We're here!!!

Good-bye family! Good-bye friends! Good-bye fountain drinks!


Cile's last fountain drink!

Our flight left Atlanta on January 17th at 4:30 pm. We had shipped two crates with our household belongings back in early October, so we packed our clothes, some favorite food items (we forgot the peanut butter!), office supplies (our printer!), DVD's and CD's, toiletries and some miscellaneous "stuff" into our 7 suitcases and 2 carry-on bags along with our 2 computers, Glenn's strumstick and my purse!


Every bag made it!

As we got on the plane in Atlanta, we found that the family in the seats directly behind us were a family I knew at North Cobb Christian School! Small world! They are going to be living in Europe for the next four months! What an experience for Clare and Phillip.


Angela and James Thompkins with Clare and Phillip

We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany an hour early, and left an hour late due to high winds. They should have delayed us even longer (!) because the winds were so strong as we were taking off that the plane was tossed to and fro (side to side, up and down). As I was praying, I realized God had called me to Budapest and therefore my days were not over yet so I was able to relax and enjoy the "ride". I was, however, very glad to get high above the winds where it was very smooth flying the rest of the way!


Six hour lay-over in Frankfurt. Look at the names of the places we could visit!


It's not the Atlanta airport, but it was pretty big and very modern.

We left Atlanta at 4:30 pm on Wednesday and arrived in Budapest on Thursday at 2:00 pm (Georgia time: 8:00 am) with only a couple of hours of sleep! We were met by Alvin and Mary Doyle, who run the Eden House (guesthouse for Southern Baptist missionaries in Central and Eastern Europe). They took us to see our house, the post office, the CEE offices, and other places of interest such as the Campona Mall!


Campona Mall: every bit as nice as Town Centre Mall!

I was amazed at how much the mall here looks like the mall there, except for the fact that I can't understand a word that I read!!! There are even little kiosk's in the middle of the mall selling things! They even have a food court!


Subway, McDonald's, Burger King and Pizza Hut are in Budapest!


Central Market Hall

On Saturday, we were on our own as the Doyle's went to Vienna (as in Austria) for the day to visit some friends. We decided to venture out and learn our way around town on the bus and tram system. I have to admit, we were taught by our daughter, Kari, in France how to read the transportation maps and that gave us quite the edge in finding our way around! We wanted to go to the Central Market Hall which is this huge three-story building that has one floor of souvenirs for tourists, one floor of fresh fruits, vegetables and meat, and one floor of foods and spices from around the world. After about 45 minutes, we found it! Unfortunately, it closed 2 minutes before we got there!!!


Vaci Street

So... instead we walked down Vaci Street which is known as the Tourist Trap. It is a pedestrian- only street where almost every store sells touristy-type things such as Hungarian tablecloths (no, I didn't get one. Glenn was with me!), pottery, postcards, souvenir silver spoons, scarves (beautiful!) and gloves, and so on. The weather was kind of dreary, but we were so glad to finally be here that the weather did NOT dampen our spirits!


Glenn doles out tram and bus tickets.

On Sunday (tomorrow) we will go with the Doyles to the Hungarian church that they attend. We won't understand a word said, but it will be good to see other believers worshipping! We will probably come home then and listen to Johnny Hunt of First Baptist Woodstock on the internet!

On another note, we've been updating our blog for the past couple of months about once a week. While we are new here and everything is fresh, interesting and fun, and we have more time on our hands because we haven't yet begun language study (!), we will probably update our blog every couple of days so you can experience Budapest along with us!

God is truly good! We thank Him for using us and pray that we will be worthy of the call He has placed on us. We ask you to pray for us Ephesians 6:19: that whenever we open our mouths that words would be given to us, that we may fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which we are ambassadors...

Our mailing address is:

Glenn and Cile BORDERS

Komaromi ut 84./B

1222 Budapest

HUNGARY

We'll let you know when we get our phone number, but encourage all that want to call us to download Skype off the internet for free so that you can call us for free! Go to skype.com and follow the directions for downloading. All you'll need to purchase is a headset or microphone that plugs into your computer (about $15 at Wal-mart).

OH! One more thing! God is sooooooo good! FOUNTAIN DRINKS have arrived in Budapest!!! I haven't had one yet, but I will soon!

Leaving for Hungary January 17th!

We now have plane reservations for Budapest on January 17th at 4:30 pm. It's a good thing we have those extra 10 days because we still have people we want to see and things we want to do before going!!! The week after Christmas was great, getting to see so many friends and going to several parties, but between the parties and eating, we need a break!

Glenn and Chris wanted one more backpacking trip/male bonding excursion so Kate and I are letting them have it! What was supposed to be a 3 day trip had to be shortened to a day hike due to bad weather on the horizon. They were as disappointed as Kate and I were!

While Glenn and Chris have been gone, Kate and I had massages. (Sorry, no pictures!) Kate needed one due to such a hectic schedule these past three weeks (two weeks in France, half a week in Marietta visiting Chris's family, and half a week with Glenn and me visiting in their home, plus going to work full-time now.) I needed one, well, wanted one, because I love them!


Day hike in the Smokies

For most of the week after Christmas, Glenn and I met up with friends to say our good-byes, usually over a meal. It has been such a blessing to us to get caught up on everyone's news and to enlist their prayer support for us as we leave. We treasure our friends that have added so much to our life over the years, such as Karen and Stephen Holloway, that we have been friends with since seminary days!


Brant and Peggy Callaway
(Brant was Glenn's good friend since childhood)


Kristin Cook (friends like her are few and precious)

During the days between Christmas and New Year's, Glenn and I went with the senior adults of First Baptist Church of Marietta to view the Nights of Lights on Lake Lanier. They were all beautiful, but this was my favorite as it depicts the real reason for celebrating Christmas!

On December 30th, Chris and Kate returned from France where they had been celebrating Christmas with Kari and Jonathan. They had a great time and if you want to read about their trip, you can click here or go to their blog at www.candkborders.blogspot.com


Borders Family Christmas, better late than never!

In the evening of December 30th, the Borders clan met for their annual Christmas get-together. This year it was at Glenn's brother's house and the food, most of which was done by sister-in-law Becky, was delicious!!!

Darden Borders and Glenn

Sarah Borders and her "friend"

New Year's Eve party at the Gay's

What better way to start off the new year than to begin it with good friends?

While everyone else is playing, Cile works on the computer. What a geek she has become!

As the new year began, we headed to Maryville, Tennessee so that Glenn and Chris could go on this long awaited 3 day backpacking trip, but Glenn and Chris ended up "doing a job" for one of Chris's clients for two days, and then we helped Chris on his "screened in back porch"and laundry room for two days. Then bad weather set in and cut their trip to a day hike!


Chris had framed it in before we arrived.

While Glenn and Chris closed in the laundry room, Cile primed the screened porch (minus the screens). Chris hopes we (meaning Cile) will be able to paint it before we (meaning Cile and Glenn) leave on Tuesday.

We have two more days here in Maryville before we head back to Marietta for our last week in the U.S. for a while. It will be one of the "saddest days of my life" when we leave our son and daughter in law behind.

On a happier note, this is one of the blessings we get as missionaries! This "Story of Christ" quilt was made by a third grade Sunday School class at First Baptist Church of Marietta last year and was given to me by their teacher, Nancy Swanson.

We've been hearing via email from some of our friends that we came to love at the International Learning Center as they have arrived at their places of service. Most of the 12 going to Central and Eastern Europe with us are already overseas; we are two of the last to depart, so we are excited and ready to go (figuratively speaking!). This, however, is what awaits us when we get back to Marietta on Tuesday!

PACKING! We've got to pack our 7 suitcases (these 3 are Cile's) and figure out what to do with the things for which there is not enough space! We will send a stack of books "Media Mail" to Budapest, and store the rest to pick up on a later trip to the U.S.. Pray that we make wise decisions as to what is needed, and to leave behind what is unnecessary!

Keep us in your prayers and we'll update one more time before our departure!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Merry Christmas!

God has been so good to us in the past year and we are excited about what He has in store for us this coming year! Glenn is pointing to where we will live (Hungary) and I am indicating the area we will work (from Hungary to the far eastern side of Russia).


World Map on the wall at Marietta First Baptist Church

Our plane reservations for January 7th were canceled because we had not received our visas to Hungary by December 19th, but they arrived on December 26th, so as soon as the IMB reopens on January 2nd and Jean has time to go through her 200 emails she received over the holidays, she will book us a new flight. We anticipate leaving Atlanta now somewhere between January 15th-20th, but we'll let you know as soon as we know something definite!

In the meantime, we've had a wonderful Christmas with lots of food, good times with family and friends, and a special surprise from our daughter!

Kari called us a couple of days before Christmas on our cell phone while we were at my sister's house and we got to talk to her for a bit, but she promised to call again on Christmas day.


Weak cell phone batteries so Glenn plugs it in to the car to recharge while talking with Kari. Don't want to miss a word!


Santa left one of his reindeer at our house by accident.

The reindeer looks a lot like Chris's dog, Shadow, that we are babysitting, doesn't he?


Christmas breakfast at Glenn's "Momma and Deddy"

After a delicious breakfast, we rushed back to our "old" house that has not yet sold in order to be able to talk to Kari and Chris and their spouses on Skype. Low and behold, while I was talking with Kari via the computer, her face popped onto my screen!!!! She had received from her wonderful husband, Jonathan, a web cam and so I could see her face as she talked with me! What a wonderful surprise! I got to talk to Chris and Kate and see them too! It was wild!


Talking to and seeing Kari at the same time! What a gift!

After talking with Kari, Jonathan, Chris and Kate, we headed over to my sister Elizabeth's mother in law's house, Emogene Bass, to have another Christmas dinner. (We'd eaten there earlier in the week when my older brother and other sister and their families came into town for a day or two.)


Elizabeth and I pose with our antlers.


My brother Jim and his oldest daughter, Dannelly from Chattanooga.


My sister Karin and her family: Eric, Morgan and Corrie

Besides celebrating with Cile's side of the family (Borders' side will celebrate on Dec. 29th), we also visited with some very dear friends of ours, most of whom are members at our church, West Cobb Baptist Church.


Dianne and Al Gay

We've eaten a lot of meals in restaurants (which Cile loves!) as this seems to be the best time to fellowship with friends. We enjoyed breakfast with Buddy and Ashley McLaughlin, lunch with Brant and Peggy Callaway, dinner with Bubba & Tassie Wainwright and Kerry & Bobby Rader and a Christmas party with our Pastor, Ken and Shawna Williams. The rest of this week is full with fellowshipping with more friends before our son returns from France and Glenn's sisters' family arrives for the Borders family Christmas celebration.


Christmas dinner at Emogene's included long-time friends, Jane and Anne Quillen.


Tea and crumpets with Queenie and Becky.

One of the most fun things I have done over the holidays was to attend one of the local Garden Club teas with Glenn's mother "Queenie" and my sister in law, Becky. We donned some hats, wrapped shawls around our shoulders and held our pinkie's out as we sipped a spiced Christmas tea and ate tiny delicacies. It was a lot of fun pretending we were the tea types.


Connie Smith, Becky and Cile enjoy a sip of tea and a taste of scones.

We hope your holidays are as much fun as ours has been! We thank God for His Son, Jesus Christ, who is THE REASON we celebrate Christmas and we want to honor Him with our lives, now and throughout the coming year. I hope you have experienced His Presence over the past few days and will make Him a priority in the months to come. What an awesome God we serve!

We graduated!

We finished our security training, turned in our final written assignments, met with our "coaches" and accountability partners, and had one last party with everyone going to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) before our commissioning ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 13th.


Kristin reads a little Christmas ditty she penned for our enjoyment.

Our party consisted of a wonderful pizza dinner (away from the cafeteria!) and then back at one of the quads for desserts and a few games. We loved getting to know the others going to CEE with us and look forward to seeing them again in April and June.


Cile works on a puzzle of the Parliment in Budapest.

Kari and Joanthan gave us this wonderful puzzle as our early Christmas present, and we saved putting it together until our Christmas party. The neat thing about this puzzle is that Kari downloaded a picture from the internet while she was in France, and emailed it to the Walmart in Marietta for them to make it into a puzzle for us, and then she picked it up from the Walmart when she was in the U.S. in September! Isn't that cool! Great gift idea! Thanks Kari and Jonathan!

Close-up of Parliment building in Budapest puzzle

After our 7 1/2 weeks at ILC, we loaded our bags, said our good-byes, turned in our keys and went to visit with Kate and Chris in Maryville for two days. We brought them to Marietta with us and then took them to the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (more commonly known as the Atlanta airport) where they caught a flight to France to visit with Kari and Jonathan for 2 weeks!

While Chris and Kate are in France, we are babysitting their dog, Shadow, and as you can see, he is a very loving Golden Retriever. Shadow misses "his mom and dad" but is having a good time playing with Cile's Dad's dog, Tundra. He also is enjoying walks in the local park and chewing on Tundra's dog bones.

Chris & Kate take a few presents to Kari & Jonathan.

Hurry, hurry, hurry, now let's wait! If you'd like to see pictures of their trip and hear all about it, you can go to their blog's and follow along! Go to www.candkborders.blogspot.com and www.jkmassonfrance.blogspot.com

We got word from the IMB today that our plane tickets to Budapest for January 7th were cancelled because our visas haven't arrived yet. (The IMB has to cancel reservations a certain number of days before the flight to not lose any $ on the tickets, and the IMB won't purchase the tickets until the visas have actually been received.) At this point, we won't be flying out as scheduled on January 7th and we won't have a revised departure date until we actually receive our visas for Hungary. We'll let you know when we know something more. We are excited about getting to Hungary, but every day that passes that we are still here in the U.S. is ONE LESS WINTER DAY!

Only 3 more days!

Our time here is almost over! There will be a commissioning service for everyone on Wednesday afternoon and then a reception. We have made some wonderful friends that will be serving all over the world, and we've enjoyed swapping prayer cards with all of them!


Linn Allee Donaldson

We've had another great week as we met up with several old friends. My best friend from high school and a bridesmaid at our wedding, Linn Allee Donaldson, drove down from the Washington, DC area to spend Saturday afternoon with me. I have not seen her since 1988-89! She looked great and it was sooooo good to get caught up on her news. Linn was always my alter ego; she always did and said things I wish I had nerve to do!


Jerry and Jenny Jones

We ate Sunday lunch with good friends from our seminary days, Jerry and Jenny Jones, that we have not seen since 1984 when we were here at ILC the first time around. Jenny and I used to walk our babies, Kari and her son Logan, around the seminary campus when they were just months old. Jenny's father used to pastor First Baptist Church of Marietta when Glenn was a little boy, so Glenn and Jenny go way back! Jerry was instrumental in our original call to the mission field when he invited us to teach at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly during Foreign Missions Week back in 1983. It was while we were teaching middle schoolers at Ridgecrest that we heard God's call to serve Him in Ivory Coast.


Marc and Charity Verlander

When our daughter, Kari was here at ILC for training before going as a Journeyman to Senegal, she met Marc and Charity Verlander who were also going out as Journeymen. We met them for the first time when we were in Richmond, VA for our Candidate Conference last May. They came out to ILC this week to take part in the Contingency Training that we had Monday through Wednesday.

Well, only 3 more days here. As we finish our last papers and assignments, we are beginning to breathe a little more freely and actually have some "free" time. Cile likes to spend hers out in the living area, chit chatting with the other ladies.


Finished with his assignments, Glenn picks out a tune

Glenn, however, is an introvert and prefers to practice some tunes on his strumstick. He is doing really well with it, and even led us in music this morning during our small group worship time! He is working hard on learning some Christmas carols so that he can play during our family get-togethers at Christmas. Our daughter, Kari, has also taken up the strumstick (music runs in our family) so you might want to look for Kari and her Dad to put out a music CD in a few years. (Would you be interested in a piece of land in the Okeefenokee for sale?)

We thank you for your prayers during these past 7 weeks here, but please don't stop! Pray that God will take care of our house in Marietta that is still for sale. Pray for our families as we spend our last 2-3 weeks with them. Pray for our visas to Hungary to arrive before January 7th so that we can depart as scheduled. We appreciate your prayers so much!

Christmas is almost here!!!

The Christmas season has arrived and the quads are being decorated. The large tree in the cafeteria is adorned with ornaments and the tables are covered with red and white poinsettia's. Even the weather is feeling more like Christmas!



Glenn enjoys eggnog and Christmas slice 'n bake cookies with little Hudson and his father.



Our cultural worship experience for this week was Asia and the Pacific Rim countries, so the women and men had to enter opposites sides of the room and remain separated, men on one side and women on the other. Shoes had to be taken off before entering, and all women had to have their heads covered. The message was preached in Korean and then translated into English. Very interesting!



Many parts of the world where we send missionaries are third world countries, where the luxury of a toilet with a seat and a lid don't exist. One of our learning experiences here is to learn how to go to the bathroom by squatting, hence, this squatty potty that we are all required to use at least once while here! Hey, this potty is nice! When we were in Africa, there were many times that it would have been nice to have something like this one!


Squatty potty

This upcoming week is a very intense week for all of us as we begin Contingency Training. Our world changed with the attacks of September 11, necessitating three days to teach us what to do in case of a hostage situation or terrorist attack. It is the one aspect of this training that everyone dreads because it, evidently, is very realistic. Anyway, pray that we are able to learn all that we need in order to protect ourselves and others. It would be nice if we never have to use it, wouldn't it?

We have 1 1/2 weeks left to go. It has been a challenging, stretching, inspiring 8 weeks. We are grateful to Southern Baptists who have given their tithes and offerings through their local church to provide the finances for this wonderful training center, and the financial support that will allow us to work in Central and Eastern Europe. Most of all, we are grateful for your prayer support, for we desperately need and depend on it! We are humbled to be called, excited to be going, and ready to be used!