After our official appointment service and family vacation in Charleston, S.C. with Kari, Jonathan, Chris and Kate, we had to get busy with the huge task of sorting through all our belongings. We must decide what we will crate to send to Budapest, what we will store in my father's basement, and what will be given away or sold in a garage sale. (A friend told me to call it an estate sale; it implies we have a lot of things and that they are nice things from our "estate"! I would be stretching it to call it an estate sale!) I have taken a trip down Memory Lane as I shuffled through old toys, photographs and baby clothes and remembered all the good times we had as a family.


Sorting through clothes while Jonathan paints the closet.

The realization that those days are gone has been hard on me. Unfortunately, I can't pass all those things on to my kids for them to keep because Chris and Kate are keeping things light since they feel called to missions too (but are waiting for God's timing), and Kari and Jonathan have no space to store things in France!


Family and Friends party

Saturday, the Borders clan had a family reunion (well, any excuse to have a party will do) that included anyone who was a Borders or Acuff or who knew a Borders or Acuff. It was great to see family members and friends and to get caught up on everyone's news. Who knows when the next time will be to get this group together again???


Kari and Jonathan's suitcase for France

Kari and Jonathan return to France on Tuesday. It will be sad to see them go, but it is a gift from God to know that we will only be a few countries away when we get to Budapest! They have stocked up on Americana because they don't know when they will be back in the country again.



Stuffing envelopes for our first prayer letter.


Getting ready for the cold, snowy winters!


We will miss our home!


Budapest, here we come!

We had 65 words per couple to tell of our call to missions!

It's official! Glenn and I were re-appointed as missionaries by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention on September 13th at First Baptist Church, North Spartanburg, S.C. Going back to 1993, during our second furlough, we sensed God changing the direction of our ministry in Ivory Coast from student work to counseling for missionaries, but we assumed it would be for missionaries in west Africa. After our furlough, we went on leave of absence from the IMB while Glenn pursued his degree in counseling. When Glenn finished his schooling, God closed the door to our immediate return to the mission field! It was a very confusing time, as we both knew God called us to help missionaries who are struggling!!! But God's timing is perfect, and He is now telling us that it is time for us to go. Glenn has 10 years of experience in counseling and is now a licensed counselor. In addition, both of our children are out of college, back from Senegal (Kari), and happily married to godly spouses. We truly have empty nest syndrome and are free to go wherever God leads!


Two of the 89 newest missionaries!

The ceremony lasted 2 hours and the highlight was hearing each couple share in 65 words or less their testimony of God's call to missions, one right after another! What a challenge! Instead of returning to Africa, we will live in Budapest, Hungary and will be traveling all over Central and Eastern Europe as we help the 400 missionaries from Poland to the far side of Russia, 26 countries in all, spanning 12 time zones. Wow! Think of all our sky miles!



We will be attending the International Learning Center in Virginia from Oct. 24-Dec. 14, and then will fly to Budapest on Jan. 8, 2007. In the meantime, we will be selling off most of our belongings and building a crate to ship the remainder of our things to Budapest. Once there, we will spend the first 13 weeks in cultural and language study. By the way, Hungarian is reportedly the second most difficult language for english speakers to learn, second to Mandarin Chinese. Pray for the gift of tongues!!!


Family photo, left to right: Chris & Kate Borders (Maryville, TN), Jonathan & Kari Masson (Lyon, France), and Glenn & Cile Borders (Budapest, Hungary)


Off to the beach! Isle of Palms, here we come!

After a week in Spartanburg, our family (Kari, Jonathan, Chris, Kate, Glenn and Cile) spent a few days at the Isle of Palms, off the coast of Charleston, S.C. It was a wonderful time together, but sad to realize the days of all 6 of us being together is going to be very limited.


No visit to Charleston would be complete without a trip to the Market!

Glenn and I ask you to pray for us, and hope that you will enjoy our blog as we share our lives and experiences in Budapest through it. We'll keep you updated on things of interest, and most importantly, of people and needs for which you can pray! We'd love to hear from you and would welcome your visit to our home in Budapest !