March 21, 2007

Dear Praying, Helping Friends:

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." This is what the Lord has called us to do in the Hungarian lands. The planting of congregations and the building of Christ's church is the goal, and discipling (teaching and training) is the means, but "preaching the gospel to the poor" is the first step. So in Hungary, Ukraine, and Romania we have: 1) personal evangelism 2) home Bible studies 3) hospital visitation 4) opportunities on special occasions (funerals and weddings) 5) tracts and magazines 6) book fairs (public markets where we buy space to put up book tables) 7) social groups where our members interact (photo clubs, etc.) 8) "lending libraries" of Christian books operated by some of our congregations 9) openings in public schools where students (and parents) are taught carols at Christmas time or English is taught using the Bible 10) summer camps, and spring and fall retreats 11) children's meetings 12) week-long evangelism where we concentrate on one village or area, inviting people (door-to-door) in the day, preaching at night.

Another way of doing evangelism is through the distribution of Hungarian and Romanian calendars early each year. We do this with the help of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Trinitarian Bible Society in London. Each year, for some years, they have given us thousands of beautiful calendars, each month having a lovely scene and a large, printed verse of Scripture. They have become so popular that every year we find more and more people waiting for them. This is in sharp contrast to earlier years when our visits to homes were viewed with suspicion and distrust. People are genuinely touched by this gesture; their hearts are moved toward the gospel; and there in the privacy of their home, they have a verse of Scripture speaking to them every time they look at their calendar. And not only in homes, but all sorts of other places: shops, offices, city halls, schools, universities, hospitals, homes for the elderly, sports clubs, etc. in the countries of Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine. And not only calendars; we also (again with the help of FPCS and TBS) give away hundreds of Bibles, Hungarian and Romanian, when we find someone who not only wants a calendar, but has no Bible.

Some comments from our 15 men: "The Bibles and 2007 Hungarian and Romanian Calendars were again a powerful tool in our efforts to reach sinners for Christ. Most of those who received calendars and Bibles in previous years were already waiting for the new calendar." "The people were happy for the calendars, and even non-religious people hung them on their walls." "The calendars are good tools to keep contact with people we rarely see." "Most of the calendars and Bibles were distributed in Romania, where the biggest part of our mission work is going on." "The calendars were again a big blessing for us. As the year was ending, more and more people were contacting us to see if we had them again."

In Ukraine we continue to have good contact with five ministers and eight congregations which left the Hungarian Reformed Church last summer. Our three graduates are seeing growth in their children's ministries. One of them, Istvan Gal, became the father of a baby girl January 17. Mother (Beata) and baby are doing well. In Hungary, Imre Szoke and Gyula Bagoly in Miskolc continue to teach and faithfully preach God's Word all over the country. Last week, Gyula was in Holland at an all-Europe conference of Reformed churches and gave testimony to what the Lord is doing in our midst. We are now in contact with Reformed churches in seven European countries. In Vorosbereny, where we have eight new members, our people recently had their first communion service. In Kaposvar, our little group is growing. And in Budapest our minister, Mihaly Siko, has his hands full doing all kinds of evangelism and counseling members (and others) in what is one of the larger congregations of our church.

In Romania our minister, Attila Szasz, has more and more people visiting Friday evening evangelistic services in Cluj. Four years ago, he had no members, only a few contacts, and no one at his meetings but his wife and two boys. Today he has a half dozen or more adults at the Lord's Day services and a dozen or more for Friday evening evangelism. In Marosvasarhely, it has been a year since Sandor Molnar's baby, "little Joseph", went to be with the Lord. The Lord has comforted him and Eva, and Sandor has thrown himself into this new construction. This is the building we wanted roofed by winter. We were able to do this and, then, over the winter move ahead of schedule - so that Sandor and Eva now hope to move in the end of this month. This will save us $250/month in rent. In the midst of this, two weeks ago, Sandor's older brother who was helping him on the electrical installation, suddenly died (age 49) of a heart attack. Pray for Sandor in this, that many in his family might turn to Christ. In Erdoszentgyorgy, Lehel Laszlo has seen a revival in our gypsy work in Rava and had a wonderful week of meetings in his town as well. In Szovata, Ferenc Kovacs is preparing for the Easter conference (all Romania). It's always a great opportunity to preach to many. Pray for it. In Barot, we closed our preaching point there because our worker could not handle both his pastoral responsibilities and tent-making, but this has worked out well. We have a good ministry arrangement for our few families there. In Szekelyudvarhely, Gabor Curcubet asks special prayer for his efforts to guide a bill for home schooling through the Romanian parliament in the next few weeks. Pray for Csaba Zolya in Vulkan, not only his ministry, but also for a lump on his neck which we pray is not cancerous and for a problem with his lungs.

Here is our financial picture. The Lord has been very gracious. But remember we are launching new publications; we need $10,000 to finish construction in Romania; we need $1,200 to help our men in Romania where the dollar has slipped in value; we need help in many other areas related to the work. The goal is eventual self-support, but this will take some time.

Yours in our faithful Lord Jesus,

Bob and Clara Rapp.