my good pastor friends Sandor Toth was the speaker for the day. He preached three times and did a great job. At the end of the evening service he gave an invitation for both salvation and rededication. Several teens made professions of faith, and a number of others made important decisions. We trust that these decisions will bring lasting change to the lives of these young people.
Birthday:
Speaking of teens, our son Benji turned 13 today, so we now have two teens in the family! We are thankful that both of them love the Lord, and are very active in our church’s youth group.
Prayer request:
One of our fine ladies from Tata is in the hospital. She and her husband are expecting their fourth child. She is in her 23rd week of pregnancy and had some major complications on Saturday and almost lost the baby. She is in Hungary’s best hospital in Budapest (Semmelweis University Hospital) and they are hoping to keep her from giving birth prematurely. They feel that if they can get her at least to the 28th week, that they would have a good chance of saving the baby. Her name is Lea Buchner, and we would appreciate it if you would join us in prayer for her and her family.
Graduations:
This weekend is graduation weekend for Hungarian high schools. Ironically they have their graduation celebration first and then have to take their State exams over the next few weeks. J This year we have 4 graduating seniors in Esztergom and 2 in Tata. This is the most we have ever had, so we will be busy trying to get to all the celebrations.
Well, that is all the news for now. Thank you for your prayers.
Marc
April 15, 2009
Dear Friends,
Just wanted to bring you up to date on our ministry.
1) Our two puppet teams finished up their Easter puppet ministry. The two teams (Tata and Esztergom) put on 31 shows for a total of about 2700 children. Each child received either a gospel booklet or CD. Please pray that the seeds planted would bring forth fruit in the future.
2) Wedding bells. This past Saturday we held our first wedding at our church plant in Nyergesujfalu. The groom, Gabor Banfalvi, was saved and baptized at our church in Esztergom and has been helping in the church plant there. The bride, Monika Sara, was reached by the church in Nyergesujfalu. God brought them together about one year ago. They will be living in Nyergesujfalu and are a great blessing to our church there. The wedding was held in Nyergesujfalu. I did the preaching and Calix did the vows. This was Calix's first time to do a wedding, and it went very well. Please do pray for this young couple and the church plant in Nyergesujfalu.
3) Easter Sunday was a busy day with baby dedications in both services (Tata and Esztergom). The children in Esztergom had also put together a play, which they performed Sunday afternoon. Everything went well, and we had a number of visitors present for the services.
4) Spring break. The kids had about a week off school around Easter. We have enjoyed some family time. I bought the kids a big trampoline, and we put it together today. They have been having a blast on it ever since. :)
5) The class I am teaching at Word of Life on the family seems to be well received. I taught two days before the Spring break, and will be returning next week for three more days to finish up.
6) Church van. We received $1,500 toward the church van this past month. We are making progress, but still have a ways to go. Thank you for your help and prayers.
7) Finances. The financial downturn is beginning to affect our support. We have had two churches drop our support since the beginning of the year due to financial problems. Three others sent questionnaires saying that they will need to drop some missionaries, and are trying to make those difficult decisions with the help of the information provided. Please do pray for these churches. We know that the Lord has always provided for us, and will continue to do so in the future.
Thank you for your faithful prayers for our ministry.
God bless,
Marc Patton
March 31, 2009
Dear Friends,
Just a quick note to update you on our ministry.
March 22nd was a special day, as we honored the first 6 graduates of our Bible Institute. All six started with us 4 years ago. We have classes one Saturday each month for 7 hours. I figured that they had faithfully been there for 40 Saturdays and sat through 280 hours of teaching. They had also taken a total of 99 tests or exams and read a number of books for outside reading. I am proud of their hard work and faithfulness. The four ladies are all Sunday school teachers. The two men are leaders and occasionally help out with the preaching. We are taking a break this spring, and will be starting back up in September. We have several who started the Bible Institute midway through who will be continuing. I am also hoping for some new students.
We were pleased to have Brother Brant Holladay and his wife with us the same weekend. Brother Holladay preached in Tata in the morning and Esztergom in the evening. He was a blessing, and we enjoyed having the time together with them.
Esther will be celebrating her 10th birthday tomorrow. She is excited. It is hard to believe that our third child is already 10. How time flies…
Here are a few prayer requests:
1. Please continue to pray for the situation in Nyergesujfalu. We are not “out of the woods” yet. Please pray that the Lord would give me wisdom to make the right decisions that will bring positive change and resolution.
2. Tomorrow and Thursday I will be teaching a class at Word of Life Hungary’s Bible Institute. I will be teaching a class on the Christian Family – talk about a challenge – any experts out there?? Well, I’m not sure I’m one, but I’ll be doing my best to lay some Biblical foundations for them. I have enjoyed the preparation and hope it will be a blessing. I will go back after Spring break to finish up the class.
3. Our puppet teams are in full swing. So far so good. Please keep them in your prayers.
That’s all for now.
Marc
March 2009
Dear Friends,
We are thankful to see winter over and spring on the way. January and February were cold and snowy months here is Hungary. They were also busy months with several important events taking place.
Salvation Decision;
February 6 was an exciting day for me personally and also for many in our church, as it was the day that Joseph Nagy made a profession of faith. Joseph's wife Kata and three of her children are faithful members of our church. We have prayed many years for Joseph's salvation. He grew up in a fairly typical atheistic home during the communist era and did not believe in God. He became a successful businessman as a co-owner of the local Ford dealership. He began attending church regularly about four years ago primarily to pacify his wife, but we saw little external progress in him moving toward Christ. Nevertheless we believed that the Word had to be doing its work in his heart. What a joy it was to have him contact me for an appointment a few weeks back. When he arrived, he told me that he was ready to commit his life to the Lord. I reviewed the Gospel with him one more time, and then we prayed to confirm his decision. Joseph is now attending our new convert's class and growing in the Lord. We are thrilled for him and his family.
Marriage Enrichment Day:
February 14 we held a special marriage enrichment day for our married couples. I was please to see about 30 couples participate. The majority were members of our three churches, but we did have some visitors as well. Gyorgy Varga and his wife Aniko were our guest speakers for the day. They did a great job giving practical, Biblical advice on how to have a strong marriage. The couples also enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by one of our fine single ladies. We pray that the Lord will continue to give our people strong marriages. The divorce rate in Hungary is similar to that of the US and is wreaking havoc in Hungarian society.
Church registration:
February 22 we held a special business meeting to sign the official registration papers for our church. Hungarian law requires at least 100 founding members to register as a church. We were pleased to have 134 individuals sign the founding documents. The majority of these are from our church in Esztergom, but we also had our people in Tata sign the papers as well.The founding documents still need to be approved by the county court. Please pray that the registration will go through this time without difficulty. We believe that this is a necessary step in order for our churches to be able to operate legally as independent congregations under Hungarian law.
Prayer requests:
1. We are currently dealing with two delicate situations where we are trying to resolve conflicts and restore unity in the church. One is in Esztergom and the other in our church plant in Nyergesujfalu. Please do pray that the Lord would give wisdom and grace, so that we could resolve these situations with as little damage as possible.
2. The arrival of spring means the ramping up of outreach efforts in all our ministries. With Easter approaching our puppet teams are busily preparing for another round of puppet evangelism in the public schools. Please pray that God would bless these ministries.
3. April 25 we will be hosting our second annual Youth Conference at our main church Esztergom. Please pray that the Lord would bless this conference in lives of our own young people and also in the lives of those who attend from other churches.
4. We would ask you to continue to pray for funds for the purchase of a more reliable church van. We have received some special gifts but are still a long way from what is needed.
Thank you for continuing to stand with us.
Serving for His glory,
Marc, Charin, Nancy, Benji, Esther, and Hannah Patton
March 17, 2009
Dear Friends,
We have enjoyed a couple days of warmer weather. It has been nice to get outside and begin getting our yard in shape. We are also replacing a section of our fence, where the dogs keep getting out. Several of our church men are here working on that right now, and hopefully it will be done today.
The kids are all healthy at the moment. Charin and the kids have been battling with sickness, but hopefully we will have everyone healthy for a while now.
Thank you for praying for the situation in Nyergesujfalu. I believe that we have turned the corner, and that things are now moving in the right direction. The church has 11 members, and it looks as though two will be leaving, but I believe the rest are going to stay in the church. I will be taking a more active role in the leadership, and have been trying to help Calix work through these difficulties. With my commitment to the church in Tata on Sunday mornings it is difficult for me to give Nyergesujfalu the attention it needs, but I am working on ways to be more involved there as well.
The other situation I mentioned has not really yet been resolved. I had to ask one of our young men to step down from a leadership position and that is always difficult. Please pray for this young man and his wife to be able to accept this decision and be willing to carry on in a slightly reduced role. They are a good couple, and I trust that they will be able to make this adjustment.
We are looking forward to a visit by Brant Holladay and his wife this weekend. Brother Holladay is BIMI’s European director. The Holladays have been good friends of ours and a great encouragement to us over the years. They will only be with us for three days, as they have many other missionaries to visit, but we are looking forward to a great time of fellowship with them.
Believe it or not Easter is almost upon us. Charin and her puppet team have their first puppet show this Friday. Our team in Tata is also gearing up for the Easter presentation. The two teams will be in about 30 schools and present the Gospel to close to 3,000 children. Please pray that the Lord would give them all strength and health, and that none of our cars would break down during this time. :)
We do appreciate your faithful prayers for our ministry.
Marc Patton
March 2, 2009
Dear Friends,
Charin and I just returned from spending the weekend in Cluj, Romania with Brian Nibbe and his church. They were having a missions conference and asked me to speak. I spoke at a Missions Banquet on Saturday evening, and then preached in both services on Sunday. Our kids spent the weekend with friends, so Charin and I enjoyed having some extra time together. The church put us up in a very nice hotel in downtown Cluj. (Yes, there are nice hotels in Romania now). Sunday afternoon they took us out to eat at a Pizza Hut at a huge mall that rivals anything we would have in Budapest. Even the roads are much improved. This is not the Romania that I visited on my first trip back in 1994!
The Nibbe's have a good solid church running over 100 that is basically self-supporting. The people were very kind and gave us a generous love offering. The church has been supporting us already for the past 4 years. It is really amazing to see a Romanian church supporting an American missionary to reach Hungarians for Christ. :) We arrived home safely late last night and collected the kids this morning. They enjoyed their weekend, as well.
All reports were good for our church services in Tata and Esztergom. Our lay pastor Attila preached both services in my absence. Attendance was down a little due to sickness, but otherwise all was well.
I have several prayer requests that I would ask you to pray for.
1) Please pray for our church plant in Nyergesujfalu. It is going through a bit of turmoil right now, and it is difficult to predict how things are going to work out. Please pray for me, as I have spent a great deal of time over the past two weeks trying to seek the best solution.
2) At the same time I have also been trying to resolve a "sticky" situation at our main church in Esztergom. This is in some ways a smaller problem involving a conflict between two families, but I am praying that it can be resolved without losing either family. These problems are always helpful in strengthening my prayer life, but I really do need the Lord's grace in a special way.
3) Please pray also for our church registration. Over 120 people signed our founding documents. We are putting the last bit of paperwork together and hope to send it off the end of this week. Please pray that our registration papers will be approved this time around.
Thanks again for joining us in prayer for these situations.
Marc Patton, Hungary
February 9, 2009
Dear Friends,
We are coming off a great weekend, and I wanted to take a moment to share a few blessings with you. Please rejoice with us!
1. Joseph Nagy made a profession of faith! Joseph is the husband of one of our fine Christian ladies. He has been coming to church every Sunday for four years now, but had not gotten saved. On Wednesday afternoon he called and asked for an appointment. We were able to get together Friday evening. When we sat down to talk he told me that he was ready to give his life to Christ. After going over the Gospel one more time, we prayed together to seal his decision. Please pray that the Lord would bless Joseph and help him to grow in the faith.
2. Full-time service. We rejoice that the first of our church teens is now in full time service. Aniko Dajka was one of our finest teens. 1 2 years ago she married Istvan Lados who was studying at the Baptist Seminary preparing for the ministry. Yesterday morning he was installed as youth pastor of the Baptist church in Szekesfehervar. It was a privilege for us to be a part of the service and to say a prayer of blessing for their ministry there.
3. Great attendance in Esztergom. We returned from Szekesfehervar in time for our main service in Esztergom. I was amazed to see 126 in attendance. This is the highest we have had in a long time - maybe ever - without any special push. We have a couple of new ladies who have begun attending fairly regularly. One was reached through our English classes, and another is one of our neighbours. Please pray for Kata and Andrea to begin coming regularly and to be saved.
4. New members. We have taken in two new members already in Tata this year. We have 8 in Esztergom who have requested membership. It seems that the Lord is giving us another period of growth in our churches.
Prayer Requests:
1. This Saturday (Valentine’s Day) we are having an all day conference for our married couples. It looks like we will have 25-30 couples participate. Please pray that it will be a great time of fellowship and learning.
2. On February 22nd we will make our second attempt at getting our church officially registered and recognized here in Hungary. We have to have a minimum of 100 people sign our founding papers, so we will have a special business meeting to do this after our regular service. This week we are putting the finishing touches on the paperwork. Please pray that we will be approved this time around.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support of our ministry.
Marc Patton
January 30, 2009
Dear Friends,
In our last prayer letter we asked for prayer to replace our church van. Recently I received an email asking for more information. I thought this additional information might be helpful to others who might be considering this project.
Our current church van is a 17 year old 9 passenger Mitsubishi L300 with about 240,000 miles on it. It is currently operational, but has many problems, and I don't want to invest more money into trying to keep it running.
The price of a replacement would depend on how new it is. For $10,000-12,000 we could buy a used van that's about 7-8 years old. I would not want anything older than that.
The van is used regularly for the following purposes:
1) Every Saturday evening the church planting team uses it to go to and from Nagysap.
2) Every Sunday morning a different church planting team uses it to go to and from Nyergesujfalu.
3) Every Sunday evening it is used to transport people from Nagysap to our main church in Esztergom.
4) It also gets quite heavy use from our "Helps Ministry." At least once a month we hold used clothing distributions. The van is used to transport used clothing (and other items we collect and distribute). I would estimate that our Helps Ministry uses it on the average about twice a week to pick up or deliver donated clothes or goods.
5) Other then these it is used within the ministry to transport people to conferences or other special events numerous times throughout the year.
6) Our puppet team in Esztergom also uses it intensely in the two weeks prior to Easter and Christmas to transport the team and all their equipment.
Hope this is a help to you. If you need further information or have any other questions just let me know.
God bless,
Marc
January 2009
Dear Praying Friends,
I would like to begin this letter by thanking each of you for your prayers and faithful support over the past year. A special thanks to those of you who increased our support in 2008. It was a great help and blessing. I would also like to say thank you for all the cards and special offerings that were sent out way during the holiday season. We are so grateful for each of you that has a part in our ministry.
Christmas Excitement:
Puppet shows, shoe boxes, concerts and special events - Christmas is always the busiest time of the year for us. Through our ministry our people put on 26 puppet shows to approximately 2,500 children and adults. We also received, processed and distributed about 450 shoe box gifts to needy children. The majority of these were distributed in three special services held in Esztergom, Tata and Nagysap. Our musicians put on Christmas concerts in all four locations where we hold regular services. We are grateful that the Lord has given us so many talented and dedicated people who desire to use their gifts to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It was also a special blessing to have three people make professions of faith over the past two months. One of the new converts is a young architect continuing his studies in a doctoral program. Another is a single young lady battling disabilities. The third is a poor, uneducated elderly lady who does not even know how to read. It is thrilling to pastor a church that is able to cross cultural, economic and educational barriers to reach people of all stripes and backgrounds!
Our children had two weeks off school for the Christmas holidays. We enjoyed relaxing and playing games with them. We also had time for a few special outings. We even had the opportunity to take the kids to see The Nutcracker put on at the Hungarian National Opera in Budapest, thanks to some special Christmas money.
2008 in Review:
As we come to a New Year I always like to look back and take stock of where we are and where we are going (or need to be going). Overall 2008 was a very good year.
Esztergom: Our main church in Esztergom continues to be strong. We baptized eight and added a total of 10 new members over the course of the year. We also saw our attendance move back up to an average of around 110 for our Sunday services. There is a good spirit in the church, and I trust we will see many great things in the New Year.
Nagysap: Our church in Esztergom also started a new service in the nearby town of Nagysap. This service is held on Saturday evenings. We have a good team of young people working in this ministry. The attendance fluctuates, but probably an average of 15-20 attend these services.
Tata: The Tata Baptist Church called me officially as its pastor in February 2008. I preach in Tata almost every Sunday morning and then at our main service in Esztergom Sunday evenings. The church in Tata has 20 members and averages around 30-35 on Sundays. During the fall we had many visitors with a high day of 51 in attendance. We have not seen any clear professions of faith since I began pastoring, but we have several who are close. I have great hopes that in 2009 we will be able to hold a baptismal service there and see several added to the church.
A Look Ahead:
There are several projects that we are working on for the New Year.
- Church registration. This has proved more difficult and complicated than we imagined, but we continue to press forward in getting officially registered as a church. Please pray with us that we will see this come to pass this year.
- Meeting place in Nagysap. We are currently meeting in a home. It has worked fairly well, but we are looking for a more permanent solution.
- Church van. Our church van is 17 years old and has about 240,000 miles on it. It is literally falling apart, and we desperately need to replace it with something safer and more dependable. This van gets intense use in both of our church plants and also our helps ministry. Please pray with us for this need. If the Lord leads you to help, please send all funds to our account at BIMI with a note designating it: "church van for Pattons."
May God bless you richly in the New Year!
Serving for His Glory,
Marc, Charin, Nancy, Benji, Esther, and Hannah Patton
January 20, 2009
Dear Friends,
It has been a while since I have sent out an email update. January has been a quiet month, with not much extra going on, so there has not been a lot of news to share with you.
Church Finances:
This Sunday I will be holding our annual business meetings in both Tata and Esztergom. In Tata our total giving for the past year was a little over $7,000. In Esztergom it was about $38,000. In Esztergom this was the first year that the giving was actually less than it was the previous year. This has put tremendous strain on our budget, so hopefully our people will respond as they see the need to be faithful in their giving.
The world wide economic crisis has had its effect on Hungary, as well. The Budapest stock exchange saw sharp declines this year. Unemployment has risen, as the economy has contracted. Esztergom’s largest employer is the Suzuki auto plant. They shed 1200 jobs in December, and may have to cut even more this year as they expect demand to be about 50% of what it has been. So far all of our church members who work at Suzuki have kept their jobs, but they are concerned about the future. Several other church members have lost their jobs, and it is very difficult to find a new one in the current economic situation.
Anyways, please do pray that God will use this time to teach us to trust Him more. Please pray also that we will see growth in the churches. I am fully aware that the best way to increase giving is by adding new members, not sucking more money out of the current ones. J
Church news:
Attendance has basically been good at all of our locations. In Nyergesujfalu we have a visitor who has returned several times since coming to the Christmas concert, so we are excited about that. Attendance in Nagysap has been a bit lower, but those who are coming seem to be genuinely seeking the Lord. In Tata we have several new people who have begun attending quite regularly. We will also be accepting an adult man into the membership this Sunday. In Esztergom, we have some visitors attending sporadically, but we would like to see some of these really plug in and become faithful. Our total weekend attendance at the four locations is around 175. There is a certain amount of overlap, but probably 150-160 different people.
Family news:
We’ve battled a round of colds with only me being spared thus far. The kids are all finishing up the Fall semester and should get their grades this week. The weather here has been cold, but not much snow. I’m about ready for Spring. J Charin has been busy with her Bible club and also her club for young mothers. She will start up her English classes again next week.
We do appreciate your faithful prayers for our ministry.
Marc Patton
December 30, 2008
Dear Praying Friends,
Just wanted to get out one last prayer update before we close out the year. We do appreciate your prayers for us during the busy Christmas season.
Shoe Boxes:
Our shoe box collection and distribution went very well. At our 3 churches we collected more than 400 shoe boxes. Although we put together some of these ourselves, the vast majority were brought in by people in the community. We had special services to distribute the shoe boxes to needy families in three locations. We also delivered many to homes in the area. So far we have distributed around 300 of the boxes. The final 100 boxes will be delivered to a school for special needs children in Esztergom next week. This ministry is a lot of work, but it is always a joy to see the excitement of the children who receives these gifts. We also strive to give a clear presentation of the Gospel as well.
Christmas Concerts:
Our churches put on Christmas concerts in all 4 of our locations: Esztergom, Nyergesujfalu, Tata and Nagysap. Although we did not have huge crowds, we did have visitors in each location and again the Gospel was clearly presented. We pray that we will see many return to our regular services.
Puppet ministry:
Our puppet team in Tata put on 14 shows for about 1,400 children. Our team in Esztergom did about 12 shows to more than 1,000 children. Each child received a gospel booklet and CD as well.
We are thankful for our people who sacrificed and worked hard to get the Gospel out over the past few weeks.
Family Time:
Our last big outreach event was on December 22nd. Since that time we have enjoyed a quieter schedule and a lot of family time. We got some new table games, and have had fun playing them with our children. We have also enjoyed "family time" with our church folks as well. Today we will be having the entire church from Tata over to our house for an end of the year party. We are expecting a full house with 35-40 people. Tomorrow we will be having a New Year's Eve service and game night at our church in Esztergom. We are glad that with our natural family so far away, that God has given us a spiritual family (or families) right here in Hungary.
We do wish you all a very blessed New Year!
Marc Patton
December 15, 2008
Dear Friends,
I am going to try to keep this brief, but I would like to ask you to continue praying for our special Christmas events.
Puppet ministry:
Our puppet teams in both Esztergom and Tata are already in action. I think the two teams will combine for about 29 presentations to an estimated 2500 children. Please pray for strength, health and the Lord's blessing on this ministry. Please pray also that the Gospel seed would take root in the hearts of children and teachers during this time.
Media:
For the third year in a row we have joined the Hungarian Baptist Aid in their Christmas Shoe Box collection and distribution. Nationwide the goal is to collect and distribute 10,000 shoe box gifts. This has gotten attention in the national media, and it has brought the local media to our doorstep in Esztergom. The local TV station has come out twice to do interviews and updates on the collection. The local radio station and county newspaper have also run articles. We are pleased for the free exposure. We were also pleased to see the Esztergom TV send a camera out for Saturday's concert, as well. I assume they will put a clip in this week's program.
The shoe box collection is going well. We may not hit last year's level of 368 boxes, but we have a steady stream of people stopping by dropping off boxes throughout the week. These people are receiving a letter thanking them for their help and also an invitation to our church. We will be distributing most of the boxes in a special service this Saturday.
Tata:
I would like to ask you to pray for the Christmas Concert we will be holding in Tata Thursday evening. We are renting the local movie theater again, as we did during the summer. Please pray that we will have a good turnout, and that the Lord will speak to hearts. I plan a brief but clear Gospel message during the concert.
Nagysap:
Nagysap is a bit up and down in attendance, but Gergo reported a record crowd of 32 this past Saturday. This service is currently held in a two room house, so it was a bit crowded. :) On Monday the 22nd, we will be putting on a Christmas concert there in the local community center.
We do want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I will let you know how these services went.
God bless,
Marc Patton
December 1, 2008
Dear Friends,
Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. We travelled to the town of Pecs to spend Thanksgiving with three other missionary families. It is always a blessing to be together. One of the families commented that we have been together 15 of the past 16 Thanksgivings. :) Our kids also enjoy seeing each other.
The past two weeks have gone very well. I'm doing a three week series on the End Times in both Tata and Esztergom. We put together a leaflet to advertise the services. The response in Tata has been remarkable. On a typical Sunday we run about 30. On Sunday the 23rd we had about 40 in attendance. Yesterday we ended up with 51! I think that is our highest attendance ever. Several raised their hands for prayer regarding salvation, and I am working on following up on them. We also have one family who are seriously considering coming to our church. They are saved, but attend the local Reformed church. They have visited a number of times and are seeking the Lord's guidance. Please pray for Tamas G. and his family. Please pray also that we would see some of these visitors stick and become regular attenders.
The number of visitors in Esztergom has not been as spectacular, but we have had first time visitors both weeks. It has also been exciting to see someone make a profession of faith two weeks in a row. On the 23rd a young lady in her 20s prayed to receive Christ. She has been coming quite regularly for the past 6 months, so had a good understanding of the Gospel. Yesterday a lady in her 50s made a profession of faith. She has been coming to our service in Nagysap for several months and frequently comes into Esztergom as well.
This morning I spent about 2 hours with Andras Bager. He is a university student in Budapest working on his doctorate in architecture. He is the one who made a profession of faith during our missions conference. He lives in Budapest, so it was a bit more difficult to set up a time to talk. I was very pleased to hear his testimony of salvation this morning. He has a clear understanding of the Gospel and a definite desire to follow the Lord.
So it is exciting to see three professions of faith in the course of three weeks. That is very rare for us here. Please rejoice with us and pray that these new converts would be established in the faith.
A look ahead:
1. Next week our puppet team with begin a busy two weeks of presenting puppet shows in the local schools.
2. In addition to the puppet shows and our regular services we have the following special events coming up:
December 12th - Christmas concert and shoebox distribution in Nyergesujfalu.
December 13th - Christmas concert in Esztergom.
December 18th - Children's Christmas in Esztergom.
December 18th - Christmas concert and shoebox distribution in Tata
December 20th - Shoebox distribution in Esztergom
December 22nd - Christmas concert and shoebox distribution in Nagysap.
December 25th - Christmas service in Esztergom.
December 26th - Christmas service in Tata
All of these events are opportunities to get the Gospel out. Through our puppet ministry and these special events I expect that we will present the Gospel to approximately 3,000 people during this Christmas season. Dozens of our people are actively involved organizing and preparing for these services. Please pray for strength, health, functioning cars, functioning PA systems, safety in travel, open hearts, and the presence and power of the Spirit to be evident throughout the month.
We appreciate your prayers and support.
Marc Patton
November 19, 2008
Dear Friends,
The past two weeks have been very busy, but very exciting as well.
Baptismal service in Esztergom:
On December 9th we held our second baptismal service of the year. Pulyu and Ildi Deak are a couple in their late 30s. They were both saved about three years ago. They had been coming sporadically since then, but in the last few months they began to really commit themselves to the Lord and the church. When Ildi gave her testimony, I was surprised to learn that our first contact with them took place on the market about 12 years ago. At that time we had no idea that a seed had been planted that would one day bring a new family into our church.
Dana Gyozo was the third to be baptised. She is a 14 year old girl who has been attending with her mother for about two years. In her testimony she stated that it was during our May baptismal service that she decided to commit her life to the Lord. Her mother Gyorgyi also officially joined the church. She had been saved and baptized about 10 years ago at another church. It was a great service and a day of rejoicing for our church.
Missions Conference in Esztergom:
This past weekend we conducted our 10th annual missions conference. Pastor Tom Messer from Jacksonville, Florida was our special speaker. He and his wife Lisa enjoyed seeing our ministry first hand. His messages throughout the week were a blessing.
On Saturday (november 15th) we opened up the conference to other churches with an all day program for pastors, leaders and Christian workers. I don't know the exact statistics, but I think we had about 100-120 participants come with about 25-30 different churches represented. Our church people worked extremely hard preparing and serving the meals throughout the day. Our singers and musicians also worked hard with the music. There was a real sense of the presence of God throughout the day. After the closing message I gave an invitation and many came forward making important decisions in their lives. Probably the most exciting was the decision of a young man in his 20s to get saved. This young man has been coming to our church in Esztergom sporadically over the past 6 months. I was surprised to see him show up for the conference as it was not really designed for the lost. Nevertheless his heart was prepared and the power and the presence of the Spirit brought him to the point of decision.
On Sunday we closed the conference with our Faith Promise commitments. Sunday's commitment was right around the level of last year's, but I am hoping we will pick up a few more commitments over the next week or two. There is more that we would like to do in the area of mission's support, but we will have to see if we will be able to make those steps this next year or not.
A Look ahead:
With the missions conference behind us we move our focus to Christmas. Our puppet teams in both Tata and Esztergom are preparing for their puppet shows. Singing groups in Tata and Nyergesujfalu are preparing for concerts. Our "Ministry of Helps" is working on preparation for our annual shoebox gift collection and distribution. Please keep us in your prayers.
Marc Patton
October 25, 2008
Dear Friends,
Just a quick note to touch base with you all.
The children are on their fall break. They have all of next week off. We are planning a three day vacation next week to the mountains of northern Slovakia. We have about 5 other families from our church coming along, so there will be about 30 of us. We are looking forward to a good time. Please pray for safety in travel and good weather.
Church services have been going well. Attendance continues to be strong in Esztergom. I have also been pleased to have a number of visitors at our church in Tata. We are praying that some will become regulars in the near future. We have also been doing some work on the building in Tata. We are fixing up an old storage area to make it usable.
The global financial crises has had an interesting affect on us. It has driven the dollar higher in value, which is actually a help to us personally. It also has been a blessing to see the price of gasoline dropping. At the same time many of our people are worried about their jobs and future. The European economy is also expected to contract over the next couple of years. The Budapest stock exchange has been hard hit, as well. The Suzuki plant in Esztergom (our largest employer) is already looking at layoffs. Several of our church members work there and are concerned about their jobs. All in all it is an interesting time, and we certainly have to keep our trust in God and know that He is in control. Our offerings over the past few months have been down, and I am curious to see how it will affect next year's Faith Promise commitments. Our missions conference is next month (November 13-16)
On a brighter note we are looking forward to a baptismal service on November 9th. We have three lined up for baptism - two adults and a teen.
We do appreciate your faithful prayers and support of our ministry.
God bless,
Marc Patton
October 3, 2008
Dear Friends,
These have been busy days with a number of blessings. I just wanted to take a moment to share some of these with you.
1) Bible Club in Tat - Charin has had the best start ever for her after school Bible club. In the past she averaged 15-20 children. This year she has been averaging around 30! The number may settle in a little lower over time, but we are thankful for the good response thus far. These children are all 1st-4th graders at the elementary school that Hannah and Esther attend. We're thankful that many of their friends and classmates are in the club and being exposed to the Gospel.
2) Street Evangelism in Esztergom and Sturovo. In our last update I requested prayer for this special weekend (Sept 19-20). The weather was quite cool and threatened rain, so fewer people were out on the street and market. Nevertheless we were able to pass out hundreds of tracts, brochures and assorted literature. We also were able to witness to a number of people. Several promised to visit the church. I was pleased to see a number of our young people come out and participate. We pray that the Lord will bless the seeds that were planted.
3) English Class - We decided to offer a 10 week English language class this Fall to see if we could maintain contact with some of the young people and adults that have attended our summer English Camp. Charin has taken this into hand and is teaching two separate classes on Monday evenings - one for beginners and one for intermediate/advanced. Both classes filled up with about 15 students each. More than half of these students do not attend our church, so it is a great opportunity to witness to them and share the Gospel. Please pray that we would see some of these saved and brought into the church.
4) Pulyu and Ildi - This week I had an extra special blessing. Pulyu and Ildi requested baptism. This is a young couple in their mid 30s. We have been working with this family intensely for the past three years and it has taken much time and patience to see them come to this point. Three years ago their marriage had completely fallen apart and they were on the verge of divorce. The husband turned to me for help. It has been exciting to see God save not only their marriage, but their souls, as well. A big turning point in their lives was our family camp in August where they really decided that they were going to follow the Lord with all their hearts. I am looking forward to baptizing them on November the 9th.
5) Nagysap - You may remember that we started holding services in this town back in June. The services had been going well and been well attended (15-20 people). Nevertheless the mayor informed us in September that we could not use the community center during the winter because it would be too expensive to heat. Then came the blessing: one of the families who has been coming offered to let us meet in their home. We have had two services there so far, and it has worked out quite well. We took some stackable chairs and just stuffed their living room with chairs. This past week we had about 25 in attendance with some sitting in the kitchen. :) We are thankful for this family who have so graciously opened their home. They are very poor, but willing to give what they have. :) Please pray for this ministry. One of our young men, Gergo Szimon, is in charge and I go only about once a month to preach.
Thank you for remembering us in your prayers. We are thankful to see the Lord opening doors and working in hearts. Have a great weekend!
Mark
September 16, 2008
Dear Friends,
Greetings from cold, rainy Hungary. Last week we had nice weather in the 70's. This week the highs are in the 50's with a cold rain. I guess that Fall has officially arrived. :)
The children are all back in school. Nancy is now in 8th grade, Benji in 7th, Esther in 3rd and Hannah in 2nd. With the exception of Benji, they all also attend after school music theory lessons and piano lessons.
With the start of school several of our outreach ministries are also back up and running.
1) Bible Club in Tat - Charin had over 30 children show up for her after school club this past Friday. She and her helper Anita has their hands full. This is the school our two youngest attend, so we are thankful for the opportunity to reach many of their friends and classmates.
2) Mothers of Young Children Club started up last Tuesday morning. We had a very good crowd last week. Today only 2 mothers braved the rain to come, but Charin had a good time talking with them.
We also have a couple of special outreach efforts ahead of us.
1) This Friday and Saturday we are planning to do street evangelism in Esztergom and the neighboring city of Sturovo, Slovakia. We have a team from Word of Life Hungary's Bible School coming to help out for the weekend. They will do sketchboard evangelism, sing and give testimonies. We will be passing out New Testaments, Pictorial Bibles for children and tracts. Please pray that we will find hearts open to the Gospel message.
2) On Monday September 29th we will begin a 10 week English course. It will be one evening each week on Mondays. Basically the goal is to maintain contact with some of those whom we reach with our summer English camp. Please pray for the Lord to bring those out who will be open to the Gospel. Charin will be heading this up, and I will be available as her backup.
We do appreciate your faithful prayers and support.
Marc Patton
September 5, 2008
Dear Praying Pastor and Church Family,
August has gone from the proverbial hot and sticky month to cooler and reasonable as we have travelled from Oklahoma City to South Western Missouri. We have been blessed to stay with a couple of different churches as they have provided mission’s apartment for our use. We thank those churches from the bottoms of our hearts and have continually asked Gods blessings on them as they minister to those like us – missionaries, evangelists, and preachers.
God continues to protect us in our travels, and we thank Him for the answer to that request. We were able to get new tires for the van this month which has been a blessing. We have enjoyed safety and God’s mercies in our travels. Please keep praying for our safety.
We are still at 28% of our support. It is our desire and prayer that God would raise our support to 50% by the end of September. We figured the summer months would be a little slow, but we also know that God is able to raise the support whenever He wishes. Keep praying; PRAYER WORKS!
By the end of August we will have been in over 125 different churches in a total of 15 months of deputation. We have a ways to go before we can reach the field. Pray with us that the time goes quickly and for Gods blessings.
It is your prayer that enables us to keep going for the cause of Christ to reach the ultimate end of getting to the place God has called us to minister. May God bless you as you have been a blessing to us.
Reaching Scotland Together,
Keith M. Cashner
August 18, 2008
Dear Friends,
Summer is winding down - just two weeks until school starts. These last two weeks we have planned some time to relax before the busy fall schedule starts up. Charin and I are even planning a two night outing for next week.
15 years!
On August 20, 1993 we arrived in Hungary for our first term. It is amazing to look back and see how the Lord has blessed over these 15 years. Hungary is now home to us, and we look forward to many more years to serve the Lord here. :)
Family Camp:
Our family camp in Kiralyret was fantastic. The preaching, teaching and music was great. It is also fun to just relax and enjoy our people. We had over 90 stay for all or part of the week. I really like the family camp format. Our oldest camper was 85 and our youngest was 10 months old. :) We try to make it a relaxing and enjoyable time for everyone. Friday evening's camp fire was a special blessing as many gave testimonies about what the camp meant to them. It is a lot of work for us, but I believe it is a worthwhile investment.
Return visitors:
We have seen several visitors return in Tata after our big evangelistic service. We had two ladies back this week for the second time. Both seem interested, and we are praying that we can see them brought into the church family. We have also seen some return visitors at our Saturday service in Nagysap. Attendance in Esztergom has been great. We had about 110 on Sunday even though we were missing 4-5 families who were on vacation.
Well, that is all for now. Thanks again for your prayers.
Marc Patton Hungary
August 3, 2008
Dear Friends,
Wow, what a week! This has been a very intense week of ministry with tremendous blessings.
English Day Camp:
Our English Day camp went extremely well. We had 4 teachers from the US, 2 from England and Charin do the teaching. We had 5 different classes: two for children and 3 for adults/teens. We ended up with just about 60 participants. More than 40 of these do not attend our church regularly. I was especially pleased to see that we had at least 20 unsaved teens participate. Thus far English has really been our only way to draw teens to special meetings. Each day our teachers used not only traditional English resources, but also Bible stories, verses and songs to share the Gospel with their students. We got a lot of good feedback and had a good number come to church this Sunday for our special service. We pray for lasting fruit.
Tata:
At the same time we were running the English Camp in Esztergom, we were pushing for special evangelistic services in other towns with evangelist Allen Buchanek. In Tata we had rented the local movie theater for a special evangelistic service to be held Thursday evening. We spent Monday afternoon passing out flyers. Wednesday we had our prayer meeting. On Thursday we were thrilled to see about 130 show up for the service! This is a remarkable number considering our average Sunday attendance is about 35! The Lord spoke to hearts and many lifted their hands for prayer. We also invited the people back for our Sunday service. I was very pleased to have over 50 in attendance Sunday with about 12 visitors. We pray that we will see many come back on a regular basis.
Nagysap:
On Saturday we had a similar evangelistic service at the local community center. We have only been holding services in Nagysap for 2 months and our largest attendance yet was 22. We were shocked to see over 70 show up for the special meeting. Again many raised their hands for prayer. About 10 people came from Nagysap to our Sunday service in Esztergom. God is working!
Esztergom:
We closed out the week with a great service at our church in Esztergom. Not only had we invited the English students to come, but we had also advertised that Allen would be preaching and sharing his testimony. We had perhaps our largest Sunday attendance ever with over 180. It will take a few weeks (or months) to see how many will stick with it, but I really believe that we are going to see lasting fruit in all three locations due to this week. It was a tremendous investment of time, work and money, but well worth it. Thank you for your prayers.
Camp:
Tomorrow we head off for a week of Family Camp. We have about 90 people signed up, and we are looking forward to a great week. We have several lost people coming whom we hope to see saved. We also trust that the Christians will be strengthened and that we will be drawn closer to the Lord and each other.
God bless you all!
Marc Patton
July 27, 2008
Dear Friends,
Just a quick update before we dive into another busy two weeks:
Nyergesujfalu:
Our church in Nyergesujfalu just completed a week long evangelistic campaign. Things went very well. They had their biggest VBS ever with 20-25 children participating. Their other programs also went well. Calix and his helpers put in a long, hard week and a lot of seed was sown. Please pray with us that they will see lasting fruit in the church.
Great Sunday:
We had fantastic attendances today in Tata and Esztergom with no special push. Tata was about 35 and we had over 120 in Esztergom. There is a spirit of excitement in both churches, as we prepare for special services this next week.
English Day Camp:
Tomorrow starts our English day camp in Esztergom. We have 27 teen/adults and 25 children signed up. We are looking forward to a great week. With a smaller team of helpers this year, Charin will be teaching the intermediate adult class. She is a bit nervous, as this will be her first time to do this. Please pray that we will have a great week. About 75% of the participants do not attend our church, so it is a great opportunity to reach new people.
Evangelistic Services:
We have special evangelistic services planned Thursday evening in Tata, Saturday evening in Nagysap, and Sunday evening in Esztergom. Please pray that many visitors will come and that God will speak to hearts.
We appreciate your prayers.
Marc Patton, Hungary
July 12, 2008 -- Update
Dear Friends,
It has been a while since our last update, so here it goes.
Switzerland:
We did have a great time in Switzerland. It is always fun to spend time with other missionaries. Our kids also renewed some old friendships and made new friends with the other missionary kids. The preaching and fellowship at the Field Conference was also great.
The scenery there is Switzerland was spectacular. We spent a couple of extra days there to do some sightseeing. It was wonderful to experience the beauty of God's creation close up.
VBS - Tat:
We also had a good week of VBS in Tat. Our attendance was lower than past years, but the majority of the children were there every day. We averaged between 25-30 children during the week. Our ladies and teens did a great job with the program. A number of children raised their hands the last day expressing their desire to follow the Lord. We trust that many of these children will continue seeking the Lord and following HIm.
Nagysap:
The new service in Nagysap continues to go well. Had 14 last Saturday.
Tata:
Last Saturday, I conducted my first wedding for the church in Tata. Agi Martin has been a member of the church there almost from its beginning in 2000. About 1 1/2 years ago she moved to England to work. She met a fine Christian young man there. They decided to get married in Hungary even though they will be living in England. I did the wedding in English with Attila translating, so both the Hungarian and English speakers would understand.
This past week we had a "free week" with no special activities. It was nice to get a breather before our busy schedule ahead. Please pray for the following events:
1. July 21-27 - Evangelistic week in Nyergesujfalu: VBS, clothing distribution and an open air concert and preaching are all in the schedule for that week. Please pray for Calix and his team of helpers, as they gear up for this week. We pray especially for fruit to remain and growth in the church.
2. July 28-August 3rd - English language day camp in Esztergom. We have helpers coming from Virginia, Texas, Indiana and England to help that week. This is always a big draw and we already have about 40 registered for that week. We are hoping to end up with 50-60 participants. The majority of these are not from our church, so it is a great opportunity for evangelism and making new contacts.
3. July 31-August 3rd - We are having special evangelistic services in Tata, Nagysap and Esztergom. We are praying for many visitors to be present.
4. August 4-9 - Family Camp in Kiralyret, Hungary. We have 75 signed up for the week. We are looking forward to a great week of spiritual growth and fellowship.
Thank you for your faithful prayers for us.
Marc Patton
June 5, 2008-- Update
Dear Friends,
Had a couple of praise and prayer items that I would like to share with you.
Praise:
We had asked for prayer about our financial situation. Well, the Lord sent the answer from an unexpected source - our church here in Esztergom. :) Last week the church voted to give us an additional $200 per month due to the falling dollar. Our church in Esztergom is now giving us $325 per month making it our largest supporting church. We were very humbled and grateful to see our church provide this need. Please pray that the Lord would bless our church financially for their faithfulness to sacrificially give to the work of the Lord.
Prayer Requests:
1. Church registration. We finally received a reply on our paper work that was submitted to register our church as an independent Baptist church. Unfortunately the reply was not what we hoped for. Lord willing, tomorrow I will be able to talk to the government official who is handling our paper work. Please pray that we would be able to find a suitable solution to this situation. It is all rather complex, so I will not bore you with the details.
2. Nagysap. Nagysap is a small town located about 12 miles from Esztergom. Last year we held a couple of clothing distributions there. One family showed interest in our church, and we started running our van out to pick them up for our Sunday services. They have also brought a few visitors with them over the past few months. One of our young men would like to begin holding a weekly Bible study there. For the past 6 weeks we have been trying to secure the use of the town's Community Center for these services. It seems that there is some opposition to us using the building, but we have not given up hope yet. Please pray that the Lord would open this door, so that we could have a weekly presence in this town.
Family News:
School is winding down for the children. Their last day of school is Friday, June 13th. Overall our kids continue to do well in their schooling and strive to be a good testimony to the children around them. We are all looking forward to the summer break and a change of pace. We are also looking forward to attending BIMI's European Field Conference June 23-27 in Switzerland.
We do appreciate your faithful prayers for our ministry. God bless.
Marc Patton
19 May 2008-- Update
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Hungary. This past week we have finally had some summer like weather, and we are all enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. Here are the highlights of the past few weeks.
Baptismal Service:
The biggest news is the baptismal service that we held on May 11th. We had five people baptized and one other joined the church. It was a special blessing to baptize our son Benji. He did a good job with his testimony, and we are proud of his desire to serve the Lord. We also had two other young people baptiyed: Szandra Kajo and Krisztina Szabo. Szandra is 11 and Kristina is 13. Both have been in our church since they were very small and were saved through our children's ministry. We are glad to see the church kids excited about following the Lord.
I also baptized a man in his 50s names Janos Meszaros. He came for the first time about one year ago and got saved. He had a good crowd of unsaved family and friends come to see him baptized. He gave a very clear testimony of salvation, and we are pleased to see him take a stand for the Lord. His wife is still not saved, but she seems to be softening.
The fifth baptismal candidate was Martin Elekes. Martin was saved from a rather wild background several years back in another church. This past fall he married a gal from Sturovo, Slovakia who had attended our church sporadically. They both felt that the Lord wants them to be members of our church, and we were happy to accept them. We are excited about the new members and trust that we will see them grow in the Lord.
Roof Work:
It was also a blessing to have the roof of our old building replaced. The work went well without any leaking or damage to the building while the roof was off. This was really our last major project on our building, so we are excited to have the end in sight. :)
Tata:
The church in Tata continues to do well. The Monday after Pentecost was a holiday here, and we had a church picnic at a nearby park. We were glad to have about 35 attend, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Sunday services have also been going well. I preached the past two weeks on the meaning of baptism and the Lord's Supper. We currently have two adults attending who are saved, but from Reformed backgrounds. I am praying that the Lord will deal with them about baptism and church membership.
Nyergesujfalu:
The main news from Nyerges is that they have a new lady who has begun attending. Ironically she is an American from a Baptist background who has moved here. She speaks very little Hungarian, so they have someone sit next to her and translate during the sermon. :)
Finances:
In our last letter we requested prayer for additional support. It was a great blessing to get an email from a retired couple in the US, who will begin supporting us for $50 per month. They are ethnic Hungarians who have visited our ministry in the past and have been prayer warriors of ours.
Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for our ministry.
God bless,
Marc Patton, Hungary
April 23, 2008 Update
Dear Friends,
The past two weeks have been very busy. Thank your for remembering us in your prayers. Here are the highlights.
Youth Conference:
This past Saturday we held our first ever youth conference in Esztergom. We had about 90 young people participate. Our youth leader Zsolt Kovacs did a great job organizing and running the conference. Our young people all worked hard in decorating, music and food preparation. Our special speaker also did a great job. In the afternoon we had some free time for sports, games and sightseeing which went well. All in all it was a great day. We learned a lot, and hopefully can do an even better job next year.
Outreach Sundays:
1. Tata - On April 13th we had no visitors show up for our outreach Sunday. We were all a bit disappointed, but pressed on for the second week. On April 20th I was shocked to seen 10 adult visitors show up for our Sunday service! The Lord gave great liberty in preaching and two ladies raised their hand for prayer regarding salvation. I hope to be able to talk to them in more detail in the future. Please pray for Emoke and Dorta. Interestingly both ladies were there with their husbands and both families attend the local Reformed church regularly, so they have a fairly strong religious background. Both families promised to come back this Sunday (the 27th) for the final sermon in the series. Please pray for us to be able to reach these families. Unfortunately our service is at exactly the same time as the Reformed church, so they have to make a choice.
2. In Esztergom we had exactly the reverse: on April 13th we had 11 unsaved visitors present. On April 20th only four of them returned. This Sunday we will wrap up the series with a strong Gospel message. Please pray that we will see some make decisions for Christ. I am praying especially for a new family from Nagysap who have been coming regularly for 5 or 6 weeks to get saved.
Prayer Requests:
1. This Saturday we will have our annual Mother-Daughter tea. Charin is very busy getting things ready for that. We are expecting 50-60 ladies to be present.
2. Next week we hope to have the roof of our old building replaced. It is in terrible condition. When we bought the building in 1998 we were told that at best we would get 5 years out of it. Well, we managed to get 10 years out of it, but we are having more and more problems with it. Please pray that it won't rain while the work is being done.
3. On May 11th we will be having a baptismal service. Two adults and three teens will be baptized. We are looking forward to an exciting Sunday.
4. Finances. Most of you are aware that the dollar has dropped to all time lows. It is now worth half of what it was a few years ago. It is definitely putting pressure on us. Please pray that the dollar will either turn around, or that we will be able to find some additional support without having to take a furlough.
Thank you for your prayers.
Marc Patton
April 7, 2008 Update
Dear Friends,
The past two weeks have been very busy, but also rewarding. The past two Sundays we have had more than 110 in church in Esztergom and over 30 in attendance in Tata. We have been very encouraged to see many visitors in the past few weeks. The spirit of the services has also been good. We've also had a couple of special events:
1) Wedding - March 29th was the wedding of Laci Szunyogh and Tunde Kelecsenyi. The wedding was very sweet. Tunde's husband died nearly two years ago in a train accident, leaving her with a 4 year old son. Laci, a young man in his thirties, had been attending our church already for several years and was sometimes a little discouraged that the Lord had not given him a wife yet. He has had a withered hand from birth, but in spite of his handicap, is a hard worker with a great heart for the Lord. It has been fun to see the Lord bring them together and heal both of their hurts and loneliness.
They had numerous unsaved family members present who were very skeptical about coming into a Baptist church. Many were pleasantly surprised by what they saw and commented on what a beautiful wedding ceremony it was. It was a special blessing that both Laci and Tunde gave testimonies about their salvation and their desire to see their family members get saved. We pray that it will have a lasting effect on them.
2) Church registration - We have spent the past several months drawing up papers to register our church officially. At the moment we operate under the auspices of a foundation. Yesterday we had a special service to sign our charter. We had 117 sign our charter papers. In Hungary, you have to have a minimum of 100 founding members to register as an independent church. With the help of our church members in Tata and Nyergesujfalu we were able to finally reach the magic number. The papers will be sent in to the county seat in the next week. Please pray that all will go well. I can foresee several possible "hitches" in the process. This is the first time anyone has attempted to register as a Baptist church independent of the Hungarian Baptist Union, so it will be interesting to see if we get approved.
Other prayer requests:
1) The next three Sundays we will be holding special evangelistic services in both Tata and Esztergom. I feel like I was not able to promote these services, as much as I would have liked, but please do pray that we will see visitors come and that the Lord would speak to hearts.
2) April 19-20 - Youth Conference. We are holding our first ever youth conference April 19-20. We are hoping for about 70-80 to be present. Please pray that it will be a blessing to our youth group and to all those who come.
3) April 26 - Mother/daughter Tea - This is always a big event. Please pray for Charin as she prepares for this service.
Thanks for your prayers.
Marc
March 22, 2008
Dear Friends,
We do wish you all a Happy Easter! We have enjoyed a quiet day today and are looking forward to a bit of rest on Monday and Tuesday. The kids are off school until Wednesday, so we plan to enjoy a little family time.
Puppet shows:
The past two weeks were extra busy with our puppet ministry. I think we had a total of 12 shows - mostly in public schools, although we did have a nursing home and a couple presentations in our church. Charin heads up the puppet team in Esztergom and presented the Gospel after each show. Our puppet team in Tata was even busier with 14 shows presented to almost 1500 children. Please do pray for lasting fruit. In most cases the children are very open and receptive, although we do sometimes face hostile looks from teachers. We are thankful that the door is still open, and we plan to take advantage of it as long as possible.
Fundraising Concert in Esztergom:
Our concert on March 15th went very well. We had 140-150 in attendance with a lot of visitors. Not only were we able to raise some money for our Helps Ministry, but we also were able to present the Gospel and make new contacts with a number of lost people. We are trusting the Lord for fruit from this ministry as well. Actually are clothing distributions (held on Saturdays) have brought several visitors to our Sunday services lately. We have a new family coming from the town of Nagysap that has come three weeks in a row. We also have two elderly ladies who have begun attending.
Esztergom news:
The attendance and spirit has been good. We had one Sunday where we topped 100. The next big event is a wedding next Saturday, March 29th. We are very excited about this wedding. Tunde Kelecsenyi is a lady in her 30s. Her husband was killed in a tragic train accident about 2 years ago. She was left to raise her 6 year old son alone. Laci Szunyogh was a single young man in his 30s who was a member of our church at that time. Over the past 6-8 months the Lord has brought them together. We are excited for both of them. Tunde's son Csongor is also thrilled to have a new daddy. :)
Tata news:
Services in Tata have also been going well with attendance in the 30s on Sundays. One of the men has begun a weekly youth meeting, which seems to be going well. There are about 7 young people in the church, and they seem to be excited about it. Today was a work day, as work continues on fixing up a storage area in the back.
Nyergesujfalu news:
Today Calix and his team are putting on an Easter Concert at the local community center. They are hoping for a good crowd with many visitors. Please pray that they will see visitors in their Sunday services, as well.
Well, we are looking forward to our Easter services tomorrow. May the Lord bless you all.
Marc
March 2008
Dear Friends,
The arrival of the new year has presented us with many new opportunities for ministry. I would like to share a few of these with you in this letter.
New Students:
We are now beginning our fourth year of the Esztergom Baptist Bible Institute. We meet one Saturday a month for 6-7 hours of classes. We have seven students who have been with us from the beginning and will complete their studies this year. Two others joined during the past couple of years. I was very pleased to have three new students sign up this semester. It is our continued goal to train our people to be effective preachers, teachers and leaders in the church. Please continue to pray for this important ministry.
New Church:
On February 16th the Tata Baptist Church voted unanimously to call me as their new pastor. This does not mean that we will be leaving Esztergom but that I will pastor both churches simultaneously. I have been filling the pulpit in Tata for the past 8 months and the Lord has given me a burden for the work there. With the Christensen family unable to return to the field, the need arose for a new pastor. I am praying that the Lord will give the needed wisdom and strength to see the church grow and move forward. We are able to do both churches as Tata has its main service Sunday morning, whereas Esztergom’s is Sunday evening. We have a midweek service in Tata on Wednesday and in Esztergom on Thursday . It is a busy schedule, but I do have a few preachers who can help out as needed. As Tata will now be an important part of our ministry, I would like to give you a little more information.
The city of Tata is located about 30 miles west of Esztergom. With a population of 25,000, it is a beautiful city with several lakes and an old castle. The church was founded in 2000. Our church in Esztergom has always been somewhat connected with the church in Tata through our Bible Institue, summer camp and other programs. The church currently has 20 members and averages 25-30 in attendance. They have their own building; a small house donated by one of their widows. The auditorium can seat 40-50. There is also a smaller room which we use for Sunday School and junior church. The widow who donated the house has a small apartment in back for her own use.
There is a good spirit in the church and a good core of people willing to serve. We are looking forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do in the future. Please join us in prayer for this ministry.
New location in Nyergesujfalu:
Our church plant in Nyergesujfalu moved to a new location in January. They are now meeting at a brand new community center completed just last year. The city gave them a great deal on renting the building for church use. The church has a large office area that can be used for their midweek service, prayer meeting and clubs. On Sundays they are able to use the main auditorium for their services. It is a great building, and Calix and his team are excited about the potential it gives them for outreach and growth. Financially, however, it is a greater burden. Please pray for Calix’s personal support, as well as their ministry needs.
The church in Nyergesujfalu also held their second baptismal service. David Izso is a single young man with a good heart and a lot of potential. The Lord is slowly building the work in this town. Please keep Calix Furus and the church in your prayers.
A Look Ahead:
I would like to share three primary requests with you for the next 2 months:
1) Easter puppet shows. March 12-20 Charin and her puppet team will be in a number of area schools with our puppet ministry.
2) Youth Conference. April 19-20 we will be holding our first ever youth conference. We are hoping for 70-80 young people. Our youth group is excited and already preparing their special music.
3) Evangelistic Services. April 13, 20, 27 will be special Sundays targeting the lost in both Tata and Esztergom. Please pray for unsaved to be present and for the Lord to speak to hearts.
Thank you for standing with us in prayer.
Serving for His Glory,
Marc, Charin, Nancy, Benji, Esther and Hannah Patton
March 4, 2008
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Hungary. It has been cold and rainy here in Hungary, and we are all looking forward to Spring. The past couple months we have had lots of sickness in both our family and the church. In the family, I think everyone has been sick at least twice. Everyone but Hannah was back in school Monday. Hopefully, she will be back to school tomorrow. We have also had lots of sickness in the church. Hopefully the flu bug has run its course. :)
Esztergom:
The past couple Sundays in Esztergom have been good. We have had attendance in the 90s with several visitors.
Sunday was a crazy service. On the one hand, the music and preaching went well. On the other hand we had more distractions in one service than we normally have in a couple of months. First, we had an elderly lady visit who seemed to be "not all there" mentally. She kept talking out very loudly during the song service and finally had to be taken out. Secondly, a teenage couple arrived late. The boy had been there once before, but the girl was there for the first time. They paraded to the front of the auditorium, stayed for a few minutes, and I guess the girl wanted out. :) They walked out before I really even got started preaching. Then, about 10 minutes into my sermon, another elderly lady became ill and several people were in and out assisting her. Despite all the distractions, I believe the Lord was able to work in hearts. A number of people responded to the invitation requesting special prayer. I left church shaking my head thinking that the devil was doing his best to keep people from hearing the message.
On a positive note: we have been having a special prayer meeting every other Monday evening. This is truly a prayer meeting without any singing or message. We just go over prayer requests and then pray. We had 10 present yesterday and probably the most intense time of prayer we have had yet. The Lord is giving many of our people a real burden to pray, and I know that we will see the fruit of this in the future.
Tata:
As you know, I have been filling the pulpit in Tata for the past 8 months. In January, it became clear that the missionary family we were assisting would be unable to return to the field. Many of the church people had asked me to stay on as pastor, but I wanted the church to have an official vote. On February 17th the church voted unanimously to call me as their new pastor. The Lord has given me a burden for the ministry there, and I was happy to accept. We have our main service in Tata Sunday morning, and the main service in Esztergom is Sunday evening, so I am able to be in both churches each Sunday. I also go to Tata every other Wednesday evening for their midweek service. Our midweek service in Esztergom is on Thursdays, so it does not overlap. Anyways, please do pray for the ministry in Tata as well. The church is basically unified and has a desire to move forward. I am praying that we will see visitors and growth in the future.
Nyergesujfalu:
With my heavy involvement in Tata, Calix is really on his own in Nyergesujfalu. I do try to get to a service there every couple of months, and meet with Calix regulary to pray and discuss the work there. They did hold their second baptismal service on February 17th as planned and everything went well. They all have several new ministries they have started: a club for mothers of preschool children and an English language club. We pray that the church in Nyergesujfalu would also experience growth in the next few months.
Prayer requests:
1) With Easter coming early this year our puppet team begins visiting the area public schools next week. They have about a dozen shows lined up during the two weeks prior to Easter. Please pray for Charin and her team in Esztergom. We also have a team doing the same in Tata.
2) On March 15th we will be holding a special "Fund raising Concert" for our Helps Ministry. We are trying to raise money for our food pantry, clothing distribution ministry, etc. This is open to the public, and we are expecting many visitors to come from outside the church family. Our Helps Ministry is growing, and we have seen several visitors in church as a result of these efforts.
Well, this has been long, so I will sign off. We do appreciate your prayers.
Marc Patton
January 2008
Dear Praying Friends,
I am writing this letter on January 1st to wish you all a Happy New Year. The snow is falling and leaving a fresh blanket of white on the ground. The new year also lays before us as a clean sheet of paper. We are looking forward to a great year full of growth and blessings.
The past two months have been extremely busy. Here are the highlights.
Missions Conference:
We held our annual missions conference the last week of November. It was a great blessing to have BIMI representative Ed Gibson as our special speaker. His messages were a great blessing to me personally as well as to our people. Our Faith Promise Missions commitments increased to about $750 per month for the next year. We continue to support 7 Hungarian church planters through our Faith Promise giving.
Baptismal service:
On December 9th we had a special service to baptize Szandra Megyeri. Szandra is a junior at one of the local high schools. Szandra began attending our church when she was six years old. She was saved several years ago, but her grandmother, who is her guardian, would not allow her to be baptized. Her grandmother had a change of heart this Fall and was even willing to attend the baptismal service. We are proud of Szandra’s testimony and are praying that the Lord would touch the hearts of her Catholic grandparents.
Christmas outreach efforts:
We had three primary outreach projects leading up to Christmas.
1) Puppet ministry - Our puppet team had their busiest season ever doing 19 puppet shows in the three weeks prior to Christmas. Approximately 1500 children and 400 adults were present for these shows. We were able to be in thirteen different public schools, as well as a nursing home and also special services in our church. Charin leads the team and does her best to clearly present the Gospel in each location.
2) Christmas concerts - Calix Furus started a Gospel Ensemble about a year ago, and they put on two Christmas concerts. The first was held in Tata on December 15. The church there is small - running about 35. We were thrilled to have about 90 present for the concert with about 60 visitors. Each visitor received an invitation to our church and free literature. Since then several have returned to a church service. The same concert was put on in Nyergesujfalu on December 21. About 70 people were in attendance there with many visitors. We are praying that we will see lasting fruit from this in the future.
3) Shoe box collection and distribution - In the past we have received shoe boxes through Samaritan Purse’s Christmas shoe box program. A few years ago they decided Hungary was too well off, and our “source” dried up. Some of our ladies decided that we should prepare our own shoe box gifts for distribution. We also advertised in the community that we were collecting shoe box gifts for needy children. It was amazing to see the response. The local radio station even picked up on the story and was announcing it daily. Our church put together perhaps 70-80 shoe boxes, but we had more than 200 boxes brought in from the community. Thus we were able to make contact not only with the needy families that received the packages, but also with the middle class families delivering them to our church.
On December 22nd we held a special service to do the distribution. We worked through the local school system to target needy children and their families. We had well over 200 pack our auditorium for this service. We used the puppet show and I preached a brief message. The response to the service was great, and I believe that we will have visitors return in the future. One man stopped me on the street one day to thank us for the gifts for his children. He said that they would like to begin attending our church.
As you can see, we were able to sow many seeds during this Christmas season. Please pray with us for fruit that will remain.
Finances:
2007 was a very challenging year in our personal finances. The dollar hit new lows, prices continue to rise, yet the Lord met all our needs. Several times we received special gifts exactly at the time of greatest need. We also saw blessings in the finances of the church as several individuals gave large amounts that allowed us to lay paving stones in the courtyard, install air conditioning in the auditorium and remodel the church office. We are also grateful for the many offerings and packages that made our Christmas special. Thank you!
A look ahead:
During the next few weeks I will be meeting with our leadership team and Sunday School teachers to sharpen our focus on goals and direction for the new year. The church seems to be unified once again, and we are looking forward to a great year. Thank you for standing with us in your prayers and support of our ministry.
Serving for His Glory,
Marc, Charin, Nancy, Benji, Esther and Hannah
Prayer Letter--November 2007
Dear Friends,
Suriname:
The highlight of our past two months was our October trip to Suriname to visit my parents. I had been in Suriname twice, long ago during my college days. Charin and our children had not had the opportunity yet. Our trip went extremely well. It was great to see my parents. We always treasure the time we have together, as it is so rare and brief, but it was a special joy to be able to personally see and experience so much of what we had only heard about before. I had the privilege of preaching four times at their main church. One Sunday evening they had a combined service with all 4 churches present. It was great to see a vibrant church with a vision for the lost. I was also impressed to see the quality of men, both younger and older, that form the backbone of the church. Their people were kind and receptive presenting Charin and me with hand-made, traditional bush-negro outfits before our departure.
We also were able to spend 5 days with my sister Kim and her husband Ethan Champlin in the city of Moengo. Ethan and Kim have 8 children, so our kids had a great time getting to know them better. We also enjoyed a trip by fiberglass canoe up the Cottica River to visit a couple of jungle outposts. It was wonderful to see their growing ministry in Moengo and spend a Sunday there as well.
All in all it was a trip we will never forget. We are grateful that the Lord gave us the finances and opportunity to make this trip possible.
Nyergesujfalu:
October 7th will be a day to remember at our new church in Nyergesujfalu. Calix Furus performed his first baptismal service, baptising a teenage girl, Eszter Demjan. This was also the day that the church was officially organized with 11 members. A few of these are part of the church planting team from Esztergom, but several others were reached through the ministry there in Nyergesujfalu. We praise the Lord for the “firstfruit” of the ministry there and pray for continued blessings.
Tata:
In May of this year missionary Colin Christensen and his wife had to take an emergency furlough due to a family situation. Since that time, we have been overseeing the church he pastors in the city of Tata. Tata is a city of about 20,000 located 35 miles from Esztergom. The church there is 7 years old and runs about 25 on Sundays. We have had a good relationship with Colin and his church over the years, so were happy to help with the ministry there. I have been preaching there every other Sunday morning, and one of our men, Attila Zeman, has done the other Sundays. The big event in Tata was their annual Thanksgiving Sunday held on October 14th. We are now planning a Christmas concert as an evangelistic outreach and pray the church will see growth from that.
Esztergom:
Our main church in Esztergom is beginning to recover from the battles and difficulties of the Spring and Summer, but we still have a ways to go. Our attendance has dipped 15-20 below where we were a year ago, and we have had difficulty seeing visitors return and really plug into the church. I have done a lot of preaching lately clarifying the positions of our church on both eternal security and charismatic issues, so it has been more a time of solidification than of growth. We have also put a greater emphasis on prayer, and I am trusting that we will soon turn the corner and begin to grow once again. Please do pray with us for healing, unity and the Holy Spirit’s presence and power.
A look ahead:
The month of December is always busy with special Christmas programs and events. Our puppet team is gearing up to take the Gospel message into area schools. Singing groups are preparing for Christmas concerts in Tata, Nyergesujfalu and Esztergom. The children are preparing for Christmas programs. Our helps ministry is already collecting items to put in shoe boxes for needy families. Please pray that the Lord would use all of these efforts to draw the lost to Himself during this Christmas season.
Prayer Letter
January 2007prayer letter.pdf