Christmas Newsletter
Merry Christmas to you!
I hope you had a great year. The older I get the more I see how life is full of ups and downs, tears and happiness. In all of this we can have an anchor in Jesus. In this I am so thankful.
Wow what a year for us! To catch you all up to speed, last year at this time we were thinking that this would be our last Christmas in the States. It was during Christmas break that Norbi wrote down the vision of what Hungary would look like for us.
A little later we were asking God for confirmation that this was what we were to do. It came for me in my spirit that this was the way walk in it. Selah was the most against it and God audibly spoke to her in church that we would go and that He would be with us even in hard times. Izaac dreamt he was talking in Hungarian.
After this we knew we had to walk forward. We started getting rid of our belongings and getting our house ready to sell. I cannot tell you that this was all easy to do. There was a lot of emotions and a lot of up and down’s in this process. We were one minute excited the next moment scared. I had many nights waking up thinking what are we doing! I can say this though, God offered us encouragement (often through people) when we needed it! I can see how He had His hand there leading us and helping.
In June our house was sold and in July we were commissioned as missionaries and arrived in Hungary.
We had great fun seeing family and friends we hadn’t seen for years. The kids trying all the treats. At the same time trying to find our feet here. We had a lot of learning to do. Everything was different for us even simple things like driving, laundry and cooking.
By Sept. we had the English Club up and running. We have about 30 student ranging from 1-7 grade. This is such an amazing opportunity to get to know people. We have it set up at the public school here in Sopron. This also allows us to bring in some income about $200-300 after expenses. This was part of the vision that Norbi had written down last Dec. We did not even know if it was possible to do. Last week we had a Christmas party for these kids and their family and we were able to tell them about Jesus the greatest gift ever!
In Oct. Norbi began teaching in churches. Which was the other part of the vision. I have to share this story because it was so precious my heart almost melted. Last month we were at a church a couple of hours from here. Norbi preached and we invited those forward that wanted prayer. So this little boy came forward, he was probably 9 or so. He told us that he wanted to follow God. So we prayed for him and I saw a path that God had prepared for him and felt a little stupid telling him such a simple thing. He returned to his seat and our kids saw him sitting by his Mom just sobbing. Last Sunday we saw his Dad and he said,” What! You didn’t hear what happened to him?” We said,” no, what happened?” He went on to say that his son had a vision of a dusty road and Jesus was at the end saying follow me. Selah also saw this same dusty path in a vision while praying for him. He immediately wanted to get rid of his football cards and that he was different for days carrying this vision in his heart.
Also, in Oct. we bought a house here in Hungary. It is a fixer upper and needs some work done on it before we move in. We hope by spring we will move there. We are very thankful for Norbi’s step-Dad who has been helping on this but it doesn’t stop me from praying for angels to help speed up the progress.
We have a lot going on here in Hungary and we covet your prayers. We are so excited when we look ahead and see what God has planned in the coming year and all that He has done this year!
We close this year being thankful for this wild crazy year. A year that God has held us close. He has wiped our tears, nudged us to do things we never would have done. He has made a path for us.
It would be nice to hear from you and what is going on in your life! Please keep in touch with us.
The Bán Family