Hi from Talpoca!! We just got back yesterday from Budapest, and it’s so good to be home! Camp was amazing again today, it was so great to see our kids again and get to spend time, pray, worship, and eat soup with them again. I love hearing both the kids and students from the Orchard singing “Bless the Lord” in English and Hungarian together at the top of our lungs.  Jared taught on the importance and reliability of the bible and it was amazing to see the kids surrounding me looking over at the passage in my bible as he taught about it.  We had a great day of classes and then got to take the kids a nearby waterpark.  It was such a good experience to see some of the quieter kids come out of their shell and have a great time racing down slides, swimming in the water, and going off the diving board for the first time. I’ve heard many stories of good, gospel centered conversations that some of us have had with the kids.  Then we came home and went out to eat at an amazing restaurant in Talpoca to celebrate Josh’s birthday.

God has taught me a lot on this trip (as he always seems to do), so here are a few things I’ve learned so far.  First, is that he answers prayers in unexpected ways.  For example, a few days ago we were hiking and I had been praying all day for an opportunity to share the gospel or my testimony with one kid that day.  When we got to the top of the volcano Josh said he wanted a few people to share their testimonies, and I was like oh man, Lord I was asking for one child to share with not the whole camp. At first I said no, but then I said I would because I was praying about it and couldn’t find a legitimate excuse not to.  After sharing my testimony I have had many conversations about God, forgiveness, and other gospel related issues which has been amazing and such a “God thing”.  We also prayed all day for good weather for the waterpark and it was cloudy all day, which was also an unexpected answer to prayer because Hungarians don’t like to swim when the weather is at all bad so we had the entire waterpark to ourselves.  Another thing I’ve learned is that especially on mission trips we often expect to do “big things” for God, but we need to obey God in the “smaller things” too, like walking laps in a freezing cold pool with two kids when you want to go take a nap, or washing dishes when you could sleep in twenty minutes longer.  God has also used this trip to teach me a lot about selflessness, being a servant, spiritual warfare, and reminded me that no matter where we are from, when we’re Christians, we are all apart of God’s family.

Pray for continued energy and health for the team, and for opportunities to share the gospel and Christ’s love with these precious kiddos.  Thanks!! – Micaiah