First INSTE Graduation in Ukraine!

I (Nancy) was privileged to be able to attend the first ever Second Level INSTE Graduation in Ukraine. The 22 graduates received their diplomas from Drs. Nick and Leona Venditti, who were also able to attend. What a great celebration it was, too. We enjoyed heartfelt praise and worship, a stirring message from the Word given by Dr. Nick Venditti, and wonderful testimonies given by the graduates. This was followed by a delicious meal with cake! What could be better! This first picture is some of the INSTE graduates with the Vendittis. The second picture is of the Vendittis, Tammy Swailes and Olga and Lena making final plans for the graduation.

The entire time I was in Ukraine, I couldn't help but be awed by the history-in-the-making that I was observing. Who would have thought twenty years ago that Americans would be worshipping freely together with Ukrainians in the former Soviet Union! And that INSTE would be translated into the Russian language with hundreds of students studying the Word! How exciting! And there is more yet to come! Praise the Lord.

Personally, it was fun for me because I got to spend some time with my sister Leona and her husband Nick. We enjoyed the generous hospitality of Lena and Yuri with spendid Ukrainian and Italian food (Nick cooked a couple of times for us, too.) The third picture is of the cheesy bread we ate at a Georgian restaurant in Zhitomir. Yes, that is an egg on top and there was cheese in the middle. Delicious!

To see more pictures of the graduation, go to Tammy Swailes' blog by clicking on the link on the right. The link is below our grandson Nate's picture. :-)

A Couple of Days in Budapest

We had a great time with Karl and Dyrie Francis in Budapest early this week. Karl and Dyrie are US Open Bible pastors who were in Hungary to speak at Shalom Open Bible's 20th anniversary celebration in Debrecen. Nancy arrived from Ukraine by plane Monday evening and met Mike, Karl and Dyrie who drove in from Debrecen earlier that day. We ate good food and saw some of Budapest's beautiful places. The first picture is Dyrie in front of the Hungarian Parliament building.
We decided to take the tour of the inside of the building, but had to wait in line outside for quite some time. The temperature was cool. Can you tell from this picture which American is from Minnesota and which one is from Florida?

The tour was worth the wait, though. Hungary's Parliament building is the second largest in Europe and very beautiful. We were even able to see the crown jewels. Nancy was very happy to finally be able to go inside since she has seen the outside of the building several times and yet had not been able to go inside until Tuesday.

Besides Parliament, we saw St. Stephen's Basilica, the Chain Bridge, Castle Hill, and rode the city bus. We pretty much wore ourselves out. Karl and Dyrie could have gone sight seeing without us, but we are glad they allowed us to show them around. We had a great time together.

Pastor Gulyas had loaned Mike his car to be able to take the Francis' to the airport on Wednesday morning, so Mike got to experience driving for the first time in Hungary. Budapest traffic was very heavy and finding parking was difficult, but Mike experienced no trouble. On the way back to Debrecen, however, we stopped at a truck stop for gas. Just as we were leaving the parking lot, a patrolman and his partner flagged us down. But, before we stopped, they waved us on through. It looked like they were checking license plates. We thank the Lord for his protection and for not having to explain in Hungarian why Americans were driving a car belonging to Hungarians! Thank you for praying for us!

First let me tell you,,,

What a wonderful week we have had! Thank the Lord! And thank you for your prayers. It will take a few days and a few posts to let you know all the news from Nancy's trip to the INSTE graduation in Ukraine and Mike's participation in the 20th anniversary celebration of Shalom Open Bible Church here in Debrecen.

The picture above is of Olexandr and Olga Rudynets, Ukraine Field Directors and pastors of the Open Bible Church in Lutsk. This picture was taken at the INSTE graduation. But first let me (Nancy) tell you about my trip back to Hungary from Ukraine. I had a long wait in the airport for my flight and had been walking around and standing for a while when I started to look for a place to sit down. It appeared all the places were taken, but I finally found an empty seat next to a nice-looking lady. Using my best international hand gestures, I asked if I could sit in the seat beside her. She quickly nodded her head and while making room for me, started chatting in Russian. I said I didn't speak Russian, but she let me sit there anyway. A few moments later, a gentleman appeared who was most likely her husband and I had obviously taken his seat! He motioned for me to remain seated and asked, "English?" I said yes and he said he knew a few English words. With his few English words and a lot of gesturing, pictures and smiling, I discovered that they were from Lutsk and were traveling to Washington, DC to visit their daughter and son-in-law. I think the daughter is having a baby soon. I showed them pictures of my family who live in the US and told them I and my husband live in Hungary. When I showed them the picture of our family taken at our son's wedding, they noticed the cross in the background and asked if I was Catholic. I said no, I am Protestant. They said they were, too. By this time, I guessed that maybe they were Christians. Just a little later, the lady started rummaging though her suitcase, took something out, and wrote something on a piece of paper. Then she handed me a beautifully embroidered napkin with "Ukraine" on it and said, "present." The piece of paper gave me her daughter's phone number in the US and a few words about her business of selling Ukrainian souvenirs. I got out my wallet, but she wouldn't accept any money, but kept saying, "present." So, I thanked her and gave her one of Mike's business cards and wrote our personal email address on the back. A little while later, my new friend started digging through her belongings and looking at the business card. She then got my attention, pointed to the business card and then pulled an INSTE book out of her carry-on bag! My mouth fell open and I was so excited! God had led me to an INSTE student in the Kyiv airport! Actually, we were all excited at that moment. I pointed to "Nick and Leona Venditti" on the front of the book and said, "sister!" Shortly after that, they had to board their plane, but we parted with hugs and blessings. In the midst of it all, I didn't even think to take a picture or get their full names. Oh well, they were my INSTE angels sent from God to remind me that I'm not alone even in foreign airports!

Please pray for us

Just a quick reminder to pray for us, especially the next week or so. Tomorrow (Wednesday) Nancy flies out of Budapest to Ukraine to be able to attend Ukraine's first Second Level INSTE graduation. She will also be able to see her sister and brother-in-law (Nick and Leona Venditti) while she is there.

Mike is staying in Hungary to attend the 20th anniversary celebration of the Open Bible Church in Debrecen. He will help in hosting the guest speakers, Karl and Dyrie Francis, who are arriving in Budapest on Thursday. Mike will help them with sight seeing and getting the things they need. There will also be people at the anniversary celebration who are interested in beginning INSTE groups soon, so Mike will try to connect with them while they are here.

On Monday, Mike will accompany the Francises to Budapest, and Nancy, who is flying back from Ukraine that day, will join them. Tuesday will be spent sightseeing in Budapest. Wednesday, we will take our guests to the airport and come back home. If things work as planned, Mike will be driving in Hungary for the first time this week.

This is a busy weekend, with both of these big events planned for the same time, but we are thankful to be able to celebrate both. Please pray that we will be carriers of God's presence everywhere we go.

Clean Clothes!

Thank the Lord for clean clothes! Last week the washing machine quit. It wouldn't pump any water out, so I (Nancy) called the landlady, Éva. Thankfully, the washing machine was part of the furnishings that came with the apartment. When we moved in, Éva explained to me how to use the washing machine while her son translated for us. Well, somehow I missed the part that there is a filter that needs to be cleaned out periodically, so it was all stopped up with lint and one large coin! Éva was kind enough to come over and clean the filter for me, but the machine still wouldn't work. Éva made a call to the repairman, Ervin, who happens to go to the Open Bible Church. Ervin came the next day during our Hungarian lesson. While he worked, we studied. It was great having Rita here to help smooth our communication, but she let us do most of the talking. She even complimented us on our attempts at Hungarian! Now the washing machine works and we have clean clothes. It is good timing, too, since this week is a very busy one for us with Nancy going to Ukraine to attend the INSTE graduation there and Mike staying in Hungary to attend the 20th anniversary celebration of the Open Bible Church here!
By the way, I wrote on my calendar when I need to clean the washing machine filter!

Just a couple of notes

Mike spent the last couple of days helping to install a bathroom in one of the church member's homes. He got to practice a lot of Hungarian! And he is sore from digging a trench through dirt, rock and old cement. We learned that Hungarians don't get sore muscles, their muscles get a fever (izomláz)!

Please remember to vote in a couple of weeks. We already did. We already noted this, but it's so refreshing to be able to be in election season without being bombarded by ads and all the election hoopla!

We are making plans for being very busy starting Wednesday. Nancy flies to Ukraine to be a guest at the first Second Level INSTE graduation there. Mike is staying in Hungary to participate in the 20-year anniversary of the church here and to help host Karl and Dyrie Francis who are coming from Florida to speak at the event. Please pray for us!

Folkdance Show

Last night some Hungarian friends invited us to go with them to a performance of a folk dance team from here in Debrecen. It was delightful! Our friends told us that this troupe travels all around Europe and the world giving their performances, and we could tell why. The performance included two stories. The first was of Hungarian soldiers leaving their women at home and going off to war. The second was about events connected to the market fair held at Hortobagy. (We visited Hortobagy with our Hungarian class last summer.) The music was traditional, lively Hungarian music and the dancing was energetic and spirited. You've just got to see how the men dance stomping their feet, clapping their hands and slapping their boots. They even twirl shepherd's staffs sometimes--and no one was hit by them! Our friends told us that when Hungarians are happy, they drink, dance and sing. When they are sad, they drink, dance and sing! It's true. Just about every celebration, commemoration or parade we've been to has included at least the dancing and singing. There were interesting references in the show to communism under the Soviets that demonstrated how the Hungarians hated that repressive time. They made fun of how the Soviets told them what to do and how they tried to change their traditions. We really enjoyed ourselves last night and learned some things, too!

Old Lady Summer

This is a picture of a house in our neighborhood. Notice the bright red vine. There are many of these on porches and balconies. The camera didn't capture the brilliance of the red leaves or the very blue sky behind the house. The weather this week has been wonderful with daytime temperatures in the upper sixties, soft breezes, and warm sun. The leaves have been turning beautiful colors and fluttering to the ground. We would call it an Indian summer, but the Hungarian phrase for it is translated "old lady summer." Our teacher says that is because the elderly ladies in the villages sit in the sun enjoying the last bit of warmth before winter. Sounds good to me.

Like the New Look?

Mike re-did the blog format. Like it?

We did get a question about the picture at the top of the page. Mike took this picture in Budapest from Fisherman's Bastion. This beautiful building is the Hungarian Parliament Building. The river is the Danube, or Duna in Hungarian.

Remember to vote!

We just received our absentee ballots for the general election in November. Praise God! What a privilege it is to be able to vote even when we are out of the country! We will need to fill out our ballots and return them as soon as possible. Many Hungarians have told us that the Hungarian postal system is not fully reliable and is slow, but we have not found that to be the case. However, to be on the safe side, we will mail our ballots right away so there is no chance they will be too late.

We are privileged to be able to follow the campaign by internet and television. We get CNN news on the TV. It is good to be able to follow the news in English. A major plus is that we don't have to watch campaign ads!

(We are using television to practice our Hungarian, too. Nancy likes to watch quiz shows. The questions are written on the screen and the games go slowly enough to be able to keep up with what is being said, to some extent. We've even been able to get some of the answers to the questions right! Yeah!)

Remember to vote, everybody!