Missionary Retreat

CHN volunteers who came to Poland to serve missionaries

The Christian Hospitality Network believes that missionaries should take time out from their work to be refreshed and rejuvenated.  They also know that many missionaries do not have the funds to take vacations, so they provide a wonderful service to them. 

Worship in English.

We were among the over 250 missionaries from 31 countries who took advantage of their offer to provide hotel rooms, breakfasts, dinners, worship in English and much more in Krakow, Poland last week.  All we had to do was pay for our own transportation there, lunches and any sight-seeing we wanted to do. 

The 8-hour trip through Slovakia was a beautiful drive through the mountains full of fall colors. We saw three different castles off in the distance along the way. 

On Tuesday, we found a tour guide who took us through Krakow's Old Town, the Jewish Quarter, and the Jewish Ghetto including Schindler's Factory.  Then on Wednesday we went back to the Old Town and walked through the Walaw Castle.  Here are a few pictures from our tour.

The Cloth Hall on the Old Town Square

The Old Town Gate and the Bastion in front of it

St. Mary's Church on the Old Town Square

One of the two remaining active synagogues in Krakow

Gate to the cemetery in the Jewish Quarter

One of the chairs in the memorial to the thousands of Jews who died in the Jewish Ghetto during World War II

A section of the wall that surrounded the Jewish Ghetto

The gate to Schindler's Porcelain Dish Factory.  Schindler was responsible for saving 1200 of his workers from execution

A street leading to the Square.  St Mary's is at the end of the street.

The courtyard of the castle palace

Polish beet soup.  Mike liked it.  Nancy not so much.

Thanks, CHN, for caring for the missionaries!

October 23

Today is National Day, a national holiday in Hungary set aside to remember the 1956 Revolution.  On this day 59 years ago the Revolution began with demonstrations demanding free elections, freedom of speech and other concessions from the ruling Soviet Communists.  The demonstrations were countered with force by the Communists and within weeks thousands were killed or arrested and hundreds were executed or deported.   Over 200,000 Hungarians fled the country. Also on this day in 1989 after Communism fell, Hungary was declared a republic, so this is also the Day of the Republic. The occasion is commemorated with ceremonies, speeches and exhibitions all over the country.

INSTE in Uszka

Saturday we traveled two hours to Uszka, a small Hungarian village on the border with Ukraine.  We took INSTE books with us to give to the two groups starting at the Szabad Keresztyén (Free Christian) church there. 

Since this was the first INSTE group this church has ever had, we agreed to help introduce INSTE to the students and instruct them how to do their lessons. They were very excited to be starting the first book.

After the course introduction, we all celebrated with a delicious meal of fried chicken, rice and salad.

Dessert was a peach and cottage cheese cake baked by Pastor Edgar who is a professional baker.  It was as tasty as it was beautiful.

We promised to continue to pray for these new groups, as we do for all our INSTE groups.  May the Lord help them to study hard, learn well, grow in the Lord, and strengthen their church.

Board Meeting

Chatting before the rest of the board members arrive.

Last Friday was our annual Hungarian INSTE board meeting. Board meetings are notoriously boring, but our board meetings are not.  They are conducted in Hungarian, so the two of us work extra hard to understand what is being said and to decide how to say what we want to say.  The work is not boring, either.  We have exciting conversations about what God has been doing and is doing in the INSTE groups.  We endeavor to find where God is directing us and make plans in that direction.  A special thanks goes to the board members who are working with us to make disciples and train church leaders in Hungary. 

Board members left to right:  Michael Gulyás, Éva Kriszt, Jozsef Kiss, Mike Juntunen, Róbert Szabó, Sándor Bereczki, Ferenc Balogh. Missing are Misha Tovtin and Nancy Juntunen (taking the picture)

American Things in Hungary

We come across many American things here in Hungary.  Here are a few of them.

American fast food - Here in Debrecen we have several American fast food opportunities including Subway, Burger King, KFC and McDonald's.  In fact, there are four McDonald's in Debrecen!

American soft drinks - We can buy Coca Cola, Pepsi, Nestea and other drinks.  We even saw Dr. Pepper in the store last week. The only diet soft drinks, though, are Coca Cola Light, Pepsi Light and Coke Zero.

American music - When we are in restaurants and stores, it is common to hear American music over the loudspeakers.  Hungarian radio stations also play a lot of American music.

American worship music - We often hear familiar tunes at church even though the words have been translated into Hungarian, so we can sing the songs either in Hungarian or English, if we remember the English words, of course.

American television and movies - Many American movies are released in Hungarian movie theaters about the same time they appear in American theaters.  Most of them are dubbed into Hungarian, though some are showed in English with Hungarian subtitles.  Many American television series are played on local stations.  These, too, are dubbed into Hungarian although our cable service allows us to watch many of them in the original English.  It is rather embarrassing to see some of the reality programs that show the uglier side of America to the Hungarians.

American Christian books and programs -We recognize many American Christian books in the Christian bookstore here.  They are translated into Hungarian, of course, but are a great help to the Hungarian church.  Many American Christian television and internet programs are available in Hungarian, too.

So, let us know how many Hungarian things you have found in America.