May 2011

We’re Grandparents!
On April 11th, we were blessed by the birth of our first
grandchild, Kaden Christopher Wakefield. Kaden is
the spitting image of his daddy, Joe -- and Bethanie is en-
joying and adjusting well to her new role as "Mommy."
We're extremely grateful for the special gift which made it possible for Debbie to be in the USA for a
few weeks during that time. Chris and Brianna look forward to seeing him "live and in person" next
summer, but in the meantime they're grateful for video technologies like Skype. Chris can't think of
a better birthday gift to celebrate turning 50 and Debbie is cool with the title "Nana." Brianna is
pretty pumped about being an aunt
at the age of 11. Since we have
North Carolina roots, it seems ap-
propriate that she wants to be called,
"Aunt B." ☺

Evangelistic Discovery Group

In January, our church-plant held a
special evangelistic outreach service
targeting spiritual "seekers." At least 13 guests attended that service, 3 of whom indicated a decision
for Christ on that day. As a follow-up, our pastor and his wife invited these guests to a bi-monthly
Bible study in their home called, "The Discovery Group." In this welcoming, non-threatening envi-
ronment, we present the basic tenets of Biblical Christianity, the message of the Gospel and provide
opportunity for seekers to ask their questions. We've been conducting these meetings since early Feb-
ruary and at least 8 different people have attended the
various sessions including two middle-aged women
who've never missed. Their questions have been very
perceptive and it's obvious that they're seeking for
truth. One lady has had many intellectual objections
to Christianity and has had a life filled with trag-
edy. It now seems that those tragedies and the void
she's felt spiritually are now turning her toward God
rather than away from Him as was true in her past.

the
Johnsons Hunga ry
Tóth Ilona utca 4. + 2049 Diósd, HUNGARY + +36 23 370-018 + chrisjohnson@abwe.cc + http://johnsonfamilyhungary.blogspot.com
 2
Ladies’ Day Event
From Debbie: Excitement was in the
air as the ladies began preparing the
room for our church’s annual “Ladies
Day” held every Spring. Several women
from the church joined us for the morning session. I
had the privilege of sharing about “Mentoring ~ the
Friendships of Women”. We took an in-depth look at
Titus 2 and our role as women in each others’
lives. Prayer partners were chosen and a renewed
sense of purpose was sparked for many. Our guests
joined us in the afternoon for our pastor’s wife’s talk on “Loneliness”, more games and laughter, fol-
lowed by a small craft while the room buzzed with conversation. The women’s ministry has dimin-
ished in interest and involvement over the past several years, so it’s been exciting to be involved and
part of the new interest that seems to be developing.

Youth Group
The spiritual and numerical growth of our youth group is an obvi-
ous highlight in the life of our church. Brianna attends the pre-
teen youth group which meets twice monthly. The high school
youth group meets weekly on Friday nights with an average of 25
kids in attendance. Our pastor, Gyuri, has 3 teenage sons himself,
and currently leads the meetings. Almost half of those attending
are not yet believers. Recently, a 15-year-old girl told Pastor Gyuri that she had prayed to receive
Christ as Savior and expressed a desire to be baptized. She plays on a baseball team with one of Pas-
tor Gyuri's sons and began attending the group when our church hosted an "end-of-the-season"
party last year.

As a temporary solution to the

increasingly urgent space prob-
lem at our church, we've con-
verted our tool storage shed into
a youth meeting room. The re-
model has exceeded our $5000
budget and it is on stand-by until
we can gather or raise more funding. The estimated need to complete this project is $2500.

Financial Support Needs

Thank you so much for praying with us regarding our significant financial deficits. A number of
you have given special gifts in response to our December letter, for which we are humbled and grate-
ful. As a result, we've been able to retire the $5000 medical debt and start making some headway on

Johnsons
the
Hungary
 3
the indebtedness from our support shortfall over the last few years. Prices in Hungary
continue to rise and the value of the dollar has started dropping significantly again
meaning that our spending power has decreased by another 20% since the first of the
year. We continue to live on a "bare bones" budget and have made the difficult deci-
sion to home-school Brianna next year. Even though the tuition is discounted for mis-
sionaries, we simply don't have the funding currently for a $4000 tuition bill at the Inter-
national School of Budapest especially in light of the fact that we've come up $1800 short in being
able to pay this year's bill. Here's a chart showing all of our current financial needs:

To give online using a Debit or

Credit Card, please go to:
www.abwe.org/give
Or you can use the enclosed
form & envelope to mail a
check made out to "ABWE" to
the following address:

ABWE Finance Department

P.O. Box 8585
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8585
Attn: Account # 11064

After almost 17 years of ministry in Hungary, we've never enjoyed more opportunities for minis-
try. At the same time, however, we've never experienced so many challenges from so many different
directions. Many are financially related, which we realize may also be true for many of you in view
of the new financial realities we live with. Our next regularly-scheduled furlough for ministry re-
porting and support-raising begins in June of 2012. We really desire to remain in Hungary until
that time, but we know that we cannot continue with these financial shortages much longer. If we
don't see a resolution in sight by the end of the Summer, we may have no other choice than
to put our ministry on hold, pack up our household belongings and return to the USA for a
long-term furlough to raise the additional support we need. Thanks for praying that God will
grant us an even greater capacity to trust Him for our daily bread. Please accept our thanks in ad-
vance if you have the means to encourage us with a special gift at this time.

Grateful for your Partnership & Prayers,

Johnsons
the
Hungary