Dear Family and Friends, 

Praise be to God for the Hope he gives us: a confident expectation of future blessings to be received from God.  This past month we became grand-parents for the first time.  Whitney and Clint now have a precious newborn daughter named Isabelle Eszti Teders.  There was another blessed occasion when a lady in our English club became a newborn believer in Jesus Christ.  These events remind me of that for which I hope.  I was blessed to preach on the topic of hope for the first Sunday of Advent in the Kelenfold church.  I was reminded that the word hope, in the Bible, deals with both the invisible and the future. Our labor in Hungary deals mostly with the visible and the present.  Until a few days ago our grand-daughter was invisible and expected sometime in the future, but then she came three weeks early.  The lady who trusted in Christ started coming to English clubs three years ago.  Our hope was not in a clear presentation of the saving message of Jesus Christ, she heard that many times, but rather in the power of the Holy Spirit who works invisibly in a person’s heart.  We share the gospel in words with our English club students. We hope that they will embrace the salvation that God offers, and then what we certainly expected and hoped for became visible and present: a new-born 60 year old.  In a piece-meal way we are seeing what was invisible to us and future, to be visible and present.  Someone said: “Our faith continues to see possibility when there is no present evidence of it.”

The Revells are a family that labor alongside us.  They really carried the load when we were on home-assignment this last summer and I’ve included a picture of them to remind you to pray for them.  They are hoping to raise enough financial support to continue serving in Hungary.  Please help me recruit some more partners for them.

Zoli the chef is still cooking up a storm, no matter where he is.  I got to visit him and his neighbors last week in southern Hungary at little place he bought.  Pretty crude conditions: no electricity, no water, no stove, so he laid my propane heater over on its back and cooked up a delicious meal. That experience made me more thankful for the kitchen equipment at the ministry center as it’s been put to good use by our Alpha Course team. 

We spent a great evening together and a walk around town with the young couple in the picture.  They’ve been part of our English clubs for several years and have been leading the discussion at one table during the Alpha Course this past round. We’re hoping to see more people attend the course in the future and respond to the gospel. 

Thank you for your partnership with us. 

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. “ Romans 15:13

In Hope, Brad and Kari