This month, things have started to get better as for the problems I mentioned last month.  They have put much strain on each of us.  However, it has been good in helping us all grow closer to God and His word.  We ask that you keep us and the problems in your prayers because although they are getting better, they still are not gone.  We just pray that God will lead us to the truth that he wants us to find.  That he gives us strength through this and other problems that may arise.  Thanks so much for your prayers over the last month while we were dealing with these problems.

The Holiday Season is Coming

 This title is actually not so true in the US, but here it is.  Since, we do not have Thanksgiving, the holiday season has not yet started for us.  It starts this weekend with Saint Nicholas (Mikulás)  coming to bring children candy and things.  Nevertheless, this is not to be confused with the baby Jesus (Jézuska) bringing gifts on Christmas.  Here it is a little different as you can see, but this lets us see things through this culture and the way they have developed.  So let me send you Happy Mikulás day greetings to start of the holiday season.

The Church in Hungary

 In the church in Debrecen, we are working through the problems but we are also continuing to go on with the work.  We are in the process of adding to our song books around fifty new songs that have been translated.  In addition we are working on our plans for our New Year’s Eve party.

 Also, we are working on studying the Bible more regularly.  We have been continuing our meetings but have revised them so that people will get more out of them.  We have made our sharing and bible hour, Friday, into a time of sing for an hour, where we can learn new songs and practice old ones.  The second hour, we now have a passage of Scripture that we focus on.  This has greatly improved this time together.

 Saturday, we have also revised our Christians’ meeting.  We have decided to invite non-Christian to it.  In doing this we still plan to continue our deep look into the chapters that we are studying.  However, now have questions that we make up ahead of time that we use to focus our studying on specific portions of the chapters.

 These new improvements have so far been very beneficial to each of us.  It has helped the church to grow and to look more into the Scriptures to see what God wants from our lives.

Culture Corner

 A few months ago, I asked for some ideas about the culture here that people would like to hear about.  This month I will talk about one of them and it is about Hungarian weddings.  I do not know much about them.  I have been to two weddings, but only to part of them.  So I had to rely on some Hungarian friends to help me out with writing this.

 Hungarians get married as do Americans but there are many differences between the two cultures.  The first is that when you get engaged, there is a party.  However, this is not so different, but this is the only thing that happens until the wedding.  There are no bridal showers, bachelor parties, or rehearsal dinners.  The next thing that happens is usually the wedding.  Sometimes though it takes months for this to happen legally.  In Debrecen, takes several months before you can reserve a city court.  The court is the place where you get married.  This is because many people wish to get married and there are few places.  Smaller cities have a smaller waiting list as well as the capital, which has many places.  So the engagement is as long as the couple wishes for it to be or as long as they have to wait for the court.

 We come to the wedding day and this is an exciting, fun-filled, long day.  The first thing that happens is that the couple and everyone they invite go to the court and a city official does the ceremony.  They are then legally married.  Most of the time though the couple would like to get married in the church so then everyone goes from the court to the church, wherever their church may be.  Sometimes the couple rents a bus to help with traveling, since most people do not have cars.

 They all arrive at the church and the minister marries the couple.  Now the government and the church have married them, they can now finish the rest of the events that happen, at the reception.  So most of the people load into the bus and head toward the reception place, usually a restaurant with a big room or a school cafeteria.  Unless the party does not start for a few hours, then the guests go home and change clothes and then go to the reception.

 The reception is a time of eating, drinking, and dancing.  One big difference between the Hungarian wedding and the American, is that the couple stays until the very end.  There is no early leaving for the honeymoon, which usually takes place the next day or a few months later.  So the reception starts with eating and continues with more eating and more.  The same with the drinking, most Hungarians leave drunk.

 Most of the traditional things do not start until midnight.  So no matter when it starts you should at least stay until then.  So at midnight there is the traditional bridal dance, and sometimes the groom’s dance.  This is interesting because this gets the couple money.  They allow anyone that would like to dance with her to, but they have to pay to dance.  The current price is around $50, but you can give more.  During this, sometimes it happens that someone steals the bride.  This is something that people arrange, and is a normal occasion.  The groom has to chase the thief and then do something to get the bride back.
 Following the dance, the cake is brought out and cut.  Then they give the presents to the couple.  Then the party continues into the early morning, around five or six o’clock.  At which time, they allow the couple to go home for there first night together, or leave for the honeymoon if they are having one.

Prayer Requests
 

 Pray for the churches in Hungary, for the problems that we have, for our growth, and for our study in the Word.  (Debrecen, Budapest, Miskolc, Nyíregyháza, and Szolnok)
 Also continue to pray for the studies we are having with people about the Bible.