Friends and Family,
Thank you so much for your continued prayers. This has been another excellent day. It’s been a joy to watch the faithfulness of our teammates in sharing the love and truth of Christ in word and deed in each circumstance – in large groups, in small groups, in one-on-one conversations; during the intentionality of a message-based discussion, during the informality of the lunch table. Simply put, the Gospel is being lovingly and boldly proclaimed, and we love this team!
We have the joy of writing tonight because we had the opportunity to visit a town about 2 hours outside of Budapest called Tapolca with Brad M., Mark, & Georgette. It was a very convicting and compelling visit. We went to visit friends named Shaun & Sondi Carlaw – a missionary couple with three young boys who have stepped out in faith to begin planting a church in Tapolca. (Some of you may remember Shaun & Sondi as they directed the Summer Teen English Camp when we first began that partnership in 2010.)
Their efforts to church plant in Tapolca are so significant because – to the best of our (& their!) knowledge – there are NO Gospel-proclaiming churches in Tapolca – a town of 17,000! Can you imagine this? 17,000 people without a single Gospel-proclaiming church! Tapolca sits in an area of Hungary – encompassing a number of towns – that is almost completely unreached with the Gospel at the current time.
So in many ways it was emotionally overwhelming to experience this “Gospel gap” in Hungary first hand tonight. We gathered with an English class in Tapolca tonight that, Lord willing, will become the “first” church in this town. The class was made up of the small handful of known believers in the area, along with a number of unbelievers who are interested in learning English for their jobs or the like.
Tom had an opportunity to share a devotional and the Gospel with the whole group, Mark shared his testimony, the Lord opened the door for Georgette to pray with a number of people, and Brad and Kari each spent extended time encouraging Shaun & Sondi, which was much needed for, as you can imagine, there are many trials in this great work they’re undertaking for Christ.
So please pray for Tapolca! Pray for the Gospel to run there! Pray for Shaun & Sondi! And pray for wisdom and vision for us as we consider how to support this important work!
All for Jesus,
Tom & Kari
The Orchard - Balkans 
Wow, what a great opportunity! Thanks for being faithful, and telling us. Mike
Reverend J. Michael Dixon Wedding Officiant Master of Divinity, Master of Theology 708-602-2864 mike@inowpronounceyou.us http://www.inowpronounceyou.us
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Wow that is awesome Tom and Kari! You gotta love God’s ways. I love how one group of faithful Christians can go to a strange country and bring Christ to those in darkness where there is virtually NO ONE else who would be doing it otherwise and those people may never have any other opportunity to be told of Christ’s love.. And no church in an entire town of 17,000. What do hurting people do there for comfort and hope I wonder. I cannot imagine it. Makes me hurt for folks in those countries where faith is all but non-existent….
As Muriel ends her Missions Prayer Team requests,….
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”
Romans 10:14-15