Was that tay-vay or teh-veh?

Yesterday, we went to the zoo. Debrecen has a very nice zoo, especially for its size. We saw all sorts of animals, calling them by their Hungarian names. One that is our favorite is the viziló, or literally, water horse. The hippos were quite active and fun to watch.

We had very good communications with people all day long. There was only one slip-up. Nancy asked another visitor where the camels were. The visitor looked rather confused at first but then said she had not seen them yet and did not know where they were. Afterwards, Nancy realized she must have said tévé (tay-vay--TV) instead of teve (teh-veh--camel). At least the visitor understood and was helpful. We saw her later and she pointed us to where the teve was!

Egyptian Brothers and Sisters

Last Sunday a group of Christians from Egypt visited the Open Bible Church in Debrecen. The dozen or so of them were from various churches including Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical churches. They were in Debrecen working with Dorcas, an international Christian ministry that spreads the gospel by ministering especially to the poor in many nations. Our Egyptian brothers and sisters shared testimonies and a couple of songs with us. It was great having them with us.
The funny thing was that I (Nancy) prayed that morning to be able to understand more of the sermon and what was said during the service. I had been disappointed that for two weeks I had understood less than I had before! So I prayed that I would be able to understand better that morning. How surprised I was to find that since our Egyptian friends didn't speak Hungarian and most of them spoke English, the entire service was going to be translated into English! I had not asked to be able to understand the Hungarian, just to understand! Does God have a sense of humor or what!?

Gyönyörű Időjárás

The title means "gorgeous weather." That's what we've had all summer long. We have had days when it got up to almost 100 degrees, but it didn't stay there long. The humidity has not been bad, either. Before we came, we wondered how we would handle the summer weather without air conditioning. Most Hungarians do not have air conditioning in their homes and even some public buildings and shops are not air conditioned. However, we have found that by adjusting the curtains in our sun-facing rooms, closing the windows before it gets really hot, and running fans as needed, we have been quite comfortable at home. Nancy was pleasantly surprised to find that even places that are air conditioned keep the temperature around 78 or 80 degrees, very comfortable in the summer. We have been hot a few times, like riding on buses, none of which have air-conditioning, but we just sweat (and stink) along with everyone else. Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful summer and for all the ways You take care of us!

St Istvan's Day and Mike's Birthday

Yesterday was one of Hungary's largest national holidays and also Mike's birthday. Mike says the entire country celebrated his birthday with parades and fireworks! It's like having a July 4th birthday in the US.
St. Istvan's Day is celebrated in honor of King Steven (Istvan) who was Hungary's first Christian king, crowned in the year 1000.
All kinds of huge celebrations are held throughout the country. The Virag Karnival (Flower Carnival) is celebrated here in Debrecen. The highlight of the celebration is a huge parade with lots of floats covered in flowers. This float depicts the royal crown--no one knows why the cross on top of the crown is crooked.
We watched the entire parade, almost three hours long. It included many dance troupes which stopped along the way and performed for the audience. Several groups were local and there were many from other countries including this group from Turkey (I think).

There were other festivities throughout the week which culminated in fireworks last night. Nancy was too tired to go to the fireworks, but we saw the tops of them from our balcony. Thanks to our friend Mary Jill for this picture of the fireworks.
All in all it was a great holiday. Can't wait 'til next year!

Wedding!

We wanted to say congratulations to Jetró and Katalin Gulyás. We were privileged to attend their wedding Saturday evening. What a great young couple they are! Jetró's parents are Misi and Marika Gulyás, pastors of the Shalom Open Bible Church here in Debrecen. The wedding was beautiful and included worship songs led by the Shalom worship team and a meaningful (from what I understood) message on marriage by Pastor Gulyás.


I just like this picture of the flower in the window. I (Nancy) took it when we were in the Hussite House a couple of weeks ago. We wish Jetró and Katalin such beauty always in their life together.

Successful finish to language course!

Today we finished our four-week intensive Hungarian language and culture course here in Debrecen. We are very tired from the many hours of being in class, studying, attending lectures and going on culture trips. We found the course, however, very interesting and helpful. We both took the optional exam at the end of the course, scoring 80.5 and 85 percent.

This is the latest mark on our journey toward proficiency in Hungarian. It feels a little like a hike toward a distant mountain. The journey starts with high hopes and expectations. As the hike continues, however, fatigue sets in and the trip never seems to end. Every time the summit of a foothill is reached, the mountain stills seems as far away as ever. However, every marker on the way shows that the goal is getting closer. Every look back shows how much progress has been made. We have just reached a marker on the way and our goal is closer. We are making progress. Communication is still painful and slow, but getting better. Thank you so much for your many prayers and your faithful financial support in this our preparation time. God bless you!

Last Field Trip

Saturday the 9th, our language classes took a trip to Kassa, Slovakia, just across the border of Hungary. Along the way, we stopped at the Muhi Memorial. Here, in 1241, the Hungarian army was defeated by the Mongols. The Mongols devastated the country, wiping out approximately 60 percent of the population. We spent a short time here and then crossed the border. Since both countries are in the European Union, we didn't even have to stop at the border.

Kassa is in Slovakia, but was once part of Hungary. Here we visited a museum and learned
about Ferenc Rákóczi II who lead a fight for
independence from the Austrian Hapsburg monarchy in the 1500's. Although the freedom from Austria lasted only a short time and Rákóczi had to flee to Turkey to live for the rest of his life, he is still a Hungarian hero.

Next we visited St. Elizabeth's Cathedral, a magnificent Gothic church built in the 1300's. Rákóczi is buried here. There was a wedding in progress in the church, so we only got to see part of it, but this old building is really cool. It rained a lot almost all day, so our tour was abbreviated somewhat. That was quite a change from our tour last week when it was very hot. We said that last week our clothes were wet from the inside out and this week they were wet from the outside in!

We made another stop on the way back in Gőnc, Hungary at what is called the "Hussite House."
This house was built by followers of John Huss, a "heretic" who was forced from his native Bohemia along with his followers. Huss was a Spirit-filled born-again Christian who was eventually burned at the stake. Some of his followers, however, moved to Hungary where they lived and worked. Some years later in this little village, a Hussite wrote the first translation of the Bible in Hungarian.

Well, we have just one more week of classes in this intensive Hungarian language course. Please keep praying for us. We'll let you know how we do on our tests.

Megvizsgaltathatnálak az orvos.

Megvizsgaltathatnálak az orvos. --I (Nancy) made this sentence this week and actually kind of know what it means. The verb is the first long word and it is made up of several parts added to the basic stem. I'll try to break the sentence down and explain what it means.

meg - complete an action
vizsgal - examine
tat - make someone or have someone do something
hat - may, might, be allowed to
ná - would have (conditional)
lak - "I" is the subject and "you" is the object
az - the
orvos - doctor

Okay, so all together the above sentence means something like -- Maybe I would have made you get examined by the doctor. I am still learning, though. To Hungarian speaking readers, please correct my mistakes! This may be on the test!

Another school field trip!

We went to Eger, Hungary Saturday with about 100 other students from the Nyari Egyetem language school. Eger is a very interesting town with a 1,000 year history. We toured the castle and some of the town. The castle is famous because in 1552 the Turks were unable to capture it, giving them their first defeat in Europe.
Language school is going well. We are halfway through the course now and will be getting new teachers today. (Maybe we wear them out quickly.)
Time to get ready to go to class! Here are a few pictures from our trip.