March 2008

To my wonderful friends and family and supporters,
I pray God is richly blessing you and filling you with His grace and peace. Those of you who are far away, I miss you! I have been thinking about many people back in the US recently, and lifting you up in prayer. I’m already looking forward to the summer, when I can have a chance to see some of you, and at this time of year, thinking of warm weather is making me incredibly antsy. In spite of the cold and rain falling outside my window today, and even though I haven’t had a cup of coffee in almost two weeks, God is still waking me up each morning with enough energy to teach and creating new relationships with students all the time! But I get ahead of myself.
This has been another incredible month of growth, both spiritually in myself, and in our ministry. We are continuing to have students over to our home once a week, and at times the turnout is low (even just one person), while last week we were back to 10. The weather always seems to affect the number of students, and hopefully the spring will bring back more and more students. One of the students who comes regularly, named Mary, is actually a new Christian, and she has reached out to me and comes each week to talk and to get advice. We sit in the kitchen with tea and chat, and she shares with me about the struggles she faces in her family and at school for being a Christian. I have discovered that quite a lot of families react very negatively to one member becoming saved, and it can be very difficult to remain strong in faith when those closest to you are against it. But she is very adamant, and she wrote her own gospel tract to pass around the school. I offered to give it to some of my classes for her.
On Valentines’ Day, it being an average day here in Hungary and nothing special, I taught lessons on love, using both poems and portions of the Bible to read and discuss. Afterwards, I handed out Mary’s tract, as it was about love too. I was bolder than usual, and tried to explain how perfect love (like I Corinthians 13) can only come from God. I had both positive and negative responses. Some of the students shared a lot about their own views of God and religion, which was exciting. However, one student walked out of my class, and one complained later to their classmaster. I then was pulled aside by the administration, and told I cannot pressure people into my beliefs, and while I can use the Bible as literature, I cannot pass out tracts, or things that ask people to make a decision about their beliefs. That was all. Quite tame, in comparison to the amount of trouble I would get into for doing the same thing in the States. I was quite proud of myself, though, for stepping out and being bold enough to get into some trouble.
Being somewhat frustrated in the Tuesday attendance, I’ve begun inviting classes separately to our home for some games and fellowship. I planned a movie day for my graduating class, 13A, where we watched the movie Crash, which deals with the difficult topic of racism in America. We had a discussion about it which evoked some strong emotions from the students. Afterwards we made crepes (palacsinta in Hungarian) and ate and played games, and I really bonded with this class. I even hung out with 3 or 4 of them later at a Christian coffeehouse that evening and had more good conversations about religion and a few of them opened up about their family life. One of those students was the one who walked out on my class on Valentines’ Day, and apologized and explained his feelings. These are small but significant milestones.
Finally, I want to share with you my needs for the coming year. I am very grateful for the incredibly generous donations that I have been given recently, that have paid for all my debt and medical expenses. Now that I’m even, it’s time to raise support for next year! It is official that I will stay in Hungary for another year, as each year only gets better and better. I was told by ESI that I MUST go to California this summer, since I will be getting new teammates, and to train the new teachers. Emeshea and I will both come back to Hungary next year, but we will meet and help train our two new teammates. ESI will pay for my room and board, but for the flight I need to raise support. There is an administrative fee with ESI for $2500, so I will need at least $5000 before the summer, and I should buy a plane ticket back to the USA sooner rather than later, to get a good price. Also, I feel God has put it on my heart to apply for graduate school. There is a program in connection with ESI, which will give me a Masters in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in 2 and a half years at Azusa Pacific University, and ESI teachers get half off of tuition. This is an incredible deal, allowing me to stay here and work at the same job and work towards a masters for a small price, but I would never be able to afford it on my own. I believe it would be beneficial to my ministry, and my future, whatever that my be, in the ways God has planned. I believe if He wants me to do it, He will provide. I hope that you will pray about whether you are willing to help in this matter. To begin the first semester, I will need another $2500. I have applied, and if I have the money, I will begin this summer. As you can see, I have a lot of financial needs. Every time I have been in need, God has generously provided, so I have no worries. I pray that you will continue to support me here and pray for me. It means so much to me to know there are so many who are behind me. It is so encouraging.
Love in Christ,
Joanna
How to give:
Go to http://www.teachoverseas.org/contribute . You will find step-by-step instructions on the three ways you can give which are:
1) Online. At the website above you can contribute with one click if you have a PayPal account, a very safe way to give using your credit card. Make sure to specify you are contributing to Joanna Fessler.
2) Write a check. Make it out to TeachOverseas, and put my account number (205138) in the memo line and send it to:
TeachOverseas.org
444 East Huntington Drive
Suite 200
Arcadia, CA 91006
3) Electronic Funds Transfer, the easiest way to become a monthly supporter. Go to the website above to download an EFT form and send it along with a voided check to the above address.