• July 9-16, TEAM NORTHEAST POLAND and 2 U.S. families will host a discipleship camp for families of new believers and seekers.  They will be working with the families to share Jesus with them and give them instructions in some life skills.  Intercede for travel safety and ask that all of the families involved will be receptive to the teaching they receive.
• The EASTERN HUNGARY TEAM is partnering with the Grain Game Foundation this week to provide a Bible camp in Slovakia for Roma and in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary the week of July 18.  Please petition for a mighty moving of the Spirit in the lives of the young people.
• The CENTRAL CZECH TEAM shares that a Youth Camp will be held July 8-15 in the Eagle Mountains of the Czech Republic with a partnering church from Illinois.  Intercede that many will surrender their lives to the Son as their Savior and Lord.

A resident looks at the destruction of her home after the toxic flood abated.

Three villages were flooded in less than an hour when 185 million gallons of toxic red sludge burst from the reservoir of an Alumina refining plant in Ajka, Hungary early last month. The hot, toxic liquid killed at least eight people, injured over 100, affected the lives of 7,000 residents and will leave a lasting imprint on the ecological conditions of the area for decades to come. But the worst tragedy is that there is no evangelical witness in this area and no interest in having one.

Peter Marki, a national church planter in Southwest Hungary, has been doing relief work in Devecser, one of three villages affected by the tragedy. Although more than a month has passed since the October 4 disaster, Peter said the hopelessness lingers.

“In Hungary we have a ‘day of the dead’ (November 1) when we go into the cemetaries and light a candle–walking in Devecser and seeing candles in some of their windows made me feel as though I am walking in a graveyard,” he said. “It is like they are waiting for life to start again.”

Peter has organized volunteers to go and help rebuild, but the newly-elected Mayor, voted in on the eve of the disaster, has made it difficult to give real hope.

“The mayor told us not to evangelize and not to preach the Gospel,” he said. “The town leadership doesn’t want us doing any pastoral care, we only have freedom to pass out material and food.”

Devecser is a closed township because of the environmental issues related to the flood. Only approved organizations are allowed to help in the wake of the disaster. Of the 100 daily volunteers, Hungarian Baptist Aid is maintaining a presence, cooking for workers and inhabitants of the city, and Peter has organized a group of 20 Christian college students who take food and clothing and help to clean.

“We are praying and helping and talking, but we work all day, the area is cold spiritually and we can’t move freely,” Peter said.

This is not true in all of Hungary. Only 80 kilometers away, in the city of Keszthely, the assistant to the mayor has been helpful in efforts to share the Gospel. David and Tina Taylor, an IMB church-planting couple who have begun a home group there, are excited about his support. They refer to him as a ‘gatekeeper,’ a term meaning one God has placed in a position of influence, is able to grant access and is sympathetic to a cause.

Their home bible study, begun in partnership with Peter, has 10-15 people regularly attend, but is hampered by the fact that homes are small and crowded. The gatekeeper has been helping find a larger place for the group to meet. David is encouraged that with more space, he could gather around 50 people.

David’s home group has been taking up offerings and donations to send to Devecser and they also pray for the possibility of future work there. A Christian publisher in Hungary has offered to publish 100 books for distribution in the disaster area and Peter is hoping that might be an open door.

“I’m searching for opportunity to give Bibles or scripture booklets,” Peter said, “but I’m waiting to find a person of peace or a local believer who will be able to follow up after we’ve gone home.”

Please pray for a gatekeeper in the city of Devecser and for the ongoing ministry opportunities there. Pray for true life to begin in the wake of the disaster.

To find out how you can help through volunteer work, donations or prayer, contact David Taylor.

An IWC volunteer interacts with a Czech boy while on a trip to Olomouc, Czech Republic, last summer. One of the trip goals was to meet people on their level in order to point them to Christ. Spitler/Hope Communications

Last week approximately 75 project leaders from four continents gathered in Prague, Czech Republic, to prepare for the largest ever International World Changers (IWC) year. The program is planning 31 trips worldwide with a capacity of about 2,000 participants in 2009.

Volunteers are aimed to reach 11 European countries via 18 projects from spring break through the summer.

“Man, what an opportunity, to have students come and invest five days of their lives in the Roma people. This could be a good thing,” thought Jerry Goss, an International Mission Board (IMB) worker, when he heard about partnering with IWC four years ago.

Jerry, who leads the Roma work in Poland, is teaming up with his third IWC group. This year he looks forward to hosting 50 students who hope to run a five-day Roma (Gypsy) family camp in southern Poland.

“I like their enthusiasm, youth, vitality, flexibility and being able to work under any conditions for the main goal, to see people hear about Jesus,” he said.

Jerry booked a retreat center in southern Poland with the capacity of 115, thanks to money raised for ministry to Roma through the FUGE missions offering. He said some Romany participants will be able to use a shower for the first time.

IWC volunteers also plan to minister to Roma in Romania. IMB workers Bob and Gayle Hill are preparing to host student teams leading children’s programs, playing sports, teaching English classes and painting kindergarten classrooms in five different villages. This is the Hills’ third year to partner with IWC.

Meg Wood, the trip’s volunteer project coordinator, participated in an IWC project with Bob and Gayle last year, and said she was impressed with what she saw and experienced.

“I love the vision. That’s why I got involved,” she said.

Her group was one of the first to impact a Romanian village where missionaries have been able to maintain a presence, thanks to those students.

“We have continued that new work and it has grown,” Gayle said. “That (effort) did a whole lot to open the area.”

IMB worker Gary Miller is partnering with IWC for the first time, although his ministry in Hungary has a long history of working with students. This summer volunteers hope to build a playground that national believers can use to reach both Hungarians and Roma.

Each of the 18 IWC teams headed to Europe is still looking for volunteers. Meg said participating is more than worth it.

“As a student, it broadens your worldview and get you out of your box,” she said. “They have to go out and … tell their testimony, and I feel that gives them more confidence to go back and do that (in America). Being a leader, it gives me something to look forward to in the summer.”

It is not too late–explore how to join any of these projects and make a difference in Europe at thetask.org.