Summer Ministry Opportunities (updated)

      As we travel, we do not only share about our future ministry in Hungary. We also have the opportunity to do ministry in many parts of the United States.

     Our most recent visit to Glen Lake Camp yielded much fruit for the Kingdom of God. As a guest speaker at this camp, I had many opportunities to interact with youth. They were a bright group of people and they enjoyed learning - especially when I shared some candy with them. :)  I was asked to teach on two topics in three sessions. However, one of the speakers from overseas was not able to Skype in and they asked me to do another teaching session on world missions. So, I ended up teaching three awesome topics at this camp for the youth: 1) European Missions, 2) Spiritual Practice of Sacrificial Giving, and 3) World Missions.

Teaching Session on World Missions at Glen Lake Camp in TX

The rest of the family enjoyed interacting with the youth and staff as much as their schedule allowed. Emily (5) does not know a stranger. Gabriella (2) she enjoyed singing and the water park and made sure her younger sister Lillian (10 mo) is comfortable in the hot TX weather.

Gabi loves Hymnals!!!

Water parks are a lifesaver in Texas for people from the north!

     After our many days in AR, TX, and LA we arrived home tired. We were schedueled to go to Hollow Rock Holiness Camp Meeting July 17-27. This camp has been help annually since 1818. Emily and I were on this trip together. We stopped in Zanesville, OH and visited with the Grace United Methodist Church for the weekend. Then we headed to Toronto, OH for the camp. We met some great people there. Emily made a lot of good friends both young and old(er).We hope to get back to Hollow Rock sometime in the future with our entire family.

Hollow Rock Camp Meeting since 1818

 

We lived off of this "highway" in the OMS cabin

The OMS cabin

Emily and I were teaching the preschool class about missions in Hungary!

    Emily was in for a special surprise at this camp. Our good friends the Landerholms were at this camp as missionaries representing their work in Hungary through World Gospel Mission. Kristen and I have been friends with Mark since we started Asbury Theological Seminary. When Mark and Eszti were dating, we had the privileged to have them in our home several times and they got to know all of our children. Emily has a special relationship with Eszti and they are best of friends. So, when I needed to speak or go to prayer meetings Emily would stay back with Eszti and they would find fun things to do on the camp grounds. I was especially excited to share the pulpit with Mark and Eszti on the same day and share with the camp about the great work that takes place in the Kingdom of God in Hungary. We have been preparing for ministry in Hungary for a long time. Our prayers has always been "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Mt 9:37-38 NIV) We are excited that God is putting together a group of missionaries who are related to one another in Him and we are excited to work together in many parts of Hungary in the future. For more information please visit the Landerholms blog. They are special to us. They are practically family to us. (http://landerholms.blogspot.com/)  

Emily meets Baby Landerholm!

 

 

Mark grew up at Hollow Rock camp and introduced me to a special hotdog called the slaw dog!

     We just got back from our last trip yesterday (8/11). We were in the Allentown - Easton, PA area for a couple of days and then we traveled to Clearville, PA to speak at a missionary conference. During this trip, I spoke nine times in various capacities. I shared about the current and future ministries of OMS Hungary. We hope to see many partnerships developed for our team and for our specific ministry in Debrecen, Hungary.

     In the middle of this trip, our family enjoyed a little bit of a "down" time at the Crayola Factory. I am not sure if you all have been there but that place is crazy busy. There are kids upon kids at this small facility. There are huge lines for certain things to try out. However, our kids loved everything that Crayola had to offer. It was a blessing from our church family that we were able to make this little detour to Easton.

Crayola Factory 2014

One of the many games these girls enjoyed. Water table?!
You can count on these two little beings to play in it!

     Our last stop on this trip was in the Bedford, PA area. We stayed with a couple for two nights and God was amazing in the development of our relationship. We shared stories about our experiences with world missions and as the hours passed it seemed that we have know one another for years. Our children liked our new friends and here is a picture below how Pastor Buck and Emily connected.

Missions Conference

Emily begged me at Hollow Rock Camp to ring the bell!
Her wish was granted at this small church by Pastor Buck. 

    This is all for now about our summer travels. We still have a little bit more to do in the south. We are gearing up for a long trip to Al, FL, and MS.  We will document that and many other stories that we can recall from these trips. Thank you all for your prayers as we travel. Please keep us in your prayers for the next few weeks as we spend so much time on the road to build a ministry team to send us to Hungary next February.

Travel Schedule

For those of you who are interested in our whereabouts in the upcoming months, below is a schedule of our tentative trips. Contact us if you'd like to meet up along the way!

Our upcoming trips include:

May 16-18               Carmel and New Carlisle, IN

June1-7                    Bloomington, IN

June 14                     Carmel, IN

June 20 - July 14      Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana

July 21-26                Hollow Rock Camp Meeting (Ohio)
                                (Zanesville, OH Grace UMC 7/19-20) 

August 1-10             Pennsylvania
                                (Lighthouse Community Church in Lyon Station, PA 8/3-8/4)
                                (Allentown, PA 8/4-7)
                                (Bedford and Fulton Counties missions conference 8/8-8/10)

August 16-17            Ft. Wayne and Ligonier, IN

Aug 22 - Oct 5        Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina
                                 (we will be based in N. Florida for this extended trip and will be traveling to
                                  various churches and meetings in the AL, MS and N. FL area)

We will be updating this schedule as things change or get added to it.

New Chapter

We are back online. A lot changed since the last post. Our family grew. We met some major landmarks in our fundraising ministry. We relocated to southern Kentucky to be close to our sending church. We also have a clearer view on what God would like us to do in Hungary and where.

Rózsa Family Sept. 2013

First, our last post shared that we would potentially be on our way to Hungary soon. It has changed slightly. We hope to be in Hungary in the beginning of February 2015. We are almost 50% funded of our monthly needs and we are already facing a rather busy year ahead of us. Hopefully full-time fundraising is going to get us to Hungary at the projected time.

We are excited to share with you all that we will be serving in Debrecen, Hungary (the link will give you more details about the city). We have heard great news from this part of the country and we are excited to live and minister in these communities near the Romanian and Ukrainian borders. Our choice of this city was a long process and God seemed to direct all of our conversations to this location. God has opened up our eyes and hearts to see the needs in this region. There is a spiritual awakening happening. There are mini revivals occurring all around this part of the country. Lastly, I am learning from my grandfather that his family is from this region - I have never met them.

So, what is happening in this region?

I recently heard from one of the local Hungarian pastors that he had the privilege to lead someone to Christ. It is a praise for the mysterious works of the Lord. However, it is also a praise because the seeds were planted in this man's heart two decades ago. You see, one of our Hungarian coworkers traveled to this region to participate in a church service and share his testimony with people who attended the service. Little did he know that there was going to be a man there who attended one of the military high school summer English camps back in the day. Little did he know that he would be presented with the gospel message and he would refuse it. Little did he know that he would be married and his wife would also give her life to Christ some time later. Finally, they had no clue whatsoever that as my friend shared his testimony, which included that same English camp they both attended two decades ago, God was working in this certain man's heart. As my friend shared how his life changed because he answered God's call upon his life, this man started to recall a memory from those days that he was given the same opportunity. His life did not turn out to be "without problems". He had the opportunity to realize there is a better life out there. At the end of the service, this man gave his life to Christ.

Debrecen from Google Earth in relation to Budapest, Romania and Ukraine

There are many stories like this happening all around that region. People are giving their lives to Christ and starting a new life for the Kingdom of God in Hungary. This story brings to my mind two passages from God's Word. The first one is from Luke 8:4-15. It is the Parable of the Sower. Hungary has all types of soil for God's Word and the enemy is ever diligent to make sure people are discouraged and do not want to do anything with God. However, there are those who have heard God's call and they stand firm in their beliefs no matter what. They are there to share God's love all the time, in every circumstance, and without hesitation. We need more of those people in Hungary. The second passage comes from 1 Corinthians 3:5ff. In this text Paul discusses how the various Christian workers plant, water, but the growth is caused by God. It all should happen in unity. There should not be any division between Christian workers in the Kingdom of God. The foundation that we build upon is Jesus Christ.

We are going to Debrecen to do exactly that. We want to see a united Kingdom of God in Hungary. We will be edifying and building up Christians so that they can minister to Hungarians and other people groups in the regions. We are excited about this opportunity. We are humbled by God's grace and mercy that there are already people whose hearts are ready to be reached with His message yet again.

We are ready to go. However, we need a big team team behind us to make it possible for us to serve in Hungary. Will you pray with us that God would send the right people in our path this year so that we could serve God in Hungary and build His Kingdom there in the hearts of the Hungarian people.

The "Expected" Journey

We set out on a long journey in September. With God on one side and many praying for us on the other side, our fundraising ministry began. It took us to many places in the USA. Let me bring you all up to date on that.

Three churches can be seen on this sign in Viktor's hometown (Mohács).
Reformed Church to the left
Roman Catholic and Serb Orthodox Churches to the right

2012 September NW Ohio (Ney, and Farmer UMC)
2012 October Monroe, LA
2012 November local meetings in Lexington, KY area
2012 December Sunday School class at Southland Christian Church
2013 January local meetings in Lexington, KY area
2012 February New Carlisle, IN
2013 March Bloomington, IN
2013 April Monroe, LA and Glen Rose, TX, Dayton, OH

Future trips:

2013 May (18-20) family trip to Carmel, IN
(25-27) New Carlisle, IN
2013 June (1-2) Bloomington, IN for Gabriella's baby dedication
2013 July (12-21) New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia
2013 August (17-18) New Carlisle, IN
2013 September open (baby due 27th)
2013 October open
2013 November open
2013 December open
2014 January training at OMS HQ

God is in the process of assembling an awesome ministry team to help us go to Hungary. We have people who have prayed for us and given much financially for years to get to this point. In the meantime, God has brought additional brothers and sisters in Christ who share in the vision for ministry in Hungary in order to expend the Kingdom of God. We are rejoicing over the many milestones accomplished over the past months.

Major milestones:

We have 85% of our onetime cash-needs met as of end of March 2013.
We are at 30% of our monthly needs to be able to stay and minister in Hungary for 4 years.
We have a tentative plan (God willing and 100% monthly giving needs met) to be in Hungary by 2014 February.

Will you pray with us for the country of Hungary! They need to hear about the hope that can be found in a personal relationship with Jesus. There is a lot of work to be done in the Kingdom of God as we need to spread the gospel message and train leaders today.

Please help us share with people about Hungary. If you know a small group, Sunday school, or a church that is interested in Central-Eastern Europe, please let us know. We would like to come and share how God has been working in that part of the world and also tell you where we sense God is leading us as we join an ongoing work of 20 years of ministry in Budapest Hungary.
We need more people to join our team with monthly giving so that we can serve in Hungary for our first missionary term. If you know anyone, would you help connect us with them?

Part of Budapest from the airplane with Margit Sziget (Island) in the middle of the river Danube.
"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." (Matthew 9:37) 

How we got here....

Viktor and Kristen Rozsa were born and raised in two very different worlds, but God brought them uniquely together for His divine purposes and plan. Viktor is from Hungary and became a Christian under the Hungary English camp ministries of One Mission Society in 1996. God called him into full-time ministry shortly after, and he began working with OMS Hungary in 1999. God gave him a desire to pursue formal theological education, which ultimately led to studying in the United States, beginning in 2004. He received his bachelor of arts degree in youth ministry from Circleville Bible College in 2007.

Kristen was born and raised in Indiana and became a Christian as a teenager. God used mission trips in her youth to prepare her heart for His call on her life to become a full-time missionary. She continued to be involved with international missions while attending Indiana Wesleyan University, where she graduated with a bachelor of science degree in psychology, with a minor in addictions counseling, in 2004. Kristen worked at World Gospel Mission headquarters as their volunteer coordinator following her graduation in 2004 until she and Viktor married in 2007.

Viktor and Kristen moved to Kentucky a year after they were married for Viktor to continue his education at Asbury Theological Seminary. They were accepted as full-time missionaries to Hungary with OMS in February 2010 and look forward to reaching this goal soon. Viktor graduated with a master’s of divinity degree in May 2012 and is ready to return to Hungary to reach his own people for Christ. Both Viktor and Kristen have a burden for youth and young adults and look forward to preparing the next generation of Christian leaders in Europe through discipleship, preaching and teaching.

Viktor and Kristen have two young daughters, Emily and Gabriella.