Betsy Melchers, Budapest City Team missionary, recently shared the following article related to our teen English camp in her newsletter. Subscribe there to learn more about Betsy’s continuing ministry in Hungary.

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
Jeremiah 31:3

“I Decided to Call it Love…”

In the morning before the camp day we sat with sleepy eyes, Hungarian and American teams mingled together in the auditorium chairs. “B”, an 18 year old Hungarian serving on our leadership team, got up to share a short devotional. His experience of religion as a child was that it was boring, that going to church meant sneaking an extra hour of sleep in the pews. But he went on to share about his experience attending these very camps as a camper:

“There was something different that I felt from the people here and, well, I decided to call it love.”

“B” encouraged us that our actions really matter to these kids, that the love they experience helps shape their perspective of who God is. It doesn’t come naturally for these kids to view God as loving, as wanting to draw them near.  We have the precious opportunity to model this in the way we interact in our lives.

Years after his first experience at these camps, he is following Christ, serving as a leader, bringing energy and excitement to game time, and leading devotionals. Seeing “B” running around with his backwards baseball hat, kids hanging off of every limb gives my heart hope. Hope that God is using “B” to communicate true love to others. Hope that there will be more like him who feel and hear that love and respond to it. Hope that God is indeed on the move, drawing people to Himself.

Praise God with me for this Hungarian teenager, for the slice of time our team gets to share with him before he leaves for University. Pray for his faith to be continually affirmed and growing, for a persistent faith that is not weakened by the world. What joy he is bringing to the Father’s heart!

In Christ,
Betsy Melchers