Leaving Today for Hungary

We have finished our time in the US and are leaving this evening for Hungary! If everything goes according to schedule, we should arrive at our home in Debrecen around 10 a.m CDT (5 p.m. Hungary time). Please pray for us as we travel.

We have really enjoyed our time at our American home, but are excited to be returning to our Hungarian home!

See you all in two years!

West Palm Beach

The Open Bible church in West Palm Beach

Conchitta Johnson and her "little girls"

Elsa and Ron Noble

We are having a wonderful time at convention this year. So many friends to see and so little time! This morning we attended church at West Palm Beach. We served as assistant pastors there right after we graduated from college. It was so good to be back and to see some of the friends who where there when we were. May God bless this church and their beautiful pastors and people.

One More Visit

We're visiting our son Mark and his family in Billings one more time before we leave for Hungary. We had great fun taking the little boys out for ice cream in the "cool car" (which we are returning to Mark and Nadine). It is so wonderful to see our family, but we are really looking forward to arriving in Hungary a week from today!

Speaking Hungarian in Minnesota at Vietnamese Restaurant!

Mike, Veronika and Nancy

We enjoyed supper at a new Vietnamese restaurant in Austin, Minnesota last night with Pastor Bill and Miala Glaser and our son Paul, his wife Kate and our grandson Levi. We were chatting about our upcoming return to Hungary just as the waitress came to take our order. "Hungary?" she said. "I'm Hungarian!" That started a wonderful conversation in which we learned that Veronika Kiss's parents are scientists who left Hungary in the 1980's. Veronika graduated from high school in Austin with Natalie, Bill and Miala's daughter. We even talked a little bit in Hungarian, exchanged email addresses and discovered that Veronika's grandmother lives just a few kilometers north of where we live in Hungary. Veronika is planning to visit her grandmother sometime later this year and we hope to be able to connect when we are all in Hungary.

We spent almost a year traveling all across the country and ran across only a couple of other Hungarians who spoke the language. Then we found one almost in our own back yard!

Levi's Dedication

We've had a wonderful few days in Austin, Minnesota visiting our son Paul, his wife Kate and their son Levi. Sunday we witnessed Levi's dedication at church. It was beautiful to hear how both Levi and his parents have been a witness to God's power and provision within the church and to the entire community. God's hand has been awesomely displayed in Levi's short life. We look forward to what He has in store for Levi in the future!

Goodbye, Des Moines

For the past year Des Moines, IA has been our home. We have been staying with Nick and Leona Venditti, and have used this as our "base of operations". It is from here that we have traveled to the various states, cities and churches to talk about our ministry with INSTE in Hungary. Thank you Nick and Leona for letting us invade your home. You have been most gracious.

Iowa state capital building

The Des Moines skyline

Open Bible Churches headquarters

Now, though, we must say goodbye to Iowa and begin transitioning back to Hungary. We will visit our grandchildren one last time, attend the Open Bible Convention in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, then fly back to our other home in Hungary to begin our next term as missionaries. Thank you to everyone for the hospitality and blessings you have shown us. It has been good getting reacquainted with old friends as well as making new ones. Keep us in your prayers!

In Preparation Mode

Wow, just over two weeks before we leave for Hungary! We are really looking forward to being back in our Hungarian home, with our Hungarian friends and working with Hungarian INSTE. Before we leave, though, we are getting our fill of some of our favorite American things--hot dogs, corn on the cob, grilled steak, diet soda pop, golf, driving a car with automatic transmission, and drying clothes in a clothes dryer. We are getting in some quality time with our extended families and our sons and their families. It probably seems like we are hanging around so much that they won't miss us for quite some time! We'll only be gone for two years, though, and we will be sure to stay in touch through the internet. And we will be sure to stay in touch with all our friends here, too.

Latest on Levi

Our grandson Levi got his cast off this week! Praise the Lord! He can now sit in his car seat and not have to lie on his back all the time! He is back eating baby food and is learning to sit up again. His little muscles are weak and stiff from being in the cast, but he is making good progress. The doctors are pleased with how he is doing and do not plan any more surgeries for at least several months. Thank you so much for praying for Levi. God is good!

Family Time

Here's proof! Last weekend we were able to spend three days together with all three of our sons and their families. We had a wonderful time talking, eating, playing and just being together. It had been three and a half years since all of us were together--and two new ones had been added to our tribe during the interim. We thank the Lord for such a beautiful, wonderful family!