Pécs, Hungary Missions Update

Balázs & Leah & Joelle Stanzel January 2007

Our Family
This month we experienced the peaks of amazing joy as parents as well as the valleys of utter frustration as we learn how to love and care for our little girl. She continues to do well, gaining lots of weight, loving to eat, smile and roll over. She loves to hear Balázs play the mandolin and definitely prefers that to the guitar or banjo. We are learning the new balance of marriage and parenting and are enjoying seeing how God enables us to continue to put our marriage as a priority. It certainly is not as easy as before Ellie was born. Please pray for us to have wisdom with balancing our marriage and family and for guidance as parents.

The weather here has finally decided to act like winter after weeks of warmth we are seeing snow and cold. It is still fun for a California girl like Leah to see snow falling and covering everything. Please pray as we travel to Budapest in February for some rest and time with family & friends as well as having Balázs’ cancer check and Ellie’s citizenship appointment at the American embassy.

Ministry
The Lord has worked in astounding ways this month bringing together things that have been in prayer for this church for the past seven years. We stand in awe of how He works in His timing to accomplish what He wills.

The Lord opened a radical door this month as we have been praying for evangelism opportunities for both the church and the college group. We met with a gypsy man who is a fellow believer that just opened the first Christian coffee shop in the city. He was open to allowing us full use of his coffee shop for any evangelical event or really anything the Lord leads us in. We are very excited to see the ways the Lord will use this both in the church body and to reach the community. Our first event will be a concert with Balázs and three other guys from the church on the 24th of February. Please pray for the church to be a part of the evangelism through sharing during the evening and passing out fliers ahead of time to invite the community. Please pray for Balázs as he writes music for the concert and for he and the other band members as they practice. Also, please pray for our relationship with the owner and for the future opportunities here.

The college group had some great times of fellowship and growth this month as we continued through 1 Samuel. The Lord continues to be faithful with His Word as Balázs teaches and is challenging the group in their personal walks with Him. We had a fellowship dinner before one of the studies and had a great time eating and just hanging out with each other. Please pray that more students would come to the prayer meetings as we feel it is critical to spend time in prayer before taking these students out who are eager to evangelize.

Balázs was able to teach for three weeks this month as the pastor was away. He was challenged as there were many difficult topics in the passages he taught but was amazed at the Lord’s grace in making clear His message for the church. Every 3rd Thursday home group Balázs leads the group in a night of prayer and worship. This last time was very special as the Lord led His church closer to Himself. Please pray for this next Thursday as we seek the Holy Spirit as a group. Please also pray for Balázs as he continues to lead the worship twice a week as well as for him as he teaches at the Catholic school.

Please pray for him to be enabled as he teaches guitar lessons weekly. Leah was able to meet with some of the girls this month for discipleship. She is encouraged as the girls are more and more honest but challenged as she is ever aware of her not being able to help but needing the Lord to give wisdom for how to handle the various things that come up. Please pray for her to have wisdom in dealing with these women and for them to grow in Jesus and be more aware of His love and grace for them.

Also, please pray for Leah to resume studying and to be diligent in learning the language.

Chris Zurbach: Ukraine

Christine Zurbach Jan 06

Greetings and Happy New Year!!

Sorry for the delayed letter but it has been very busy as we just finished our holiday season. I want to thank you guys so much for praying for all of our Christmas and New Year’s events. God truly answered our prayers and blessed everything. As you might remember Ukrainian Christmas was just celebrated this past weekend on the 6th and 7th of January. We hosted our first “Krepost”

kids club Christmas gathering. We invited the kids to bring their parents and we were so excited them actually come. We had been practicing Christmas songs with the kids prior to the party and it was so much fun to see them get up and sing for their parents. The parents really enjoyed themselves and had a great time watching our Christmas skit, eating cookies, and doing crafts with their kids.

The Christmas skit that one of the gals, Mira, in the church wrote turned out to be quite the hit as almost half the church took part in some role. I of course continued my tradition of being a sheep and really felt like I hit it this year thanks to help from my fellow sheep, Olya. We did the play not only for the kids at “Krepost” but also for the children at the local internaught where our church visits every Sunday, and also the children’s mental hospital. It was awesome having such a large group from the church go to be with these kids and share God’s love. We were able to hand out Christmas presents to all the kids too. Our Christmas service was held also on the 7th of January and we were able to rent the youth theatre in town to meet at. We filled the hall with friends and

family that were eager to come to our Christmas celebration. It was just amazing to see God bless our church and see everyone working together to put this on. Thank you so much for praying that God would provide a place and bless us. He did!!

Along the lines of that we are continuing to move forward in renting a bigger space for Sunday gatherings. We have found a museum that is willing to rent us their large hall with 30 foot ceilings for a price we can afford. We are praying and seeking God to know if this is His will. Please pray for our church that God would lead us. Also pray as we continue to serve in the internaught and mental hospital that God would call people and equip them to serve the kids there.

Please continue to pray for our kids club that God would give us wisdom with these kids and raising up teachers. Thank you so much for your prayers . I’m excited to see what is going to happen in this coming year.

Love,

Chris

Tom Stowe Update

Tom Stowe has updated his blog!

Check it out here and keep him in your prayers!

Pécs, Hungary Missions Update

Our Family

As we were scheduling Balázs’ yearly cancer check, we were reminded of why we named our daughter Joelle. At last year’s exam, we were told by two doctors that we would be unable to have children but, as our daughters name demonstrates, “the Lord is willing.” Despite situations and circumstances, our Father moves to demonstrate His willingness to bless His children for His glory! Not only does He forgive, heal, restore, discipline, guide and strengthen us, He pours out such amazing blessings because He is willing. We enjoyed a quiet Christmas with just the three of us, eating way too many traditional Hungarian Christmas treats that people blessed us with. Balázs’ mom, step-dad, and younger brother came to visit after Christmas and we all enjoyed spending time together.

Ellie is doing well. She’s still battling a little cold, but her jaundice has cleared up. She loves to eat, and in just four weeks, she gained over three pounds and now weighs around nine. She certainly is a lot chunkier than the tiny little girl she emerged as, but she is amazingly cute with all that baby fat.

Ministry

Despite the new challenges of balancing ministry with family, the Lord continued to work despite us. After being in Pécs for just over 7 months the Lord reminded us of and clarified for us the vision He has given to us for ministry. Both of us have known that the Lord wanted to use us for a purpose, and He showed us that it is to lead people to Himself for healing and restoration. Coming together, the Lord has given us clear vision that He wants us to continue in this ministry of restoration and healing and is opening opportunities for that in the things we do here in Hungary. Clear teaching of the Word to the college group allows healing for many of these students who have experienced hurts from false teachings. Working with prisoners truly allows captives to be set free. Taking foster kids into a home and showing them Christ’s love allows healing unlike any other. Balázs’ gift of music continues to be used to bring people to Jesus, the only one who can heal and restore. It has been a great time of reflection and clarification that the Lord has given to us this past month. We look forward to how He continues to work this out in our lives.

The Lord did some unexpected things this month with respect to the foster care and prison ministries. Balázs met with the minister in charge of the prison ministries here in Pécs who was skeptical of our church but not long into their conversation said, “you guys are our brothers.” He is excited to work with us and has passed along the paperwork to the warden of the prison. Shortly after this, a man whom Balázs met at the job center called him and gave him the number of the person in charge of the prisons in this city who was excited to have our help. There may be other opportunities such as teaching English, music, etc. Balázs will be meeting with her in a couple of weeks. Please pray for our relationships with these people and for the Lord to open doors and direct us as He wants in this area.

Also this month, Balázs was contacted by a person who has a similar heart and vision for foster children in this country. He was asked to be on a board for a new foundation that is developing to help these kids in this country. We are unsure of what role this foundation will take in our foster program but are excited for the similar hearts and work of fellow saints. Please pray for this relationship and for our mutual support of one another as we work toward reaching these kids through loving families. The college group chose not to take a break despite the holidays and final exams, and we have been shocked at these students’ dedication to and hunger for the Word. Please pray that more students would come to the prayer meetings as we feel it is critical to spend time in prayer before taking these students out who are eager to evangelize.

The pastor is away for some weeks, and Balázs will be teaching the Sunday service for a couple weeks. Please pray that God would speak through Him to build up His body. He also continues to lead worship and is challenged weekly in bringing people before a holy God in worship. Please pray that the Lord would move in this church to become true worshippers of the Lord. At the Catholic school where Balázs teaches, there is conflict with the Bishop in charge and the teachers at the school. Please pray that God would work to resolve this and love for Him would reign in the hearts of all involved.

Prayer Requests

- That we would follow Jesus and obey Him at all costs individually and as a couple.

- Our marriage to continue to grow in the Lord’s love. Balancing family, ministry, and working.

-Wisdom with our little girl, filtering all of the advice we are given. Health for Ellie, God to heal her cold. The Lord’s provision for all we need. Guidance and provision for a home to raise foster children in.

-The city of Pécs to become overwhelmed with the presence of God in the lives of believers here and for people to be hungry to know the Lord. The students we are sharing the gospel with at the

universities to believe in the truth and be freed from lies.

-For our neighbors, doctors, and others we have regular contact with to see Jesus in our lives and His love for them.

- The church body to grow in their depth of love for the Lord. To love new people that are coming. For the church to increase in their commitment to the Lord and His Word. For a new place to meet. Wisdom and protection for the pastor. For Zoli to accept Jesus, for Victoria to return to church.

- For current ministries. For Balazs to be faithful in preparing for teachings and worship, for the Spirit to lead these times completely. For Leah to learn the new balance of taking care of the family and doing ministry. For continued opportunities of discipleship and language study.

- For upcoming ministries. For the paper work to be processed quickly for the prison work