Changing the Whole World, One Person at a Time

Szilvia is a 20 year old Hungarian girl who lives in a halfway-house between an orphanage and the “real-world”. She is not living at home due to sexual abuse from her father. To fill the emptiness in her heart she had become involved in sex, drugs, and anything that would help her forget her life. Saturday Morning November 29th Szilvia sat at her desk and wrote goodbye letters to those closest to her as she prepared to end the misery she knows as her life. A friend at the halfway-house invited her to come to a drama in town later that same morning. She did not want to go, her mind was on “other things”, but somehow she found herself going along to this drama.

It was Eletszava's presentation of Born Again to a Living Hope. A powerful portrayal of a real life couple caught in the world of drugs, sex, and sin – a miserable life. They both contract AIDS and facing the reality of death they accept Jesus Christ and begin to live their life with a completely new perspective. With the certain hope of eternity with God they lived their lives free of the sex, drugs, and many of the sins that kept them in bondage before. They both died of AIDS way too young but have begun a new life in eternity with Jesus!

In many ways Szilvia saw her life played out on that stage that morning. She stayed after the presentation and spoke with two of the cast. Monca, one of our staff members who plays a lead role, and our daughter Hannah. As Szilvia shared her life story, and that she had planned to end her life that very day, she had many questions about God's love for her, His willingness to forgive her and the new life He offers. She had a new hope that she had never felt before. That morning God had a plan for Szilvia, instead of ending her life she gave her life to Jesus Christ and has begun a powerful new life in Him! Szilvia literally, and spiritually, went from death to life that day as she was born-again to a living hope. Since then Monca has kept in daily contact with her and Szilvia is fervently growing in the Lord!

Szilvia's story may be more dramatic then most but there are hundreds of lives being changed by God and for God through this drama and many other ministries of the students and staff here at Eletszava Hungary.

Here are some of the many other ministries here at Eletszava Hungary all of which God uses to touch the World

Children's Ministry: Children love to see the multi talented Eletszava Children's ministry arrive to share the gospel with puppets, story telling, and clowning around




Sing Team: A team of students travels most weekends to minister at churches, conferences, and youth events.




Sunday School: Two churches are blessed by the Bible School students teaching the children each Sunday




Sports Ministry: This ministry travels to local high-schools each week as well as periodic sports tournaments and local parks, always taking time to present the good news




Summer Camps: Each summer 700 to 1000 children and youth attend the Eletszava summer camps over 7 weeks. Deep discipleship relationships are formed that last for years




Open Air Evangelism: Weekly, a team heads into the open air of the streets and squares of Budapest to share the gospel with a lost world

Evangelism, Baptism, Discipleship

Evangelism is always a very colorful experience!


We go to Budapest to share the Good News with people on the streets. A team did Gospel presentations with sketch boards and talked to anyone who would listen. In all, thousands saw the sketch boards, 574 detailed Gospel presentations were made to people one-on-one, and 29 prayed to trust Christ as their Savior over two days.

There are many, many people that we meet in open air ministries that would never, ever hear the Gospel any other way. Dan spoke to a Buddhist, an Atheist, a Hindu, and a Humanist all in one afternoon.

One person who heard about Jesus was a young Jewish man in his twenties. He reads his Old Testament regularly and faithfully attends the synagogue, but he stayed to hear two full sketch board presentations of the Gospel. When one of our team talked to him afterwards, his initial reaction was “What are you people doing? You are leading people astray!” Yet as the conversation went on and the discussion turned to God’s covenant with Abraham and what the Old Testament prophets said about Messiah, he got tears in his eyes. Pray for our Jewish friend and many more who heard the Gospel that week!

Highway Evangelism
One night on the way back from ministry in Slovakia we got stuck in a traffic jam for over 1 ½ hours so we used the opportunity to share the gospel with those in the cars around us. What a cool experience. We were in Slovakia to help train youth to share their faith!

Great Baptism: Daniel was baptized in Hungary! He has always wanted to be baptized but has been too nervous to stand in front of the church. He knew he needed to do it. So, he spoke with the church elders and they arranged a baptism.

Dan was a very proud father as he was able to baptize his son! Daniel was still very nervous as he shared his faith in front of a full church. What a great time of celebration for our family!

There were five people who entered the waters of baptism all associated with the ministry here at Elet Szava.

Discipleship: What a wonderful opportunity we had to be involved in a youth conference in Slovakia on how youth can share their faith with family, friends and strangers. In a country that is less than 2% christian it was amazing to see 60 youth come out to learn how to share their faith.

Training – We participated in Youth Leaders Conference in Hungary with more than 170 people in attendance and a week long training in youth ministry.
Pray for pastors and local church leaders throughout Central Europe as they attempt to reach the next generation for Christ.

As needed we are able to fill-in and help train-up even the youngest among us.

Ongoing mentoring / discipling of students from 12 different countries – from Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Germany, the Netherlands, Uganda, Brazil, Canada and the USA.

God Changing Lives

Counselors jumping for joy as the last week of summer camp has come!


One of hundreds of campers this summer able to enjoy the camp atmosphere and grow in Christ. 

“Jesus Loves You” as written in Hungarian by a camper on the sidewalk outside her dorm

Natalie with one of her small group English classes – They all loved Mrs. Natalie!

Dan with the beginner volleyball campers and coaches one week

Hannah continues to grow in knowledge, experience, and skill with both still and video cameras as well as how to put together multimedia presentations

Prayer – each leadership team gathered for devotions and prayer daily for the campers

The sports program offered: Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, Baseball, and Disc Golf. We also offered English and German lessons

This is a traditional old-style Hungarian house. In most villages you can still see a few with thatched roofs

Historically Hungarians are great horse men. With much of their experience coming from farming and their many wars. Here is a traditional horse demonstration with the rider standing on two horses while driving other horses.

These traditional wells still can be found in the countryside. They would use a counterbalance on the back to offset the water being drawn out of the well.

This steeple among the chimneys is Greek Orthodox, one of the traditional religions in Hungary.

Here is a beautiful ornate wooden church steeple

Wind mills were common in Hungary. A few can still be found working and some have been restored like this one. That's Dan standing out there. Now they use wind in some parts to generate electricity.

Sunflowers are one of Hungary's largest cash crops.
Here Daniel basks in the sun with the flowers

There are different varieties with some being extra tall.
Here Erin Case, a friend visiting form the states, demonstrates how tall they are.

This is a field last month just outside of our village of Toalmas

We had a wonderful time when Erin and her mother, Heidi Case, visited us from Florida in early August.
Here is Heidi tasting a hot-juicy-pickled Hungarian paprika at a local market.

We showed the Case's all kinds of sites, sounds, and tastes of Hungary
Reflected on the Danube River is the famous Parliament building in Budapest

There are many ornate buildings in Budapest creating interesting skylines.

We found one of the buildings reflected in a BMW at the market hall.

There are still a few grand market halls in Budapest like this enormous one below

You can find everything at the market from delicious fresh seasonal farm produce, to traditional Hungarian goods, to souvenirs for the visitors

Hannah had a wonderful time with her great friends Erin (left) from Florida and Becky (center) who lives across the street from us in Toalmas Hungary.

We always try to do a little evangelism in Budapest even if we are just visiting for fun.
Here Daniel gives a street musician a tip and a Gospel tract. One may help him today the other for eternity.

Along the Danube River we heard another wonderful violinist. A street performer playing for tips
God has blessed us with a productive and fruitful summer. We are truly thankful!