Summer 2010

It has been an emotional and exhausting three weeks since I last wrote. As many of you know, Paul's father, Franklin E. Weaver passed away on June 29th, after battling several health problems over the past three months. Frank was a generous and very kind man. He would do anything for his boys, and he loved the Lord dearly. He served in the army as a chaplain's assistant for 21 years, sang regularly in the church choir, and devoted himself to his family. While we are saddened that Dad will not be with us to see his future grandchildren (in the very distant future!), we are blessed to know he was a believer and is finally resting in the arms of his loving Savior.






Frank's funeral was a wonderful tribute to a loving man and to the Lord Jesus Christ. Reverened Jerry Day Sr. conducted the funeral services in which he shared the Gospel loud and clear; it was one of Frank's requests. His three sons, Paul (33), Eric (37), and Keith (35), lead the guests in a rendition of a hymn that Frank wrote called "Trusting in Him". It was truly a touching moment. Frank was laid to rest in Kokomo, IN with an honorary military 21-gun salute. I feel honored to have known Frank Weaver, and even more blessed to have married his wonderful son.





Amongst visiting Dad in the hospital and planning for his funeral, Paul and I continued to have several furloughing obligations. We have traveled far and wide to excite people about missions, and update congregations on what God is doing in Hungary (above is a picture of Paul presenting our ministry with Word of Life). We are continually encouraged as we travel to churches and meet with individuals. It is always exciting to hear that people are praying for us and are excited about God's work in Hungary. I myself have had a couple of unique opportunities to share, independently of Paul. One of these meetings involved a VBS, in which I shared with the children about missions in general and how they can be missionaries themselves. Some of the cute questions that were asked included: "What kind of animals do you have in Hungary?" "How many people have you saved" and "Are there any princesses in your castle?". My prayer is that these sweet children left that night with a greater understanding of missions and the love of Christ.




Please pray with us as we continue our summer-long furlough. We are currently in Clarks Summit, PA in the midst of a month-long road trip covering Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. We have several meetings and engagements along the way, and many miles to travel. Please pray that the Lord gives us safety, endurance, and smiling faces. Maybe we will see some of you along the way!

Start Your Engines....

Phew! What a hectic few days it has been! Last Friday, Paul and I left Word of Life New York in order to officially begin our "tour of churches" on our summer furlough. The plan was to fly from Albany, NY to Detroit, MI that morning and then fly out of Detroit to Indianapolis, IN that afternoon. Unfortunately, our flight to Indianapolis was canceled, so on Friday night, Paul and I found ourselves in a line of about 300 angry people, all trying to rebook flights. After finally securing plane tickets for Saturday morning, we headed to a hotel and ordered-in pizza. It was actually kind of a fun night! I'll tell ya' one thing - the life of a missionary is never boring!






After flying into Indy on Saturday morning, Paul and I headed straight to the hospital where Paul's father is receiving treatment. He has had some serious health problems for about two months now and is having a difficult time recovering. Please keep Frank Weaver in your prayers as you think of him. We then rushed down to Columbus, Indiana where my twin sister, Jane (the pregnant girl in the black dress), had her first baby shower. It was held at one of our supporting churches, so it was exciting to visit with old friends and see some familiar faces. I truly feel blessed that I could be with Jane on a very special day. She is my best friend, and I know she will make a wonderful mother. Saturday night was Jane's husband's birthday party at his favorite Mexican restaurant, which was also a great time of fun and fellowship.






We spent the night at my mother's house in Columbus and got up early on Sunday morning to pack up and head to our first ministry presentation of the summer at Fellowship Bible Church in Noblesville, Indiana. Paul shared about the Bible Institute and our ministry in Hungary. He was also given the opportunity to preach. I am always so proud of my dear husband when we make presentations at churches. He is a professional and passionate communicator (plus, he's pretty cute too!). Afterwards, we went out to lunch with the pastor and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Hardison. It was a nice day, and we left very encouraged from the congregation.

There are many more churches and presentations ahead. Please pray for us as we share about God's amazing work in Hungary - pray 1) that the Lord provides supporters for our ministry and for the Bible Institute Scholarship Program 2) for safety as we travel 3) for endurance during a busy summer 4) that we can be an encouragement to people we meet.

It's Summer Time!

It’s hard to believe the summer is here already! Paul and I are currently in the United States, gearing up for our first real furlough together. We have been very busy during these past few weeks, wrapping up details at the Bible Institute, organizing the graduation ceremony, conducting our final Bible Club before summer, and preparing for furlough. But, as we all know, God is good! And although we will miss our dear Hungarian home, we are excited for a wonderful summer of support raising and sharing about the ministry all across the United States. Please take a moment to read about what we have been up-to in the ministry, and our plans this summer.

Graduation at the Bible Institute

Another school year has come and gone. This year we had the privilege of having thirty-one students from nine different countries study at our Bible Institute. It was Paul’s first full year serving as the Word of Life Hungary Bible Institute Director, and what a year it has been! There were many obstacles, discoveries, and blessings along the way, but God has proven himself faithful. It was a great year for Paul. We are convinced that the greatest years for the Bible Institute lie ahead!

On May 29th the graduating class of 2010 participated in the 15th graduation ceremony of the WOL Hungary Bible Institute. The program was a wonderful reminder of God’s provision in the past and for the future. It was sad to see many of our students graduate and leave, but we know that God has great plans for each of their lives. Many students will go back to their home countries, sharing the Gospel to their own people, and winning souls for Christ. What an exciting ministry in which we are truly blessed!

Summer Furlough

Three days after graduation, we packed up our stuff and headed to the States for furlough. Our first stop was Word of Life International headquarters in Schroon Lake, New York. We are blessed to have participated in the annual Missionary in Training Conference held at headquarters each year. This week we are catching up with old friends and meeting new missionary candidates, who are excited to begin serving the Lord. MIT has been a week of encouragement in the Word and fellowship with dear friends. Paul was even blessed to have shared about God’s work in Hungary at one of the main meetings. Some of the key leaders throughout Word of Life's history were present at the meeting, such as George Theis, Paul Bubar, Don Lough, Kris Stout, Mike Calhoon, Dave Robertson, and various WOL directors from around the world. It was exciting to update these wonderful men and women of faith about God's work in Hungary, and we truly feel blessed to have been in Schroon Lake this week.

Please pray with us as we begin our long summer furlough. Presently we are scheduled to visit with sixteen churches, several Bible studies, and many one-on-one meetings this summer. Please pray that the Lord gives us energy and passion as we share about our work with Word of Life Hungary. One of our main goals for this furlough is to raise scholarship funds for our Hungarian students. There are many young people who want to study at our Bible Institute, but simply do not have the financial means to do so. Please pray that the Lord places this burden on people's hearts as we share our ministry's needs this summer.

Below is our summer furlough schedule. Please take a moment to check-it-out and see if we will be in an area near you. We would love to get together and catch-up! Also, check us out on Facebook. You can find my status under "Jill Weaver" where I will be giving frequent updates on our ministry and furlough.

Praising and Promoting'

Wow! What a whirlwind these spring months have been! Aside from our regular activities, the Lord has blessed Paul and I with many opportunities to promote the Bible Institute in youth groups and churches. A team from the BI has been on the road nearly every weekend this spring, sharing about the Bible School and encouraging young people. Recently, Paul and I shared in a former graduate's youth group in the village of Soltvadkert. We took a team of Word-of-Lifer's to excite the young people and encourage them in the Lord. Paul shared an uplifting message, one of our interns led the worship time, and another intern led a game. There were about 25 young people in attendance, and many left excited about the Lord and hopefully considering Bible School!





Soltvadkert is home to one of Hungary's most famous pastry shops, so of course, we took time on the way home to stop-in!

Just yesterday Paul and I traveled to the village of Kiskunhalas to share in an "All-English Church Service". The church has been conducting monthly English services as an outreach to their community. Their hope is that Believers and non-Believers who are interested in improving their English skills will come, and hear the Gospel.
It is awesome to see the unique ministry opportunities that the Lord places in our laps... opportunities we would never think of ourselves, but what a blessing they are! To the side you can see the impressive flyer that the church made for Paul's presentation.

Paul shared about "What Makes Christianity Unique". He compared and contrasted several world religions and clearly demonstrated why Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. Several of the people in attendance were not Believers, and many had questions for Paul afterwards. It was so exciting!

Another very recent and very exciting event in our little lives was the 20th anniversary of Word of Life Hungary. Staff, students, and many guests from all over the world came to WOL Hungary this past weekend to celebrate our history and look forward to the future. It was an all-weekend celebration filled with thanksgiving, fellowship, praise, and food! We were encouraged in the Word by Paul Bubar, Géza Bácsi, Don Lough, and Alex Konya. They shared about the beginnngs of WOL Hungary and the amazing provision of God in its development. What an amazing story! God has done incredible things through WOL Hungary in the past twenty years, and I am so excited to see what He will do in the next twenty! I am still amazed that Paul and I get to wake up everyday and serve with an awesome team of people, in a beautiful country, with an almighty God! In the picture above you can see some of the leaders who played key roles in the foundation of Word of Life Hungary. Here they are praying to re-dedicate the ministry to the Lord.

Although all of these recent events are very exciting, the most exciting event in my own life is that I am finished with school! That's right...this past Friday I completed my final test and handed in my very last research paper! I am a college graduate of Liberty University, and I AM TIRED!

Fudraising and Evangelism

Look out world! In just a few short months you will be able to purchase the one and only A Taste of Hungary: The Word of Life Hungary Bible Institute Cookbook! This very special cookbook is a fundraiser that Paul and I are using to raise money for the WOL Hungary BI Scholarship Fund. This summer, as we travel from church to church during our furlough in the States, we will promote the cookbook in hopes of raising awareness about the Scholarship Fund. The cookbook will consist of traditional Hungarian recipes and recipes from our staff here at WOL. It will also have several pages about the history of WOL Hungary and information about the Scholarship Fund. I found a publication company that was willing to help us compile the recipes and informational pages into a professional cookbook. If we receive enough donations through the 200 books this summer, we will have enough proceeds to fully support one Hungarian during their year at Bible Institute! Our real prayer is that the cookbook will be an informational tool that will excite people about supporting an individual BI student themselves. Perhaps a Sunday school class or small group will want to help just one young person monthly as they study God's Word and prepare to go into the ministry themselves. Almost every week we hear of a young person who desperately wants to come to Bible school, but simply does not have the financial means to do so. How awesome it would be to give every young person the opportunity to study God's Word at WOL, no matter what their financial position. Please pray with us that the Lord will use this cookbook fundraiser in amazing ways this summer. Perhaps it will be through you!

God is doing an awesome work through our little Bible Club on Jókai Utca Street! We have had an average of 12-15 children coming every Friday to play games, sing songs, and learn from God's Word. Recently we held an outreach pizza party through which the children could invited their friends. Thirty-five children attended the free pizza party and movie event! It was incredible! We were not expecting such a large turnout, but the Lord had other plans. The children greatly enjoyed the pizza, movie, and games, but the most exciting event of the night was the Gospel presentation. All thirty-five children heard about God's plan of salvation, and fifteen chose to accept the Lord into their hearts! How exciting! I truly think it was one of the highlights of my life! God has chosen us to be vessels for His work. He has great plans for each of these children, and I am so excited to be a part of it! Please pray for each of these little hearts as they choose to walk with the Lord daily.

Eight more weeks and I will be a college graduate! For the past year I have been a full-time student with Liberty University's online Distance Learning Program. It has been a difficult and very long year of studying, but soon it will all be worth it! I cannot wait until next year when I can begin participating in the ministry even more and helping Paul in the office.

We will be leaving for the States on furlough just a few days after the Bible Institute's graduation ceremony on May 28th. Perhaps your church is interested in hearing about the great things God is doing at Word of Life Hungary. If you would like us to share with your congregation or your small group, please let us know. We would love to encourage you through our ministry.

Following in His Footsteps

Sziasztok mindenkinek! Hello to everyone! Wow... it's shameful to see how long it's been since my last blog update! So sorry to all our faithful followers. It is safe to say that Paul and I have had many adventures since my last post; too many to share in one update, but I will do my best to fill you in!

The Bible Club has been doing very well since we started last October. We have had an average of 10-12 kids in attendence at our home every Friday afternoon. If I were to count all the different children who have come, the number would be around 20, half of which are not regular church-goers. It is always exciting to see a new little face in one of our meetings! One of our goals as leaders is to get the kids excited about studying God's Word and memorizing Scripture. It is so exciting to see the kids recite their memory verse every week and show us their quiet time/devotional journal. On the wall is a sticker chart with every child's name. Each child can earn points for the week as they learn their verses, do their quiet time, go to church, and invite friends to club. At the end of the year, there will be rewards according to the points they earn. The kids are very excited about this system, as I'm sure you can imagine! Below are some pictures from one of our clubs near Christmas time. The kids are crafting "Christmas shoes". It is Hungarian tradition where candy is left in the shoes of good little boys and girls. What fun!

Amongst other adventures, Paul and I have had the wonderful opportunity of ministering in several Hungarian churches. One of the most exciting was our trip to the largest Baptist church in Hungary, located in Debrecen. There Paul was able to preach the morning and evening service and encourage the congregation. We also got to know the senior pastor, Lajos (pictured below to the left of Paul). He is a very busy man, pastoring a large church and working full time as the librarian of the Reformed Seminary. It was good to build relations with him and be able to share our ministry with his congregation. A whole group from Word of Life came with us to promote the Bible Institute to the young people. Below are a few pictures of our trip, including the seminary and library where Lajos works.

The latest big event with Word of Life Hungary was our annual Missions Conference, held just last weekend. This year the focus was on South Korea. Did you know that other than the United States, South Korea sends out the most missionaries every year, over 1,000! Many South Koreans are leaving their home to serve the Lord everyday, but most are not adequetly trained in the Scriptures. Word of Life Korea is helping to change all that. This September, WOL Korea will open their very first Bible Institute in Asia! Construction is beginning in March, and with it comes many expenses. This year, our Missions Conference helped to raise money for one of the dormatories that will be built. During the conference we were encouraged by Chris Stout, the International Missions Director of Word of Life. He and his wife, Debbie, flew all the way from New York to share in our conference. We were challenged to dream big, and not let our insecurities and comforts keep us from serving the Lord. It was a great weekend, and much of the credit goes to my wonderful husband who coordinated the whole conference. I think he's still recovering!

As you can see, we have been busy. But God is SO SO good and we will keep pressing on to the next adventure!

Join the Club!

Just thought you may enjoy seeing a few pictures from our first Toalmasi Biblia Klub! Eight special children attended our club, including two from our own neighborhood. We had fun making paperbag puppets, playing with the handbells, watching a puppet show, and hearing from God's Word. The club will continue to be held in our home every Friday.

At 3pm on Friday, I heard a little tap, tap, tap on our door. It was this little guy, Zsolti (holding the lion puppet, below). He had read the sign in our front yard and thought the club had already started! I told him sweetly that the club would be at 4:30, and to come back then. He was very happy and ended up bringing his sister as well. What a sweetheart!

God certainly has plans for this little club. Please pray with us as He uses the Toalmasi Biblia Klub to reach the children of our village with the Gospel of Christ. Please pray that the children are excited to come to club every week, that they stay faithful, and that they will invite their friends to come as well. But most importantly, please pray that these children come to a saving knowledge of Christ and a desire to know Him better each day.