Romans 10:17

Hey All!

This past month has been by far the busiest to date.  It has been filled with our organization's Fall conference, scouting, and vision trips! As I look back on it I see the faces of many new friends, towns across Hungary that desperately need God's love, and the encouragement of a visitor from home.  Furthermore, I am trying to regain my energy for the final push of my stay here in Europe.  It is so strange to think that I am 2/3 of the way done with my 6 month stay.  I look forward in anticipation to these next two months, and am so grateful to be a part of God's work here.

 Fall conference! This is a time where the JV staff, interns, and nationals come together for not only week of training, which was amazing, but as a community as well.  The theme for the week was "Search & Rescue" and their was excellent opportunity to glean knowledge from some amazing teachers on how to share one's faith to the lost.

Midway through the conference we were able to go out in groups and evangelize in different communities.  These groups were comprised of many different nationalities (i.e. Ukranians, Slovenes, Estonians, Polish, Czech, Slovakia, Americans etc.).

During the conference I was able to chat with many different individuals who were currently running some kind of sports ministry in their country.  I had a blast hearing about their experiences thus far, what has worked, what hasn't and so on.  Most importantly, discovering how these people use their passions to further the Kingdom was priceless.

Two things became so apparent to me while at conference.  The first is how unique the Josiah Venture family is, and how hugely important it is to have people to lean on, especially when one is far away from their loved ones.  The culture of community, care, and love for seeing people to come to know Christ is highly attractive and a testament of this organizations growth in Central & Eastern Europe.

In addition, the second thing that became so apparent to me was how little I verbally share the Gospel.  So many times I think to myself people will know who Christ is through my actions, or even more severely, I deceive myself by being satisfied with "spiritual" conversations when in reality the good news about Jesus never actually leaves my lips.  This is not to say that displaying Christs' love for others is defective or that spiritual conversations are bad.  Even more than that, think about how transformational these interactions can be if we are pointing them to Christ and they are hearing good news that He brings!  God has been convicting me on this subject, and this conference was just the kick in the butt that I needed.  Your prayers on this matter would be amazing!

Rob, Sky, Eric, and myself all took the train home from conference.  On this ride we chatted about ministry in Hungary, as well as casting vision for the future.  Towards the tail end of the trip a lady interrupted us and started asking questions about what we were talking about and who we were with.  Rob quickly guided the conversation to what she believed and started sharing the Gospel to her.  By the time we reached our destination all of us were able to share portions of the Gospel to her.  Even though she didn't dedicate her life to Christ, your prayers that she would come to know truth of Jesus would be amazing.   I am so proud to be serving with these men and am so grateful that God uses us to reach his lost sheep.  

For the past three weeks we were blessed to have our good friend from back home, Sky Henderson, come and visit on a vision trip.  Sky is actively pursuing God's future plans for him, and one of the potentials is moving here to serve in Hungary.  On a personal level, it was so encouraging be able to hang and do ministry with such a close friend from home.

During the past weeks we were able to go out into smaller towns in Hungary, namely Veszprem (Population: 65,000) and Miskolz (Population: 100,000).  The purpose of these trips is to scout possible future ministry locations and to build contacts with the local churches.  Both of these cities are night and day compared to the population size of Budapest (Population: 2 million).  It was definitely nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of the big city and explore these peaceful towns.

Finally, I am sure that you all are wondering and interested to know how the annual Fall conference volleyball and football (soccer) tournament went, lol.  Sadly, only after about 5 minutes of being in the volleyball tourney we got knocked out... so, ya last place it was.  However, we were able to redeem ourselves in the football tournament and got 3rd!!! Much to do with excellent goalkeeping by Austin and Sky being a brick wall in defense... :)

Prayers:

- These last two months of ministry!

- Prayer for energy for myself would be amazing.

- For Sky as he thinks back to all that happened on this vision trip, and as he pursues what God has for    him in the future!

Praises!!!

- Eric has found a contact for teaching in a local High school, therefore us guys will be going in on Wednesdays to teach conversational english!

Thank you all once again for your love and support, it means so much to me!

Marc Meland
marcmeland@gmail.com