Trustees comin' to town!

The week is kinda busy because the CEE sub-committee of the Trustees of the IMB are starting to arrive for their big meeting in Budapest this coming Friday. There will be a total of 7 Trustees and each one can bring a guest. Most are bringing their wives, but one is bringing his son and another is bringing his pastor. All 14 of them are staying at the Eden House so I have been busy doing extra cleaning and meal preparation. This coming Thursday evening when all of them are to be here, I am fixing another huge pot of Hungarian soup (Gulyasleves). Because of all the prep work I've been doing, there hasn't been a lot of picture-taking for the blog. Sorry! Maybe things will be back to normal next week.


We feel loved and missed!

The highlight of the week was when we received a care package from the Empty Nest class at West Cobb Baptist Church in Marietta and it was great!! We are trying to swap out all the old, moldy VHS tapes at the Eden House with DVD's for our families to enjoy when stuck there for a few days of medical care. We put the word out at the church when we were there in December and these wonderful folks responded in their typical abundant style! They also threw in a few special things for us off of our wish list, like caramel apple dip, Velveeta cheese, Heath chips and maple syrup for good, ol' pancakes! One of our families was there for a full week with 3 kids; they really enjoyed them!! Thank you, friends! Many M's (code word for "missionary") will enjoy and appreciate your generosity.


I am the new Farkel Queen!

On Friday afternoon we had our weekly team meeting which has grown tremendously with the arrival of Brian and Michelle two weeks ago. After our meeting Mary and Alvin, our other team members, invited all of us to stay for pizza and Farkel, a new (to us) dice game of chance.
Obviously, I won or I wouldn't be telling you about the game. And obviously, I enjoyed it because I won. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and Mary and Alvin crowned me the new Farkel Queen. Move over, Kristie! (Gone but not forgotten!)


Baptism at Budafok Baptist Church

This past Sunday we had our first baptism since our arrival. I tell you, I really think our pastor went to seminary in America or something because he does the Lord's Supper and Baptisms exactly like we do in America, even down to the "Buried with Jesus in baptism and raised to walk in the newness of life." It is kind of sad that there is nothing Hungarian about the way we observe the ordinances of the church here. This church is very much like the churches I attended-in the late 70's & early 80"s-down to the very same songs (Majesty, It Only Takes a Spark). I tell people this church is caught in a time warp!

Next Sunday we are going to attend their "pot luck" lunch because one young man has made a special effort twice to invite us to join the church for lunch. If he has asked us twice, he must really want us to come, so we will. Should be an interesting experience. We'll sit there with our American dish hoping that they will like it, and they will sit there with their bottles of wine. Two world's collide but we'll survive and tell you all about it next week!

Orientation Begins

One of the many pleasures we experience here in Budapest is the arrival of care packages and birthday presents in the mail.


Birthday present from Chris and Kate (and Cile)

As missionaries living in Budapest where the mail is safe but not always on time, we don't celebrate birthdays, but rather birthmonths! This package arrived a little late, even though it should have arrived on time for Glenn's birthday, April 10th. No problem though-we believe better late than never. As far as we know, we have received every package sent, which we couldn't say about the postal service when we lived in Ivory Coast.


Our BIG team meeting

Every week we get together as a team (Member Care team) for planning, communication and encouragement. We discuss who's coming in that week to the Eden House, coordinate transportation to the medical appointments, and any other items of business. Right now we're in the middle of orienting Brian and Michelle, our new team members to life in Budapest, and also making preparations for the IMB Trustees who will be arriving at the end of this month. (The CEE sub-committee of the Trustees will hold their meeting at the Eden House and then visit in the homes of missionaries in CEE for a week in order to get to know the work better. More on this next week.
)

Taking Public

On Thursday we took Michelle and Brian into town on public transportation as part of their orientation. We showed them how to buy tickets, figure out the bus/tram/trolley/metro schedules, and how to get to some of the major intersections.


In front of our favorite spot-the Parliment building

On Saturday, we took the Stevens and the James family(friends of ours from Prague) into Budapest for a full day of sightseeing and tasting of local food fare! We started at 10 am and returned home about 8:30 pm.


Overlooking the city from Castle Hill

I will talk to anyone who will listen!

Finishing the day with a nice meal-Pizza Hut!

Choices, choices, choices!

On our way home from sightseeing, we had to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things. I sure wish I liked coffee because the choices are awesome! I like the smell but can't stand the taste. Guess I'll stick to my soft drinks!

The best way to spend a Sunday afternoon after a busy week!

The Stevens are here!

Yippee!



Glenn and I, along with Mary and Alvin, picked up Brian and Michelle Stevens this morning at the Ferihegy airport without any problems. They are from Virginia and are here for atleast 2-3 years, maybe more, if we can talk them into it!! It has been a year since we put in a request for someone to come manage the Eden House and so we have been praying for this couple for all that time. I'm sure you'll see a lot more of them on my blog in weeks to come.

We will spend most of this week orienting them to life in Budapest and helping them to get settled into the apartment in the basement at the Eden House, which won't take much time since it is pretty small. Tomorrow I get to take them grocery shopping and show them around our
neighborhood called Budafok. I enjoy taking my time at the grocery store and finding new products that have come in since my last visit. That is how I found the local peanut butter, but I'm sad to say they haven't gotten any more in since that one time about 6 weeks ago!

But now, let me jump back a week to fill in the gap. Remember, last week I wrote about the retreat and told you I'd fill you in this week on our trip to visit with two families on our way back from Prague?


The Hatchels

We spent one night with Jennie and Boyd and their 4 beautiful children. While Jennie was finishing up homeschooling the children, Boyd showed us around Brno, Czech Republic and told us about their work. They work with the Romany people who originated out of India, and are more commonly known today as Gypsies. (No, I'm not missing a vowel in Brno.)


Just missed the open-air market! Rats!

Later, Jennie and the kids caught public transportation and met up with us in town to sightsee with us and to enjoy some ice cream.


Overlooking Brno, Czech Republic


Now THAT'S a calzone!

Then they took us to their favorite restaurant and we couldn't believe the size of their meals! I ordered an individual size pizza and Glenn ordered this calzone. The one person pizza was 14". The calzone was a 14" pizza folded over and stuffed. Unfortunately, I managed to eat the whole pizza!

The Brown's

The next morning we headed to another town in Czech Republic called Olomouc where Steve and April live with their 3 children. (The older two were in school; Sophie went into town with us as we toured the city.) We wished we had more time with both these families, but it was really helpful to Glenn and me to see how they live and to learn about the work they do.

Street scene in Olomouc

Center of town

Bible discussion group

That night we were able to attend their Bible discussion group that meets in their home each week. This group is made up of Czech's who are interested in improving their English by discussing topics in the Bible. Steve and April have had a couple of people make professions of faith in Christ as a result and feel that another is very close. We only stayed one night in Olomouc also, and then caught the train back to Budapest.

While we were in Czech Republic, we drank Coke Zero at every opportunity because we couldn't buy it in Hungary, and before leaving Olomouc we bought two 2 liter bottles of Coke Zero and carried them back with us to Budapest on the train! Would you believe that while we were out of town Coke Zero arrived in Hungary!!! As soon as we got off the train we saw Coke Zero everywhere! On the way out to the airport this morning we saw 3 billboards advertizing Coke Zero! Will I be struck with lightening if I say God is good? He takes care of all our needs and an awful lot of our wants!!

Right after we returned to Budapest, Glenn left for Greece just as Dr. Dunbar arrived from America! Dr. Dunbar is going to be our "virtual" doctor for Central and Eastern Europe. He will be an additional resource for our missionaries. He is making several trips out here in the next couple of months to do some survey work on the availability of good medical care in CEE in addition to taking care of medical needs of our missionaries during our annual general meetings this summer. (AGM's)

Jesse and Josiah

And these are two of our MK's that I've gotten to know well in the past year as they've come to Budapest for doctors' appointments. Their mom and I are good friends. They will go on their stateside assignment in May for a year and I will miss them. It is amazing to me how much they have grown in the year that I have known them!!

Glenn turned 53 on April 10th. For his birthday, Glenn wanted us to do something we'd talked about doing ever since we'd arrived in Budapest, and that was to take one of those self-guided walking tours.

Love the parking job!

A memorial built in 1938 in remembrance of the flood in 1838

If you look carefully, you can see the river snaking through the center of the picture. The lighter gray shows how much the river overflowed the banks of the Danube, covering a large portion of the downtown area.

In honor of my sister and her husband, Karin and Eric

Hungarian National Museum

Statue of Karl Marx in what was the Customs House on the Danube River but is now the University of Economics

Shopping for MY birthday present at the famous Herend Porcelain shop??? NO

City Hall-Not quite as beautiful as the one in Paris!

Public bathrooms-go down the stairs at brown gate

Lots of homeless people-high unemployment

Just one of the many gorgeous ornate buildings

Roman ruins in downtown Budapest! Not protected or anything!

Hungarian Little Prince statue

Promenade along the Danube River

Spring has sprung!

Busy week ahead of us as we help Brian and Michelle get settled in and learn their way around town. Pray for an easy adjustment, good team relationships and ability to quickly learn survival Hungarian!

Prague and back!

I'm sorry I missed a week of blogging! I hope you enjoy this blog enough to have been just a teeny bit disappointed at not getting an update this past week!

On Easter, two weeks ago, Glenn and I left for Prague for a retreat for everyone on the regional support team (RST). The RST is made up of missionaries who work for the good of and provide support to the whole CEE region. Most of the RST live in Prague and work in the office either as a regional leader, on the media team or on the accounting team. The Member Care team is part of the RST because we serve the whole region, even though the Borders and the Doyles live in Budapest, Hungary and the Jarboe's live in Moscow, Russia.


Craft fair in Prague

We had to go up a few days early before the retreat to take care of some "business" (no, really!) and to meet with a couple of families. We were able to take advantage of the Easter festivities a little while we were there.


Lovely, isn't it?

Watercolors of Prague

Our son Chris collects paintings from countries he has visited. (Cote d'Ivoire, Jamaica, France...)Every time I saw one of these booths, I thought of him and wanted to buy him a painting. But I didn't because he and Kate are coming this summer to visit us in Budapest and then we're coming to Prague for a few days! I'll let him pick out his own picture!

Our favorite place-Bohemia Bagel

We managed to find our way once or twice across town for lunch at Bohemia Bagel. If you remember from a previous post, this is the place that offers unlimited refills on fountain drinks with ice!

Even McDonald's has gotten into the "cafe" scene

All aboard whose going aboard-to the retreat!

Wednesday 72 of us (20 volunteers from Glenville, Georgia and 52 missionaries and kids) headed to a place about 2 hours outside of Prague for 4.5 days of worship and fun!

I'm so excited I can hardly sit!

The Park Villa Hotel

This picture was taken on Sunday just before we left when it was quite warm (50's). The weather was cold and snowy when we arrived, as you can see in the picture below, but got better and better with each passing day!

Not enough on the ground to make snow ice cream but still pretty!

Our worship leader-Keith Rushton

We had worship time in the mornings and evenings, and free time in the afternoon.

Break time-free drinks, usually with ice!

Fellowship time with our regional leader, Rodney

In the afternoons during free time, many of the families hiked up the hillside and climbed on some of the rocks! It was an unusual sight to me to be walking along, and then all of a sudden, there were these huge rocks sticking up out of the ground! I heard that a movie (a recent, pretty famous one) was filmed among these rocks, but I can't remember which movie it was. If I can remember before next week, I'll let you know which one it was.

Our boss and friends, Lynn and Glenda

It's action packer time!

In February we got an email asking us to come up with a wish list of things we'd like from America because the volunteer team that was coming out to lead the retreat was going to bring each family an action packer full of goodies from America.

Because we'd just returned from the U.S. (Member Care conference and vacation time) in January, it was hard to come up with things we needed or wanted, but somehow we managed! You know, things like Wheat Thins, chocolate chips, antibacterial wipes, pop-tarts, games, etc.

It's Christmas in March!

One of the things I asked for on our list was a couple of used DVD's (either if a family has seen it 100 times or if they have a used DVD store like we have in Marietta) for the Eden House ministry. We are in the process of changing over from VHS tapes to DVD's at the Eden House, and had only a handful at the time. Well, seven families from Rehobeth Baptist Church, one of whose daughter came as a volunteer to our retreat, filled our action packer. I was expecting 5-6 maybe, but hoping for as many as 8-10, but they sent us 92 new DVD's for the Eden House! They sent us GREAT movies for the whole family and we were so overwhelmed with the gift that Glenn and I couldn't stop crying!

It was very humbling. We got lots of other goodies for Glenn and me, but ALL our missionaries will benefit and enjoy all these wonderful movies when they come to Budapest!!!

Thank you Pastor Freddy, Rachel, Christopher, Kay, Doug, Kathy, Sean, Angel, Matt, Carrie, Robert, Vicki, Herman and Helen! (special thanks to Doug and Kathy who actually packed the things for us!)

Ambiente Brazil

And then, as if the retreat and the action packers weren't enough, the volunteers also took us out to dinner their last night in Prague at a place called Ambiente Brazil. It's an all-you-can-eat place where they serve to your table 15 different kinds of meat, from small pork chops, to mutton, to octopus!

Sausage on a skewer

The retreat was wonderful and very relaxing even though Glenn and I did end up meeting with several families before, after and during. We had a great time worshipping in English and getting to know at a deeper level some more of our fellow missionaries.

On our way back to Budapest we took a side trip for a couple of days to visit with two other families. Pictures from that trip will be posted next week! I was afraid that todays blog would be too long, and I couldn't decide which pictures to leave out, so I'll just put them in next weeks' update!

When we finally returned home, we had another wonderful surprise waiting on us!

Another care package from our friends, Pam and Adam! They have spoiled us rotten, which we love! We appreciate so much their remembering us with care packages, but most of all their faithful prayers for us! Pam tells me Adam prays for us every night, and that means so much to us!

Glenn is now in Greece, attending a meeting with Strategy Coordinators, and will return on Wednesday. The house is quiet, but there's lots to do!

Brian and Michelle Stevens will arrive next Sunday morning so if you aren't already praying for them, please begin! Once they are settled and have a little language study, they will take over the Eden House ministry from me. Pray for their adjustment to living overseas, being away from family and all that is familiar, and for the ministry of the Member Care team as we all work together for the support of our missionaries. We covet your prayers!!!!