The Kingdom of God is Among You

(Peti and Virag Szabad from Budapest recently completed a two-week visit to several of the New England churches.  These are some of their thoughts and observations from the trip.)

". . . no one will say, 'Look here!' or 'There!' For you see, the kingdom of God is among you." --Luke 17:21 (HCSB)

When people come to the United States, there are many things they can look at and be amazed. Everything is bigger, the cars, the roads, the meals, the distances, etc. You can look here, look there and see amazing things - and we did too. But that was not the highlight of our trip. We spent two weeks in New England visiting churches. We drove 1400 miles, visited five different churches (Southern Connecticut, Granit State, Boston-Metro, Worcester, Groton/New London) and spent time with a large number of disciples. What amazed us was the Kingdom of God and how truly international it is.

It is not the buildings, not the places (although we've seen a lot of beautiful ones) but it is the people in New England that are golden. Disciples everywhere gave us their hearts, treated us for meals, opened their homes to us and supported and loved us in many ways. It is quite an experience to see that we have family wherever we go. We also had a chance to send our son, Robi to the New England Preteen Camp. In our preteen ministry there are 4 kids. Robi got to see hundreds of kids growing up in the Lord. He had a very impactful camp and made some great friends. I envision them being the ligaments for the next generation of disciples.

We are very encouraged by the heart and willingness of the New England disciples to sacrifice for the European Missions. There is a great need in Europe (over 500 million lost souls) and your help is much needed. It was also great to see that many disciples (young and old) have the dream to go to Europe personally to help in any way they can.

Our goal was the same as Paul had in wanting to visit the church in Rome - to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith (Romans 1:12). From our part we go back to Budapest very encouraged. We met with disciples that got recently baptized or restored; heard stories of how God moved in lives of people that blew our minds away. We met with people that have gone through incredible challenges and yet stayed faithful, joyful and grew by it.

Dear brothers and sisters, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your faith, love and endurance; for your unceasing commitment to love and support the European missions and your inspiring faith. Please, continue to keep us in your prayers and hearts. We need you and we are grateful for you. God's Kingdom is the best place on this earth and it is the people and the relationships. That's what we've been able to experience in a very rich way and for that we are grateful.

Peti & Virág Szabad
Budapest, Hungary