Fall is definitely in the air!

Living in a country where we don't speak the language, we miss a lot of things. We can't watch the news (well, we can watch it but we can't understand it), can't read the newspaper, and can't understand conversations on the street, so if anything happens to the country of Hungary, would one of you give us a call and let us know?

We kind of feel like we live in "our own world" walking through downtown Budapest, not understanding a word going on around us, but this past Monday was an exception. As Glenn and I came up out of the metro system on Monday, my ears immediately recognized English being spoken over a loudspeaker, and I was so shocked I stopped in my tracks.



Following the sound of the beautiful language, we came upon a man standing in front of a microphone preaching in English, followed by a young man translating the sermon into Hungarian. It was weird but kind of warming. I don't, however, think there were many Hungarians that were capitivated by the whole scene.



Sometimes I feel really guilty that our life here is so "easy", when there are so many other missionaries living in very rough situations. I know without a doubt that we are where God wants us to be, and I occasionally have to remind myself of that. This past Wednesday Glenn and I went to see a movie, Get Smart, in English at our local mall. This just amazes me because, first, we never saw a movie in a theatre the whole time we were in Ivory Coast, and secondly, it was in ENGLISH and it was a fairly NEW movie too! Wow!

There are several differences though in going to a movie here. First, they really encourage you to purchase your tickets ahead of time on-line in order to guarantee a seat when you arrive. (Our theater complex shows about 10 movies at a time, but each individual theatre is pretty small.) Secondly, out of 10 movies, about half of them are Hungarian. The other half are American. Of the 5 that are American, usually 2 of them will be dubbed into Hungarian (so the mouth doesn't move in proper sequence) and 3 of them will be in English with Hungarian subtitles. These are the ones we go to see! Glenn and I enjoy seeing how they translate some of the English into Hungarian!! The third difference is that when you purchase a ticket (on line or in line), you must choose your seat at the time of purchase! They have a display screen that shows what seats are available, you choose where you want to sit, and your seat number is printed on your ticket. FAR BE IT for you to sit in someone else's reserved seat, even if the rest of the seats around you are empty!



Thursday the Member Care team (Doyles, Stevens and Borders) went on a dinner cruise down the Danube River.



A delicious buffet dinner, a small dance floor with some great music, and the most gorgeous scenery made the 2 hour river cruise an evening to remember.



I hope your week has been as good and full as ours was!

One final note...even though our life is relatively "easy" here, there are some things that make it hard to be here instead of there (in the U.S.), and that is being away from family and friends for special occasions. One of those special occasions is coming up this week: my DAD's birthday! Dad, we wish you a wonderful birthday and sure wish we could be there to celebrate it with you!!!! We love you!