Speak Out Hungary (Part 2)

Our first couple of camper weeks have been awesome!  God is really doing a lot here.  Last I heard, between our 146 or so Speak Out staff that are here, Slovakia, Albania, Transylvania, and all over Eastern Europe, over 2,000 people have been initiated with about spiritual topics, about 1,100 led to Gospel presentations, and 77 decisions were made for Christ!  Praise God!!!  For this blog, I want to share some details to what I’ve been doing here during the camper weeks.  Like I said, many Hungarians are going around the country and the local beaches doing random evangelism with people, but as a non-Hungarian speaker, I have been focused on the English camp portion of the project.  

First off, at Speak Out, everything has tons of energy!  Even in the beginning, we throw a huge welcoming party as the campers are arriving.  We have music and dancing outside the dorm and a welcoming committee with loud music, dancing, water guns, and various sports balls and frisbees!  From the start we are getting them excited to be here and excited about the rest of the week!  Here is a video and a few pictures from our welcoming day.  

They do an awesome job of lessening the boredom of registration!  Also, each time a new camper arrives, they form a cheer tunnel for a grand welcome!  

Some Speak Out artwork on Welcome Day

Here is the inside welcoming group.  They help guide campers where to go and start their paperwork.

This is the registration room

I helped with the t-shirt table, but even there we had cheers and excitement.  

Here at Speak Out, I am a discipleship group leader.  I co-lead a group with Brad Daubenspeck from Philly.  We have 4 high school age guys in our group that we are mentoring while here.   Each week on Tuesday we have a Bible study to challenge them in their walk with Christ and we guide them throughout the time we are here.  The guys in our group are working with the not-yet-Christian Hungarian students as English tutors.  They have been trained in how to share the Gospel through different tools, their testimonies, and apologetics.  Our guys have a tutor group each week with 3-4 Hungarian campers and they spend from 2pm-5:30pm with them each day.  During tutor time each day they have time to play games, sports, or go to the walking street or beach, but also each day has a topic to be discussed.  The first day our students share their personal testimonies and how they came to know Christ.  Second day, they share the Gospel using a picture diagram.  Third day, is just a sports competition day, so no tutor time.  Fourth day they go through Bill Bright’s “Four Spiritual Laws” booklet which is the Gospel in a short little booklet.  They have the booklet in Hungarian and we compare the English and Hungarian.  There is an invitation to accept Christ at the end of the booklet.  The last day of camp is decision day.  Our tutors divide their students into 1hr times and talk to them individually about the week.  They then ask their campers if they want to make a decision to recieve Christ or ask what’s holding them back.  

This is Jake (with the hat) from Philly, leading his group through a spiritual conversation tool called Soularium.  They chose pictures that describe their lives and views on God.  The two adults with him are his disciple group leaders.  For more info on Soularium, see my older blog post: College Evangelism with Soularium

This is an awesome diagram that we use here to explain the Gospel quickly and effectively.  For more info on the diagram and how to draw and explain it go to:  http://speakoutstaff.wordpress.com/the-diagram/

Jake playing basketball with his tutor group

Scott (green shirt) from Philly and Nate (back right corner) with their groups at the beach waiting on a couple of their guys to return from the water

Several tutor groups playing water football in Lake Balaton.  

Scott's (red shirt) group doing Soularium right before going through the "Four Spiritual Laws" booklet.  Maty (far right) made a decision to receive Christ the following day!

Brad and I are in and out of these groups, interacting, observing, and guiding our guys as they lead their groups.  We then have a one on one time with each of our guys and challenge them and help them to grow in their relationship with Christ and in their own personal ministry.   I primarily work with two of the guys, Nate and Scott, and Brad takes the other two.  It has been awesome watching them grow this summer from timidness to boldness and see their delight as they are making a difference in the campers lives.  The first week, I got to help Scott lead one of his guys to Christ, then the second week he lead two guys to Christ while I was with Nate’s group.  Also, all three of Nate’s guys prayed to receive Christ the first week!  It has just been exciting seeing God work here!  Each week the campers hear the Gospel several times in both English and Hungarian, and many here are open and ready to make a decision.  It has just been amazing to see all God is doing here!  I still have so much to share, but this blog is getting long.  I'll try to post again soon about some fun activity nights we do here and some other cool stories from the project.  

Speak Out Hungary (Part 1)

So far our trip to Hungary is going great!  I apologize for not posting a blog sooner, but we have been sooo busy!  It has been an amazing blessing to see what God is doing here.  I have way to much to say to fit it all in this blog, so for now I'm just going to focus on our first week here.  I'll try to post another blog soon about our first camper week.  

The trip over was very tiring as we spent about 22hrs traveling between plane travel, airport layovers, and a 3hr bus ride.  When we finally made it to Keszthley, Hungary we were exhausted!  We then spent the next few days recovering from jet lag as we are 6hrs ahead of Eastern time in America here.  It was really tough, but they kept us really busy, so we eventually got so tired that our bodies had to adjust to it.  Originally, I thought I was coming to a conversational English camp... but I quickly realized that was only the tip of the iceberg!  Our project “Speak Out Hungary” is like a mission control center for all sorts of outreaches in Eastern Europe.  Speak Out is an English camp where campers come to speak conversational English and learn about God.  However it doesn’t stop there...  throughout the years many Hungarians have come to know Christ though this project.  Many of those are now back as staff.  We Americans teach English to non Christian Hungarians students... however, the Christian Hungarian staff members are sent out to do evangelism in the surrounding areas.  

Our first week in Hungary was training week where we practiced evangelism tools, teaching techniques, and really just got our hearts and minds prepared to do ministry.  After that, we had groups sent out to Slovakia, Albania, Transylvania, Macedonia, and also many cities around Lake Balaton which is one of the largest lakes in Europe.  Many are still here with us working with the campers and going out to the beaches here in Keszthley too!   It has been awesome to work along side them worshiping God, learning about Hungarian culture, and reaching out to both campers and the surrounding areas!   I had no idea how well structured Speak Out is!  Our American high school and college students teach English by sharing the Gospel in several different ways encouraging conversation on spiritual topics.  Hungarian high school and college students help us and go out to the beaches to share their faith.  Then Brad, Katie, me, and other Cru staff both American and Hungarian lead and guide them through discipleship and Bible study groups so that they are challenged to grow in their own walks with Christ as well as lead others to Him.    

Overall, I have learned how ignorant I was that not everywhere is like America... I mean everything is different here!  Electrical outlets, toilets, food, language, currency, etc... sooo different than I am used to!  I am slowly learning important Hungarian phrases like “Where’s the bathroom?” or “yes, no, and thank you” but overall I am still totally lost... I cant read simple signs, menus, and even food labels or ask simple questions since most people have very limited English outside of the project.  Needless to say, I have gotten very good at hand gestures and pointing at the foods I want!  Another thing is, of the people who do speak English, it’s still not like Americans.  I have to say things very slowly and clearly... I have learned to not use big words if I can avoid it and try to say most things with 4 or 5 letter words.  It has been a challenge, but a blessing!  I have a lot of cool stories from our first camper week too, but that will have to wait a few days because this post is already long enough.  For now, here are a few pictures, and I hope to write again soon!   

Can you guess this song even in Hungarian?  So cool to worship God in two languages at once!  

The first full day we were here, we were all tired from the trip, so we kept the meetings short and just spent time getting to know each other, the area, and the town.  This is a huge palace here in Keszthley.  

The back of the palace

A beautiful church here on one of the main walking streets near us.  

After the palace and exploring the town, we went on a boat ride on Lake Balaton.  

Here is the boat we were on.  

I'll have more pictures up soon from the first camper week!