What did you do on the 4th of July?

July 4th is not a special day here in Hungary, of course. It is just a day that comes between July 3rd and July 5th. There are no parades, picnics, flags flying, or fireworks- just another day. So what did we do? There are a couple of Hungarian friends of ours from the churches here in Debrecen who do work as translators. The past couple of years they have put together a school for those who would be interested in being a translator. At the end of the course they ask English-speaking people to come in and help give the students some practice. We were asked to give a testimony, preach, talk about a favorite subject, etc.

Nancy and I had a 90 minute time slot, so she gave a devotional and I preached. We have worked with translators before, but this was different because each student was given 10 minutes during our talk. So, right in the middle of our speech, the moderator would call "time" and another student would come up and pick up where the previous student left off. It was difficult, but very interesting. It made us realize just how difficult being a translator is, and we greatly appreciate the good translators we have worked with since we have been here in Hungary.

Also, after we were done with the translator's school, Nancy and I did find a restaurant that served hot dogs. So we did have a bit of a traditional 4th of July after all.