Thanks for praying for us! Your Asbury representatives to Hungary.

We're Home!

After nearly 28 hours of travel (which included some delays due to weather and lost luggage), we arrived at the student center in Wilmore nearly at 12:45AM. We enjoyed a late breakfast this morning and said our last round of goodbye's (everyone but Lawrence and Meredith spent the night). After all the preparation and planning, it's all over! We're already planning a get together when school resumes in the fall.

Thanks for your prayers! Souls were saved and lives were changed. To God be the glory! We'll post more pictures soon.

Yet another post...

Hey there, this is David typing. We're going around and making individual posts today, I guess. We're at the Searls house right now (I hear Katy Beth splashing someone outside). This trip to Hungary has been one of the most inspiring trips of my life, and I am so glad that I came. From learning that I am a fabulous dancer (i.e. La Tooshie La Too), to learning that I can teach fairly well (workshops and world tour), I have grown so much during this trip. I came on this trip as a missions major, and not knowing for certain whether or not that was the right major for me. Now, however, I am sure that it is the right major for me, and I am looking into what sort of missions God is calling me to. I have another trip to Germany soon, so we'll see (smiles). God has given me a real burden for the Hungarian people, and I do want to come back some day, if not for camp next year. To all of those who supported me who read this, thank you so much. Wow, this is a really personal blog. Oh well, you know...

Hey! This is Alex typing from the Searls house in lovely Erd. This is our last day in Hungary- we leave bright and early tommorow morning (yay 3:30am wake-up call!). A possible dance-partaaay may be taking place in the Chicago airport. Watch out, y'all!

Yesterday (after a massive clean-up at the school) a group of us went into Budapest, including a visit to Castle Hill (can you say GORGEOUS?!).

Las night we handed out awards (I am the winner of the Next Crocodile Dundee Award...heck yes!) and said our teary goodbye's last night at Fastal's Restaurant.

Right now we are all hanging out; swimming (with a crazy water fight) and watching oh-so classic but oh-so cheesy 90's movies have all been a part of this last fantastic day. Pizza should be arriving soon. (yay!)

We cherish your prayers for safe traveling....see you soon!

Camp is over!

Camper Laura signs Shane's souvinir shoe

Here is a good number of staff and campers (not including the adults who came after work) -- as usual, we couldn't get quite everyone in the gym for the photo, but this gives you an idea

Lawrence and a couple of his new friends

Seby, Jeff, Max, and Matt

Alex and Jeff enjoy "Friday" bread in the staff room (we called it Friday bread because this amazing sweet bread could only be bought from a traveling vendor who set up a trailer in the center of Diosd on Fridays).

Thank you for praying for us and for the campers this week! 5 teens accepted Christ, as did a number of kids! This is HUGE here! Praise the Lord! Pray for our missionary hosts as they will follow up with these kids and try to get them plugged into ministries here. Tonight we had a staff celebration dinner to share testimonies with each other and hear how God worked in our individual lives this week through camp. It was a special time to reflect on answered prayer and be challenged to commit to pray for those individual campers whom God had laid on our hearts these past several days. Thank you for the part you played whether through your prayers and/or your financial support of one of our team members. May you share in the joy of this week's success.

Tomorrow we attend church, debrief, and pack! Our ride to the airport leaves bright and early Monday morning (like 4 AM)!

Thursday Recap/Spirit Day

Last night's listening exercise was Lee Ann Womack's "Stubborn"

Lizzy and friends

Fun at Alex's last tie-dying workshop

Pillow cases pre-dye

Friday morning aerobics

If you're happy and you know it, shout "Hooray!"

Father Abraham Had Many [Crazy] Sons

I don't know what song this was...

morning snack

It's spirit day Friday -- our camp directors, Katy Beth & Dan showing their team spirit for the Black Pirates and Team Orange Juice

I think she's a pirate

Think he might be a crocodile?

Yesterday we laid our message out and asked our campers the question, "If Jesus came up to you right now and asked you to follow him, what would you do?" Some of the staff had meaningful one-on-one conversations, but no one said they were quite yet ready. Some are so close! Please pray! Today is our last day with them!

Photos from July 4

Many of these kids are holding and reading Bibles for the first time!

This week the children are studying Moses (left)

Katy Beth shares the morning less (the 10 Commandments, and the Golden Calf)

Rec time went MUCH better today, in spite of having to come up with comletely new games for the day when rain and cold prevented us from doing the water games originally planned.

The three-legged race was fun to watch

Read Duane's blog (see link in right-hand margin) for photos from the Game of Life's silly activity. Some of the campers seem to really be responding to the issues we're discussing each day -- pray that we will have opportunities to go deeper with them before camp concludes.

Hump Day

Aaron second-guesses his willingness to serve as Nathan's assistant during his magic tricks workshop. Here they're preparing to demonstrate the finger chop guillotine.
You can see the suspense!

Meredith sweetly watches Ellie in the teacher's room

Glove check! (Tie-Dying)

The cucumber sculpting contest

David shares his testimony during the "Stop" moment in the Game of Life. Today's issues surrounded friends and relationship decisions.

One of the cars landed on a silly square which meant that all of the cars (teams) had to complete a silly task. In this case, they had to make a recognizeable landmark involving all members of the car/team. Above, Alex's car makes the pyramids.

Can you tell what Aidan's group is mimicking? (hint: think 'presidential' and 'S. Dakota')

The crocs show their team pride during rec time.

Making friends during free time over Uno.

Yes, this is "hump day" for our 7 day camp. During debrief tonight, the team expressed that they feel like they're starting to connect with our campers in meaningful ways. Conversation groups are going well, and we're hearing that everyone is having a good time. There is so much to say, but as usual, it's late and we're wiped out and have another day beginning in just a few hours. We're glad to say that God is answering prayer. Thank you for your continued interest and concern!

Meredith's Workshop

Monday's here and gone

Here's a random assortment of photos from the last couple of days of camp. We're still working out the kinks of dealing with a new facility, double the number of campers as last year (and probably 4 times the number of children under age 10), and a different schedule. The Game of Life seems to be going much more smoothly as the youth are understanding the way the game works, and then today we added listening exercises. We hope to post some video to give you another slice of our lives here! We're still getting to know everyone and the content of our sessions will soon be getting deeper. Thanks for your prayers!

Ricky and Aidan with Balint (translator) and his cute little sister

David, at supper with some of the youth

Jodi and Beth distribute dessert at supper tonight

Shane and a camper friend

Meredith gave cooking lessons in her workshop this morning! It smelled so yummy!

A team landed on a "silly" square which meant every other team had to send a rep to participate in a silly competition. Yesterday it was a TP fashion show, today it was a bubble gum blowing contest.

Yesterday's game time involved a race between teams to find one's own shoe out of a pile of about 150 shoes!

Alex supervises her tie-dying workshop

Sewing a Union Jack from scratch deserved a blog photo posting (from yesterday's world tour)

The school has a great gym for game time!

World Tour Day

Ricky and Aidan led a tour of the emerald isle

Lawrence took his guests to France, including the culinary experience of Nutella

David served green tea and taught his guests how to count to "10" in Japanese

Jeff shared about his home state of North Carolina

Alex took her guests on a site-by-site tour of London