Moving

Tomorrow we will move to our new flat here in Eger.

Moving makes me wish I didn't have so much stuff...but on the other hand I hate to throw things away - it's a vicious cycle :)

When I moved to Hungary, all I brought with me was a backpack and a laptop. The backpack was filled with my gigantic Bible and about 2 sets of clothes.

Since then I've acquired a lot more stuff...

Someone told me recently that for kids, moving house can be a traumatic thing, because where they live is part of their identity.

I never imagined that moving from our current flat where we've lived for the past 4 years would be that hard, since it's not our own, and we just rent it. But tonight as we were packing, I started to get sad about leaving this place, because although this flat is just a bunch of walls and doors - it has been a part of our lives.

When we first moved here, there were only 2 of us , and since it is a 2-bedroom flat, people from the church were surprised that we got such a big place - so much so that 2 girls asked if we would let them rent our extra room! Obviously, that wasn't an option we were interested in.

We held the church's Wednesday night Bible studies here for a year and a half, until Rosemary got pregnant. We've had so many good times here, and have so many good memories.

This is the place we brought Nate to when we brought him home from the hospital, and this is the only home he's ever known. I hope the move won't be too hard on him.

Now there are 4 of us, and one more on the way. The flat has gotten too small, and we have to move on.

I never expected to be this sad about leaving an apartment, and I know that God has good things in store for us in the new place and that the best is yet to come.

As a Christian, this world is not my home. We are "strangers and exiles on the earth"; we are just passing through. We're here for a time, with a purpose, on our way to and looking for "a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God".

Thanksgiving / Hálaadás

Happy Thanksgiving!

Although I don't believe that America is a "Christian nation", I am glad that there are a lot of Christians there, and I think it's great that we have Christian traditions like Thanksgiving, a holiday all about being thankful for God's blessings and grace.

What an awesome and Biblical thing to stop and take time to thank God for all that He's blessed you with - it keeps us from becoming small people who are characterized by murmuring and complaining about what we don't have or what we don't like.

Here's a short list of some things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving

• My family
• God's provision for our needs
• Good health for those I love
• The new baby who will join us in January
• A new place to live where we will have more space
• The Christian community / church family
• Jesus, through whom I have true life

What are you thankful for today?

Boldog Hálaadást!

Bár nem hiszem, hogy az USA egy "keresztény állam", örülök neki, hogy ott sok hivő van, és szerintem nagyszerű dolog, hogy vannak keresztény hagyományaink mint a Hálaadás, egy olyan ünnep ami arról szól, hogy hálasak legyünk Isten nekünk adott áldásaiért és kegyelméért.

Mennyire király és biblikus dolog megállni és hálat adni Istennek mind azért amivel téged megáldott - ez tart minket attól, hogy "kicsi" emberek legyünk, akikre jelemző a morgás és a panaszkodás arról, hogy mi nincs, vagy mi nem tetszik.

Itt egy rövid lista arról, hogy miért vagyok hálás ezen a hálaadási ünnepen:

• A családomért
• Isten gondoskodásáért
• A szereteim egészséséért
• Az új babánkért, aki januárban fog érkezni
• Az új lakásunkért, ahol több helyünk lesz
• A keresztények közösségéért / a gyülekezeti családomért
• Jézusért, aki által van igazi életem

Te miért vagy hálás ma?

Győzelem / Victory

Ma a parlament megszavazta azt a törvényt amelynek része volt a vajtai Bibliaiskola - hivatalosan mostmár a Golgota Teólogiai Főiskola - akkreditációja!
Ez azt jelenti, hogy kb két hét múlva a köztársasági elnök elé kerül a törvény aláírásra, és azután ki lesz hirdetve.
Ennek a hosszú folyamatnak még nincs vége, hogy Vajtán lehessen kapni egy akkreditált főiskolai diplomát, de ez egy nagyon nagy győzelem ennek érdekében - hiszen volt ellenállás ennek, főleg magukat kereszténynek nevező politikusoktól.
Dicsőség az Úrnak ezért! Láthatjuk az ő keze munkáját ebben.

Today the Hungarian parliament approved the law which included the accreditation of Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe!
This means that in about two weeks the law will go before the president of Hungary to be signed, and after that will be declared.
This long process of getting the school accredited, so that the Bible college in Vajta can give an accredited Bachelors degree, is not over, but this was a very big victory for Calvary Chapel, as there was opposition to it, mostly from politicians who call themselves Christians.
Praise the Lord for this! We can see the work of His hand in it.

Their Own World

A great video, about how some Christians want to create their own heathen-free world.
Funny stuff. Enjoy:

Family Fun in Szeged

Rosemary and I have been wanting to take a short trip somewhere before the new baby comes in January, just to get out of town and do something fun.
We were originally planning to go to England for a few days...until we looked into how much it would cost!
So, we decided to get in the car and drive to Serbia, and visit friends in Szeged and Subotica, with the intention of getting to Novi Sad to take pictures and walk around.
We are in Subotica right now, and got blessed to be able to stay at a friend's apartment - where there happens to be free wifi in the building :)

This afternoon we stopped in Szeged on our way, and visited with Kyle and Odi Eckhart, and got to see their 2 month old baby Zara. It was a real blessing. Afterward, we hit up an Indian restaurant before heading to Subo.

We did get to spend a bit of time downtown in Szeged while it was light out, and took some pictures:

The Little Prince on his throne -


Dom in a puddle -


Family photo -


Nate's favorite free-time activity: Terrorizing pigeons -


More:

A Dose of Randomness

• This website is a collection of real pictures taken of people who grace the isles of Walmart - www.peopleofwalmart.com
  
• The other day Nate saw some birds flying in the sky and shouted "airplanes!"
  What kind of world do we live in when kids are more familiar with airplanes than with birds?
  
• We were in Debrecen on Friday, and I saw an old lady crossing the street in full "néni" attire - head scarf, black smock, stockings, legwarmers, boots. The first thing that came to my mind was - Hey, I know that lady from Eger! She lives on our street and I walk past her every day! Then I realized that it wasn't the woman from our street in Eger - it was just another néni wearing the typical néni outfit... Oops.
  

Tear Down This Wall

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
In reflecting on the events which led up to the wall coming down, it seems there were a few key events which almost didn't happen.

• German Politburo member Günter Schabowski accidently blurted out at a press conference that East Germany would allow its citizens to pass through border crossings into the West, and then made it worse by adding that this would happen immediately, even though that was not what East Germany was actually planning to do. Because of that error, people gathered at the borders and at the wall on Nov 9, 1989. More about this here.
• According to this video, Ronald Reagen almost didn't say his famous words: "Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!"
• Margaret Thatcher was actually not supportive of German re-unification, fearing that a unified Germany would be too powerful a force in the center of Europe.

But the wall did come down, and communist governments in Eastern Europe fell not long afterward. Nowadays its hard to imagine it any other way.

Here is a list of walls which are still standing around the world.

Boys Who Can Shave

Mark Driscoll on adolescense vs. being a man. Good stuff.

For the Love of Bill

A few years ago we took a trip through Serbia and Kosovo. It was 2003, so the Kosovo conflict of 1999 and the NATO bombing of Serbia was still fairly fresh.

In Serbia we tried to keep a pretty low profile as Americans, since many Serbs were obviously not too happy about the US having bombed their country. We had a good time in Belgrade, we liked the city a lot and found people very friendly and kind.

But in Kosovo, it was a completely different situation. The city itself is nothing special. Sightseeing in Prishtina consisted of visiting the UN headquarters, the big hotel, the (black) market (ok, that was actually pretty fun), and the money changers - like 20 guys standing around near a bus stop who changed money as a business (ok, that was fun too:) The cool think was that in Prishtina we were very open about being Americans, because since that same NATO bombing, many Kosovars love Americans. We got treated great - we were given free pastries in bakeries and free coffee in cafés, a good price on exchanging money - just because we were American.

America is viewed as having saved Kosovo - and the savior himself is Bill Clinton. And they certainly love him. The main street in downtown Prishtina is named Bill Clinton Boulevard.

We even saw his name on random other stuff, like this company which sells marble.


This past week, for the love of Bill, a 3 meter tall statue of him was erected in the Kosovar capital. Bill himself was there to unveil it.
Here's a video of it, and here is an article, which contains one of the pictures I took back in 2003.

Desiring God for Free

Until November 21, you can download a free audio copy of John Piper's Desiring God here.

I downloaded my copy a few days ago, and am really enjoying it.
I read Desiring God a few years ago when I was going through a dry time spiritually, and was greatly encouraged and uplifted by it. It's still one of my all-time favorite books. Enjoy!

Rules

I recently read the Rule of Benedict for my class on Church History. Benedict's Rule is essentially an all-encompassing list of rules for how a monastery should function (i.e. Benedictine monks). There were many "rules" written; one for each faction or group - but the Rule of Benedict is seen as a standard, and is even considered canonical by some branches of the the church.

Anyways, as I was reading it, I found some things interesting and/or funny:

XXII. How the monks are to sleep.- Let them sleep in separate beds, and let the beds be suitable to their manner of life. Let them sleep clothed, girded with belts or cords - but without knives at their sides, lest they injure themselves in sleep.
Yea, so no pajamas, and no knives in bed either! If they hadn't pointed that out, who knows what could have happened?!

XXX. Concerning boys under age, how they shall be corrected.- ...as often as such persons offend, they shall either be punished with extra fasts or, coerced with severe blows, that they may be healed.
Severe blows? In every monastery they had monks who functioned as doctors. I wonder if the referenced to healing them means that they beat the young ones so they could practice healing them???

XLII. On silence after compline.- Monks should practice silence at all times, but especially in the hours of night. Therefore on all days, whether fasting days or otherwise, let them sit together as soon as they have risen from supper (if it be not a fast day) and let one of them read the 'Collations' or 'Lives of the Fathers', or something else which may edify the hearers. But not the Heptateuch (the first 6 books of the Old Testament) or 'Kings'; for it will not profit weak intellects to listen to that part of the Scripture at that hour.
So, after dinner no one is allowed to read or listen to Genesis-Judges or Kings. I had no idea that was a problem!

And my favorite:
LVIII. Concerning the manner of receiving brothers.- When any new comer applies for admission, an easy entrance shall not be granted him...Therefore, if he who comes perseveres in knocking, and is seen after four or five days to endure with patience the insults inflicted upon him, and the difficulty of entrance, and to persist in his demand, entrance shall be allowed him...
4 or 5 days?! Insults inflicted upon him?! I wonder what that was like - Hey, you're an idiot, and you're momma's ugly! Go away or else I will insult you a second time!
Interesting. I wonder if it was anything like this:

Autumn in Eger

Now that Nate is getting bigger, he can really enjoy autumn a lot more.

He dressed up like Superman for Halloween:


He raked leaves in the backyard:


And he had a good time playing in the leaves in the park in his new winter coat:

English Grocery in Eger

Last week as Rosemary was walking in town, she saw an flier in the mud advertising an English import grocery store in Eger. The next day we drove by to see if it was for real, and were very excited at the prospect of getting English products in Eger.
One of our favorite things about traveling to different places is going to a local grocery store and seeing what kinds of unique stuff they have there. I've written about some of our favorite stuff here and here.
So, this morning we went out and check out what they have. Here's a short list:

• English Tea - Tetley's and PG Tips
• Real English Cadbury products - not the Polish Cadbury that Hungarian Tesco sells
• McVities brand stuff - like Rosemary's favorite Digestives
• Lots of canned soup - probably not going to go over well in Hungary...
• Crisps/Chips - English brands (Walkers) and English flavors > We bought a bag of Prawn (garnéla rák) flavored chips/crisps! Not bad actually.
  
• Malt Balls! (like Whoppers in the USA) - Nate tasted one, and wasn't sure what to think...but we like them :)
  
• English sauces, ginger cake, candies, cereals, Strongbow beer, etc...

Since the shop just opened, they are still figuring out what things to import. We made a few suggestions of stuff we would buy if it were available:

• Ribena drinks
• English muffins
• Ginger beer
• Yorkshire tea
  

The owner is a very friendly English guy from Liverpool. He said that this shop in Eger is the only English import grocery in Hungary, and he plans to send shipments from Eger to Budapest for Brits living there.
The prices are a bit high, since everything is imported, but I hope the business will be successful and stay around for a while.
Here's their business card. If you're in Eger, stop in and support them.


What British products do you think they should carry? What would sell? What would you buy?