MISSIONS CONFERENCE REPORT

          Our annual Bible School missions conference was held January 22-24. The country in the spotlight was South Korea. Churches in South Korea send out a thousand missionaries a year`mainly to countries that Western missionaries cannot penetrate. This is roughly equal to the number of American missionaries that return from the field per year. These young people going out as missionaries desperately need good Bible training, and Word of Life will be opening a Bible Institute in South Korea in Fall 2010. Our Bible School in Hungary established a goal of giving Word of Life Korea a faith promise gift of $8400, in order to help build the Word of Life Korea Bible Institute facilities.

            The past year has been very difficult for many staff and students financially, due to the world recession and its implications. Yet in spite of this, God really did a work in our hearts. By His grace we surpassed our goal, with a faith promise of $11,300.  This is about 127% of the original goal!  God really used the messages preached by our guest speaker Kris Stout. Kris is the International Ministries Director for Word of Life International. In the concluding dedication service, about two-thirds of our student body went forward to make decisions. The majority of these decisions were first-time commitments to be open to missions as the Lord leads. Among them were also students committing themselves to missions in Hungary and Korea. What an incredible conference! Please pray for these students, that they will follow through on these decisions and obey the leading of the Lord in their lives.

 

CASTLE ROOF RENOVATION COMPLETED

            In November 2009 we celebrated the completion of the roof and heat system renovation of the Castle. The builders rightfully observed that the roof was originally designed to be the ]crownˆ of this stately building`and it truly is!

            In addition to its stunning features, the redesigned roof and third floor have another practical purpose. This now gives us the possibility of moving virtually the entire Bible school program into the Castle when the future Castle interior renovation can be completed on the third floor. The architect redesigned and repositioned the beam structure, providing room for the school library, offices, a fellowship hall, a smaller classroom and a 110-seat main lecture auditorium.   God will give us an entire Bible School ministry center`literally right under our roof. And the renovated heat system operates on only 20% of the water needed for the old system, and with water that is 20 degrees Celsius cooler. What does this mean? Additional savings that can be invested in doing what God has called us to do`evangelize and disciple the youth of Hungary and Central Europe. Praise the Lord with us for what He has done!

 

LET THE CHILDREN HEAR!

            Christmas is the most important religious holiday here, and this gave our children\s ministry team the opportunity to share the meaning of Christmas with kids in schools and churches in Hungary and Serbia. Last year several thousand children heard the Gospel message through our children\s ministry, as our team did more than fifty programs in locations outside our campus, using puppets, games and sketchboards. What a great blessing to see the openness and simple faith of these kids, who want to know Christ and walk with him! Pray for many who made decisions at these programs or and trying to understand the Gospel message better.  And pray for our team as they have exciting opportunities before them in 2010.

 

A BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE

         As we look back over 2009, it seems that God has been building bridges at Word of Life Hungary`bridges to a new generation of leadership, bridges to new open doors of ministry, and bridges to greater financial stability in an uncertain world economy.  It is God who raises up leaders and gifts them to lead, and we thank God for several successful leadership transitions we experienced this past year. In the Bible School, Paul and Jill Weaver have a great team working with them under their leadership. Gbor Csiks now leads our outreach/local church ministries team, and we have unprecedented opportunities to take the Gospel to people who would never hear it otherwise. A recent example: we now have two Born Again to a Living Hope drama teams going out to help accommodate all the invitations we are getting to take this program into mainly public schools, prisons and local culture houses. Nancy Hocking has a great team in the IT/audio visual department, with several new faces. God has built a bridge to the next generation of leaders at Word of Life Hungary, and they are doing a dynamic job!

 

Pam\s Perspective . . .

          Al and I are feeling our age!  When the Katonas retired 2008, we moved into the "oldest staff" position. The only exception to this is Nancy Hocking, a staff member who took an early retirement from a secular job to serve with us.  And we are surrounded by babies!  Many of our young staff have gotten married, and now we are experiencing a baby boom. With a missionary staff of fourteen couples and eleven singles, we have sixteen kids, ten of them being under five years old!  And if we add our thirteen people who work in operations, there are thirteen more children. This is a big change from ten or even five years ago. But it takes energy, enthusiasm, and creativity to reach young people today, so we are thankful for our young staff.

            Speaking of babies, here is an update concerning our granddaughter Izabella (Izzy). You may remember that Izzy was born premature, with two genetic abnormalities.  Izzy is still fed with a feeding tube and is weak in her upper body strength. But she is developing well with weekly physical therapy sessions, and she is a happy, sweet-tempered baby. Nobody yet knows completely what Izzy will be capable of, but we have seen God sustain our son Phil and his wife, Erika, as they have gone through deep waters due to these challenges.  They continue to face difficulties and uncertainty, so please continue to pray for them.  And if you want to follow Izzy's progress, you can read their blog. It is ourhummingbird.blogspot.com/ Thank you so much for your prayers, love and support!

 

PRAISE THE LORD FOR:

•    Successful completion of Castle Roof and heating system renovation
•    Many children hearing the Gospel in Christmas programs in Hungary and Serbia.
•    A great Bible School missions conference with many decisions and a great faith promise commitment
•    Several big bills paid off at WOL Hungary 

 

PRAY WITH US FOR:

•    Our son Phil, his wife Erika and their daughter Izabella, as they face the challenges of the future.
•    Upcoming winter camps in Poland and Hungary in February. Pray that many young people would make decisions for Christ.
•    Many to come to Christ in weekly outreach.
•    The WOL Hungary finances. We still have several large bills to pay
•    Our personal support. We still lack about $675 per month in support.

 

WE WILL BE IN THE USA MARCH 12-APRIL 19, MINISTERING IN THE FOLLOWING CHURCHES:

March 21` (AM) First Baptist Church, Bristol IN

(PM) Good News Baptist Church, Churubusco, IN

March 24` Huntsburg Baptist Church, Huntsburg OH

March 28` (AM) Christ E. Free Church, Saegertown, PA (PM) Donation Hill Community Church, Cochranton PA

April 11` (AM) Mogadore Baptist Church, Mogadore OH, (PM) Maranatha Baptist Church, Columbus OH

April 14` First Baptist Church, Russiaville OH

April 18-- (AM) Wawasee Hts. Baptist Church, Syracuse IN, (PM) Hillcrest Baptist Church, Rochester, IN

 

 

DID YOU KNOW??

--That Hungary and Europe in general have had one of the hardest winters in years, with currently about fifteen inches of snow on the ground in Hungary . . .

`That a 1956 Olympic water polo match between Hungary and the USSR had to be stopped after it degenerated into an underwater brawl . . .

`That although Houdini claimed to have been born on April 6, 1874 in Appleton, Wisconsin, he actually was born on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary . . .

`That Theodore Herzl, founder of the Jewish Zionist movement, was born in a house in Budapest that stood on the site where later in WW II the Jewish Ghetto was built

`That there is no specific word for ]integrityˆ in the Hungarian language . . .

 

ALEX AND PAM KONYA . . . SERVING WITH WORD OF LIFE HUNGARY   

AMERICAN ADDRESS: Word of Life International, Box 600, Schroon Lake, NY 12870 (phone: 518-494-6000)

HUNGARIAN ADDRESS: 2252 Talms, Petvfi u. 44, Hungary (phone: 011-36-29-426-361)

EMAIL: akonya@eletszava.org or pkonya@eletszava.org  FAX 011-36-29-426-341

WORD OF LIFE HUNGARY WEB SITE: www.eletszava.org