Language Learning

Can you read that? If you can, you must be Hungarian. As we study and advance deeper into the Hungarian language, we realize how much more there is to know! (Same feeling I had while in seminary.) We are amazed at how intricately detailed this language is. Just to look at the words fools you into thinking this is an ordinary language. We were warned before we came here.....but you just have to try it to believe how difficult it is!!! We are definitely feeling the effects from the Tower of Babel.

Here are some basic facts:
1. All letters always make the same sounds, unlike the English language. We love this part! We are able to read anything regardless of our level of comprehension or grammar.

2. You add endings to the words. For example, the noun "bed" can have 91 different endings!! A verb can have 84 different endings.

3. Words can be very long.....and you can even make up a new word! How cool is that? Examples:
osszeszedelodzkodik
energiagazdalkodas

4. There are specialized verbs that are not in the English language. For example:
English - "I am having ice cream." Hungarian- "I am ice creaming."
Engish - "We are having coffee." Hungarian - "I am coffeeing."

Regardless of difficulty or simplicity, our purpose for being here demands that we speak their language. And so, we are back in school, feeling humbled, talking like toddlers, but enjoying the job.
Acts 2:4-11 - "......we hear them in our own language speaking the mighty acts of God."

7 Great Years

With 6 people in our household, we get to celebrate someone's birthday about every other month! This month was filled with much anticipation of a dinosaur party, chocolate cake, and lots of friends, as Joshua turned 7. He wanted to invite the entire first grade class (just 14 children), and so we partied with 14 children from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Korea, Romania, and of course Hungary & America. The children played with Josh's collection of dinosaurs, made dino masks (they're wearing them in the photo), and ate. The only thing "dinosaurish" that I could find for the party were dinosaur shaped (turkey) nuggets and dino gummy bears at the grocery store! So, we had fun designing our own dino cake, complete with a spiked tail. My mind was filled with memories of being pregnant for the first time, preparing a place in our tiny apartment for our new baby, eating lunch in La Madeline's restaurant while having contractions, and finally......the emergency c-section. What more can I say? God really IS good.

The Crown

Her flower crown reminded me of another kind of crown - the kind that the Lord daily places on us.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget none of His benefits.......who redeems your life from the pit; who crowns you with lovingkindess and compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle." Psalm 103:2-5

A list begins forming in my mind of all the ways the Lord has crowned us with his love and compassion. The good things He gives are satisfying, and can cause me to forget my true age! My youth is daily restored and I am energized by the bounty of His goodness. I have often thought of this verse and am amazed at the truth - if I realize the truth of all He has done for me, my soul cannot help but cry out in praising His name. If I forget His benefits I can only be filled with despair, instead of holding a beautiful crown of his love on my head.

The short list of His benefits to me:
Peace in moving our family to live in another country,
Seeing God put our lives together here as a family,
Hearing words from God when I open the Bible to read,
Being able to live in a spiritually dark place and share the Good News,
Being greeted with 2 kisses from our Hungarian friends,
Our stolen trash can showing up (unharmed) in our yard 4 days later,
Having to buy 6 pairs of shoes in a period of 4 weeks,
Having a washing machine for our dirty clothes,
Having access to medicine for our children,
The ONE morning that all 4 children slept in until 7AM,
The endless hugs and kisses (especially the slobbery kind) from the children and husband!

Are you wearing your crown today?

A Few Of Our Favorite Things

A can of Dr. Pepper that only cost $1.25, losing a front tooth, blowing bubbles in the backyard, finding a praying mantis, and playing princess dress-up......that's a wonderful week!
Having a Savior, knowing my sins are forgiven, living in peace with no regrets......that's eternal joy.

Believers and Baptism

We attend an established Hungarian baptist church each Sunday morning at 10:00. They own their own building, and only have one service on Sunday. The first picture is from the back of the church during the music. The words to the songs are projected on the wall. We have a pianist, 2 guitars, drums, and several singers to lead the songs. There is no "special" music during the service. Sometimes there is an instrumental "concert" after the service. They take time to pray together and share testimonies. The children sit with parents during the first part of the service. We bring books for ours to read, and we take the baby outside for a walk when he can no longer sit quietly. It is common for parents to go in and out with their little ones. At the sermon time, the children go upstairs for a Bible lesson. All the children are in one class, ages 2 - 10. Our children are still learning to understand Hungarian and try to participate. We ate lunch together after one service (also pictured)- the church provided hot dogs (no buns), potato salad, and bread. Everyone also brought fruit, desserts, and bottled water.

Last Sunday we witnessed our first baptism. A portable pool was brought inside with a ladder. Three people were baptized wearing white clothes. Before the baptism, they each gave their testimony in front of the church. The room was so quiet as each one climbed up the tall ladder and down into the pool. All eyes were wet with tears when they came up out of the water. What a beautiful picture of the old life being buried, and being raised to a new life in Christ. This was an amazing event. Afterwards, the three kneeled in front of the church to be prayed for.

"So then, those who had received his word were baptized.....and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostle's teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And those who had believed were TOGETHER..."
Acts 2:41-46

It is GOOD to be with God's people!

Five Years!

Our daughter, Elizabeth, celebrated her fifth birthday with a small party at our house. The day before the party she ran around the house squealing, hardly able to contain her excitement. We were thrilled that our new Hungarian friends came. It was a great opportunity to get to know them better, and many of them are not believers. At the party we had three special children - one with Turner's Syndrome, one with Noonan's Syndrome, and one with Down's Syndrome. A couple of weeks ago she decided who to invite to her party after our bedtime prayers. When we moved here, God told us that he was going to use our children in a great way. They are to be a special part of God's work here in Hungary.

Our daughter is a real miracle. We are so glad that we have her. When she was still in the womb, we were told that it was OK if we wanted to have an abortion. We didn't know exactly what was wrong with her, but that it would be very wrong to abort. Only one percent of babies with Turner's Syndrome survive the pregnancy. We asked God if he would allow her to live, and he did. I look into her beautiful brown eyes and am thoroughly amazed that we have such a blessing. When I honestly didn't know if we should plan a baby shower or a funeral, God promised that we would see His goodness:

"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:13 - 14


Jesus said, "Unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in my name receives Me..." Matthew 18:1-6

Be an Example

On the way home from language class the other day, we passed by the Diosd cemetary. There was a funeral in progress. My heart was stricken at the brevity of life and how few people know Christ. Our teacher was just telling us that here in Hungary, there is no cultural Christian background which people grow up with. You would be surprised at how much the cultural Christianity influences our society in America. Here, people have grown up with atheism and cultural Catholicism and have never attended church. Many have never seen a real Christian and have not grown up knowing what the ten commandments are, have never attended a VBS, or don't know the basic Bible stories. Morality standards don't exist. Christianity is an entirely new culture, and this is radical change. Janos is a great teacher. One of his techniques is to teach us samples in Hungarian - "This is a ________." Then, we can apply the sample to any situation or sentence. I related this thought to being a Christian "sample" here in Hungary. If there is true sample of what Christ is, then there is something by which people can compare their lives to. A Christian will be the same in any culture, in any place in the world. By the way, Janos is also a pastor. He has helped start several churches, and even helped smuggle Bibles into Romania during communism. His entire life has been an offering and a living sacrifice to the Lord. We are to be His examples, a true sample, a salted life, a fragrant aroma, a light....

Light of the World Video

Does the Lord love all people? View now

Dinosaurs & Princesses

We had a near perfect day Saturday. It was Joshua's turn for a date with Dad and they were off to the Dino Exhibit here in Budapest. It was a special show that has been traveling worldwide - all robotic dinosaurs that growled and moved. He hugged Dad so hard and said, "Thanks SO MUCH for taking me here!"

We girls and baby (poor boy had to stay with the girls!) had a splendid morning. We made a heart-shaped cake with lavender icing & pink sprinkles, watched a princess movie, made paper hearts to decorate the table, and finally made strawberry lemon tea. We also read the "Princess and the Kiss" (Jennie Bishop). They had so much fun mixing the cake, decorating, and squeezing the lemons. As we sat down to have our tea party, we lit the candles on the table. Elizabeth exclaimed, "Jesus lights me up! He candles me! He is a light inside me and it comes out when I smile." Wow! She's right! Her face glowed in this new understanding of God's truth. Jesus did say "I am the light of the world," John 8:12 and "You are the light of the world......let your light shine before men...." Matthew 5:14-16.

Elizabeth said "This is the best day EVER, and I will never forget it!"
I won't forget it either.

Self-Sufficient or God-Sufficient?

I have been using the 31 days of prayer guide for our region and the August 23 prayer request of praying against self-suffiency really got me thinking. Living here has made me think of how self-sufficient I really was when I lived in America. I can list a line of accomplishments like Paul did in Philippians 3:4-7. It makes me feel good about myself to think of what I have done. It makes me feel special to know that I have achieved something tangible. Of course, that is just a deception. Just as the rich are deluded in thinking that their wealth is a safe wall around them (Proverbs 18:11). Here, my past has no relevance. Do things or achievements really set us apart in the eyes of Jesus? When I'm having a hard day, it becomes easy to say, "If only I had ____________ (a maid, more time, different job), then everything would be better today." As if things or achievements could smooth out any unpleasantness. And then that thought leads me to comparing myself to others. "I wish I could____________," or "I wish I was ______________."

There are moments when I have mourned for some possessions we had to leave behind. Why? It's just stuff! But why does stuff mean anything to me anyway? Somehow, in our human mind, we attach our heart to tangible things and sense a need to hold these with a clenched fist. Isn't this the same idea when our children ask for new toys every time we go shopping?

What if you strip away everything - family, friends, possessions, your church, your ability to make your own choices, your vehicle, your money, your language, your skills, Chic-Fil-A, or Wal-Mart? What if no one really cared how many degrees you have or how much your job pays? We can unknowingly hold onto these things instead of holding onto God. It can get so comfortable we don't even see our need for God in the daily, common life.

Sometimes we think it's greener on the other side of the fence.....but there really isn't another side of the fence. How we live and the choices we make show where our heart is. I am honestly asking, "what is my goal?" If I really wanted to know God would I do anything different? Would I change something in my life? What would I have to give up? What am I really holding onto? My answer should be nothing!

"My goal is to know Him....forgetting what lies behind (let go of it all) and reaching forward to what lies ahead.....I press on to the goal of God in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 3:10-14