Once the Eden House is entirely in the hands of the Stevens as of June 13th, we will begin traveling for Member Care. However, this past weekend we got a taste of "freedom"! No responsibilities for the EH at all, all weekend long! It was nice!
Last year when we first arrived in Budapest, Glenn and I traveled across town on the metro in search of a large flea market. Because we were new and didn't have a really good idea of what we were doing and where we were going, a trip that should have taken 45 minutes took us an hour and a half, but we finally made it to the flea market-just in time for them to close up for the day!
Coke is EVERYWHERE in the world
This past weekend we decided to try out the flea market that is held every weekend in the back of the City Park in downtown Budapest. To our good fortune, it was also Children's Day in Hungary and there was a big festival being held in City Park! Two big events in one location.
There were games and rides and activities for children through-out the park, and lots of vendors selling just about anything you could imagine. Our favorite, as always, was the local food fare!
There were sausages and fries, rotisserie chickens, Hungarian style hamburgers and hot dogs, and lots of different kinds of yummy pastries. Our favorite pastry is actually one we first tried in Prague, but evidently it is sold in many European countries. It is pastry dough that is rolled out like a long, thin "snake" and then coiled around a metal tube that is about 12 inches long. It is then grilled over an open fire until it is golden brown and then sprinkled heavily with toppings such as cinnamon sugar or coconut. It is soooo good!
We wandered around the park for several hours and sampled the goodies they were giving away and accepted some of the freebees also, like these balloons. Of course, then we had to find a couple of children without balloons because we couldn't hold the balloons and eat our pastries!
As we were walking around, we came across someone we knew. Well, not personally, but someone we knew OF. Ronald Reagan. That was a surprise!
Deciding to make it a day in town, we then started on our list of "If we ever have time, I want to see..."and began with the Parliment building up close. All the way around it! They are pressure washing the Parliment building, and you can definitely tell where they have worked! Notice how white the wing is on the right and how dark the building is on the left side of the photo? The building is white when it is clean!
The BACK of Parliament!
We rode trams and buses just to see where they went.
We strolled across the Arpad Bridge to get to Margaret Island (which is in the middle of the Danube River) to walk the length of the island. They were also celebrating Children's Day there too, only on a smaller scale than in City Park. I took this picture of the Parliment building from the bridge. You can tell the front has been cleaned, but the left side has not been done yet. The brown section on the right side of the photo is scaffolding where they are currently cleaning. I am looking forward to the day when I can take a picture of the Parliment building without ugly scaffolding marring the photo!
And then we started winding our way back to our side of town. This is an escalator in the metro system. I'm not sure you can tell how loooooong it really is by this picture so you'll have to take my word for it that it is LONG!
Glenn and I are putting some final touches on the work we will be doing at our five annual general meetings this summer. Two years ago, we had one AGM for the 400+ folks we work with, and last year we were split into two groups of about 200 people (Greece and Poland). This year, we will have five meetings so we will be doing a lot of traveling this summer! (Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Greece and Finland)
We will have three of these meetings, each about a week long, pretty much back to back, beginning in mid-June. In July, Chris, Kate, Kari and Jonathan are coming out for two weeks, and then we will hit the road again with two more week-long meetings. By the end of the summer, I will be out of pages in my passport!!!
So, please pray for us as we head into a hectic summer. We are looking forward to many things, so the time will fly by. When you are praying for us, pray that we will keep our quiet time with the Lord as the most important thing we do. Pray that we lay down our desires, our perceived "rights", our agenda, and keep our eyes on Him. We appreciate your prayers!
1 comment:
Hi Aunt Cile and Uncle Glenn!
I'm glad you two got some time off to go check out the city! I can't believe you guys have been over there for two years, it sure doesn't feel like it's been that long.
It's funny how you mentioned putting aside our perceived "rights" and agendas. This past Sunday, our pastor at our church called a 21 day fasting of our opinion to bring a clean slate to the Lord in prayer.
I have never heard of a fast like this, but it sure does make sense! I am very excited to see how the Lord will use this time of fasting and prayer to stretch us by seeing His truth and His will instead of our own opinion of the truth.
We will be continuing to think of you and praying for you. We love you so much and can't wait to see you again.
Blessings, Sarah and Chad
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