Hello friends and family,
Today we saw measurable progress in the team's relationships with the Hungarians. We have moved from a stage where the Hungarians were warming up to us to a stage in which there are personal relationships forming. Instead of us having to initiate every interaction, the Hungarians are now seeking us out for conversation or asking us to sit with them at the lunch table. It is a welcome development. This sort of relationship-building allowed me to have an intense conservation with a student.
We were on the bus on the way back from a water park and I was sitting with a couple of boys that I have befriended. There wasn't much going on so I decided to strike up a conversation with my friend Oliver (16 years old). Oliver is a bright young man interested in various intellectual pursuits. The Lord's Spirit helped me to move the conversation to a discussion about logic, reason, and science with my new friend. The wheels in his head really began to turn when I asked him how the universe came to be and how we could get order (humans) out of disorder (a random mixture of primordial gases). I asked him if there are moral absolutes (if there is a definite right and wrong). He confidently answered no. I inquired if what Hitler did to the Jews was wrong. He said that those events were "horrible" and "definitely wrong." I asked why that was so given his statement that there are no moral absolutes. Is it wrong just based on personal opinion? That is no absolute. I suggested that the only way to answer these questions is with presence of a supernatural being-God. He was intrigued and yet confused.
I asked Oliver why it is that humans feel an innate sense of compassion towards other humans-specifically - to help those who can't help themselves. If we are simply products of nature - super intelligent animals - shouldn't our goal be survival of the fittest by natural selection? Would it not be to our advantage to have the weak die off in accordance with evolutionary doctrine? Again I told him that these questions can only be answered by the presence of an Almighty, transcendent God. His confusion was climaxing as he sheepishly exclaimed in a thick Hungarian accent, "You have some good points."
It's very exciting to see and to share with all of you what the Lord's Spirit has been doing through in the hearts of Hungarian teenagers!
"Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies-in order that in everything God may be glorified in Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." - 1 Peter 4:11
In Christ,
Steve
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