Our doorbell rang on Saturday morning, same as it has for two months now. It was our Roma friend who comes to beg, Mózes. He showed up and I had promised him a couple of weeks ago I would find some new shoes for him. I had found a pair that were his size at a local used clothes store. He was happy to try them, but afterwards, instead of asking for the usual 200HUF (it's like 80 cents, enough for a loaf), he asked for 500HUF to buy flowers for his Grandmother's grave. I told him I won't give him the money, but if I could go with him, I would be happy to buy the flowers with him.

I was wondering if he would say "No, nevermind then." But he was actually very happy that I would go with him. In my head I was thinking "God, please give me a linguistic miracle", because my Hungarian isn't super strong yet. So we hopped in the van, drove a few minutes down to the graveyard, and bought some flowers and a candle. We spent 15 minutes just trying to find his grandparent's grave. We finally did. An unmarked, untidy and overgrown cement rectangle, with huge cracks marring the top.

He told me how much he missed his grandmother and I told him I would say a prayer at the grave (he is at least nominally Catholic, though he may never have stepped foot in a church since his baptism as a baby). I brought a book of prayers, but not finding anything immediately appropriate I just began praying out loud. Praying for Mózes, praying for his family, praying for peace in a time of sorrow. We stood there while I was praying at the grave in English, he not knowing I was really just praying for him, that he would find Christ and cling to Him. He wept, the feeling of loss for his beloved grandmother was very tangible. It was the first anniversary of her passing. They appeared to have been very close.

It was a powerful moment. Years of preparation and months in language study. All we have wanted was to come here and reach those who are unloved and lonely. Those who have no hope. And now I'm finally able to do that. When we left the graveyard I offered to drive him home. Mózes told me he had tried all week to get his siblings to come, but none were interested. But that I had been "like a friend" to him (the word "friend" here carries a lot more meaning than in English, and is far less commonly used). I drove away thankful that God is "opening doors" by simply having a young man knock on mine. Though I do not know if his grandmother knew the Lord, we are going to do our best to spread the message of Salvation to the next generation.

Pray for him, pray for his family. These are our early steps in spreading the love and hope of Christ to the Roma here in Pécs.

I know I have been really slow on updates! Truth be told, with Spring comes a great mass of work and things to keep us busy. I keep forgetting to send this prayer letter and in fact have written 2 prayer letters but never sent them! So I'll be catching up a bit more than usual over the next few weeks on what has been happening since February. Lots of new children's Bible Clubs and news on our new church plant! Lots of pictures too!

The Lord bless and keep you,
-Taylor