Hello dear friends!
It has been a whirlwind of a month, and it’s the time of the school year where alongside managing the current student body and ministries, it is time to begin planning things for next school year.
There are lots of little details going on, but I would like to share with you what was perhaps the highlight of our year.
The first weekend in February WOL Hungary held its annual Missions Conference. What an amazing encouragement!
During the Conference we focus on the need for global missions, challenging our students to consider if and where they might serve in ministry after their studies.
Each year at the Missions Conference, we also choose a mission organization to help support, and we ask each person attending to pledge an amount to help certain projects that organization would like to develop.
This year, we are partnering with Word of Life Portugal. Almost immediately after the decision was made to partner with them, their property was nearly destroyed by a wildfire.
Thankfully, however, even though the fire destroyed a huge area in the surrounding countryside, it did not destroy any buildings… though in some cases the fire stopped just a few feet from their buildings.
Here is an incredible video shot from the air that shows how amazingly close the fire was to causing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
This means that WOL Portugal will be able to spend the money we raise on things other than rebuilding, but rather on reaching people with the Gospel!
We had set a goal for the giving – and our staff, students, and guests promised to give 129% of the target amount! We pray that we would all be faithful in keeping our promise, and that the money would be a blessing to the fruitful ministry of WOL Portugal!
On top of that, about 35 young people, many of them our students, chose to dedicate their life to missions for the first time! We are so encouraged by the amazing heart of these young people, and pray that they would stay faithful in following God’s leading!
Helping to train up the next generation of Christian leaders is why we are here, and seeing God work in their lives just makes me so grateful to be a part of this work!
Here are a couple of testimonies from students who dedicated their lives during the conference:
Christine Fankhauser (Canada):
Every time I think about who God is and what He did for me, I feel that desire of telling everybody how merciful and good He is. During the conference, it was really good to be reminded of things like these: We often get distracted, busy and forget to listen to God. However, He is speaking to us and we need to take time to listen. I realized I need to depend on him totally in everything I have and do. Whether it is for my studies, my money, my family, my future, etc. I want to take time in the morning and at night, it is not only about a limited time of required quiet time, but all during the day. He promises that He will never leave us alone. That doesn’t mean my life or any other Christians life will be easy, especially when we talk about missions. But am I ready to sacrifice until the whole world hears, because there are so many people that still need to hear. Am I ready to go wherever God calls me to go? This weekend I confirmed that I want to be willing to serve God wherever He leads me. That is so exiting and scary at the same time, however I want to trust in the Lord and be totally depending on Him for my present decisions and the ones to come. Finally, I would ask prayers for perseverance as trials come every time I make a decision according to His will. Thank you!
Emanuel Mocanu (Romania):
For me, the Mission Conference was a great opportunity to realize that God is calling me into full time ministry to be fully dedicated to his call. Seeing how many people are still in need to hear the Word of God has led me to this decision. I thought about this before but I wasn’t sure if I would have the opportunity to do it. Being sure that God will provide all my needs, and seeing how he is doing it day by day more and more is a great encouragement for me, pushing me forward in trusting more. I know God is calling each one of us to ministry we just need to answer his call without hesitation.