Men really are simply tall boys, and that has been very evident lately as I’ve watched Norbi’s excitement over his “new toy”. An outreach team came from Texas (more on that in another section), arriving on March 10th. With them came a Marshall AS50R Acoustic/Soloist Amplifier, bought online and shipped to them in Texas to bring with them.

Practically, it will greatly improve the worship here, letting the team members hear each other better, and letting the congregation hear Norbi better (we’ll also be able to use a microphone with it). Currently this portable Amp represents the “church sound system”. All of you musicians out there will understand that this is a very nice piece of equipment, and we were only able to buy it through the help of many of you who have given so generously. We thank you for those gifts, and Norbi is so looking forward to using it this week for worship at church. He’s also been having fun with it; so far, no neighbors have complained!

Tuesday, March 20th will be the first day of Preschool for both Josiah and Joshua. We’ve been able to complete all the paperwork, and all three children are now dual citizens of both the United States and Hungary. This has opened the door for the boys to attend a Hungarian preschool just around the corner. It is actually Catholic-run. The basic reason is for them to learn Hungarian, especially for Josiah before he begins Kindergarten here in the fall. But they will also get to play with lots of other kids their age.

We’ve visited the school several times, and it’s a great facility. There was also a great answer to prayer in that Josiah’s head teacher speaks English very well, she was a Nanny in England. They will be attending each morning, Mon. through Fri. from 8:30 to noon. The boys seem excited, it’s just their mommy who’s still a little worried about it all!

Please keep this transition in your prayers, for us all—including little sister Anna who will be left home all alone. We’re also looking forward to making new friends and relationships as we step into the social realm of our neighborhood.

The last several weeks have been a busy time for us. Both Norbi and Joshi had birthdays at the end of February (on the 21st and 23rd) , sort of squished into a busy week. The weekend of February 23rd and 24th we held the annual “Winter Conference” here in Szeged. Pastor Thomas Powell from C.C. Southside, Virginia was the guest speaker and he brought several guys form his church with him. Barney taught as well, and Wayne entertained everyone during the break time with some great card tricks. Brian did the camera-man thing and got some great shots for posterity. Pastor Thomas shared from Psalm 63 on renewing our relationship with God and the importance of a daily quiet time with the Lord—it was a great and needed message, for everyone.

We opened the conference to the nearby CC fellowships in Baja and Tompa, Hungary. It was such an added blessing for me to get to see some old friends from my earlier time in Baja and from the Bible School.

Norbi was blessed to attend an “Elder’s/Leadership Conference” on March 2nd and 3rd. It was for just the CC’s in Hungary, was taught by Greg Opean, Pastor of CC Budapest, and was a great time of fellowship and learning.

On Saturday, March 10th a group of 13 from Texas and California arrived. On Sunday the women of the group taught for the first ever C.C. Szeged Women’s Conference. Holly Garcia, wife of Pastor Tony Garcia from C.C. San Angelo, Texas, taught on “Abiding in Christ” from John 15 and then the fruit of the Spirit, from Galatians 5. Linda Wilson shared on the importance of God’s word, and had the women break into one on one pairs and share their testimonies. I was blessed to spend that sharing time with a young woman in our church I hadn’t really gotten to know much yet, Annico (nick-name for Anne). We discovered we had both attended some of the same events here in Szeged, way back in 1995! What a small world. The time with the women was wonderful, and we’re all agreed we need to do something like that again.

The outreach group then spent Mon., Tues. and Wed. speaking English in a High School here. The doors are amazingly open for groups of native-speakers to come in and speak English in the English classes. It isn’t exactly a time for full-blown evangelism, but a time to build trust, interest in Christians and plant some seeds. A member of Campus Crusade For Christ is the English teacher that had them into her class. They can invite the students to hang out with the group after school, and had several out for pizza and treats.

On Tuesday evening the team treated the church and many of the students they had been sharing with to a Mexican dinner made with food they brought. Amazingly over 60 people packed into Laci and Keri’s apartment! It was jammed, but an awesome time. Towards the end Pastor Tony got up and briefly spoke, full on giving the gospel, and then led in a time of prayer for salvation. Praise God at least three of the students raised their hands, others possibly prayed too without putting their hands up.

As most of our church came out for the Mexican dinner as well, the students were able to meet us and make the connection between their teacher who has been quietly planting seeds, the group who spent those three days talking with them, and CC Szeged. Please be praying with us that we can continue to build these relationships and that the students, especially those who have become new baby Christians, will attend church and learn and grow in Christ. We had e-mailed and asked many of you to be praying for that outreach, and we want to thank you for your prayers. It was a wonderful time and God’s hand was upon so many of the tiny details. We know your prayers were a big part of that!

Norbi is still busy leading worship here at CC Szeged, and once a week in nearby Békéscsaba. Worship practice is here at our place on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. We’ll be losing our violinist in May, when Kirsi goes back home to Finland (she’s been going to school here). She’s a sweetheart and will be greatly missed.

Norbi’s other responsibility in the church is as treasurer, something he’s really gifted for, with his brain for math and interest in financing, budgeting, etc...

Odi (Kyle’s wife) finished her exams in January and threw herself into getting the children’s ministry all organized. We now have three teams complete with a teacher (Odi, Keri and Rachel), a translator, and a helper to chase Anna. It’s been by rotation and has been such a blessing for everyone, getting more people involved with the kids and giving Rachel and Odi much needed breaks.

Rachel began the Women’s Fellowship in January and it has been going great. They meet once a month, on the third Saturday. The ladies love the fellowship, and usually stay long afterwards talking.

We’re going to begin having a different person or family over for dinner or lunch once a week to get to know everyone better, probably on Thursday or Saturday. Chasing our crazy three often makes talking and real conversations hard after church, so we hope this will be a time to really talk with people around the kitchen table while the kids watch a video or play in their room.

Anna has mastered a new talent, and she loves to do it many times through out the day—she can take her clothes off all by herself! And take them off she does. Several times it has been down to, um, her ‘birthday suit’, including the diaper too. But we have learned that a onesie will generally be left on, thus keeping the diaper in place as well. She also loves putting clothes on too, it’s just that those silly arms get in the way, so things tend to stay around her neck. And, horrors, she has located the laundry hamper, and can open that much easier than drawers of clean clothes...so, dirty underwear and such are often being snatched off her precious little head.

It has been discovered that our boys are rather gullible, poor things. Kyle had heard of playing the “quiet game” with kids, seeing who can stay quiet the longest. And it actually works! The best game was suggested by Eric, a guy on the Texas/CA team, the ‘hands on the wall’ game. Oh, we laughed so hard while both boys stood facing a wall, their hands on it at all times, seeing who would stay the longest! Wish I had had my camera! And then Eric told them they could lift one foot….!!!

If you may recall, we needed to do lots of work on the bathroom in our apartment. We’re in a very old part of town, in a very old apartment house that was built prior to indoor plumbing. Our bathroom was an add-on that was sort of squeezed into a pantry space off the kids’ room. It was never completely finished. I am happy to report that Norbi installed a nice new window, so it is not so cold. And Norbi’s cousin Gabi just finished school for laying tiles, so he and a friend came over and tackled the odd shapes and corners quite well. It was good experience for them and we paid them too! Getting the walls tiled has greatly helped the overall appearance. There is still some tiling to do around the window, and Norbi wants to tile the itsy-bitsy floor space. But I am now able to decorate and have fun making up for the tiny space by having it as nice looking as possible.

We were also blessed to be able to afford some pieces of needed furniture last month—bookshelves, two chairs, and a bunk-bed for the boys. The bookshelves mean that I am finally all unpacked out of boxes! God is good.

Our next big project here is the backyard, which has been totally neglected for years. Erszi, a lady in the church, works at a garden/florist and knows a lot about such things. She’s come over and looked it over and is now organizing to get the church to come and help in killing/pulling weeds and planting grass. Norbi is also going to build the kids a sand box and determine if the old tree can support some swings. For now the kids just enjoy running around and finding bugs, but we envision some great church BBQ’s back there soon!

Prayer Items:

- For Calvary Chapel of Szeged (Golgota Keresztény Gyülekezet) to grow in depth of spirit and full of His grace.

- For Josiah and Joshua in their new preschool. That they could begin to learn more Hungarian, and that they wouldn’t feel frustrated at not being able to communicate with everyone around them.

- For Anna left home without brothers in the mornings

- Understanding and unity within our leadership group—which is Kyle & Odi, Laci & Keri and Norbi & Rachel.

- For Rachel in the area of the Women’s Ministry, for guidance and wisdom in what to teach.

- Again, for Rachel and the children to learn Hungarian.

- For Norbi as he leads worship, and for the people as they learn to worship God, not just sing songs.

- Spiritual covering for our family, health and safety and protection from enemy attacks both mental and physical.

- Travel mercies and health while Rachel’s grandparents visit us in May—arriving May 10th, leaving May 31st.

Praise Items:

- Anna’s skin is doing much better—thank you all for your prayers. Keep praying though, she still itches and needs lots of lotion for her extremely dry skin.

- Rachel’s ability to understand more Hungarian is growing, what many have told her is the first step to learning a language!

- Norbi’s mom and sister are attending church almost regularly, keep praying. Ilboya, his mom, came to the Women’s Conf., a great answer to prayer.

- Our bathroom is looking great! Thank you to those who helped pay for the window and tiles, etc…

- The Outreach in March was a blessed time, with several coming to Christ and many new contacts made in a High School here. We’d love to see more outreaches come( Anyone know of a good drama team, maybe from the Simi Valley area? :-) Hint, hint! )

- God has been blessing us so faithfully through so many of you, thank you, thank you. We know that God blesses you for your giving and the time you put into praying for us. And know that we consider you all partners in this church here in Szeged.