From the Potter house to your house: have a blessed Christmas and a spiritually prosperous New Year.

On Sunday evening, December 21, the church presented its annual Christmas concert.  Many unsaved visitors heard Jim Knies preach the gospel from the Christmas story.  Here are some pictures.  Click to enlarge. 

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We held our second annual Christmas concert on Thursday, December 18 in Nagykanizsa.  In addition to eight special numbers from the choir and various smaller groups, Gedeon Olah preached an excellent gospel message.  A number of unsaved people attended including several first-time visitors.  Click picture to enlarge.

The Pecs church’s children’s Christmas program was held on December 14.  Several unsaved family members of families of some of the children attended.  Click to enlarge pictures.

The Lighthouse Baptist Church of Nagykanizsa held special evangelistic meetings November 14-16 with Jim Knies preaching.   A number of visitors attended.  We were able to be there on Saturday evening.  Here are two pictures.  Click to enlarge.

Due to a software glitch, we have not been able to post any pictures for a little while.  Our ace webmaster, Tom Ferris, now has the problem solved, so here are some more pictures from our November missions conference.  Click on image to enlarge.

I brought Jean home from the hospital this afternoon and I will take this opportunity to post some thoughts about the subject of God’s goodness and greatness.  A number of people wrote us to tell us how good God has been to us.  They are right.  God is good.  We are very grateful that Jean did not have cancer and the problems she did have were relatively easy to fix.

Coincidently, today, the same day that Jean came home from her surgery, was the funeral for our friend Marilyn Pieri, missionary to Italy.  She died of cancer, insisting to the last how good God is.  Was God good to us and not good to Marilyn?  The outcomes were very different.  The Pieris prayed for a miracle of healing and did not receive it.

How great is our God?  He displays His power in healing the sick miraculously.  My cousin had an inoperable and agressive cancer.  I prayed that God would take her quickly so that she did not have to suffer.  Several months later the doctors could find no sign of the cancer.  My cousin attributed her healing to the prayers of her mother, and I agree with her.

God also displays His power in giving the grace to endure suffering and death triumphantly, as in the case of Marilyn Pieri.  This victory over suffering is something that the world cannot understand.  I am reminded of John Wesley’s comment, “Our people die well.”

During Thanksgiving week, Jean’s niece Pat wrote, “God’s blessings and mercy have been very much on my mind this week. Thanks for adding to my list!”  Many years ago Pat lost her hsband to a heart attack, leaving her with five children to rear as a single mom.  She has suffered her share of painful bumps and bruises since then.  God did not miraculously heal her husband.  Yet she is thankful.  The following is the gist of my response to her letter.

Which is the greater display of God’s power: healing or sustaining grace?  I suspect it is the latter.

We can see the goodness of God in Paul’s happy dilemma.  “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  (Phil. 1:20-21)  “Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”  (Rom. 14:8)

The Christian is in a win-win situation, no matter what the outcome, because God always knows and chooses what is best.  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  (Rom. 8:28)

Dear Praying Friends,

Ervin never expected to be in the spot where he now finds himself.  It all started innocently enough when he met an American missionary who was establishing a church in eastern Hungary.  After a spirited discussion, Ervin insisted that he had the right to express his opinions.  After all, he said, “I have a Bible too.  It’s at home on the shelf!”  Further discussions led Ervin to change his opinions about a lot of things.  When the missionary moved to Dunakeszi, north of Budapest, to plant another church, Ervin, his wife and four children came along.

Then things began to get more complicated.  Ervin had always said that, unlike his brother-in-law, Gedeon Olah, he was not called to preach.  The unexpected departure of the missionary to the United States left Ervin in charge of the new work, preaching and everything else.  His burden is to get the gospel out to everyone, purely and simply.  Because he receives little support, he must work at his trade as a carpenter.  We heard his testimony at our recent missions conference, and last night we voted to support him and his family.  Pray for Ervin.  He is one of about ten million reasons God sent us to Hungary.

Thank you for praying for Jean.  At least two people I know of set their alarms for 2 AM so that they could pray for her while her surgery was going on.  The operation was successful.  The doctor believes that the lesion he removed might have been precancerous.  She is at this moment still in the hospital, having suffered a minor setback.  We  hope to have her home by midweek.  As a relative said in an email to us last week, “Hospitals are no place for sick people.”  I will be posting some more thoughts on this subject on our web site: http://www.missioncentral.net/miss/potter/index.htm.  Just click on “Our Journal.”  I have also posted pictures from our missions conference as well as other items.  I will let you know when Jean comes home with a post, so check back as you pray for us.

Thank you for praying for our mission conference.  Besides the Andrasik family, God blessed us with testimonies from the Olah family, and the ministry of Mark and Sharon Booth of Calvary Baptist Church, Charlotte, Michigan.  Brother Booth “connected” with our folks in a wonderful way, challenging them with the need for missions.

We were able to attend one night of the three nights of special meetings held by Lighthouse Baptist Church of Nagykanizsa, with Jim Knies preaching.   Two men professed salvation during that time.  Another man prayed to receive Christ as Savior after their morning service yesterday.  We are thrilled with the way that God is using the Olah family.

Please pray for the many upcoming events connected with the Christmas season.  Opportunities include a concert at a local museum on December 8 and another on December 18 in Nagykanizsa.

We also request prayer for the Larry Pieri family, Baptist World Mission missionaries in Italy.  Mrs.  Marilyn Pieri went to be with the Lord this morning.  Pray for Larry and for their two children, Faith and Joe.  I will post more comments about them on our web site in the next few days.

Also pray for my teaching ministry in Romania.  Due to Jean’s surgery, I have not been able to return as I had planned.  Pray that I will be able to give the students a good foundation in New Testament Greek in the time that is available to us.

Again, I want to say how overwhelmed we are at the many letters of encouragement that we have received over the past week.  God gave us unusual peace in our hearts because you prayed.

Yours for Hungary hearts,

David Potter