Dear Praying, Helping Friends:
George
Mall
(treasurer, WBWM) and I just returned from a 10-day trip to
Hungary
and
Romania
. It far exceeded our expectations.
I felt it would be very good for George to see the work first-hand and
have the board's knowledge and appreciation of it strengthened.
George said at the end, "The half was not told me."
I also wanted to see our men and their wives and children to encourage
them in their work, and this certainly happened.
I did not foresee this as helping our 22 congregations directly, but in
Hungary
we ministered to four of them. As
for the effect on myself, I can truly say the trip gave me such a lift that I
hope I do not soon come down from it! Finally,
in a way I did not expect, the trip gave me a bird's-eye view of the work and
showed me where we need to concentrate our efforts the rest of this year and
next year in expanding our work. There
are new areas where we need to preach the gospel and, to do this, we will need
to buy land in one or two places in the near future.
Of all the
epistles written by Paul, none speaks more of his affection for his children in
the faith than his epistle to the Thessalonians.
He said, "When we were with you, we dealt with each of you as a
father with his own children." And
after he had to leave them, "We wanted to see you time and again, but Satan
stopped us. For what is our hope,
our joy, or crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when
He comes? Is it not you?
Indeed, you are our glory and joy."
And when he did not hear from them for a time because of communication
problems, he spoke of his fear that "somehow the tempter might tempt you
and our efforts be useless." But
when Timothy returned with word they were standing firmly in the faith, he was
beside himself with joy, saying, "For now we really live, since you are
standing firmly in the Lord. How can
we thank God enough for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because
of you?" (I Th. 2, 3)
No earthly father ever had greater love for his children.
And, so, in
this way, our trip unfolded. George
and I left the
USA
Thursday, September 27 out of JFK in NYC, taking a direct flight to
Budapest
,
Hungary
where Rev. Imre Szoke and Rev. Gyula Bagoly met us at the airport (the next
morning). We had seen Imre earlier
this year in the States, but for everyone else, it was the first time in four
and a half years. From the airport,
we drove into the city where we had lunch with Misi Siko and his wife, Zita.
Misi is pastoring a dynamic and growing congregation there and is full of
love for his people as well as possessing a deep knowledge of Scripture.
We then headed for our mission center in
Miskolc
where Imre and Gyula are working and had a great time seeing all three of our
men from
Ukraine
(Berci, Istvan, and Geza) and their wives and children.
They had come from there since it is so much easier for them to come to
Hungary
than for Americans to go into
Ukraine
. We had a blessed time with them
and learned that Geza's wife is expecting and (since coming home) that Istvan's
wife is also expecting. Our
grandchildren keep coming!
Saturday we
had a cookout in the courtyard of our property in
Miskolc
. It was a blessing to meet new and
old members of the congregation and several distance learning students.
The next day (Lord's Day) I preached from Acts 20 where Paul spoke to the
elders of the
church
of
Ephesus
. The Lord greatly blessed.
The congregation was moved, and one lady, a longtime worker of political
campaigns with many worldly honors, was convicted by Paul's words,
"However…my life is worth nothing if only I may finish the race and
complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me---the task of testifying to the
gospel of God's grace." She
went home and went through her album of worldly honors and tore them to pieces.
It was her way of getting rid of her false gods and dedicating her life
henceforth to Christ and His honor and glory alone.
After lunch, George and I were then taken into
Romania
where we saw Alpar, another distance learning student.
We have no congregation in Szatmar, but Alpar is a future leader.
After that, we went on to Kolozsvar where we rejoiced to see Rev. Attila
Szasz and Zelma and their two boys. After
a good night's sleep we went on to see Sandor Molnar and Eva in Marosvasarhely,
Lehel Laszlo and Judit and children in Erdoszentgyorgy, Ferenc Kovacs and Sara
and children in Szovata, then on to the conference center just outside Szovata
where all our other men in Romania were waiting with their wives and children.
What a time that was! The
next morning (Tuesday) I preached and gave my testimony.
George then gave his testimony how he came to faith in Christ in
Pakistan
, how he came to the States in 1986 as a 22-year old man, and all the ways the
Lord has led him since. Then, after
a time of free discussion, I started meeting with the men and their families.
We have nine men in Romania, seven married and one soon to be married (Csaba).
So we tried to have an hour with each family unit.
This was a rich and blessed time for all.
That night the children (all 18) gave us an unexpected performance of
singing and drama, all in English. This
was, perhaps, the most touching of all our experiences while there, seeing the
children of our sons and daughters sing and talk of their faith in Christ.
The next day we had more of the Word and testimonies.
I also discussed with our men the Satanic attacks on our church this past
year. We understand that the Lord is
permitting "these trials" because we were "destined for
them" (I Th. 3:3,4) as part of our testimony to His power and grace in our
lives. After seeing all the other
family units, George and I left late in the afternoon for Marosvasarhely where,
very early the next morning (Thursday), we left on WizzAir for
Budapest
, again to be met by Imre and Gyula back in
Hungary
.
George
and I then went on to visit our newest congregation in
Hungary
in the area of
Lake Balaton
. Actually six members from Kaposvar
came and joined our Balaton members so we had a total of 22 people on hand.
These are two house churches, still without resident pastors, but growing
and representing a region (southern
Hungary
) where we must send a qualified man soon. Our
time with these two congre-gations was like a dream.
Until then, I knew of them only through the reports of our men, and they
knew of us only this way; this was a sacred time never to be forgotten.
In the late afternoon, we drove back to
Budapest
and met with 18 of our people there, our largest single congregation.
It was striking that this was a special meeting, called at the last
minute, and we still had this attendance. It
was another moving experience for us. Most
of the folks in our
Hungary
congregations are in the 22-38 age range; many are university graduates, some
with doctor's degrees; most are recent converts; all are growing wonderfully in
the grace of the gospel and full of zeal for the things of Christ.
The next morning (Friday) George and I took off on our flight to NYC.
We were 30 minutes into our flight and thinking all the excitement was
over when, suddenly, we heard terrific noises toward the front of the plane.
Our right engine was ruined, and we were left with only our left engine.
We turned around, headed back to BP and made a wobbly but safe landing on
an emergency strip where fire engines and ambulances were racing alongside in
the event of a fire. We could easily
have been in Hungary another day, but Malev Air "happened" to have
another plane on hand so that, four hours after our first take-off, we were
again on our way to NYC. In view of
the great work God is doing through our mission in that area of Satanic darkness
(Eastern Europe), I could not help but relate this event to Daniel 10 where
Daniel prayed, but it took 21 days while the Son of Man battled the "prince
of Persia" until Michael came to help and the Son of Man could come to
Daniel to tell him his prayer had been heard from the day he started praying.
THANK YOU, ONE AND ALL, FOR YOUR PRAYERS FOR US.
GOD HEARD YOU.
One of our
men said: "Thank you again for your coming.
All our children talked about it. It
also gave me a great opportunity to tell our children how we first met you in
1993, how this changed our lives, and how grateful they should be for the good
theology they are now learning daily in their home schooling.
It was also a great opportunity to tell our members about your great work
and the grace of learning truly Reformed theology and having a truly Reformed
Presbyterian church." Now,
quickly, a word on finances. The
Lord is meeting all our needs. At
the same time, it is a battle where we need to keep praying to Him and sharing
with you what we need, not only to keep going, but expand the work.
We need---in addition to regular support for our 15 men in Hungary,
Ukraine, and Romania---funds for the following in the next two months: (1)
$1,800 as a Christmas bonus for all our men, seeing their basic salary is very
modest (2) $1,400 to offset the fall of the dollar, especially in Romania where
it has weakened greatly (3) $15,400 (by Nov. 30) to finish the main part of our
new construction in Vulkan, Romania and (4) $18,000 for land for a new region in
Romania where we want to preach the gospel.
This is a lot of money, so pray about your part, small or large, in
helping us meet these needs.
Yours in His faithfulness,
Bob & Clara Rapp
