Winckles Family Update

Pentecost Sunday

We celebrated Pentecost Sunday today with a joint service with the OMS fellowship, held at the Budapest Ministry Center. You may recall that we held a joint baptismal service with OMS in January, so it was our turn to host the service. There was a great turnout from both fellowships, and a wonderful spirit of unity.

We had a lot of great help in making this day a success. Júlia organized a great team of helpers to plan and prepare for the luncheon that we held after the service. (Many thanks go out to Júlia, Judit, Jutka, Ela, and Zita!) Péter worked with the OMS pastor, Sanyi, in planning the music. In addition Péter and Sanyi shared preaching responsibilities, planning together one sermon that they preached in two parts. Larry led the service, and also helped with set-up, take-down, and of course photos.

Following the service we enjoyed food and fellowship! People stayed around for a long time afterwards, talking and enjoying one another's company. It was such a beautiful day we put chairs and tables out in the garden so that people could enjoy the outdoors as well.

Ladies' Chocolate Chip Cookie Night

Several women gathered at our flat last night in order to learn how to bake chocolate chip cookies. Even though chocolate chips aren't readily available here, Katie showed them how to use baking chocolate to accomplish the same end. In addition, the ladies celebrated Marcsi's birthday and Júlia's name day. It was great to have these women from our various circles come together and get to know each other a bit better.

Larry vacated the flat for most of the evening, so no documentary photos of the baking!

Bread of Life Foundation - Annual Board Meeting

L to R: Tamás, Zsuzsa, Sándor, Judit, Júlia, Larry, Jan

The Bread of Life Foundation (Élet kenyere alapítvány) provides the legal identity for the work of Free Methodist World Missions in Hungary. Established in 2000, the foundation has a board of directors that represents a cross section of our ministries in Hungary. Today our directors met for the required annual meeting, at which time the financial and program reports from 2011 were reviewed and approved. The board has five members: Jan Coleman, President; Larry Winckles, Secretary; Júlia Tóth, Administrator; Judit Tóth (from the church) and Zsuzsa Donáth (from the music pre-school), members at large. Serving on the Supervisory Committee are Sándor Pál, Tamás Ecsenyi (from the recovery groups), and János Szőczi.  We are thankful for these friends and for their willingness to serve with the foundation. We are especially thankful for Júlia, who puts in many hours of labor with foundation finances, accounting, record keeping, reporting, publicity, grant writing, and more! We couldn't do it without her help! Thank you, Júlia!!!

Ex-Pat Forum

Last night we participated in an Ex-Pat Forum at the Ulysses Hungarian Language School (the school where we've attended for the past twelve years). Organized by one of the language teachers, past and present students were invited to engage in dialogue about their experiences in living and working in Hungary, and to reflect on how their own cultural background influenced or colored this perspective. The group included 1 Finn, 1 Romanian, 1 Taiwanese, 1 Sri Lankan/Canadian, 1 Croatian, 2 Italians, 3 Americans, and 3 Hungarians. It was quite an interesting experience as we listened to each other's stories and watched some of them being acted out. Everyone laughed a lot, but learned a lot as well.

Kalocsa

The Barnes family at the folk house museum

On Saturday we traveled down to Kalocsa, a small village on the Eastern bank of the Danube River, about 75 miles away from Budapest. Our friends, Heidi and Eric Barnes, along with their children Calvin and Muriel, have been living there for the past school year while Eric has been teaching English at a local middle school. We've enjoyed having the Barnes family here in Hungary this year, but are sad that they are leaving Hungary at the end of June to take positions at a school in the Philippines.

 

Kalocsa is one of the oldest villages in Hungary, dating back to the 10th Century. It is known for its paprika, fine embroidery, agriculture, and viniculture. It is now somewhat off the beaten path, so it is surprising that is has a thriving tourist industry as well. This is due to the fact that many cruise ships dock nearby and bring their guests into the village for a few hours.

Sights in the village include a new monument to the first free Hungarian government of 1848, the Kalocsa Cathedral and Archbishop's Palace, two paprika museums (!!), and a historic country house museum. We had a great time getting to know this village with the Barnes, and enjoyed their generous hospitality in their home. We concluded our day with them by playing Bang!, teaching the kids how to play the game for the first time. 

Watch for more photos from Kalocsa throughout the week on our Facebook timeline or on other social media streams (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram).

Spring Men's Breakfast

Men's Breakfast

A small group of men and boys gathered at the Budapest Ministry Center this morning for our Spring Men's Breakfast. We were fewer in numbers than usual, perhaps because of the gorgeous weather that made taking an excursion a more attractive option. Nevertheless, we enjoyed good fellowship with those who did attend. Péter cooked the scrambled eggs and fried the Debrecen sausage, Ákos made the toast, and Attila washed up afterwards! Everyone helped out in some way.

Larry spoke briefly about change, and how difficult change often is in our lives. 

Change

1. Change is hard
2. Change is possible
3. Change is necessary
4. Change requires help/support/encouragement
5. Spiritual change requires the help of the Holy Spirit
6. Change requires motivation/perseverance/patience/dedication
7. Change begins in the mind

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

 

2011-2012 English Class

The 2011-2012 English class is fast drawing to a close. Next week will be the last class of this academic year. As a highlight of today's opening, the group favorite the "Gossip Lady" made a return appearance. The "Gossip Lady" told the class all the news about what people in the class did over the mid-year break. Today was also the day for our customary group photo.

Critical Mass - Spring 2012

Citizens of Budapest took to the streets on bicycles this afternoon to take part in Critical Mass 2012, an organized effort to get people to rely more on walking and bicycles for their transportation needs. People of all ages and from all walks of life took part, showing that it is indeed possible for people to come together to support a worthwhile cause.

The Second Sunday of Easter

Eric Barnes was our guest speaker this morning in Budapest. His message, based on John 5:30-40, was a timely one about receiving and giving grace. Júlia served as the worship leader (and translator for Eric), while Péter and Krisztina led the music. Following the service we celebrated April birthdays and also enjoyed an encore presentation of one of Péter's original compositions.

Good work, Péter!

Péter Tóth, assistant pastor of the Budapest church, is also a gifted musician and composer. Today we were privileged to watch him compete in the 5th Annual Internet Verse Festival, held at a nearby cultural center here in Budapest. A requirement of the competition was to set to original music poems drawn from the work of several designated Hungarian poets. We enjoyed hearing Péter's compositions, as well as those from the other competitors.

Below is a video of Péter performing one of his original compositions.

 

Christ is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed!

Krisztus Feltámadt! Valóban Feltámadt!

We celebrated a wonderful Easter Sunday at the Budapest Ministry Center. Jan, Péter, and Laci led in worship music. Katie was the moderator and shared some Easter reflections by Henri Nouwen. Larry gave the Easter message, preaching on "Easter Changes Everything!" His message concluded with the challenge to all those present to make (or reaffirm) the decision to follow Jesus.

At the end of the service Jeff played "Poor Wayfaring Stranger." Larry and Ákos prepared an Easter egg hunt for the kids while others set up the room for our Easter luncheon. After the egg hunt, and when everything was ready, Jeff and Jan did a repeat of Brahms' "Hungarian Dances" for four hands. Then we ate! It was a great time of food and fellowship!

Many thanks to all those who helped in the preparation, implementation, and cleanup! It was great to see how everyone worked together!

Spring 2012 Literature Night - Humor

Our first literature night of 2012 was held on Friday night at the Budapest Ministry Center. The theme for the evening was "Humor" and Ildikó was the MC for the evening. This was her first time as MC and she did a great job!!

Our special guest for the evening was Dr. Wilson opened the program with a familiar and happy piece -- the Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin.

Krisztina presented a short Hungarian tongque-twister of a tale, which all the Hungarians agreed was untranslateable (and unpronouncable by the Americans)!!

Here is a sample:

Te tevél tevévé engem eleve,
Teveled nem ér fel tevefej tétova veleje.
Te terved veté a tevevedelő tavat tavaly távol,
De tévednél, vélvén, vén híved neved feledve elvetemedve vádol.

Zita, Misi, Zsuzsanna, and Ildikó recited verse or gave humorous readings by Géza Gárdonyi, ABBA, and János Arany. Everyone joined in singing Mamma Mia. In between sections of the program members of the audience read quotations about humor, which had previously been placed underneath the chairs. Katalin presented two humorous songs.

In the final section of the program Péter gave a short message from Jonah and presented one of his original compositions. Ildikó, Judit, and Marcsi continued with humorous readings by Frigyes Karinthy and Gábor Hézser. 

The program concluded with Brahms' Hungarian Dances performed by Jeff Wilson and Jan Coleman. It was received enthusiastically by the audience. You can also enjoy it by watching the clip below.

As usual, people stayed around for a long time afterwards, enjoying refreshments and each other's company.

Friends and Colleagues

Almost all of our missionary colleagues who work in Europe were in Budapest this week (only Josef Sykora was missing), so we took advantage of this rare opportunity to take a group photo. Pictured above, from left to right, are: Al and Diane Mellinger (Bulgaria), Eduardo and Cindi Angelo (Portugal), Michael and Maria Long (Greece), Larry and Katie Winckles (Hungary), Josh and Susy Fajardo (Spain), Jerry and Jan Coleman (Europe Area Director and Hungary), and Lynette Sykora (Slovakia and Member Care).

Separated at birth?

Over the past two days we've heard reports from each of our country leaders and prayed for them specifically. We've also discussed issues related to church metrics, partnerships, alternative ordination tracks, and ordination. We've agreed and disagreed with each other. We've laughed a lot and cried a little. We've enjoyed being in each other's company! We feel privileged to work with such a great group of people!!

For more detailed information about each of the country reports visit our newly relaunched Europe Alive website.

Meetings in Budapest

On the Budapest Metro 1 - Lynette, Susy, Maria, Katie, Diane, Jan

Several of our colleagues from around Europe arrived in Budapest today for a series of meeting that will take place at the Budapest Ministry Center this week. Joining us are Josh and Susy Fajardo (Spain), Cindi and Eduardo Angelo (Portugal), Al and Diane Mellinger (Bulgaria), Mike and Maria Long (Greece), and Lynette Sykora (Slovakia). We look forward to great times of fellowship, food, and oh... of course work!

Back in Budapest

We arrived back in Budapest on Wednesday and have been slowly adjusting to the time difference. What's more, we got to experience the change to Daylight Savings Time twice -- once earlier in the month in the USA and today in Europe! Our internal clocks really are confused!

We enjoyed being back with the Budapest church fellowship this morning. The one thing we noticed was how much the children have grown! 

There were two guests with us today. Gerry McNamara came over from Győr and gave the morning sermon, challenging us all to do what we can to serve "the least of these." Dr. Jeff Wilson from Greenville College was also here, beginning a three-week visit to Hungary. We were blessed to hear some of his fine piano playing.

It was such a pleasant day that people stayed around afterwards for quite a long time, catching up with each other and enjoying the fellowship.

Central FMC in Lansing, Michigan

 

 

We traveled to Lansing, Michigan today to visit the Central Free Methodist Church. For a change we were able to be "normal" worshipers at the service. (Whatever normal means!) We were happy to learn more about this multi-ethnic congregation. They hold five services each Sunday, only two of which are in English. They also have a Nepalese service, a Hmong service, and a Haitian service. In addition, they have congregants from several Central African countries. Throughout the week they offer ESL classes, recovery ministries, and outreach to sex workers (see Eve's Angels for more about this ministry), just to name a few.

 

 

 

We enjoyed Pastor Bruce Cromwell's message about what it means to be a "City on a Hill." is exactly the type of missional living that we have been talking about! And it became clear to us that this fellowship is not just talking about missional living, but is actually doing it.

 

 

 

After the service we enjoyed a time of further fellowship with Pastor Bruce and Mindi at their home. Not only did we meet their two lively sons, Levi and Bennett, but our daughter-in-law's sister, Jessica, was able to join us. While Larry was shooting Nerf guns with Levi and talking with Bruce, Katie and Jessica helped Mindi in getting the lunch ready.

 

We were thankful for this serendipitous opportunity to spend the day in Lansing and get to know Bruce and Mindi better. We are thankful, too, for their ongoing friendship with our son and daughter-in-law, Andrew and Christy. Both Christy and Mindi serve on the Committee on Free Methodist History and Archives and have common interests and concerns about the importance of empowering women in ministry.

 

 

What season is it anyway?

 

The Potawatomi Inn

Technically speaking, we are still in winter. But the past few days in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana have seemed more like summer! We were able to take a two-day get away to Pokagon State Park, located on beautiful Lake James near Angola, Indiana. We went prepared with our long-sleeved shirts, sweaters, boots, and coats.  But we didn't need them! The temperature on Wednesday got up to 81 degrees F and on Thursday it got up to 79! It was hot!!!! In winter!!! What's wrong with this picture????

 

We enjoyed hiking on several of the trails and were able to spend time reading, talking, playing Scrabble, and reviewing plans for the next several months. It was a much needed time of respite from our busy speaking schedule prior to plunging back into the work in Hungary next week.

 

Weekend in Cincinnati, Ohio

 

This weekend we traveled down to Cincinnati, Ohio to speak at the Winton Community Free Methodist Church. The church meets in an historic building that was built in 1884 as the Winton Place Methodist Episcopal Church. It has been home to the Free Methodist Church and its inner-city ministry for the past twenty-five years, and during all that time its pastor has been Kathy Callahan-Howell. 

 

We arrived in Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed a delightful evening of conversation with Kathy and her husband, Roger. Roger is the president of City Gospel Mission, a non-profit organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty in at-risk children and offering assistance and recovery opportunities to adults in need. Roger was kind enough to share his birthday treat with us -- Graeter's ice cream!

Even though we "sprang ahead" one hour on Saturday night, there was a great group of people attending the Sunday morning service. We became reacquainted with several people that we had met on our previous visit to the church and met many new people as well. As an added bonus our friends Scott Dunn and Mark Hutchison drove down from Columbus to see us and hear us speak! Thanks to Scott we were able to get a few pictures of ourselves during the service.

We had a great time speaking with the large group of children, telling them a little about Hungary and showing them a first grade Hungarian reading book. Everyone was surprised, including the adults, that there weren't any recognizable words in the book.

Later in the service we shared our Tree of Life presentation. We had a few technical glitches as they had imported our Power Point file into MediaShout, and we soon discovered that those two programs don't play nicely with each other. The end result was that none of our animations and overlays appeared on the slides. In the future we'll have to make a special non-animated version of the presentation for situations such as this.

It is the custom of the church to serve a lunch each Sunday, so during the lunch time we were able to continue in conversation with the dear people of the Winton Community Free Methodist Church. We are thankful for their important ministry in urban Cincinnatie and for their partnership with us in Hungary!

 

 

 

In Chelsea, Michigan

We spent a good portion of the day today in Chelsea, Michigan visiting the Chelsea Free Methodist Church. This was our first visit to the church and we were delighted to be able to inform the congregation about the work that is taking place in Budapest, and to personally welcome them as one of our ministry partners.

The church has two services each Sunday morning -- one at 8:30 and the other at 11:00. In between they have a Sunday School hour. We spoke in both services and during Sunday school we met with the teenagers. 

Following the services we had lunch with Chelsea's missions committee at the home of Pastor Jeff and Tamara Ford. The committee included our friends and former colleagues Ron and Joanne Pieper, who formerly served with Free Methodist World Missions in Ukraine. The group had many excellent questions about life and ministry in Budapest.

We look forward to developing a closer relationship with the folks at Chelsea over the coming months!

Mid Week Update

 

 

On Wednesday we attended the keynote session of the Focus on Freedom Conference sponsored by Spring Arbor University and held at the Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church. Mark Wexler, co-founder of Not For Sale spoke on the efforts that are being made worldwide to combat human trafficking. You can view some of the conference sessions online in Spring Arbor's Focus 2012 playlist on YouTube.

 

Wednesday evening we traveled to the Hillsdale Free Methodist Church in Hillsdale, Michigan where we enjoyed a lasagna dinner with the church's missions committee and then participated in the Wednesday evening pray service.

On Thursday we enjoyed lunch at the home of our friend and former colleague Harriet Bolodar, who spent her last year before retirement working with our church in Győr, Hungary. It was great to reconnect with Harriet!

 

Weekend in Columbus, Ohio

We traveled to Columbus, Ohio on Friday to spend the weekend with our friends, Wes and Cheryl Rohrer and to speak at their church -- the Living Hope Free Methodist Church. That also happens to be the church where our daughter-in-law's parents attend, so Andrew and Christy killed two birds with one stone and came down to spend the weekend with both sets of parents! This also happens to be the church where Andrew and Christy were married.

We did a lot of talking, laughing, and catching up and on Saturday we went down to the German Village, where we had to take a picture of the Kossuth Street sign. This street was named after the Hungarian politician and statesman, Lajos Kossuth, who toured the United States in 1849 following the failed Hungarian Revolution, trying to gain popular support for American intervention in Hungary, which did not happen. Nevertheless his speeches resonated with the American people and when speaking in Columbus the city decided to name a street in his honor. [This paragraph is mostly for the benefit of our Hungarian friends who read this blog!]

On Sunday we had the opportunity to share both in the morning fellowship hour as well as during the worship service. Much as we have done in other stops this winter, we gave our Hungary Quiz and our Tree of Life presentations. The Living Hope Church has a new pastor, Jeff Hanna, and we were delighted to meet him and his wife, Nancy. We were also surprised to see the Hungarian flag flying outside the church on the flagpole!

We are thankful for our partnership with this congregation and for their ongoing support of the work in Hungary!

Warm winter Sunday in Jamestown, ND

 

This week we traveled to Jamestown, North Dakota to visit Larry's family. Last year it was bitter cold and there was lots of snow. This year there it is relatively warm (in the 30's and 40's Fahrenheit) and there hasn't been much snow (only about 5 inches total for the season, when the seasonal average is usually 66 inches).

 

Larry's sister Linda and brother-in-law Joel recently adopted two siblings, Tyler (6 years old) and Katelyn (4 years old). These kids are highly verbal and highly energetic! They've compeletely changed Linda's and Joel's lives. We volunteered to help give them a chance to get away for a long weekend by watching the kids for them. We've enjoyed this time getting to know our new niece and nephew. We are so happy that they've finally found stability in a loving and supportive home. 

This afternoon we went over to Grandma Winckles' apartment to visit her and Aunt Nancy. We had a lot of fun reading the storybook "Mrs. Pig's Night Out" with Aunt Nancy. 

Great Sunday in Battle Creek

 

Cornerstone Community Church

We traveled to the Cornerstone Community Church in Battle Creek, Michigan this morning to take part in their Sunday School and morning worship services, as well as enjoying a potluck lunch with the congregation. We took advantage of the opportunity to speak in the Sunday School by presenting our Hungary Quiz, checking to see what the people already knew about Hungary. The did well! It was obvious that some of the people had been doing their homework by reading the World Mission People magazine and checking our blog.  We were also asked some very good questions, including a question about Bled, Slovenia that, surprisingly enough, we were able to answer!

Morning worship at Cornerstone

During the worship service we shared our 2012 Tree of Life presentation, tweaked a bit for the Battle Creek group, as it has been three years since we last visited the congregation. We enjoyed a very warm and friendly reception from everyone, and we can attest the the people of the Cornerstone church are very good cooks! Larry was especially pleased to find homemade eggnog available on the beverage table!

Pastor Eric and Kari Perry

We are thankful for the faithful support of the Cornerstone Community Church and their pastor, Eric Perry. We were also happy to meet Eric's new wife, Kari. Eric lost his wife several years ago and remarried this past November. Their blended family now contains nine children, ages 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 13 and 13! We pray for God's blessing on their new lives and ministries together!

 

Southern Michigan Conference Pastors and Spouses Retreat

 

We feel privileged to be able to participate in the 2012 Pastors and Spouses Retreat, which is held each year in February at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, Michigan. We are thankful for this opportunity to connect with people from many of the churches that we will be unable to visit during our short visit to the United States.

 

The theme for the retreat this year was "The Color of Happiness" and is directly connected to the Chinese New Year. Superintendent Thomas Ramundo and his wife, Noni, always go all out in order to make the retreat a welcoming and relaxing event. They gave out Chinese themed gift bags to everyone upon registration and had Chinese New Year themed decorations.

The speaker for the retreat was Rev. Dale Shinabarger, retired superintendent of the East Michigan Conference. He spoke on "Four Habits of a Healthy Leader" and "Connecting the Chaos." Pastor Dale is a highly energetic motivational speaker who has a lot of practical advice to offer to younger pastors and church leaders. 

We enjoyed some great conversations with Pastor Dave and Dottie Mathis from the West Unity FM Church, Pastor Mike and Andrea Ortell from the Pulaski FM Church, Pastor Jason and Amy Engle from the Jackson FM Church, as well as a number of shorter conversations with many others. Other highlights included playing Seven Wonders with Pastor Mark

Van Valin, seeing Supt. Ramundo play guitar with the worship team, and seeing Supt. Shinabarger's color changing ball.

 

A Day in Spring Arbor

 

 

Pastor Mark makes a point.

The Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church is one of our major partner churches, and we try to make connections there as often as possible. We spent this past Sunday there, taking part in the two morning services and spending time talking with many friends and supporters. February is always their global outreach emphasis month, and the morning services began with Colossians 1:27 (their theme verse) being read out in 10 languages (Finnish, Japanese, Portuguese, Arabic, Dutch, Cantonese, Spanish, French, Aramaic, and English).

"To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

During the evening service we were able to share about recent events in the Budapest church, including a report on the Runyons' seminar, the Madrid Church Leaders Conference, the recent baptisms, as well as giving an update on the new church law.

Pastor Mark Van Valin has been a strong advocate and good friend over the years. His thoughts about missional living have influenced a lot of what we have done in Budapest and what we have shared with other partners. On Sunday morning he presented some of his current thinking about missional living, which resonated greatly with us. He envisions growing in Christ the end result of three complementary processes taking place -- worship, connection, and service.  These three things address three deep-seated needs that everyone longs for -- transcendence, community, and purpose.