By Toncho Tonchev
Marriage Week is a week committed to lifting traditional family values across Europe and the world. It started more than twenty years ago as an initiative in the UK. Every year around St. Valentine’s Day, family organizations and institutions organize traditional family-oriented events.
Three years ago FamilyLife Magyaorsag (Hungary) decided to use this country-wide campaign, and we joined the Marriage Week events by organizing an online panel discussion including families from different areas of our society.
That was the first time we had Soma and Rita Zámbori as guests. For a few years in a row, they were actively involved in Marriage Week and they were the face (the ambassadors) of Marriage Week back in 2018.
For the next two years, we organized an “Evening to Remember” as part of the nationwide initiatives during Marriage Week. In our ministry, “Evening to Remember” is a two-hour event to build relationships and community with families. It serves as a great opportunity for believer couples to invite their friends as well as for them to see a model of how they can organize similar events in their area of influence.
On February 17 we broke the record with 27 couples registered and coming to the event. Many of them were invited by friends and were not believers. Having the Zombori family as our main speakers for the second time increased the interest.
Who are they? Soma is an actor and voice actor. He is the Hungarian voice of Captain America of the Marvel series, Jack Ryan, the Lion from Madagascar, and dozens of other movies. Dr. Rita Fazeras (Zombori) is a mediator, coach, and lawyer. They have three teenage kids. They both are committed believers in Christ and use their influence to encourage others and share their faith in Christ.
They have an interesting story – they’ve had their struggles in their marriage and at one point were close to divorce, but God helped them to remain together and actually strengthen their marriage, and now they’re helping other families.
During the “Evening to Remember,” the couples were reminded about how they can keep the romance alive in their relationship every day. Soma and Rita challenged everyone to step out of their comfort zone and to find ways to get closer to each other through everyday acceptance, compromise, and service.
After the event, the couples had an extended private conversation with Soma and Rita, wanting to know more about how their story relates to their own situations.
Please pray for these families as our team follows up with them. We invite them to join a small group, mom’s and men’s groups, or just to meet if they want to talk about how faith and family go together.