Part of Jon & Amanda’s ministry it to support the Debrecen Baptist Church youth group by providing food for social events and ministry nights. The youth group, composed of middle school, high school, and college aged students, is rapidly growing by word-of-mouth. Students are eager to invite friends, partly because of the hospitality of the Goods.

The church has a youth minister who runs the programming and organizes ministry for this group. But the growth of the group is due, in large part, to the support they receive from Jon & Amanda in the form of themed dinners. As is the case in the United States: Where there is free food, students are likely to come.

It was our pleasure to help Amanda and Jon with this dinner. Several members of our team spent the better part of the day at the Good’s house Thursday washing and chopping vegetables and making hamburger patties. So many hamburger patties. (180, I think)

Then, around 6:00 pm, all the food was transported over to the church where Jon lit the grill. As Jon grilled hamburgers, students began arriving with great enthusiasm. Word had gotten out that a group of visiting Americans (that’s us!) were providing them a dinner of American cheeseburgers (so many cheeseburgers) for their evening ministry.

It was a delight to see the Hungarian students playing volleyball and visiting together while Jon, the grill-master, grilled so many cheeseburgers! The game stopped for a brief time of worship: praise songs were offered up to God, along with words of prayer and thanksgiving. The Hungarian praise songs were quite beautiful, and Hungarian students definitely seem to be more musical than their American counterparts.

“Joyful” is how I would describe this evening, seeing students gathering together for fellowship, worship, and prayer following their summer break from school. They were so grateful for the work and generosity of our team to provide them with a genuine “American cookout” – complete with genuine S’mores! Note: making S’mores in Hungary is no easy feat since marshmallows are not available here. Our team, in anticipation of this event, brought ~30 lbs of marshmallows in our suitcases from home.

The laughter and fellowship went late into the night. Much later than any of our team could keep up with. Nevertheless, it’s exciting to see God at work in the growing and vibrant student youth ministry at the Debrecen Baptist Church. And it was a truly humbling and rewarding experience to provide food and support for their back-to-school “American cookout”.