HoliDAY Time!

Happy Christmas and merry New Year to everyone! The Ridgeways and I had an eventful holiday season at the "Midwinter Rally" (which is actually more of a retreat for missionaries). There I met many missionaries who were quick to tell me their story and encourage me to come back to Europe as a missionary as soon as I could.

On December 10th at the BCL, I conducted a program called Girl's HoliDAY. The goal of this one-time program was simple: help young girls (ages 7-11) see how they can make the Christmas holiday fun and yet less commercial. Rusty Ridgeway and I started planning this event several weeks before the day and yet did not get invitations out until the Wednesday before the program. Because of the short notice, I thought we would be lucky to have half a dozen girls show up. The response was actually overwhelming and much more than I'd dared to hope... 17 girls came! We spent the majority of the five hours we had making Christmas cards and cookies, an ornament, and cutting out snowflakes to decorate the library with. We did take time to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, however. After the half-hour film, I asked the girls some questions about when they feel hopeless (like Charlie Brown in the movie or Mary from the Bible) and where they go to for help (for example, Charlie Brown went to Lucy but Mary trusted in God). We spent some time talking about Linus' speech in the movie as well and thinking of ways we could make our own Christmas less commercial and more about Christ. Even though I had lots of questions prepared, I worried that I was boring some of the girls there. God proved to me, however, that when you talk about Him, people want to listen. By the end of our discussion, all of the girls had smiles on their faces and one girl even thanked me for the discussion.

(I will try to post pictures of this event when I get permission from all of the girl's parents to use photos of their kids... that's a lot of parent's to get permission from!)

Also, I couldn't help but add this picture of the kids from "The Lamb" group and me. Even though all three of the group's regular attendees already knew about God and the Bible, they all heard a clear presentation of the Gospel which I could tell answered some of their questions about Jesus and the Bible.

I leave Hungary in just a day and a half! Please pray for safe travels and beyond as I re-enter the U.S.A. With God's help, I will tell many people about the true life of a missionary and how they can pray for and help these messengers of Christ.

Mary Kate