Pictures from the outreach!

I've counted up the cost, and You are worth it.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

It's no coincidence that this weeks intern study was about the Holy Spirit abiding with us, in us, and working through us. And also that I'm a teacher's aid for Acts class, which is all about the Holy Spirit. I've been feeling so empowered by the Holy Spirit. The first bit of my internship was me constantly feeling inadequate and lost. And I am. In my own flesh and strength I absolutely am. But lately I have been realizing how much power we have in Christ. He is constantly multiplying my time to get everything done, opening up my mind to understand the things we study, and just giving me favor in so many things. It's...wonderful.

Ten Day to...ROMANIA
Next month we have our ten day mission trip to a country of our choosing. Now that I'm an intern I get the opportunity to organize and lead my own. Back in June the Fout's family asked me to lead one to their city (the same city I went to last Fall as a student on outreach). I prayed about it, and the Lord has confirmed many times that that is where I need to be. I have an amazing and solid group of 5 coming alongside me. I am so excited. Please pray that I would have wisdom on how to lead, that we would be effective encouragements to the church there, and that we would have favor with the gypsy kids we will minister to. Honestly, the scariest thing to me is leading people into a whole different country; especially since I don't speak a lick of Romanian. I mean...unless I need to tell border patrol that "Isus te Iubeste" (Jesus loves you)...which, hey, you never know...

And I'm so thankful that I got the money for this outreach during my birthday back in June. It's such a blessing to have that provided for since I haven't even paid for my internship yet. God is good!

Homesick?

I've been missing my family a lot lately. I haven't seen my mom or sister since January. That is the longest I have ever gone and it is especially hard knowing I wont be home until August 2014 (depending on if I have money for a plane ticket by then). And I think of my grandparents and cousin and even my puppy and I cringe. What I would give for one cuddle with each of them! BUT, Jesus said “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life."

I trust Him when I feel the sting of homesickness. He gives me 100 fold. Who else gets to live in Europe serving the Lord??

Pécs

I got to lead my first weekend outreach (co-leading with Hillary) back to Pecs where I spent my 30 day. It was so refreshing to be back there. God's hand is ever-on that church and ministry. It's so different to lead an outreach than to be on one, however. The responsibility of getting all the girls on a completely full/standing-out-the-door-room only bus, or handling money, or walking them through the city. But it's truly an honor and it was so amazing to get to help the church sort out bags upon bags of donated clothing for the giveaway we did on Saturday. I hope to go back very soon. 

Please Pray For:

Finances

Homesickness&My family

My 10 Day to Romania

Diligence and
An Overflow of the Holy Spirit

Website: roxieinhungary.weebly.com

Paypal: Donations

Just got out of a really great Intern Study and Intern prayer meeting. I'm starting to feel connected to my fellow interns in a more intimate way. As we share experiences and pray with each other I feel the bonds forming and tis so sweet!
I'm truly thankful for the interns and staff here who work as the body of Christ. It's very uplifting!

Hillary and I are gearing up to lead the first weekend outreach of the semester to my dear Pécs! I'm so stoked to be going back there and seeing old faces and helping out with whatever needs to be done. They are going to have us be at their new youth group, helping sort clothes for the clothing give away, and doing children's ministry this Sunday morning. It's the first outreach I've ever led (so thankful Hillary is doing this with me!) so please pray that it wont be chaotic and that we would get to the bus on time!! Pray that we will bless the church rather than create more work for them ;)

We are also going to be announcing 10 day outreaches this Friday and I'm so excited! I can't wait to lead a team back to Bistrita, Romania...especially to encourage the church there after the sudden death of their assistant pastor and his son.  Plus, I miss those faces there and feel so loved by the pastor and family out there. I know it's such a good place to lead my first 10 day because A) I'm familiar with it and B) the family will be gracious with all the mistakes I'm bound to make.

Life here is going great. Sure it's full of challenges, but these trials produce endurance and they perfect us. And God gives me so many gifts; such as Deanna Carver coming for a visit. It was so amazing to see her face and hear her wisdom.

Please pray for:
Upcoming outreaches listed above
Financial Provision
Continuance of language study in Hungarian
Discipleship with the students
My heart to be content in all situations

Check out my new website 

Psalm 19:7-9

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
 the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
 the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules[d] of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.

A stretching.

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Matthew 14:31-32

This internship has been nothing short of a challenge. It's been a constant step in faith that Jesus would grow me and carry me. And honestly...I've loved every second. Through the tears and through the laughs I can see God's hand in it all, and that gives me hope. 

The semester has started amazingly. This new group of students is so unified, open, and desiring of God. I've been praying for my dorm room for months and I know that God has blessed me with amazing, sweet girls. We have been able to laugh together, sing together, cry together, and pray together...and it's only the first week. I'm so encouraged by their sweet spirits and am so thankful to God for each one of them. 

There has been a challenge. A woman with Aspergers syndrome is in our room. Initially my flesh lashed out in frustration with the challenges that come along with this...but surely God is changing each and every one of us in our room through this. I know that we are going to grow so much in patience and compassion as we labor in love and prayer for this. God loves her and sees her as precious and we also need to see her as this too! Different is NOT bad! God's helping my carnal self to do this. Even this morning when normally my impatient self would lash out in a harsh voice God, and God alone, gave me patience to sit with her and pray with her and read through Philippians 4 with her. She then opened up to me about her life and we got to talk about real things. It just goes to show that she can hear whether or not I'm angry. And if she can sense my anger, then we will get nowhere. But if I have a direct gentleness then that gives God room to work with both of us. I know I have so much more to learn in this situation, but I can already see God's hand in it. 

In other news, overseeing housekeeping, laundry, and preparing the conference lodgings has been a stretch for me in its own ways. Administration and communication with a large team have always been weaknesses for me. I feel like I constantly have a to-do list in the front of my mind. But my team is wonderful so far. They work really hard and pay attention to details. I'm so blessed!!! 

I'm just thankful that God has given me these challenging situations so that I can grow, and He's also given me a lot of grace and favor in certain things so that I can also have good fellowship with the girls here.

Life is good. God is good.

Please be praying for:

Finances (Still in need of $3,000 for internship)
Upcoming outreaches
Unity in my dorm room

A quick update...
Life is about to speed up so much here in little Vajta as we gear up for the semester to begin. The final conferences are just about to exit and the new students will soon enough be boarding their planes to Hungary.
It's crazy to think a year ago I was totally new to this place and didn't know a soul...and in the span of a year God has blessed me with a family and ministry here. I'm so excited to serve here as an intern in the semester. I will be overseeing housekeeping/laundry/guest rooms. This is a huge area and I'm surprised it's been entrusted to me..but I know God has me there for a reason and He will grow me in it. I will also be assisting Caleb in his Acts class (grading papers/tests/etc) which I am so excited for. I loved Acts when I took it and I know it'll be an honor to witness student's eyes being opened as they journey through it. Plus it never  hurts to go through it again and again. I can't wait to see what girls/women God will put in my path to pour into. This is going to be a crazy ride, I tell ya.

Pray for:
Descipleship to happen
Time Management
The new students
Finances
Me to not be a lame leader

A Green Leaf In Drought

God has been showing me so much good stuff lately!
You know, I haven't struggled with insecurities since I was like...13. But becoming an intern really brought out a lot of new insecurities! It was so odd! Suddenly I was comparing myself to every other girl intern and thinking "man, I don't have that gift or that awesome personality trait!" I was getting super down on myself! It was actually quite distracting and stupid. But then one night I got such peace. God just let me know that "You aren't like everyone else! You CAN'T be! You are fearfully, wonderfully, and UNIQUELY made! I gave them their great gifts and traits and I gave you yours. Now don't you dare diminish those thing by comparing." It really gave me such a peace to be myself. To be my funky self. It's quite nice actually.

Also, it's been so lovely to get to know the AVFL girls more. It' so sad that they will be leaving in two weeks! Last week the girls in my dorm came home late from their Slovenia trip and one by one they came into our room, ran up to my bunk, and hugged me with such sweet, excited smiles. It's just such a joy to me to see how God is filling them and growing them! I don't even mind being woken up by their arrivals. This week they are serving in gypsy villages in Romania. Can't wait til they get home!

In other news, I got my root canal officially finished and my visa is now in the process of getting renewed! It's been a full week of all the little details of these things. It's these little things that make me feel like I really live in Hungary. Those little real life things :)

It's so crazy that in just a month students for the Fall semester will be arriving. I am so excited to prepare for them. I just keep thinking of how I can pray for the girls I'm going to be with and how I can bless and encourage them. I seriously love the job of descipling. It's an honor to be a part of girls' lives!!!!
And I'm already praying about where I will be leading my first ten day mission trip. China? Romania? Slovenia? So many opportunities!! I'm so thankful to be able to minister in so many different places. I can't wait to see where God takes me after this internship (although I don't really need to worry about that now!) I just can't imagine myself back in the States. I want to go where the gospel isn't really available! We'll see! :)
Let's enjoy this year first.

If you would like to donate to my internship costs please donate on paypal to roxannemallos91@gmail.com !
DONATE! (if you feel it!)

An Overflow

My heart is overflowing with a good theme;

I recite my composition concerning the King;

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Psalm 45:1

My heart truly is overflowing. I am so abundantly blessed. 

Sunday I got to travel to Budapest with my dear friend Chelsea to meet up with some friends from my home church in California. Some of my old bible college friends also joined up with us. It was so surreal to see them here in HUNGARY! We went to the church that they had been serving at and it was so great to see how they blessed them with a great VBS for the children at the church. It was a double blessing because I wont be seeing my California friends for another year, as I wont be going to California for Christmas. And a TRIPLE blessing still because they were able to bring over to me some clothes that my mom gathered for me, and toothbrushes, and vitamins, and all those little things you take for granted when you live right by convenience stores. 

This week the conference is for the Golgota Budapest Youth Conference. I'm so excited to serve these kids and see them grow in the Lord this week.
The Budapest church is raising up some wonderful young men and ladies. My dining room crew has been so amazing (they are from the Budapest youth). They even come to serve when they aren't even scheduled to do so! Such servant hearts!!!

It's becoming a little easier to be a leader...but I still have quite a ways to go. Luckily, I have 12 and a half more months to be built up in this way. Praise the Lord for wanting to grow me...because I am quite inadequate on my own. 

And I am just so thankful for the pastoral staff and their wives here. They are so encouraging and so willing to be involved in our lives and see us grow. They have certainly been such great council in my life recently especially as I pray and submit to God in certain things. God is definitely giving me plenty opportunity these days to practice submitting to His authority. I'm actually reading a rather good book that touches on this subject: 

"To have God’s best, we must unconditionally surrender our lives to Him, which includes submission to our delegated authorities. This choice, however, will not come without suffering in the flesh. The old habits we have grown up with as rebellious children of Adam don’t die easily. But there is one thing I am certain of: Anyone who deeply hungers to know the living God and to touch godliness will relentlessly pursue submission to God and His authority."

-Yohannan, K.P.  

In other news, Noemi (the woman I taught English to last semester who became quite a nice friend) invited me to her new home in Paks. I hope to go visit her very soon! I'm so happy that even though she has moved, she still wants to continue this friendship we have. Pray for her!

I haven't had much time to go out to the village these days, unfortunately. I miss the kids quite a lot. Please pray that I get more opportunity to do this. In the moments where I do have time I am just so tired that I just want to sit and rest! But I do hope to make a trip out to hang out in the village sometime this week since the AVFL kids are gone to Slovenia for the week. 

So that's whats up these days! :)