Monday, July 27, 2009

Dr. Habis László

Az egyik unokatestvérem, Tess, meglátogatott minket a múlt héten, szerdától szombatig. Ő most utazik Európában, és az első állomása Eger volt. Örültünk, hogy itt volt, és jól eset, hogy egy család tagunk látogatott minket itt Egerben.
Elvittem mountain bike-ozni Bélapátfalván, elmentünk vacsorázni Egerszalókon, és elmentünk az egri strandra.

Tess-nek van egy plüss majom, és egy fényképet akar készíteni róla minden városban, ahol jár. Pénteken, elmentünk vacsorázni Egerben, és Tess le próbálta fényképezni a majmot az étteremben, ahol voltunk. Rosemary észre vette, hogy ezt a melettünk lévő asztálnál ülő férfiak aranyosnak találták, és mondta nekem, hogy kérdezzem meg tőlük, hogy keszíthet-e Tess egy fényképet róluk, amiben ők tartják a majmot.
Oda mentem és megkérdeztem, és az egyik úgy felelt meg, hogy 'Szeretnél, hogy a város polgármestere megtartsa a majmot a képben?' És akkor leeset, hogy azzal akivel beszéltem, az Dr. Habis László volt - Eger polgármestere!
Itt vannak a majmos képek:

My cousin Tess came and visited us last week, from Wednesday to Saturday. She is on a tour of Europe, and Eger was her first stop. We had a good time together, and were glad to have some family visit us here in Eger.
I took her mountain biking in Bélapátfalva, took her out to eat in Egerszalók, and took her to the outdoor bath in Eger.

Tess has a stuffed monkey that she wants to take a picture of in each city she visits. So Friday, we went out to dinner in Eger, and she was trying to take a picture with the monkey at the restaurant we were at. Rosemary noticed that some men sitting at the table next to us were amused by this, so Rosemary suggested we ask them if we can take a picture of them holding the monkey. So, I went over and started talking to them, asking if they would be willing to let Tess take their picture with the monkey, and they asked me, 'would you like the mayor of Eger to hold the monkey in the picture?' It turns out the man I was talking to was the mayor - Dr. Habis László!
Here he is holding the monkey:

Friday, July 24, 2009

Adios Paula

Apparently, Paula Abdul will no longer be a judge on American Idol, as she hasn't been offered a contract to continue with the show.
Article here.

Paula had her ups and downs, did some crazy stuff off-screen, and was obviously on prescription drugs, but I think we're all going to miss hearing her say every week: 'You're a bright and shining star' and 'I love you' to almost every contestant.

We actually liked Paula being on the show - she usually had something nice to say when they other judges didn't - and you always knew that if there was a performance that even Paula couldn't say something nice about, then it must have been really bad!
Here's Paula on AI - an example of why she might not have been invited back...

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Glacier

'A glacier is a large mass of ice moving slowly over some land surface or down a valley, formed over long periods from the accumulation of snow in areas where the amount of snow that falls exceeds the amount that melts. Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth. Glaciers are found in mountain ranges of every continent except Australia' (Souce: Wikipedia)

On Monday I took Andy, Kim, and Balázs to the High Tatras. Andy and Kim came to help with our English Camps, and since there is a one week break between the 2 camps, they wanted to see some cool stuff in the area.
Every now and then I have to go get my mountain fix up in Slovakia - it kind of reminds me of home.

We went to Tatranská Lomnica, and took the lift up to Skalnaté Pleso - a lake which collects the water from the glaciers near the peak. I've been up there quite a few times, but had never actually seen the lake, since its frozen and covered with snow in the winter. It was beautiful.
From the lake we could see the glaciers, probably about 700 meters up the mountain, so we decided to hike up to them. Kim had never seen glaciers before, so we figured we might as well go see it from up close.
Up on the top of the mountain we saw some deer and a fox. I caught a frog.

All in all, it was a great time. The only thing missing was Rosemary...:(
Here are the photos:

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Heaps

We have an Australian couple, Andy and Kim, staying in Eger right now for a few weeks to serve with us in our English Camps.
We've really enjoyed having them here - they are great people - and we have learned a lot about Australia:
Australian culture has a lot of British influences, but it also seems to have a lot in common with the western United States. They have cowboys - called 'drovers', they have country music, they have surf culture and wear flip flops and board shorts, they are laid-back, etc...

According to Andy and Kim, Australians make fun of you if they like you. They certainly make fun of me a lot, which must mean one of 3 things:
  1. They do it because they like me
  2. They do it because they don't like me
  3. They don't actually like me, but they want me to think that they do...
I'm not sure yet; I'm still working on this one.
While I'm busy doing that, here's a video:

Monday, July 20, 2009

First Semester Finished

I've finished my first semester of school, and I'm really enjoying it.
In light of this past semester, here are a few of my reflections on studying theology:
  • I would recommend it for anyone who has the means to do it.
  • I think you can be properly equipped to be a pastor or Christian leader without formal theological education, but I think it is a good for 'rounding out' one's theology and method of studying the Bible.
  • I enjoyed spending a lot of time in the Word, and I feel that it gave me a better overall grasp of the big picture of the areas I studied this semester (The Gospels and the Pentateuch).
  • I haven't really encountered anything super new, but it has been good to be exposed to views different from my own. I think that is really important for everyone who really believes something.
    If we just read books and listen to people who believe exactly what we do, and say only things which we agree with our particular tradition, that does not strengthen our faith, it does not make us question and rethink our positions. Its just like, "Oh, hey, this guy agrees with me too!", and that doesn't help us develope discernment, which is so important for Christians these days, with all the aberant teaching that goes around.
    After all - our goal is not to hold to or affirm one position or another, it is to seek God and to seek truth. And if our positions are correct, then they will be affirmed through this process anyway, and if they are not correct, then its better to be disillusioned than to believe something unbiblical!
    A good case in point is Thomas Schreiner, a prominent theologian, author and pastor, who recently changed his long-held view of amillenialism to premillenialism, because he was convinced by the text to do so. That's a great example of someone committed to the truth and not to defending his particular tradition. Here's an article about it.
Books and websites which have been most helpful to me:
  • Google Books
    I found so many usefull resources here for writing papers - mostly excerpts from books. This was really helpful since I don't have access here to an English library with theology books.
  • Online Synopsis
  • The New Testament Gateway
  • Bible Dictionaries
    I love Bible dictionaries, and my favorite is the New Bible Dictionary. I use this all the time.
  • ESV Study Bible
    This was Rosemary's gift to me for Christmas, and I LOVE it. I use it a lot for devotional reading, preparing for sermons, and as a reference. It is full of good articles, charts and maps. With purchase of it, you also get access to the ESV Study Bible Online, which has everything the paper version has, and gives the opportunity to writes notes on the column and highlight in different colors, which are all be saved and can be accessed online from anywhere. Its a great tool.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Something I Don't Understand cont.

A while back I wrote this post about how I don't understand why people use the Playboy bunny on their clothes and on products - especially how I see in Hungary that people put Playboy bunny clothes on their pre-teen girls.
Today, I had a case in point.
We've had an English camp this week for school aged kids, and today one of the little girls - 10 years old - came to camp with a Hooters shirt on.
A few thoughts on this:
  • This little girl probably has no idea what this shirt means.
  • Her parents probably know full well what it means, and sent her out to church camp today wearing a Hooters shirt, thinking it was all well and good - perhaps even cute - to see their little girl wearing a shirt like this.
  • Do they hope that one day she will grow up to be a Hooters girl? What a great ambition to have for your little girl: that some day she will grow up and have men ogle at her while she brings them beer and hot wings while wearing skimpy clothes...
  • How wrong is it that Hooters even makes clothing in sizes for little girls?
  • Doesn't this encourage pedophilia somehow?
Needless to say, I was disturbed...

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Tokyo Robot

I've never been to Japan, but I get the impression from what I see on the internet that Japanese people are cool, in a strange and nerdy way.
Here's an example: This robot was built in Tokyo, just for fun.
Gundam in Tokyo
Its 18 meters (59 feet) high - about as high as a 6 story building - and lights up at night.
More pictures here.
Crazy Japanese...

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Ukraine

I have wanted to go to Ukraine for literally years.
My mom's family moved from North America from Ukraine, and I've been interested in the country, and wanted to visit it for quite some time.
When I first moved to Hungary, my plan was actually to stay in Hungary for a short time, and then move to Ukraine. Obviously, the Lord had different plans, but Ukraine has always had a place in my heart, and has been a place I pray for and read about.

Well, the time finally came for me to go to Ukraine. A few weeks ago during the Foundations Conference in Vajta, I went with one of my pastors to Ukraine - to Zakarpatska Oblast, the part closest to Hungary, which at one time belonged to Hungary.
Both Pete and I have Ukrainian family background, and have both had a heart for the country for a long time. We went there to check things out, pray for God's leading in future ministry opportunities in Ukraine, and hopefully make some contacts.

We had a little difficulty at the border - I had a document to take the car across the border since it is in Rosemary's name, but it wasn't notarized, which isn't necessary in Hungary, but is in Ukraine. So, after spending 2 hrs at the border, we walked across and took a taxi to Mukachevo (Munkács in Hungarian). There we took some pictures, prayed, and ate some bad Ukrainian food.
After the food, we went to the local Hungarian Reformed church, hoping to be able to talk to someone there and ask about the spiritual life of the city, and the church situation there. The Lord really blessed this meeting; the reformed pastor there is young, and we actually have a lot of common acquaintances in Hungary, including a few people in Eger. He took us around in his car, showed us the various churches, told us a lot about the Spiritual situation in the area, and even drove us back to the border! It was a big blessing.
Funny thing was, that as we crossed the border again, the Ukrainian guard - an ethnic Hungarian - who knew we had been turned back when we tried to enter with our car asked how we had gotten around, and when I told her that we had gotten a ride from the Reformed pastor she got very excited, because she was also Reformed. When I then told her that I was a pastor too, she came out of her booth and gave me kisses on the cheek and asked why I hadn't told her that before!

We are still praying about the next step, and what God would have us do, but it was a good trip. Here are the pictures:

Monday, July 13, 2009

The Rose

This has been on the internet for a while, and I'm sure that a lot of people have already seen it - but in case you haven't, here's Matt Chandler speaking at a Desiring God conference. Check it out:

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Joy

I got to baptize Balázs on Friday in Vajta.

On Thursday he came to me and told me that he wanted to be baptized, and when I asked him why, he said, "Because I want to commit my life to God." That is such a beautiful thing, and it was such a joy to me to get to baptize Balázs, and see him make the choice on his own initiative to make a statement of his faith and his commitment to following Jesus by being baptized.

Congratulations Balázs! May God strengthen your faith and bless you, so that you truly do follow Jesus all of your days!

Lehetőségem volt Balázst bemeríteni pénteken Vajtán.

Csütörtökön odajött hozzám, és azt mondta, hogy be szeretne merítkezni. Amikor megkérdeztem tőle, hogy miért, azt mondta, "Mert Istennek akarom elkötelezni az életemet." Az egy anyira szép dolog, és nagyon nagy öröm volt a számomra, hogy Balázst bemeríthettem, és láthattam azt, hogy saját döntést hozott arról, hogy ily módon bizonyságot tesz az ő hitéről és arról, hogy arra kötelezi magát, hogy Jézust kövesse.

Gratula Balázs! Isten erősítse meg a hitedet és áldjon meg téged, hogy tényleg kövesd Jézust az életed utolsó napjáig!






Friday, July 10, 2009

Happy Birthday Calvin

Jean Cauvin, who we know as John Calvin, was born on this day in 1509 – 500 years ago today.

We Protestants owe a lot to Calvin for his work as a reformer and his contributions to the development of Christian theology. His ideas have also been credited with promoting democracy and capitalism in the west. Not bad for a Frenchman!

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Remény - Hope

Remény
Amikor januárban Kaliforniában voltunk, beszéltem egy gyülekezetben - a vistai Golgota Gyülekezetben, és meséltem, hogy milyen módokon próbálunk terjesteni az evangéliumot Egerben, és említettem azt, hogy posztereket szoktunk kirakni, amin kihívő Biblia idézetek vannak. Az alkalom után, odajött hozzám valaki, (http://seaufin.com/) hogy ő grafikus designnal foglalkozik, és szívesen készít nekünk egy posztert.
Ez az amit készített nekünk. Szerintem nagyon profi, és nagyon jól néz ki.
Majd nem soká, ezeket is fogjátok látni az egri utcákon és épületekben!
When I was in California in January, I spoke at Calvary Chapel of Vista, and I was talking about what kinds of things we are doing to spread the Gospel here in Eger, and I mentioned that one thing we do is put up posters around town that have Bible verses on them that would speak to people's hearts and challenge them. After the service, someone came up to me (http://seaufin.com/) and said that he does graphic design, and would be happy to help us by making a poster.
This image above is the poster he made us. I think its very good; very eye-catching.
Soon these will be seen on the streets and in the buildings of Eger!

Monday, July 06, 2009

Cyril and Methodius Day

Yesterday was Sts. Cyril and Methodius Day in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Handshake
Cyril and Methodius, were, in my opinion, pretty cool. I think they deserve a holiday.
They were brothers, born in Greece, in the 9th century, who became missionaries to the Slavic people. They have been called the "Apostles to the Slavs".
Cyril and Methodius translated the Bible into the language of the Slavs - now called Old Church Slavonic, and created an alphabet - the Glagolitic alphabet - which was suited to match the specific features of Slavic language. They evangelized the Slavic people, and are seen as heroes throughout the Slavic world to this day.
As a missionary, I can't help but be impressed with that. They did what He said to do:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Tegnap Szent Cirill és Metód napja volt Csehországban és Szlovákiában.
Véleményem szerint, királyok voltak. Szerintem megérdemlik egy ünnepnapot.
Testvérek voltak, akik Görögországban születtek a 9. században, és missziónáriusok lettek a szláv népek között. Valamennyien a "Szlávok Apostolai"-nak hívják őket.
Cirill és Metód a szlávok nyelvére fordították a Bibliát - ma ezt óegyházi szláv nyelvnek hívják, és kitaláltak hozzá egy saját ábécé rendszert - a Glogolita ábécé - ami alkalmas volt a szláv nyelv sajátosságaira.
Ők evangélizálták a szláv népet, és a mai napig hősöknek tartják őket szerte a szláv világban.
Mint missziónárius, ez nekem nagyon tetszik. Ők azt csinálták, amit Ő mondott:
18Jézus hozzájuk lépett, és így szólt: "Nekem adatott minden hatalom mennyen és földön. 19Menjetek el tehát, tegyetek tanítvánnyá minden népet, megkeresztelve őket az Atyának, a Fiúnak és a Szentléleknek nevében, 20tanítva őket, hogy megtartsák mindazt, amit én parancsoltam nektek; és íme, én veletek vagyok minden napon a világ végezetéig."

Sunday, July 05, 2009

The Lost Ark Found?

According to this article, 'Ark hunters and Bible enthusiasts are buzzing about a report that the Ark of the Covenant, the ancient container that holds the Ten Commandments, is expected to be unveiled in Rome today.'

This article was posted on June 25 - well over a week ago - and I haven't heard anything about it from any major news source. I imagine something like this would be HUGE news. Even Indiana Jones was looking for the thing!
Time also had an article about it - also written before an unveiling of the ark.

According to the article, the Ark of the Covenant - the box which held the stone tablets with the 10 Commandments on them, the staff of Aaron which blossomed, and a golden vessel containing a gomor of manna, which was kept in the Holy of Holies and represented the presence of God to Israel - could possibly be in Ethiopia.

Bob Cornuke, author and explorer, who has written books about the search for the Ark of the Covenant and participated in a History Channel program about it, said: "They either have the Ark of the Covenant or they have a replica that they have believed to be the Ark of the Covenant for 2,000 years,"

What do you think? Is this the real deal? Does it matter? Should we just leave it alone?

Don't forget what happened to Uzzah, or the guys who got the tumors, or the guys who died from looking at it...
It might be safer to just keep one's distance from it!

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Independence


Happy Independence Day to all my American friends, both in the States and abroad!
To the rest of you: Happy Saturday.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Ultrasound - Week 11

We went to the baby doctor yesterday for a check up, because he's leaving on vacation and won't be back until August.
Everything is fine, and little 2.0 let us take a picture of him/her. 2.0 also did some moving around while we were watching, and we got to see the little legs moving around. It was cool. We also got to see and hear the heart beating.
Currently 2.0 is almost 4cm long, from head to rear end (not including legs), which is a whole lot bigger than he/she was 3 weeks ago. Kudos to God, 2.0, and Rosemary for that!
Here's the ultrasound pic:

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Technology

When I moved to Hungary a few years ago, my parents tried to buy me a laptop. I said no way. I didn't think I wanted one - it was too expensive, and too fancy for my style. At that point I had never owned a mobile phone, and I didn't want much to do with electronics.
Well, I finally agreed to let them buy me a laptop - but only the cheapest and smallest one I found. Then I moved to Hungary and got my first mobile phone - a Trium Astral piece of plastic junk.

A few things have changed since that time.
I have since fully embraced technology. So much so, that I get the shakes if I'm apart from the internet for any length of time.
The one thing I'd never been into was having a nice phone. I thought it was dumb and pointless; after all, phones are for calling people, not for all that other nonsense, right? So, until now I just had cheap phones.
Well, on Monday I finally joined the 21st century and replaced my old phone with a new one. This one can browse the internet, use wifi connection, take videos that are not just one big pixel...
The phone took a bit of getting used to. Its a lot more complicated than the phones I had before, so I called one of the kids from church to come over and show me how to use it - which made me feel a bit like an elderly person who can't figure out how to send an email, but I probably needed that humbling experience. And actually, I know there are a ton of things the phone is capable of doing, which I still have no idea about. That's fine actually, because I won't be replacing it for a long time :)

Yes, I have become this guy:


Amikor Magyarországra költöztem egy pár évvel ezelőtt, a szüleim próbáltak venni nekem egy laptopot. Azt mondtam, hogy semmikép. Azt gondoltam, hogy mineka? - az nekem túl drága és túl luxus. Addig a pontig soha nem volt mobil telefonom, és nem is érdekeltek a műszaki cuccok.
Hát, nagy nehezen beleegyeztem, és megengedtem, hogy laptopot vegyék nekem - de csak a legkisebb és legolcsobb laptopot amit találtam. Aztán elköltöztem Magyarországra és megvettem az első mobilomat - egy Trion Astral műanyag szemét darab.

Azóta egy pár dolog megváltozott.
Már teljesen átöleltem a technológiát. Annyira is, hogy elvonási tűneteim vannak ha nem vagyok net közelében egy ideig.
De az egyetlen dolog ami soha sem jött be nekem az volt, hogy szuper mobil telefonom legyen. Úgy gondoltam, hogy az lényegtelen butaság; hiszen a mobil telefon csak azé kell, hogy tudjak vele telefonálni, nem? Tehát, eddig mindig olcsó telefonjaim voltak.
Hétfőn végre csatlakoztam a 21. századhoz, és vettem egy új mobilt a régi helyett. Ez tud böngészni a neten, wifi-t használni, videókat felvenni amik több mint csak egyetlen egy nagy pixelből állnak...
Egy kicsit nehéz is volt hozzá szokni ehezz az új telefonhoz. Ez sokkal bonyolultabb mint ami eddig volt nekem, úgyhogy szóltam egy fiatal srácnak a gyüliből, hogy jöjjön át és tanítson arra, hogy hogy működik. Egy kicsit úgy éreztem magam mint egy idős ember aki nem tudja kitalálni hogyan kell emailt küldeni, és azért szól egy fiatal embernek, hogy segítsen. De biztos ez által nyertem egy kis alázatosságot. Még mindig van egy csomó minden képessége a telefonomnak, amiről fogalmam sincs. Nem baj, mert úgy sem veszek újat egy jó pár évig :)
Tehát - igen, ezzé az emberré váltam, aki a fenti videóban énekel a menyasszonyának, arról hogy mennyire szereti a technológiát (és őt is):)

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Happy Canada Day!

To all Canadian friends and/or all Canadiophiles - Happy Canada Day, eh!
«O Canada»
Here's Jim Carrey on being Canadian:

200 Forint Coin

On June 15th, the National Bank of Hungary introduced the new 200 Forint coin (worth roughly 1 US Dollar):

This is actually the second time Hungary has produced a 200 forint coin - they also produced one from 1992-1994 which had a design somewhat similar to that of the new one, with the Lánchíd (Chain Bridge) on it:

I got my first 200 forint coin today. The biggest bummer about it is that the coffee machines in Hungary don't take it... So, even though I have to carry these coins in my pocket now - I can't even use them to buy coffee. Felháborító.