Special Visit

This week Tammy Swailes stopped by for a short visit.  Tammy is the director of INSTE in Europe and our supervisor.  Since she lives in Ukraine, a two-day drive from here, she is not able to stop by often.  Even though she was with us for only one day, we did have a productive time together.  Please pray for Tammy.  Even though she lives in the western part of Ukraine and she is physically safe, the unrest in the country affects her in other ways.  Many Unkrainian INSTE students and other people she knows live in or near the areas affected by the current violent situation.  Of course, she and all those around her are very concerned for the future of the country.

Many people ask if we are affected by the situation in Ukraine.  We are not affected at the present time, but we are concerned.  Misha, our close friend, is a Ukrainian married to a Hungarian.  He has many family members and friends living in Ukraine and tells us the situation is in desperate need of our prayers.  So, we are not personally affected, but we are concerned.

Tammy is scheduled to leave Ukraine for the US in late June for six months.  Please continue to pray for her, for Misha, and for peace to come to Ukraine.

A Garden Party

Saturday, we were invited to a garden party at the home of one of the members of the home group we attend.  A garden party in Hungary is not dressing up, walking around manicured lawns, carrying fancy umbrellas and eating tiny bites from small plates.  A garden party in Hungary is much more relaxed than that, thankfully.  What it means is that food is cooked and eaten in the back yard and the rest of the day is spent chatting, playing games and enjoying each other's company. 

Last year about this time we were invited to Sanyi and Márika's home, too.  They asked us to grill hamburgers for the group. This year, though, Sanyi cooked a lamb stew and Márika made a delicious cake/pudding dessert.  We ate far too much, talked and talked (actually, we mostly listened), played some foosball and played with Sanyi and Márika's 3-month-old daughter.  So it was almost like we were at a Memorial Day picnic.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!  Don't forget the price of the freedom we experience!

And...We're Off!

It is good to be back in the swing of things.  Yesterday Mike was invited to preach at the Open Bible Church in Debrecen, our home church.  Our friend Misha interpreted for him as he usually does.  It was a great sermon, both in English and in Hungarian!  After church plans were made for an INSTE graduation for all the Open Bible Level 1 graduates on June 8.

It is also good to be over jet lag, to be settled back into our apartment and to be back to our Hungarian work.  Mike worked last week on bringing things up to speed in the office, visiting an INSTE group, and many other things including meeting with the Hungarian equivalent of a CPA to file necessary yearly paperwork.  Nothing like hitting the ground running.

You can watch Mike's sermon here. 

Things Have Changed

It is so good to be back in Hungary!  We arrived safely on Thursday and our missing luggage arrived on Friday.  We are getting over jet-lag slowly and have once again been connected to the internet in our apartment/office. God is good!

Thankfully, the car we stored during our time in the US is working well.  The battery was recharged by Misha, our assistant, before we arrived.  When he lifted the hood to check the engine, he discovered that a pigeon had found its way inside and had died on top of the battery!  Thanks, Misha, for taking care of that for us. 

Things have changed a bit here in Debrecen.  The construction of the new tram line that seemed to be taking forever has been finished and the new line is working well.  The new tram cars are sleek and beautiful, a far cry from the old rattly ones they took out of service.  More construction has been finished including a large, modern stadium that was built for the soccer team and for other events.  Our new neighbors two doors down finished the remodeling of their home, too, and have moved in with their two little daughters. 

We are readjusting to life here.  We are remembering to use the clutch in the car, kissing friends on both cheeks, and speaking a lot of Hungarian again.  We are getting used to seeing a lot of people walking everywhere and walking a lot of places ourselves.

It is good to be back.  God is so good!

But We Didn't Miss Any Flights!

We thank The Lord that we made it to Debrecen, Hungary on time today.  It wasn't without a bit of stress, but God was with us and helped us the entire way. 

Our flight from Des Moines left on time and without incident.  When we got off the plane in Chicago, however, we saw that our flight to Frankfurt was being delayed.  We found out that they had to switch out planes because of mechanical problems in the original one.  When the replacement plane arrived, we all boarded as fast as possible, but we were over an hour late leaving Chicago.  We were praying for favorable tail winds since our window was small to make our flight to Budapest, but we landed an hour behind schedule.  That meant that our plane to Budapest was already loading before the plane from Chicago reached the gate--and we had to go through passport control, too!  Thankfully, they held the plane as long as possible and we made it with just a few minutes to spare.  That meant that the flight to Budapest left about 20 minutes behind schedule, but the pilot was able to make up the time and we landed on schedule in Budapest.

We waited and waited for our bags, but two of them weren't on the plane with us.  So, Mike had to make arrangements for the missing pieces to be delivered to us while I went to find our shuttle ride to Debrecen.  I couldn't find him.  We had been told they would wait only a certain amount of time and that time had passed!  So we were wondering what to do when Mike saw another man who looked like he was looking for someone.  He was waiting for us!  He waited extra time and it made him late for his next appointment, but he waited!  May God bless him!  Finally, we made it to Debrecen, safe and sound.

We are tired (the trip was 21 hours door to door), but happy.  Thank you for your prayers!

Travel Time

We are leaving for Hungary on Wednesday morning!  We leave Des Moines at 11:12 a.m., have stops in Chicago, Frankfurt (Germany) and Budapest before arriving in Debrecen, Hungary sometime early afternoon on Thursday.  That will be early morning Thursday Iowa time.  We are spending the day today finishing up last-minute details and are excited about our trip.

Please pray for safe, uneventful travel.  It may be up to a week before we get internet in Hungary, but as soon as we do, we'll let you know how everything went.  Thanks for your prayers and support!

Itineration Has Been Good

We have just one more church to visit (Open Bible Church in Boone, IA) on Sunday morning before we head back to Hungary on Wednesday.  It has been a wonderful itineration for us.  Last Sunday we were in both Freeport, IL and Eldridge, IA.  Then last Wednesday we visited the Open Bible church in Mount Pleasant, IA. 

God has truly been with us and has blessed us these last several months in the US.  We have had safe travel the entire time with no accidents.  We had a few mechanical problems, but not one of them happened on days we had meetings scheduled.  That is truly amazing considering that we put tens of thousands of miles on the car.  The weather cooperated for the most part and we never missed a service due to bad weather.  We are thankful for the congregation in Midland, South Dakota, who shifted our visit from Sunday morning to Sunday evening when we couldn't make it from Rapid City in time because we were snowed in. 

We have especially enjoyed worshiping with brothers and sisters in Christ in more than 50 churches.  God's Spirit is present in churches all over the country.  We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of God's people everywhere we go and are happy to report that our needs have been met and many promises have been made to continue monthly support.  Plus, we have been humbled by the creative and generous ways we have been honored and the cheerful hospitality that has been heaped on us.

Special thanks go to Gary and Carolyn Ostlund who loaned us a smart phone and added us to their company's phone plan at their expense.  We are thankful for this vital tool.

More thanks go to Nick and Leona Venditti who loaned us their car (with INSTE license plates) the entire time of itineration.  And besides that, they let us live in their home when we were not on the road.  Housing and transportation are two more essential provisions for which we are thankful.

Now we are preparing to return to work in Hungary.  Thank you, Mountain Plains Region, Southeast Region and Central Region Open Bible for your kindnesses these past few months!