johnson prayer update may 2011

8/6/2019 Johnson Prayer Update May 2011

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Johnsons

May 2011

the

We’re Grandparents!

On April 11th, we were blessed by the birth of our firstgrandchild, Kaden Christopher Wakefield . Kaden isthe spitting image of his daddy, Joe -- and Bethanie is en-joying and adjusting well to her new role as "Mommy."We're extremely grateful for the special gift which made it possible for Debbie to be in the USA for few weeks during that time. Chris and Brianna look forward to seeing him "live and in person" nesummer, but in the meantime they're grateful for video technologies like Skype. Chris can't thinka better birthday gift to celebrate turning 50 and Debbie is cool with the title "Nana." Brianna is

pretty pumped about being an au

at the age of 11. Since we haveNorth Carolina roots, it seems appropriate that she wants to be cal"Aunt B."☺

Evangelistic Discovery Group

In January, our church-plant heldspecial evangelistic outreach serv

targeting spiritual "seekers." At least 13 guests attended that service, 3 of whom indicated a decisfor Christ on that day. As a follow-up, our pastor and his wife invited these guests to a bi-monthlyBible study in their home called, "The Discovery Group." In this welcoming, non-threatening envronment, we present the basic tenets of Biblical Christianity, the message of the Gospel and provideopportunity for seekers to ask their questions. We've been conducting these meetings since early Fruary and at least 8 different people have attended thevarious sessions including two middle-aged womenwho've never missed. Their questions have been veryperceptive and it's obvious that they're seeking for truth. One lady has had many intellectual objectionsto Christianity and has had a life filled with trag-edy. It now seems that those tragedies and the voidshe's felt spiritually are now turning her toward Godrather than away from Him as was true in her past.

Hungaryóth Ilona utca 4. + 2049 Diósd, HUNGARY + +36 23 370-018 + [email protected] + http://johnsonfamilyhungary.blogspo



Ladies’ Day Event

From Debbie: Excitement was in theair as the ladies began preparing theroom for our church’s annual “Ladies

Day” held every Spring. Several womenfrom the church joined us for the morning session. I had the privilege of sharing about “Mentoring ~ theFriendships of Women”. We took an in-depth look atTitus 2 and our role as women in each others’lives. Prayer partners were chosen and a renewedsense of purpose was sparked for many. Our guestsjoined us in the afternoon for our pastor’s wife’s talk on “Loneliness”, more games and laughter, folowed by a small craft while the room buzzed with conversation. The women’s ministry has diminished in interest and involvement over the past several years, so it’s been exciting to be involved anpart of the new interest that seems to be developing.

Youth Group

The spiritual and numerical growth of our youth group is an obvous highlight in the life of our church. Brianna attends the pre-teen youth group which meets twice monthly. The high schoolyouth group meets weekly on Friday nights with an average of 2kids in attendance. Our pastor, Gyuri, has 3 teenage sons himseand currently leads the meetings. Almost half of those attending

are not yet believers. Recently, a 15-year-old girl told Pastor Gyuri that she had prayed to receive

Christ as Savior and expressed a desire to be baptized. She plays on a baseball team with one of Pator Gyuri's sons and began attending the group when our church hosted an "end-of-the-season"party last year.

As a temporary solution to theincreasingly urgent space prob-lem at our church, we've con-verted our tool storage shed intoa youth meeting room. The re-model has exceeded our $5000budget and it is on stand-by untilwe can gather or raise more funding. The estimated need to complete this project is $2500.

Financial Support Needs

Thank you so much for praying with us regarding our significant financial deficits. A number of you have given special gifts in response to our December letter, for which we are humbled and gratful. As a result, we've been able to retire the $5000 medical debt and start making some headway o

Johnsons the

Hungary

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the indebtedness from our support shortfall over the last few years. Prices in Hungacontinue to rise and the value of the dollar has started dropping significantly againmeaning that our spending power has decreased by another 20% since the first of thyear. We continue to live on a "bare bones" budget and have made the difficult dec

sion to home-school Brianna next year. Even though the tuition is discounted for msionaries, we simply don't have the funding currently for a $4000 tuition bill at the Inter

national School of Budapest especially in light of the fact that we've come up $1800 short in being

able to pay this year's bill. Here's a chart showing all of our current financial needs:

To give online using a Debit or Credit Card, please go to:

www.abwe.org/give

Or you can use the enclosed form & envelope to mail a

check made out to "ABWE" to

the following address:

ABWE Finance Department P.O. Box 8585

Harrisburg, PA 17105-8585 Attn: Account # 11064

After almost 17 years of ministry in Hungary, we've never enjoyed more opportunities for minis-try. At the same time, however, we've never experienced so many challenges from so many differen

directions. Many are financially related, which we realize may also be true for many of you in viewof the new financial realities we live with. Our next regularly-scheduled furlough for ministry re-porting and support-raising begins in June of 2012. We really desire to remain in Hungary untilthat time, but we know that we cannot continue with these financial shortages much longer. If wedon't see a resolution in sight by the end of the Summer, we may have no other choice thato put our ministry on hold, pack up our household belongings and return to the USA for long-term furlough to raise the additional support we need. Thanks for praying that God wigrant us an even greater capacity to trust Him for our daily bread. Please accept our thanks in ad-vance if you have the means to encourage us with a special gift at this time.

Grateful for your Partnership & Prayers,

Johnsons the

Hungary

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johnson prayer update may 2011

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