April Already

Evidently, the last time I wrote anything here was in mid-February. I'll try to catch you all up on some news from the past few months.

The past few weeks have gone by very quickly with visits from my parents and sister and my friends, Katharine and Trazy. With my family, we spent a few days meeting the people whom I spend most of my time with here in Hungary (Zsuzsikaneni, the people in the congregation here and the people in the village). The rest of the time was spent exploring castles, investigating churches and museums, and enjoying some great food! With Trazy and Katharine, our time was split between Nyirtelek and Budapest, and we were able to see some musical performances as well!

Around the time of my last update, Gorogszallas (the village where I work in the children's house) had a beauty pageant for all of the little girls! Honestly, I kind of cringed at the thought when I heard about the idea in the first place, imagining that people would be upset when their little girl didn't win a trophy. As it so happened, I was away visiting friends the weekend when it took place. When I returned, a friend here told me how great it had been and let me download the 200 or so pictures he had taken during the event. Then things really took off. I had people stopping in the children's house every day for the next couple of weeks to see the pictures of their daughters and nieces and cousins. Along with that, came requests for me to get the pictures developed for them. I hadn't really thought about it before, but most of the people in the village don't have a ton of photos of their kids growing up like we might have in the states. What few pictures they do have they really treasure and are happy to show to friends and visitors. So, I started taking orders and having a local shop print them up and the people have been very appreciative! We've now moved from just pictures of the beauty pageant to any random pictures I might have of the kids. This was just on my mind, because today I went to the shop for probably the fifth time!

While the picture requests seem to be never-ending, requests for help with English have pretty much ground to a halt. The English classes both in Nyirtelek and in Gorogszallas are pretty empty now. What began as an English hour in the village has become a bible study for the adults with Misibacsi (the pastor) and guitar lessons/worship time with Peter (assistant pastor/seminary student/good friend of mine). I join in the singing and try to make sure all the teenagers get an equal amount of time playing solitaire or Super Mario Bros. on my computer. And in Nyirtelek - well, one of my faithful students has a new baby, another moved to the UK, others developed work conflicts or what-have-you. To be honest, it's alright with me; while I can do my best to clarify English grammar and vocabulary, I don't think I'm cut out to do it for a living.

Another exciting thing from the past few months is that I've felt a God-given desire to attend seminary. After discussing this desire with Pastor Tim Wilson and some of my friends in ministry in Hungary, I knew that this was something I should feel free to pursue. And after doing a little research on my own and asking friends, I came to the conclusion that I should apply to Western Theological Seminary, practically in my own backyard back in the States. This process of applying isn't 100% complete yet, and I don't know for sure if I will be accepted, but I trust that God will continue to lead me on the way!

Half way!

Well, I'm just over half-way through my time here in Nyirtelek and have almost exactly 5 months to go. That feels about right. I know I have learned a lot so far (about the Hungarian language and culture, about voluntary service, and about myself). I also know that I have a lot yet to learn. One of the major lessons that God continues to impress on me time and time again is the importance of giving without expecting anything back. Giving respect to people who won't respect me, serving those who do not understand my needs and desires, and loving those who do not love me. This is really hard! How do I respond when I feel hurt, belittled, and ignored? Do I put a wall around myself to stay protected from a potentially painful relationship? Do I strike back with the same words and actions that have stung me? Or, do I push forward, shrugging off perceived insults and reaching out in Christ's love? More and more, I pray that God will create a heart in me that consistently does the last option.

Now, for some fun stuff! I spent last weekend in southwest Hungary, seeing some sights and visiting with other volunteers. On Thursday, I took the train to Budapest, where I met up with Trazy (another RCA volunteer here in Hungary, if you're new to this blog; her blog is trazylyn.blogspot.com, if you would like to hear about her experience so far). On Friday, we arrived in Pecs, a large city about 3 hours southwest of Budapest. We visited an ancient Christian burial complex, which was very interesting, and which also housed a very cool collection of Christian images from a couple hundred years ago.

Later that afternoon, we caught a bus to Magyarmecske to meet with Livia, Emilie and Simon. Livia is a native Hungarian speaker from the Ukraine, Emilie is an American from New England, and Simon is from Germany. On Saturday, we explored Magyarmecske with the help of two young boys who Livia and Emilie work with at the elementary school. We spent a good amount of time talking about the various difficulties that come with working with young children. Of course, there are very rewarding moments too, but they're just hard to remember when, as Emilie and Livia recalled from Friday, kids are throwing chairs and hitting their classmates.

On Sunday, Trazy, Emilie and I went to Mohacs, a town on the Danube River, which was holding its annual Busojaras festival. I think I can say that this was the most amazing, distinctly Hungarian thing I have seen so far! I'm not absolutely sure I have the story straight, but I believe it celebrates the successful defense of the town from Turkish invaders a few hundred years ago. When the people saw the foreign army approaching, they covered themselves in sheepskins and wore terrifying masks. When the Turks saw them, they ran away thinking the people of Mohacs were demons. Now, during the Busojaras festival, some men dress up sheep skins and masks and parade down the street. Others wear different costumes, from old military uniforms, to (presumed) Turkish style clothing to dressing like witches. It felt a lot like Halloween, except that it was on Valentine's Day! It also served to celebrate the coming end of winter. There was a white casket that was labeled "Winter 2010" which was thrown into the river, and a large bonfire where a large strawman was burned up. All in all, it was a great time, and I have a ton of pictures to show when I arrive back in America this summer!

Overdue update, plus a look at my typical week.

Well, my last update came on Christmas Eve, and a lot has actually happened here in Hungary since then. I had a really good holiday season. I celebrated Christmas in Nyirtelek, and headed to Budapest to be with friends on New Year's Eve.

On New Year's Day, I caught a train to Croatia to visit my friend Paul, an RCA missionary who has been living and sharing the Gospel among young people there for about 12 years! He helps lead a church and befriends plenty of kids who share his interest in adventure, exercise and dog tricks.

The following week found me back at work in Nyirtelek and Gorogszallas in the Childrens' House. There still seemed to be a problem attracting parents and children, so one day the leaders of the program and the pastor sat down and had a long meeting to brainstorm ways to interest the community. So far, two concepts have really started bearing fruit. At least twice a week for the past couple of weeks, a leader in the congregation here who has a job running errands for the people in Gorogszallas has driven a van-load of parents and children to spend a few hours at the Childrens' House. This eliminates the need for parents and kids to walk longish distances (sometimes .5 - 1 mile) in the cold. Another idea that I've really grown to appreciate is the cooking that takes place on those days! When the families come, they know that their kids will be able to enjoy some fresh palacsinta (crepes) or hungarian hashbrowns. They're delicious! As a result of these ideas, we've gotten considerably busier; yesterday, I counted 12 kids at one time!

Now, for a look at my usual week. Mondays are typically my longest days. I usually meet Istvan (the leader who helps run errands) at the church at 7:10 for the 15-20 minute ride to Gorogszallas. I start the fire in the fireplace (the wood-burner heats water, which runs throughout the building) and usually help with some light cleaning. Shortly after 9 o' clock, families may start arriving. If you've ever done nursery duty at church, then you know what my days are typically like until 1pm or 1:30. In the down time, I'm free to practice my Hungarian and talk with the other workers at the Children's House (there are usually 2 or 3 other adults there), or I can read, or whatever.

Around 4 o'clock on Mondays, people start arriving for Monday night events. I offer to tutor anybody from the community in English (usually I get at least one taker a week, but if it's a local kid he or she has already had a long school day, so we usually only study for a little while before switching to drawing or chatting). Sometimes, there are guitar lessons from my friend Peter for the locals. There is also a Bible study that at least 3 or 4 people regularly attend. Before splitting up into these different activities, we have a group hymn sing (on this past Monday, there were probably 15 people there, playing whatever instruments they brought with them!). After these activities, I usually arrive home at around 7pm. Dinner. Cooldown time. Bed.

Tuesday, I do the same thing over again, but I return to Nyirtelek around 4. Wednesday is the same, except that from 5-6 on Wednesday nights I offer English lessons in Nyirtelek at the church. A wide variety of people come, from adults in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, to kids in the first and second grade (though sometimes, these kids know more English than the adults :D). Attendance varies based on the weather. Sometimes, a lot of people show up (I think the most we had was around 15). And then, other nights when it's snowing and slippery and cold, no one shows up at all (oh well, gives me time to update you all!).

Thursday mornings I spend with Peter at the church, preparing our lesson for afternoon in Rakamaz. I get to have a warm lunch at noon back home with Aunt Suzie, and Peter and I take off around 1pm for the middle school in Rakamaz. The program we have there is called KEBI (accronym for Christian Ethics and Bible Study). After quite a few weeks of low but consistent attendance from some regulars, Peter had a great idea. He would see if the school would allow us to play some soccer in the gym beforehand! This has proved to be really attractive to many of the young guys at the school. After we play for 45 minutes or so and are good and tired, we take a break to talk about Christianity with the kids who choose to stay. We don't force the kids to stay; if they like, they can simply play soccer for a while and leave. But there are an increasing number who choose to stay and listen to Peter's often fun and interesting Gospel lesson. They even get to hear from me too, though Peter is still my mouthpiece (let me tell you, this language does not come easily!).

Fridays and Saturdays are usually free for me to use as I please. The leaders of the Children's House go for more training on Fridays, so the building is closed. I often find some way to keep myself occupied, whether by trips to the nearest big city (Nyiregyhaza, between the size of a Holland and a Grand Rapids, for those of you in West Michigan), or whatever event presents itself (and in Hungary, it is not unusual for the pastor to come up to me and say, "Oh, didn't you know? We're going to Kisvarda today!"). On Sundays, we have church in the morning, and I am usually free to use Skype with my family on Sunday night.

There is one more opportunity I have had recently that I would like to share with you. Last week, I was told that there was a young couple from Nyirtelek who would like to meet with me to practice their English on Saturday mornings. I'm usually free then, so I agreed. So, this past Saturday, the young woman showed up (her husband was occupied with something), and we had a nice, slow chat in English for a while. As her time wrapped up, she said that next week she would like to talk about something that I'm interested in. "Ok," I said, "I like talking about Christian things, and friends, and family, and relationships, is that alright?" She said that was fine, but that she would be honest, she had never read the Bible before. So, then she proposed that next week, she would read one chapter from the Bible and we would talk about it! Talk about an awesome opportunity (and responsibility)! We agreed to start in the Gospel of Mark. If you could, I would really appreciate prayer in the coming weeks for this young woman (her name is Erika) and her husband (Ferenc) and the time we will spend together.

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a minute to say "boldog karacsonyt kivannok!" (I wish you a merry Christmas!). Thank you so much for all of your prayers and well-wishes this holiday season. It really means a lot to know that I can join all of my friends and family members back home and abroad in celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the hope of all creation!

Here in Hungary, things are not so very different than back home in the states at this time of the year. Christmas trees, decorations and nativity scenes abound. There are plenty of English language holiday music classics to be heard. We even have snow, though that has been melting the past day or so. Christmas here is basically a three-day event, lasting from the 24th through the 26th. During this time, most businesses are closed (including the transportation systems) so that people can spend time with their families.

In the church family that I am a part of here, we will have one service the evening of Christmas Eve, and one service Christmas morning. I expect there to be a lot of carol singing and times for sharing how God has blessed us over the past year (and hopefully a meal or two!).

In my last post, I think I mentioned something about all of the parents who are expecting children to arrive in the coming months. About a week ago, my friend Zsolti's wife gave birth to a little girl named Dorottya. Praise God for that birth, too!

Well, another month has passed here in Nyirtelek, and today I can honestly say that I'm feeling more at home here. The language is still coming gradually and I feel like I'm becoming more and more a part of the village community where I work. It's really a great feeling to be invited into people's homes and to recognize everyone else. I'm learning more and more of the family ties that everyone seems to have, as most people in Gorogszallas seem to be related by blood or marriage. Also, many of the children easily recognize me now and come up to me and start jabbering away in Hungarian, to which I can just nod and smile.

Yet, everything might not be as rosy as we wish it was. The children's house or preschool, as I've been calling it, is at best underused. Two mothers or fathers bringing in their children during a 7 hour day is typical, more than 5 kids at a time is unheard of. Yesterday, there was a meeting between the paid workers at the children's house, the pastor and a social worker from church, and a woman who I believe was from the local Office of Social Services. I believe they were talking about how to make the program more attractive to the community, but the only thing I'm sure of is that, yet again, tensions arose on the subject of Hungarian children compared with Roma (Gypsy) children. As I have seen, the numbers of both ethnic groups in the building have been similar (if not, more Gypsy children have made use of the facility), and there are equal numbers of Gypsy and Hungarian staffers. But aside from the resentment that naturally arises out of this issue, the fact remains that the community is not really making ample use of the facility.

A pediatrician also came for part of the day to be available to answer questions for the parents in the community free of charge and to examine their children if they would like. However, he ended up just sitting there and talking with the staffers for a few hours because no one came. He spoke English and voiced some of his frustrations to me, telling me he was hurt and did not know what to do. He had been visiting this community every once in a while for the past 15 years and still the people would not come to him. He asked me if I had any advice for him, because, even though I may not have much experience maybe I studied this in school. I felt clueless at the moment and lightheartedly suggested that he might go into the peoples' homes and drink a lot of palinka (Hungarian home-brewed, fruit-based liquor) with them. But later, I also had to think quite hard about this question. Right now, to much of the community I'm a funny foreigner (who's probably rich) who can speak a few words of Hungarian and understands only if one speaks very slowly and uses simple words. But what would I have to do to really gain their trust?

I think I would need to become one of them. I can't change my skin color, it's true, but I could live with them. I could speak their language. I could live in a house like theirs, if I had a family and children I could send them to the same school as their children. I could work alongside them, sharing my strengths as well as exposing my weaknesses. It's even possible to take share their poverty, though, how difficult it would be to cut the ties that would enable me to regain my relative wealth! I've heard about Christians who, a long time ago, sold themselves into slavery in order to share the Gospel with slaves and others who joined a leper colony, sentencing themselves to the same fate as the lepers, in order to share the love of Jesus Christ with others. What am I willing to do for Christ, or more importantly, am I fearlessly loving God and following Him in my everyday life? This is the question I find myself asking now.

p.s. Thanksgiving was great! I spent it with friends in Budapest, complete with the traditional turkey and all the trimmings. Also, thank you for your continued prayers and support, I can't tell you how much I appreciate them! And a random weird fact: there are more pregnant women in my congregation here and in Gorogszallas than I thought possible. Seriously, I think I can count at least 6 or 7 off the top of my head. Praise God for baby Mozses (Moses) who was born to Barna and Teri Adam last Thursday! (I got to hold him today, I know you're jealous :) ).

A New Opportunity (Update following original post)

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who was in prayer concerning the religion class that Peter and I hoped to start in a local school. Peter heard back from the principal last week and we have the green light! We'll be introducing this class to the 5th-8th grade students tomorrow at noon in the town of Rakamaz. We really don't quite know what to expect, what their maturity level will be or what will catch their interest. So, we're just praying that the Holy Spirit will use us somehow to reach out to these kids!

Update: Well, we just got back from Rakamaz! When we got there, they had all of the media equipment set up and ready to go, which was great. There were around 20 chairs set up for the kids, so I was expecting a smaller crowd. But when the bell rang, kids started pouring out of the classrooms carrying their chairs. I'd guess the group continued to grow until there was over 200! This was a mandatory assembly, but still, the large audience was encouraging.
Misi, the pastor of our church in Nyirtelek, gave us a nice introduction and Peter launched into the PowerPoint presentation.

He introduced the program as KEBI, which when translated stands for Christian Ethics and Bible Study. He talked about typical preconceived notions about Christianity (cold and judgmental, uncomfortable, boring, only for old people), and contrasted that with the reality, which is completely opposite. Peter said that the Bible, while very old, is very relevant to life today and contains all sorts of stories that we can relate to. Next, we both talked about how we became Christians and how this has impacted our lives (Peter translated for me). We then called a volunteer up and talked about how God can help us because he cares about us and knows what's best for us. I offered our volunteer some tea from a thermos, but before he drank it Peter warned him not to. I then pulled a dirty sock out of the thermos, to thunderous groans from the audience. Next, we offered him a sandwich. He was much more cautious this time, and deservedly so, because when we took off the top piece of bread there was what looked like a used piece of toilet paper (hey, we had to meet the kids at their maturity level, right? ;) ). Finally, we said that all we had left was a bag of trash. The kid didn't want it, but Peter convinced him to look through it, where he found a fresh, full package of gum. We all applauded for the volunteer and then sang a couple of songs with the kids: the "Halleluah" song where one part of the group stands up for the "Hallelu"s and the other stands up for "Praise ye the Lord" ("Jezus dicserd"), and I introduced "I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N". It was a lot of fun!

I thought I had been prepared for whatever would happen afterwards, whether most of the kids would just have been bored and would be happy to be finished with the assembly, or whether they would have some good questions. But I didn't expect to be simply MOBBED by kids asking me all sorts of questions about America and how old I am and if I knew Michael Jackson. In addition, they all wanted to shake my hand and get my autograph! Talk about unreal! Peter and I had prayed that God would be there and would give us confidence and would work in the kids hearts, but I hadn't expected this at all! It was clear that they were just excited to meet an America and to hear my fumbling Hungarian, but if that gets them to hear the Gospel in the coming weeks and months, then that's great! Thanks again for all of your prayers and support!

Back to Nyirtelek from Budapest...

Ok, this should be postdated a week or so, but I kept on forgetting to post this. Ah well...

People keep telling me to talk more in this language, but too often I give up before I even start by assuming that I won't know key words or that I'll just end up wasting their time and find myself in some awkward situation where I'm stumbling over words and tenses while the native speaker simply twiddles their thumbs and waits for the American to finally spit it out. Or I convince myself that I have nothing worthwhile to say.

Well, today I took the train back from Budapest, where I had spent the weekend with the Otternesses and saw other volunteers who are living in the city. It had been a good time and it felt great to be among people whose situations were similar to mine. For the first part of the train ride, I was alone in my cabin. But when we reached Debrecen (it's a big city south of Nyiregyhaza and definitely out of the way, I still have no idea how we got there, I thought I had bought a train ticket directly to Nyiregyhaza), another young guy joined me in my cabin. He seemed friendly, but I quickly told him that I was a foreigner and that my Hungarian was not very good (as he could obviously tell). Then I went back to reading my book.

Yet, something seemed to be pushing me to talk to him. The old excuses quickly came to mind, but the feeling wouldn't go away. New excuses cropped up: he's busy reading the paper, he's listening to music, he probably won't want to be bothered. But something else urged me, "Just ask how long it will be 'til we reach Nyiregyhaza." "I don't know how to say it grammatically correct!" I responded. A weak argument, I know. My eyes flitted back down to the book I was reading and landed on the title of the next chapter: "The Question Nobody Is Asking". Hmm. Maybe this wasn't a perfectly corresponding sign to my current circumstance, but it was close enough to convince me that God was pushing me to throw aside my self-doubt and take another step towards becoming the courageous man He's calling me to be. I stuttered and stammered my way through "Hany ora Nyiregyhaza-ig?", and he smiled, took a moment to digest what I had tried to say, and we started communicating!

The rest of the train ride was very fun! The guy turned out to be a college student in Nyiregyhaza. His name was Zoltan. His parents lived in Debrecen, an older sister worked at some sort of Christian mission in Budapest, and an older brother volunteered in Austria with youth and evidently had "a long beard and hair like Jesus". He himself was hoping to make big bucks working abroad in the insurance business. He and his girlfriend had also gotten engaged recently! I searched for the word for "Congratulations" in the dictionary and discovered that it was "Gratulalok"; it's always nice when English and Hungarian words are relatively similar!

We were chatting away when he suddenly pointed out the window and said that we were in Nyiregyhaza. I had been expecting the bigger buildings that I had seen on previous visits closer to the center of the city, so I probably would have been confused if Zoltan hadn't let me know that we had arrived. We got off the train and I immediately realized that I hadn't been in this part of the city at all before. But Zoltan asked me if I was heading for the bus station and told me that his place was right next to it, so he would walk me there. Phew! It ended up not to be so far away, so when we got there I said thanks and goodbye to my train friend, puzzled over bus schedules in Hungarian with unfamiliar place names for a while, asked a guy which bus headed to Nyirtelek and ended up boarding the bus with around 40 high school students who were headed home after the school day.

I've got to say that God is good, not only in the big things like salvation and purpose-giving, but also in the smaller, more mundane things, like helping us to get up the courage to speak and to find the way home through an unfamiliar place. He wants us to live our entire lives with Him, looking to Him for everything and trusting that we will find what we need in Him!