Dear Special Friends,
Last week I visited the city of Doboj, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a town that just been hit with a major flood after rains that they hadn’t experienced in over 100 years.
As I drove into the city, I could immediately see the destruction. Piles of trash everywhere, the army and the police directing traffic, people walking around just looking at the destruction. As soon as I met with my friends I was given a surgical mask to wear. I quickly said, “I don’t need one.” He insisted and I put it on. As we traveled further into the city, I quickly noticed everyone else had masks on too, the police, the army and just about everyone on the street that were walking around.
The massive flood had hit the nation and some news reports said one third of the country was under water and this city of Doboj was right at the center of the destruction as people died here and homes were flooded, some were completely covered with the water..
If you were wit
h me, you would have seen the destruction, smelled the rotten food and smells of dead animals, and felt the helplessness of the people. I had driven there that morning from Budapest to see what we could do to help. I met with one of the pastors that we work with who has a church in the city. With Pastor Branko, we went to house after house delivering aid, helping the people, giving bags of aid and water and we prayed with them.
As I left the city a feeling of “helplessness” came over me. What can one person do to help in such a large disaster? We will contin
ue to help the church and the people of Doboj. I also was so glad that my friend Branko had a church there and is able to help so many people.
Special Family News . . .Our youngest daughter Audrianna will finish her Junior year this week. She was just nine months old when we moved here and it amazes us that we are finishing our seventeenth year here in Hungary.
She is already checking out Universities in the US. Her last year here in Budapest next year we know will be wonderful. We cherish the times like this past Saturday when we all went to downtown Budapest to eat at one of our favorite restaurants and just relax talk and walk. Brenda and Audrianna of course did some shopping.
Your Missionaries in Budapest, Hungary
Jim and Brenda
PS. This summer we will be in America for several weeks of ministry and relaxation. Prayerfully consider giving for extra expenses we will have during this much needed time.