I love the BCL!

I love the Budapest Christian Library. Here's why...

- The BCL has a warm and inviting atmosphere which non-Christians are willing to visit in order to learn about God when they wouldn't normally visit a church.

My favorite job to do at the BCL?
Making coffee for the patrons!

- The BCL offers thousands of Christian materials that pastors and other missionaries are able to use in their ministries in a country where Christain resources are scarce.
- The BCL hosts small churches to help get them started. Having a place to meet is a blessing for these church plants!
- The BCL's collection offers thousands of books for Christians that aim to improve each person's walk with Jesus, give them more Bible knowledge, or just entertain them with appropriate, up-lifting fiction.
- The BCL teaches people about the Bible, even if they didn't come to the library for that purpose. For example, we had two people come in recently (a parent and child). The parent could not speak English but the child was learning English at school and could communicate in English quite well. They had come to the library to borrow books for the child to practice reading English. They also decided to borrow two DVDs in English... and guess which two DVDs they picked? Two cartoons that are from a Christian film company and have Bible lessons and verses all on the DVD. This family has been on my heart all week and I have been praying that they will learn about God and have a curiosity to learn more through those DVDs.

Riding public transportation.
Can you see the Parliament
building behind me?

The BCL is truly a unique and effective ministry that I am thankful to be involved in! Please continue to pray for the Budapest Christian Library and the Ridgeway family who runs the BCL. Even with all of the wonderful things going on here in Hungary and specifically at the library, God's work is constantly under attack. Support, both through prayers and financial gifts, will ensure growth of God's Kingdom through the Budapest Christian Library.

Thank you!

Mary Kate

Hello October!

Heroes' Square

I have been in Hungary for almost a month now and the time has gone by quickly. The Budapest Christian Library is looking better each day as the children’s room gets closer and closer to completion and the other rooms in the library are rearranged and worked on as well. I have had the pleasure of going to the library several times a week to aid in rearranging rooms as well as cleaning the library facility and making coffee for library patrons.

I'm happy that it is October as I start my first program at the library in just one week! This past summer, a family introduced me to a wonderful website called I am Second (iamsecond.com). I am Second, through free videos and guides, aims to teach others how to put God first in their lives. For the most part, the I am Second group I am starting at the library will consist of teens that are already Christians. I'm hoping that by the time I leave Hungary, these Christian teens will feel comfortable and able to start their own I am Second groups and invite their Christian as well as non-Christian friends to come participate in them once I leave Hungary. Through the group at the library, I'll be able to build a relationship with each person there as they see firsthand how an I am Second group works. I firmly believe that anyone can lead an I am Second group (the website gives you everything you need!) and I'm hoping the teens in my group will see that too. Please pray for a successful turn-out (we begin in one week: Saturday, October 8), for each of the individual teens that will be in the group, and that before I leave Hungary one or more of them will have a desire to start his or her own I am Second group.

Thanks for the continued support and prayer! Please feel free to email me or comment below with any questions you may have. 

Mary Kate

My Strength Comes from the Lord

Many people come to the library every week: library patrons, church bodies, and Bible study goers all visit the library each and every day to learn more about God. With God's help, I will add two programs to that list to bring in more visitors, help Christians grow, and, most importantly, help non-believers learn about the Gospel. (I had originally wanted to do three programs, but due to a few factors, that will probably change to two programs.) My children's story time program, geared toward kids ages 5-10, will begin mid-October. My Bible study program for high schoolers should begin in October as well.

Children's fiction books that needed
to be organized and shelved.

In the meantime, I have gone into the library several times to aid in finishing the children's room and organizing the library. Due to the fact that the library's storage room has been turned into a children's room, there is substantially less storage space available at the library now. Therefore, I worked for several hours this week organizing and cleaning the storage space that is still available. I also worked on organizing children's books and pricing/organizing used books that will be sold in a book sale sometime this fall.

This is the Children and Young Adult
non-fiction section that desperately
 needed organization. It's in order
now but will still need to be
rearranged to fit new books before
the children's room officially opens.

At the Ridgeway home, I have had the privilege of cooking three meals for the family this week. Due to my lack of experience in the kitchen, I brought mixes as well as simple recipes from America to aid my dinner-making ventures. Meals can be much harder to cook here as there are limited mixes, stove-top meals, frozen foods, etc. to choose from (not to mention the pre-made food available in Hungary is often tasteless). Thankfully, all three meals I cooked this week were yummy and aided in reliving stress and freeing time for Beth and Rusty.

God is definitely a constant source of strength for me in all my tasks this week (organizing the library, planning programs, cooking meals...). I admit that when I arrived in Hungary I wanted to hit the ground running and do a million things rather than spend time recovering from travel, jet lag, and a cold. By Saturday, I was so exhausted that I had to spend quite a bit of time resting on Sunday and Monday. As my second week here is almost over, I am thankful that God has renewed my energy, stamina, and strength so that I can effectively serve Him here.

I would greatly appreciate prayer for my up-coming programs (that kids and teens will come and be blessed by them). Please also pray for the finishing of the children's room. There are still several things that need to be done and the Ridgeways would like to finish the room as soon as possible.

Mary Kate

"The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving."
-Psalm 28:7

Getting started...

I arrived in Hungary on Tuesday!

After hours of traveling, I reached the Ridgeway home in the middle of a busy week. There wasn't much time to sit down and catch up; but, arriving in the middle of things felt like I was exactly where I had left off in May.

On Wednesday, I watched Landon (now 3 years old) in the morning and early afternoon. We took a walk around the neighborhood and played in the sandbox. If I had let him, he probably would have stayed in that sandbox all day!

The tram I often take to the library. (The BCL
is located in the building behind the tram.)

Today I went to the library. I am thankful that there are more tasks for me to do at the library now than on my last trip; that also meant that I had a busy day, though. The third room in the library (the soon-to-be-completed children's room) looks much better than it did when I left Hungary in May. This past summer, a team of college students came for one month with the goal of turning the library's storage room into a children's room. They painted the walls, moved bookshelves and books into the room, purchased some new kid-friendly furniture, and even started making a loft. There are still tools, book shelves, and other odd things that need to be moved out of the room; the loft is not finished either (it needs some paint, a ladder, and railing). Today, Nikki (the library assistant) and I moved things out of the children's room, organized some of the books on the shelves, and assembled the new furniture. The room is not quite finished... but it's getting close! I also filled an empty bookshelf with used books and movies that the library plans to sell. On Saturday, I will organize (or at least begin to organize) the children's non-fiction section of the library -- that bookshelf is a mess!

My children's program will probably begin in October. I'm continuing to plan it and will hopefully get fliers out next week.

God has a lot going on at the library and I hope this post gives you an idea of some of the wonderful things to come. Thanks for the continued prayers and encouragement!

Mary Kate

Good, Better, Best

We've all had them. Those days where we focus on school/work, family, friends, and other extra activities. Those days that are so busy that when we finally find a second to catch our breath we have to ask, "Where has all the time gone?". Sometimes this is even the question we ask ourselves after several years of work or school. It's that moment where we stop and wonder what we've been doing with our lives. Time is a precious commodity -- how do we know if we are investing it wisely and according to God's will?

"Pay careful attention, then, to how you work -- not as unwise people but as wise -- making the most of the time, because the days are evil."

-Ephesians 5:15-16

The Blackaby brothers analyzed this verse in their book "Experiencing God Day-By-Day". The brothers say that "the temptation is to sacrifice what is best for what is good. The enemy knows that blatantly tempting you with evil will be obvious, so he will lure you with distractions, leaving you no time to carry out God's will. He will tempt you to so fill your schedule with good things that you have no time to carry out God's best," (p.239). 

I'm not going to lie and say that going to Hungary for four months is a huge sacrifice where I will be living in a hut and only get to converse with the people in my little "village". Of course the majority of my time will be spent doing mission work. But, I will have several opportunities to go to museums, shows, and sight-see during my semester abroad. Even so, I still struggled with the idea of spending four more months overseas after I had already spent six weeks there. I am in high school and should be preparing myself for college and the SAT exam. Wouldn't it be more logical to stay home and work on my academics? I only have two years left before college -- I should focus on school... right?

But then I realized that by doing so I would only be looking to do what is good for me -- what the world says I should be doing with my time in high school. Staying at home meant I would do little to grow God's Kingdom. It's not that I can't evangelize, volunteer and grow the Kingdom in the United States (quite the opposite!). But spending four months focusing on just that activity would make a much larger impact for God than staying home to focus 100% of my energy on school.

If you're having a hectic day/week/month/year where you're wondering where the time has gone, I would encourage you to seek God and ask Him to tell you what is best for you rather than continuing to do what is good for you. You don't have to pack up and head overseas but maybe there are some little changes that God has in mind in order for you to work toward His best for you. Reminds me of a little proverb I learned a few years ago -- "Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good gets better and your better gets best."

Mary Kate

Heading back to Hungary on Labor Day!

God has provided me with the opportunity to return to Budapest, Hungary this fall for four months! I will leave September 5th for a semester of working at the library and assisting the Ridgeway family in their work.

For the fall, I plan to coordinate several programs at the Budapest Christian Library.

1) Children's Story Time
A program for younger children. We will begin by reading "The Lamb" by John R. Cross and continue from there to learn more about God and the Bible through story telling. Crafts and/or games that help make the story "stick" with the children will also be included during the weekly meeting time.
2) "By This Name" study
This book (also by John R. Cross) gives a comprehensive outline of and purpose behind the Holy Bible in an easy-to-understand way. I'm hoping that other teenagers who want to take a deeper look at the Bible will join this group so that together we can better understand God and His master plan.
3) I am Second group
I am Second aims to bring people together to share their own stories, hear other people's stories, and read God's stories. Using these methods, the group will collectively spark conversation that will aid each member in learning how to make Jesus first in his or her life.

I look forward to seeing how God works through me to reach some of His beloved children. In addition to the above programs, I plan to also help the Ridgeway family on the home front in every way that I can. Please pray for me as I prepare to go back. Prayers are the best gift you can give me.

Mary Kate

"Jesus said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'"
-John 8:12

Mary Kate... in Texas

As of last Tuesday night, I am back in Texas!

I feel so blessed to have lived in Hungary for six weeks and get a feel for the ministry that the Ridgeways have there. I have learned so much about God, Hungary, missions, and myself through this trip. I will forever be thankful for this experience.

As you may have guessed, missionaries have an extremely difficult job. After living with a missionary family for six weeks I was able to see this firsthand. I think that a lot of Christian homes and churches support overseas missionaries (which is great!). But when times get tough for a family, sometimes "extra expenses" are cut. Unfortunately, supporting missionaries can quite often be thrown in with the same list containing eating out and going to the movies and are therefore cut from a families list of expenses. I would encourage you to follow through on your commitment(s) to missionaries and support them for as long as they need the support. Missionaries make sacrifices all the time. As fellow brothers and sisters, we should help them out as much as we can. Missionary work has many other challenges as well: a different culture, sometimes a different language, different worldviews, different politics, different childhoods and life experiences, etc. Trying to connect with someone and sharing your faith with them is never easy but having grown up with such different backgrounds makes it all the more difficult. However, missionaries probably have the most rewarding job in the world. This is not an exaggeration. Through all of the hard times that the Ridgeway family has had these past two years, their faith has been stretched and strengthened in ways that we cannot possibly imagine. On one hand, I am happy that I have not undergone some of the stress that they have. On the other hand, I yearn for the depth of faith that they have and will have for the rest of their lives because of their work in Hungary. Thank you for praying for the Ridgeway family and the Budapest Christian Library and me! Please continue to support us in that way.

Now for the big question: am I going back to Budapest in the fall? Well, the Ridgeways said that they would welcome a second trip. Of course I want to go back (and probably will); but, this is all in God's hands. I will make preparations this summer to go back to Budapest in the fall but ultimately God is in charge of the outcome. If God does not want me to go back, I have no doubt in my mind that He will stop me.

Thank you, everyone, for the encouragement and prayers. Whether I return to Hungary or not, I feel blessed to have gone for six weeks to learn all that I have and grow closer to God in the process.

Mary Kate

PS: To keep up with what God has planned for me this year, subscribe to my blog on the left-side panel (under "Follow by Email"). Thanks!