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Dear Friends and Co-Laborers in Jesus Christ,
Camp was packed in Apc with children and parents!
So, what do we do with our time? We have been stuck at home in Phoenix now almost five months because of this pandemic. Much of that time we have been on home lockdown due to the spikes of COVID-19. Do we sit home and fret until we get back to Hungary? Hardly! There are just too many opportunities right now to take advantage of to build the Kingdom of God. Let me show you what I mean.
We are taking advantage of the opportunity to be the only game in town! Due to strict COVID‑19 policies, Hungary was able to open up in mid-June (although their border policies for non-Hungarians, like Jeannie and me, are very restrictive). This meant that our MEK Hungary Team (led by Laci and Eszter Daróczi-Csuhai) could plan and run three three-day children and youth camps in the villages of Apc, Zsambok, and Boldog, with help from a team of Word of Life Hungary students. Since no other organizations are willing to take the risk yet of entering these communities, we are the only game in town. In Apc, the God’s Heroes Camp based on the life of Samuel attracted over 50 activity-starved children, plus interested parents. Numerous children, plus one courageous parent, stood to pray Samuel’s prayer, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” (See this video: https://youtu.be/v28TT3Rh76I).
Ron facilitates an online CHE training lesson for 17 Central Europe learners from his home in Phoenix.
Each hot day of the Zsambok camp saw more children attend than the day before and more decisions to follow Jesus. As I write this, the MEK Team is preparing to start the camp in Boldog. The best thing about our work is that we are regularly in these three villages and will be able to follow-up with those who made professions of faith.
We are taking advantage of the opportunity to spread the love of Jesus Christ! In our May newsletter, we wrote about our Food for Community Service project in Boldog. Twenty-two families participated in this six-week project where they helped clean up their own community and received “wages” in the form of food and necessities for the week. The people were doubly blessed and saw the grace of God in action. We are preparing for a predicted COVID-19 spike this winter and a possible expansion of this program.
We are taking advantage of the opportunity to equip the saints better to do their works of ministry. Jeannie and I are coordinators for Community Health Evangelism teams (like MEK Hungary and ZZ Serbia) for Central Europe and the Balkans. We train our teams to be CHE wholistic community developers in a series of week-long modules. These training conferences are hard to schedule due to travel distances, poor roads, very busy schedules, and the costs. COVID-19 gave us the opportunity to try to do an entire module of 32 hours of training online.
For seven weeks, 17 of us met on RingCentral (like Zoom) on Mondays and Thursdays. The training was excellent. The online medium was flexible and easy to use. We used four trainers and graduated 13 CHE team leaders. We will use this method again.
We are taking advantage of the opportunity to organize ourselves better for the busy days in the future. COVID-19 will not last forever. When it’s over, we want to be ready to take advantage of the new open doors throughout Central Europe and the Balkans. We are using this time to reschedule canceled short-term teams and schedule new ones. MEK Hungary, ZZ Serbia, and CHE Central Europe partners are working with us to better organize their boards and add new members, as well as create budgets and do strategic planning for next year.
We are taking advantage of the opportunity to write. After working with Roma/Gypsies for over 10 years, we see two things: 1) They desperately need Jesus for eternal life and a much more abundant life here on earth, and 2) almost all of them are victims of toxic stress. For over a year I have been working off-and-on in my active schedule on a CHE-style lesson series on dealing with toxic stress. COVID-19 has given me opportunity to finish writing and editing these strategic lessons. I now hope to beta test them with an online group this fall.
We are taking advantage of the opportunity to read great books on our lists. I have waited a very long time to dive into Hugh Ross’s books on science and scripture. But where does a pastor and then a CHE coordinator and Hungary Coordinator get time to read science? The answer is “during a pandemic!” Wow, these books are good. I find myself blown away more by Jesus Christ the Creator/Scientist! What a great boost to my worship and faith.
We are taking advantage of the opportunity to connect with you. Since I am at home in Phoenix, I am nearer your time zone. I have had more opportunity to visit with some of you. But I’d love to chat with more if I can. If you want to connect for a visit, I am on Skype and my phone number is 586-419-8728. Give me a holler.
We are taking advantage of the opportunity to pray. More than anything, God is using these crises to call us together to pray. Each Wednesday, our CHE team members from Central Europe gather online for a one-hour War Room prayer time. We virtually march around our target village walls and pray for God to tear them down. Jeannie and I also meet with a great prayer team from Calvary Baptist in Reading, Pennsylvania, and with our church small group for fellowship and prayer. We even have more time to pray together as husband and wife. What a wonderful gift from the Lord.
If you’ve stayed with me through this letter, I hope you see that this pandemic is both a tragedy (I too have lost a close friend to COVID-19) and also a blessing to those who wait upon Him. We pray that it will soon be over, but we also pray that we will mine all of the God-given treasures out of it that we possibly can.
Prayer
- Pray for God’s open door for Ron and Jeannie to return to Hungary and Central Europe.
- Pray for follow-up for the summer camps in Apc, Zsambok, and Boldog, Hungary.
- Pray that we can seize all of the opportunities God is giving us through the pandemic.
Praises
- We were able to complete a community relief and development project May–June.
- We held a blessed Central Europe CHE staff training course with 13 graduates online.
- We have been able to do summer camps in three villages in Hungary during the COVID-19 crisis.
Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word.
colossians 4:3 (ESV)
Ron & Jeannie Seck
For His Kingdom Come,
Ron and Jeannie Seck
3023 N 17th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85015, USA
Ronseck@me.com | Jeanseck@gmail.com