September in South Africa

We hope the end of your summer is going well. September has always been one of my (Daniel’s) favorite months. Between the start of fall and usually cooler temperatures, a litany of people’s birthdays I care for, as well as for those Tolkien fans, the annual reminder of when Frodo set out on his quest, it’s a wonderful time. So far, this September is lining up to be another good one.

At the end of August/early September I was one of about 400 delegates to go to South Africa for the first General Conference of the Global Methodist Church.

You can find many articles online talking about the historic nature of the gathering where bishops were voted in, Articles of Faith were accepted, and even the location all set the stage for the future of the church. However, one of my greatest highlights was singing all the verses for “O for a thousand tongues to sing” all together, a true first for me! If you would like me to share more let me know and I would be happy to.

It really was a great pleasure to be in the gathering and was stretching for me personally as I got to chair a subcommittee on social witness and was up for nomination for the Kingdom Advancement Committee.

As we look forward to the next half of the month, we continue to be busy. We will be in Michigan attending a GMC missions training conference from the 22-24th. We are excited to connect further with others interested in missions and hear/see how the GMC is talking about missions. We are also attending to see if it is a training we could carry into Hungary as well.

2026 Engage Missions Conference

September 10, 2026

Looking even further ahead, things are coming together for our leaving. We still have a little way to go and are praying for another $1500 a month to come in. We would love to schedule a time to meet and talk about partnership to get us across that finish line! As we look ahead, the Taylor team coming in January is coming together and we are praying for them even before they come. This team will be in Hungary for about 2 weeks studying and working alongside us, and we are so excited to have them. We are also praying for an Embarker (a Global Intern) who would be able to come in the spring to assist in English ministries. It is one of our favorite parts of ministry to come alongside those discerning how God is calling them and seeing that discovery become realized.

Please continue to pray:

1. For the needed $1500 month 
2. For our family, especially Arlo as he is old enough to know what’s going on, as we dive deeper into this transition. But also our extended family as they are happy/sad to see us go.
3. For rest/health/continued reliance on God to do all we need to do.