Hungary 2017

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. – 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

I returned a few days ago from a mission trip to Hungary. My prayer during the months of preparation for this trip had been, “Lord, help me decrease so you can increase.” I needed His strength and His power to accomplish the mission.

If I had to summarize the trip in one sentence, I think it would suffice to say: God is at work in Hungary and I was completely humbled to be a small part of His work.

I feel very much like a jar of clay. Simple, plain and fragile. But the message of hope and love that I carry inside of me is worth far more than any earthly treasure. Who am I that the God of the universe would trust me to help carry this message to a little town in Eastern Europe? I can take no credit for the message I carry. This surpassing power belongs to God alone. So many others before me have laid the ground work for the gospel message to be brought to Nagyhalász. I was honored to go with a team from our church and partner with our missionary friend to do an English Bible Camp at a local school. It was also an incredibly special experience to serve alongside my husband. I am so thankful to have been a part of this team and will forever remember these ten days.

There were certainly hard things to process from our experience in Nagyhalász. But I saw…

JOY in the faces of the children as they saw us dress up in silly superhero outfits and dance around to funny songs.

FAITHFULNESS in the eyes of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

LOVE for the Lord and each other as we worshipped with a Roma church.

THANKFULNESS in the hearts of the school staff members, parents and children.

HOPE as children shared with us what they had learned in Bible class, wanted to take pictures with us and smiled as they walked into our classroom everyday.

KINDNESS as I saw children helping other children with crafts, offering us some of their snack and wanting us to sit with them at the lunch table.

HUMILITY as poverty stricken families welcomed us into their homes and accepted gifts of food and toys for their children.

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GENEROSITY as Hungarian children and parents gave us numerous hugs and gifts at the end of the week.

UNITY as a group of twenty people came together from all over North Carolina and combined with many Hungarian workers to organize an amazing week of camp and share the love of Christ with almost 200 children, their families and teachers.