As the end of 2011 slowly approaches, we would like to share with you a short summary of events and tasks that characterized these last few months.
Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe
We praise the Lord for continuing to bring more and more students to Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe, students that are not only desiring to grow in knowing the Scriptures, but are also open to the Lord shaping their hearts. It is a priceless experience to see lives being transformed, sins left at the foot of the cross and priorities rearranged in so many lives.
This summer we had the most students yet take part in our summer discipleship program (A Vision for Life). The Fall semester was characterized by true cultural diversity as we had students from seventeen different countries – thanks to the fact that Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe now offers an accredited degree in theology, we were able to secure visas for students from Pakistan, India, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, and even China. All of the students were part of one of the two dozen outreaches organized, mostly to Hungary, but also to Finland, Romania, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Austria.
This year Árpi was teaching a course on the book of Genesis (with Andi translating into English) and a course on Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans in Hungarian (there were about two dozen Hungarian full-time students and almost one hundred Hungarian correspondence students enrolled at the college this last semester). Besides raising children, Andi was mostly involved with translation. A book by Warren Wiersbe was published in Hungarian this year, as well as a handbook for studying the Bible. She was interpreting the course on the book of Genesis and a class on Inductive Bible Study.
Calvary Chapel Hungary
This year marked the twentieth year of Calvary Chapel in Hungary. This was celebrated early this Fall by thousands of believers gathering at an open-air theater for a birthday party and a picnic at the nearby park.
This celebration was somewhat overshadowed by the current legislative situation in Hungary. The ruling Christian Democratic Party in unison with other parties passed a legislation that gives preferential treatment and advantage to some churches (Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, Reformed [Calvinist] Church and a few others). When not teaching, Árpi was mostly occupied by discussions and meetings on the topic, or writing proposals and requests. We are looking forward to this period coming to an end (hopefully) soon and Calvary Chapel being recognized as a Christian church.
In mid-November, Andi helped organize and lead the Hungarian CC pastors’ wives retreat. It was an amazing, deep time of much needed fellowship and prayer that everyone was extremely blessed by.
Personal Life
After a turbulent and busy Summer (39 different conferences were hosted this year) we were looking forward to a relaxing Fall, but God had something else in store for us. Our daughter Zoé had to be rushed to the emergency room a day after the semester started, as she had dark blue bruises appear all over her body. She was quickly diagnosed with Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), an autoimmune disease of unknown origin that results in a low platelet count in the blood, which is then not coagulating.
Much of September and part of October was spent in hospitals and with visits to specialists. The good news is that she is healthy now and there is only a small chance that she will relapse. Needless to say, this was a very difficult period for us, but we have seen the Lord come through in surprising and unexpected ways. All the glory is His!
Future Plans
During the first few weeks of January we will spend some time in Croatia, where Árpi is going to teach a few times, while a local pastor is away on furlough. Shortly after that the annual Calvary Chapel Ladies’ Conference will be held in Vajta (co-lead by Andi). During the upcoming Spring semester we are hoping to lead an outreach team of students to Sarajevo, Bosnia.
Finally, we would like to thank you for your support in prayer and otherwise. Please continue to pray for our hearts and the hearts of the students to stay soft and to keep falling in love with Jesus more and more. Please pray for the outreaches planned and the Word of God anointed with power when taught. May the Lord bless you richly in this coming new year.
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If you would like to financially support our ministry, you may send a check to:
Cornerstone Ministries
P.O. Box 2506
Napa, CA 94558
(make checks payable to Cornerstone Ministries and indicate our name separately)
or contact Jan Wagner at cstoneoffice at yahoo dot com regarding other support options.
