Thursday, February 02, 2012

Farewell Dear Dacia

In June 2010 we bought our first new car - a 7 seater Dacia Logan MCV.

Today we said goodbye to our dear car, which we loved very much. It really was a great car. We had hoped to take it with us to the US, but it would have been too complicated.

The car sold very quickly - within only a few days of us putting it up online, and amazingly, we actually got more for it than we had hoped :) God is good, and he keeps using things like this to confirm that our move to Colorado really is His leading.

Farewell Dear Dacia! You will be missed.




Sunday, January 29, 2012

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Big Day

Yesterday was a pretty significant day in my life for 3 reasons:

On JANUARY 22, 2002 I arrived in Hungary on a train from Germany with the plan that I would stay here for 8 or 9 months. The Lord had other plans, he just wanted to get me here first before showing me what those plans were :-)

On JANUARY 22, 2010 our daughter Felicia was born. She was severely asphyxiated at birth and had to be removed with an emergency c-section. The doctors determined that she had suffered brain damage, and told us to pray for a miracle, because that is what it would take for this little girl to get better, but they told us not to expect that she would ever be 100%. We didn't know if she would survive for hours, much less days, but yesterday, by the grace of God she turned 2 years old, and she TOTALLY healthy. She is smart and cute and ahead of the curve developmentally - a true miracle, all to the glory of God. A testimony to His kindness and grace.

On JANUARY 22, 2012 we ordained Hernádi Jani as a pastor, a fulfillment of the vision that God gave us when we moved to Eger 7 years ago of planting a church and raising up local leaders, and eventually a Hungarian pastor whom we could hand the church over to when the Lord would lead us on to the next place. Jani will take over the church when we move to Colorado in March, and we are excited to see all the good things God will do through this church in the future.

January 22 is a day we will never forget.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Change - Változás


(Magyar verzióért tekerd lejjebb)

There are some pretty significant changes going on right now with our family and ministry that we would like you all to know about.

This coming Sunday, January 22, we are going to ordain one of our elders - Hernádi János - as a pastor, and shortly thereafter he is going to take over pastoring the church here in Eger and our church plant in Heves.

In March, Rosemary and I and our kids, including Balázs, are moving to Colorado, where I am going to pastor White Fields Community Church in Longmont - where our friend Pete Nelson is currently pastoring.
We will fly out on March 6 to San Diego and spend 2 weeks in Southern California before driving out to Colorado. Our first Sunday at White Fields will be March 25.

I have been serving in Hungary for 10 years now, Rosemary for 13. We love Hungary and the work that God is doing through Calvary Chapel here, and it is very hard for us to leave.
This all may seem sudden to some of you, but it has been in the works for about a year and a half. We have waited until now, because we didn't want to leave until the ministry here was at a place where we could hand it over and until Jani was ready to step in as pastor.

We are not leaving because anything is wrong - in fact things are going really well in our ministry here and in our family, and we are making these changes simply because we believe that this is God's will and direction for our lives and for the churches involved. When we moved to Eger 7 years ago, our vision was to raise up leaders and eventually raise up a Hungarian pastor that we could hand the church over to. We are sad to leave Hungary, but at the same time, we are excited and looking forward to all the God has in store in the future for our family, for the church in Eger and for White Fields church in Longmont.

The ministry of the church here will continue on. God has blessed this church with a lot of committed and gifted people who want to serve the Lord with their lives. English Camp will continue - we already have the dates for it: July 9-14 - and Lord willing, I plan to be here for it this July, hopefully leading a team from White Fields to serve.

We would be happy to answer any questions that you might have!

A közeljövőben néhány jelentős változás történik Egerben - a családunk életében és a szolgálatban egyaránt. Most vasárnap, január 22-én, lelkipásztorrá fogjuk avatni a gyülekezetünk egyik elöljáróját, Hernádi Jánost, és nem sokkal azután ő fogja átvenni tőlem az egri és a hevesi gyülekezetek vezetését.

Márciusban pedig Coloradóba fogunk költözni Rosemaryvel és a gyerekekkel (természetesen Balázst is beleértve), ahol a White Fields Community Church gyülekezetének a lelkipásztora leszek, Longmont városában - ez az a gyülekezet ahol Pete Nelson lelkipásztor barátunk jelenleg szolgál.
Március 6-án indul a gépünk, először San Diego-ba megyünk, és ott leszünk 2 hétig Dél-Kaliforniában mielőtt továbbautózunk Coloradóba. Március 25. lesz az első vasárnapunk a White Fields-ben.

Én most már 10 éve szolgálok Magyarországon, Rosemary pedig 13 éve. Nagyon szeretjük Magyarországot, és szeretjük azt a munkát amit az Úr végez a Golgota által, így nagyon nehéz elmennünk innen.
Lehet, hogy néhányotok számára, ez elég hirtelennek tűnik, pedig már másfél éve folyamatban van. Azért vártunk eddig, mert nem akartunk elmenni, amíg a szolgálat nem volt olyan helyzetben, hogy át tudjuk adni, és amíg Jani nem volt felkészülve hogy fel tudja vállalni a pásztori szolgálatot.
Nem azért megyünk, mert valami baj van; igazából, nagyon jól megy minden a családunkban is meg a gyülekezetben is. Egyszerűen azért megyünk, mert hiszük, hogy ez az Isten akarata és irányítása az életünkre és az érintett gyülekezet számára is. Amikor ide költöztünk Egerbe 7 évvel ezelőtt, az volt a tervünk, hogy alapítsunk egy gyülekezetet és neveljük fel helyi vezetőket, idővel pedig egy lelkipásztort is, akinek majd átadhatjuk a szolgálatot. Ez a vizió beteljesült, és ezért örvendezünk! Szomorú dolog nekünk innen elmenni, de ugyanakkor izgalmas is, és várjuk mind azt a jót, amit az Úr tartogat a mi családunknak, az egri Golgotának és a longmonti White Fields gyülekezetnek.

A gyülekezet szolgálata ugyanúgy folytatódni fog. Az Úr nagyon megáldotta ezt a gyülekezetet sok elkötelezett és tehetséges emberrel, akik az Urat szeretnék szolgálni az életükkel. Az Angol Tábor is ugyanúgy folytatódni fog - az időpont is megvan már: 2012. július 9-14 - és ha az Úr is azt akarja, én is jövök a táborba, remélhetőleg egy szolgáló csapattal a White Fields gyüliből.

Kedves magyar barátaink, nagyon fogtok hiányozni! Továbbra is fogunk imádkozni az itteni misszióért, és vissza fogunk járni amennyit csak tudunk. Kérlek benneteket, hogy szeressétek és támogassátok Janit és Tündét, úgy ahogy minket is szerettetek és támogattatok!

Ha esetleg vannak kérdéseid, szívesen válaszolunk!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Most Popular Posts of 2011

I read somewhere that 2011 was the year in which nothing major happened. I'm not sure that was the case for us - but it was a year characterized by moving forward in what we were already doing. And it was GOOD.

Here are my most popular posts from 2011:
  1. May 21, 2011
  2. Surprise Amendment to Church Law in Hungary
  3. It's Official
  4. Morbid Angol Mondókák - Morbid English Nursery Rhymes
  5. Teaching Kids About the Real Saint Nicholas
  6. Bomba Jó - Bomb in Eger
  7. Felicia is One Year Old

Friday, December 30, 2011

Skiing in Bánkút

Hungary is famous for a lot of things: Music, food, thermal baths, wine, and many other things.
One thing Hungary is not famous for? - Skiing.

I have been snowboarding twice in Hungary - one of them was today, when I took Rosemary, Nate and Felicia to Bánkút ski area in the Bükk mountains, mostly to let Nate try out skiing.
A few years ago I went snowboarding on the highest peak in Hungary, Kékes tető (1014 m/ 3330 ft). It wasn't so great.

I spent the first hour today in Bánkút teaching Nate how to ski, and then I decided to buy a lift ticket and take a few runs myself.
There was actually much more snow there than I expected, considering that it is not far from Eger, and in Eger there is no snow at all.
Nonetheless, I kind of felt like I was snowboarding on frozen grass. There wasn't much of a base, to say the least.

But, there are a few positive things I would have to say about Bánkút:
  • It was CHEAP. I paid 1000 HUF (3.23 EUR) for my lift ticket - which lets me ride the lift 6 times, any time between now and when they close in March (providing that they have snow until then. They could close earlier if there is not enough snow). Also, I was able to rent skis for Nate for 1000 HUF too. That is cheap.
  • It was CLOSE to Eger. It was a short 1 hour drive from our house.
  • It is a great place to teach people how to ski - especially kids. If you are going to be teaching someone how to ski or snowboard, it makes a lot more sense to go to Bánkút rather than spending a lot more money on gas and lift tickets to go to bigger mountains in Slovakia or Austria, when all you really need to teach them is a minimal amount of snow and some short runs. There is nothing more frustrating than driving a long way to an awesome ski mountain, only to not be able to ski on it because you spend the whole day on the beginners' hill teaching someone the basics.

So, I thought up a few possible slogans for Bánkút:
  • "Bánkút: The Most Frozen Grass in Hungary!"
  • "Bánkút: Ne válaszd műsípályát - inkább gyere hozzánk és válaszd FŰsípályát!"
Here is a video of our trip today to Bánkút. Nate even did a bit of skiing on his own, but we didn't get video of that.