Find out more about supporting the amazing work that Andy and ACORNCAMPS are doing here:
http://www.acorncamps.co.uk/help-us/support-financially/

We pray that this Easter time God would humble our hearts, and set us on fire again with passion to live for Christ, proclaim Christ and suffer for Christ until we meet him in glory.
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We also wanted to thank you for your prayers over the past month, but particularly for the joint winter camp. It really was a blessed occasion. I won't say too much as the official Acorncamps Newsletter should be arriving at your door or inbox soon. [Please email us if you don't receive this and would like to] That contains a full 2-page spread on the weekend with great praise and thanks to God for all His work, love and grace.
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Easter Weekend 
We also wanted to let you know of our planned whereabouts over the Easter weekend in case you are in the area and would like to say hello, we'd be delighted to see you there. 

Maundy Thursday:

• 19:00 Agape Meal                 @ Christ Church Fulwood (A&Zs)

Good Friday:

• 15:00 An hour round cross   @ Christ Church Fulwood (All family) 

Easter Sunday 

• 10:30 Family Communion     @ St. John's Chapeltown (All family) 
• 18:30 Easter Celebration       @ Christ Church Fulwood (probably A&Zs) 

Here's a couple of prayer and praise points to fuel your prayer - and do sign up to Acorncamps prayer feed via prayermate if you'd like to receive the daily pray requests.
Praise God for … 
Personal

• Réka and Zsófi really enjoyed their special time at the Mums & Daughters weekend at The Oakes
• Evangelistic evenings for friends (1st March) went well. 3 of Andy's friends enjoyed eating, drinking and chatting about suffering. Important issues were discussed and praise God for open and honest conversation. 
• The book of Revelation ... even if it is not the easiest book to read as family quiet time! 

Acorncamps:

• Great, blessed winter camp with 100 people
• Encouraging feedback from Andy teaching at Youth leaders conference and more people joining the Biblical-teaching workshop
• Very encouraging Langham Preaching Conference and exciting plans for development in this area with Andy getting more involved

Please pray for …  
Personal: 

• Ongoing safe travels and good time as we enjoy being here in the UK. (22 March - 5 April)  
• wisdom with the idea of repeating our 'street Party' on 1st May as a way of building relationships with our neighbours.
• David, Réka and Emily to enjoy, feel more a part of and more at home in the British culture

Acorncamps: 

• Clear communication with Hungarian churches regarding finalising summer camps, and for all UK teams to be filled and flights to be booked asap! 
• Andy prepping four talks for national youth weekend for the Brethren Church in Hungary over the Pentecost weekend (19-21 May)
• Five-year vision: Pray for wisdom as we prayerfully consider how to focus our time, gifts and resources to best equip and serve the Hungarian church. 

Please click here to subscribe to Daily prayer items (via Prayermate) for ACORNCAMPS.
 
Peeking into April ...  
Lots of prep for the summer camps & Brethren weekend  plus:
8 Andy preaching at Anglican Church Budapest
10, 17, 24  Expository Bible-teaching workshop 
13, 14 Andy leading youth groups with two churches
17, Andy facilitating Langham Preaching Group for pastors in Budapest
20-22  Acorncamps Mission Week Training week in Sheffield

and thank you so much for your prayerful support  ​

Here's a few things to praise God for and pray for ... thanks as always for praying.

Please pray for …  
Personal: 

• Quality family time and a proper rest as we enjoy again the wonder of Christmas.
• Fun times when Louise, Jack & Ava come to stay between Christmas & New Year. Pray for them all as they adjust to Christmas without dad/husband. 
• Building relationships with friends and neighbours and helping them realise the truth of the Christmas message - God coming to be with us, to save us. And that people would come to Thursday evening open discussion evenings we host.

Acorncamps: 

• Planning for 2018: Pray for wisdom as we put things in the diary for the whole year. Pray we would make the most of our time and resources 
• Financially As the work increases so does the need to support, pray for wisdom in making needs know and for God to provide more people to support the work in this way
• Winter camp (Feb 23-25) For teenagers to apply, team to prep and God to use the occasion.

Please click here to subscribe to Daily prayer items (via Prayermate) for ACORNCAMPS.

ps. Rumour has it the kids are planning a children special prayer update for Jan 2018
 
Peeking into January 2018 ...  
2 Back to work 3 Kids back at school :( 
4 Evangelistic pizza, beer & chat for friends on suffering 
5 Winter Camp Planning meeting with Hungarian Church leaders 
7 Andy preaching at Brethren Church in Biatorbágy
13-18 Travelling to UK with 10 Hungarians to attend Good Book Youth Conference  
20 Trustee meeting (UK)
2, 9, 23 Andy leading Bible-teaching workshop 
5, 6, 26, 27 Andy leading youth groups with two churches
 With lots of love 

Andy, Zsófi, David, Réka & Emily

Halloween or the Reformation ​ 

Andy writes: I'm guessing for the majority of people in the UK Tuesday 31st October 2017 will be remembered for trick n treating, dressing up and having Halloween parties. Here in Hungary it's one of those times when I notice a huge difference between the two cultures. No-one knocked on our door and there's no need to organise 'light parties' as an alternative to Halloween, because of course it's Reformation Day, or the eve before All Saint's Day. It's true that a few pumpkins are around lighting up the streets and Emily received a Halloween party invitation - but she, together with David & Réka were a bit shocked and outraged.  Halloween just isn't a big thing here. 

This year all the protestant denominations put on events and we enjoyed an evening at our local town hall with a concert of music, psalms sung by our church choir and historic readings (see photos above). This is just one area where we notice the difference between a much more secular, liberal UK society and a more Christian based, conservative Hungarian society. Just this morning I heard on the national radio about more money being given to church schools, again a reminder of how the current government is actively supporting the growth of Christianity. An unusual occurrence in modern day Europe. 

And so with the Reformation celebrations over, we return to our work of training up youth leaders (see photos below), organising a large winter camp, setting up a Hungarian charity, planning for the summer and a trip to the UK for lots of Hungarian pastors to attend a large youth conference. We are delighted to be attending the Evangelical Forum here in Hungary which will be a three day conference for evangelical leaders. We continue to be encouraged by the training and I guess it's Andy's ideal day when he spends his Saturday's from  09:30-16:30 training up youth leaders and pastors, and then travels an hour to run a youth group in the evening. Training, and on-the-ground youth work.

So thanks for your ongoing prayers. We continue to struggle at times. The culture is so different - and  Andy commented how nice it was to attend two UK churches in October. We guess that's still what we're most used to, in terms of style and content of preaching and sung worship. Our kids have returned to school this week - together with their 8kg bags full to bursting. I'm sure they'd value your prayers and other pointers can be seen below. 

How the children grow up ... David, Réka & Emily 5 years on. (Plus little cousin ​

Praise God for … 

• Helping us through October: We returned for Chris' funeral which was a privilege for Andy to take, and a huge opportunity to talk to many about his faith in Christ.
• A good break: We enjoyed a week away from school and office work with the kids relaxing, clearing the garden, trip to the cinema, walks in the autumn sunshine and not having to set alarms. 
• Two good training days: We were very encouraged by the enthusiasm of the attendees at both Saturday training events (Sept 30 & Oct 21). People really are eager to learn about how to apply and teach the Bible faithfully - and the weekly Tuesday evening training sessions are an excellent complement and addition to the monthly training.

Please pray for …  

• Youth Leaders' Training Day (11 Nov) Please pray our last event would be well prepared and useful for those who attend. 
• Bible study group (Thursday evenings). We have begun to meet again weekly with our friends (guys one week, girls following week) and are planning to open it up once a month for our non-Christian friends to join. That evening would be a topical discussion on something related to Christianity. Please pray for wisdom in planning, courage to invite, and people to come.
• Time away at the conference (12-15 Nov) Please pray we would be refreshed, encouraged and it would be useful for networking and developing our work - and that our kids would be happy at home with grandparents. 
• Ongoing family bible times: We have just finished reading Matthew as a family. Please pray for us to keep up our regular pattern and most of all to put into practise what we read.  

teaching at the conference day for youth leaders 

Peeking into December ...  
1, 2, 15, 16 Dec  Andy speaking at various youth groups 
4-8 Dec  Planned reading/study week for Acorncamps
20 Dec  Kids' last day at school 
25 Dec  This year we'll be spending Christmas and New Year here in Hungary
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Louise contacted us on Monday to say Chris was very poorly. Andy booked a flight that hour and arrived in the UK at 00:25 Thursday morning. The day was a long one and we are so grateful to God for allowing Andy to be there, both to say goodbye to such a friend and to support his family. In the irony of timings - on that very same day Andy celebrated Ava's (Chris & Louise' daughter) 8th birthday.

We will never forget Chris. His friendship, his humour, his love of cars, his love of the Lord and his partnership with us in the work of Acorncamps. We were so excited when Chris and Louise agreed to move out to Hungary with us to establish the work of Acorncamps. God had provided us with the ideal family to partner together with us. Different to us in so many ways.  Complementing our weaknesses, but united in the vision, aims and way forward of serving Christ in Hungary. We planned, prayed, disagreed, visited Hungary, learnt so much from each other. Then in December 2010 Chris became seriously ill and all our plans changed.

We will never understand why this happened? Why would it be in God's plan that Chris' life would be shortened. But Chris always said that God knows what he's doing. His (and Louise's) faith and trust in our saviour has inspired us both (and many many others). We will never forget our times together over more than a decade: crying, laughing, just being there: at home, at the hospital waiting rooms, at St. Giles Hospice and at Briars Hill House. 

Chris would want us to pause and remember and reflect on his passing. He would want us to grieve, but not without hope. But then he'd want us to be back to business. The business of making sure young people in Hungary hear about our Lord Jesus Christ. We will aim to do that even more as we value the days God gives us all, and we will never forget Chris. 

Chris, you were a great guy! Although I (Andy) know that you'd say, "nope I'm a sinner who's found a great Saviour!" As was often the case ... of course he was right.​​

Praise God for … 

• Chris: For his life, service of God, love for his family and for us, and his partnership in the work of Acorncamps.
• Hope: That is there in the midst of grief, and the reality of how Jesus is so very real and present at times like this. Psalm 23 is incredible.  
• Providence: allowing Andy to be there with Chris & Louise on his final day
• the Christian family; for a number of Christians that God has put around the Harling family - who are real friends and continually there in the good days and the bad.

 
Please pray for …  

• Louise, Jack (10) and Ava (8) as they cry, talk, grieve and come to terms with Chris finally going to glory. Pray they would know God's peace and keep trusting in Him. 
• Us, as we cry, talk, and grieve the loss of such a great friend. 
• Us (Andy & Zsófi) as we travel to the UK for the funeral and particularly for Andy, as he is looking after the funeral. Please also remember our kids staying in Hungary at that time.

Other date & items for prayer ...  
Fri 13 Oct  Trustees meeting and AGM (Sheffield)
Sun 15 Oct. Andy speaking at St. Paul's Hadley Wood Mission Partner Service and then meeting with friends from Christ Church Mayfair at their evening service.
Sat 21 Oct  2nd of 3 Conference, Training days for Youth leaders
w/c 23 Oct. Andy & Zsófi taking annual leave to catch up on life and have a rest 
Sat 11 Nov 3rd of 3 Conference, Training days for Youth leaders
12-15 Nov Andy & Zsófi hoping to attend Hungarian Conference for Evangelical leaders (Hungarain ELF)
 With lots of love 

Andy, Zsófi, David, Réka & Emily