Balázs & Leah & Joelle Stanzel in Pécs, Hungary

Our Family

The Lord continues to pour out His love on us as we daily experience His gentleness as He guides us through many changes. Ellie is doing great! She is 6 months now and is ready to be on the move! She rolls everywhere and is beginning to crawl. She takes a lot more watching now and continues to bring a tremendous amount of joy to us daily. We ask for your prayers as we are daily humbled by the responsibility God has entrusted us with in this little girl. Please pray for us to have wisdom with each new stage that comes. We had a couple of friends from Germany as well as a family of 5 staying with us this month, and were encouraged by their fellowship. We traveled to Budapest to share with the church there about what God is doing in Pécs as were very blessed by their reception and love for us. We also spent time with friends and family while there and enjoyed our time greatly.

Please pray for both Balazs’ sister and sister-in-law as they are both in the hospital with high-risk pregnancies. They are both in the second trimester and have both been trying to conceive for many years. Please pray the Lord would protect these babies and keep both girls healthy.

Church
Praise the Lord for hearing your prayers! The Lord has allowed us to get another room for toddler/baby care and we have began that ministry this past month. The mother’s have been more than blessed as they are able to hear the teachings now, some for the first time in almost 3 years!! The Lord has also stirred up many in the church to serve in this ministry as well as teachers for the older children…it is amazing to see the Lord move people in response to His desires. Also, we have been seeking a new place to have the church as we have need for a different location. The Lord has now closed the door where we are currently meeting to push us to really pursue this. Of course, as He closes one door He opens an even better one.

We are currently working out a contract to be able to use a kindergarten to have the church in. It is downtown, has the space and rooms we need and will even allow us to have our monthly fellowship potlucks there. We are very excited but please pray for the contract to be worked out as well as for the church in general as these are a lot of changes all at one time.

We are weekly amazed at how the college group continues to grow and mature. The students are hungry for the Word and for living it out in their lives. They come with questions and challenge us as they seek to know how to submit their lives wholly to being obedient to Christ. There are many conferences this summer that we are sending students to, Please pray the Lord would use these conferences to draw the students closer to Himself. Please pray for Balázs and Leah as they individually disciple these students to be full of wisdom and love. Pray for Balázs as he teaches this group and encourages the students to be men and women after God’s own heart. in these areas.

We have a couple of teenage boys who do not really have any covering in the church, they are too old for the kid’s ministry and a bit too young for the adult services. Praise God! One of the guys in the church has a desire to meet with these guys and pour in to their lives. Please pray for him to have time to meet with them and wisdom and direction for these times.

Outreach
We received another outreach team from the bible college this month and had a great time preparing for a women’s day. We had chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels (a first for these Hungarian women!), we made cards and crafts, one of the women shared and we had a great time of fellowship. The men watched the kids during this time and really, we were all very blessed by the day! As a result, we have felt led to have a women’s fellowship every 6 weeks, as many of the women are mother’s and are isolated from fellowship with other believing women. Please pray as Leah heads up this and other women’s ministry events for her to have wisdom and be sensitive to where the Lord want to take these times.

Balázs continues ministering at the prison, it is a challenge every week as he meets with these boys to communicate the Word and principles of life that they have never learned. Please pray for these boys salvation, their futures and for Balázs as he needs wisdom and love to reach these youth. Also, please pray for the church to be involved with the boys through prayer.

Other
A young couple in our church is getting married at the end of the month and has asked Balázs to play the music for the wedding. Please pray that he would have time to practice and for wisdom for writing and learning new songs. Please pray for Balázs and the elders as they deal with some issues due to the transition as well as some issues regarding the worship leader. They need guidance from the Lord with how to handle these things. Balázs will be finishing at the Catholic school next week for the summer break. Please pray for him to remain faithful until the end and to have a fresh heart for this next school year. Leah continues to have a weekly Hungarian lesson but struggles to study during the week. Please pray for her to be disciplined in this and make it a priority.

Upcoming month
We are going to be attending a mission’s/leaders conference this month and will be taking a couple leaders from our church as well. Please pray for this to be a refreshing time and a time for the Lord to encourage us with fresh hearts to be able to pour into the church when we return.