Android 2.1 Review

A while back I wrote a blog post about my Android phone (click here to read that post).

Recently I got the update from Android 1.5 "Cupcake" to 2.1 "Eclair".
I had been waiting for this update for almost 6 months. During this time, as I was checking online, waiting for news of the release of the update, I realized that there was a whole community of people online talking about Android and the different updates.

Now that I've had the upgrade for a few weeks, here are a few thoughts about it:

• With this update, it is as if I have a whole new phone. The interface is much better.
• I now have the apps that I was missing before - Kindle reader and Tweetdeck, and I think Tweetdeck for Android is actually better than the one for iPhone/iPod.
  
• My phone is slower now. It seems that my phone doesn't have the resources to handle this new software very well. Lately it has been taking a really long time to access my contacts list, which can be a pain in a jam. If anyone has any suggestions about how to fix this, I would love to hear them.
• The battery life is shorter now, and some of the apps that I couldn't get on 1.5 use a lot of resources, as does the Android software itself. Also, because Android allows multitasking, when you have multiple apps running, it runs down the battery. One helpful thing though is that Android 2.1 has a task manager which you can use to turn off programs that run in the background, and also set programs to automatically turn off after a certain amount of time if they are running idly in the background.
  

All in all, I'm really satisfied with Android Eclair - and I have no plan to buy a new phone any time soon.

Horsing Around - A Legfontosabb Állat

I have realized a recurring theme in Hungarian colloquialisms: The horse seems to be the most important animal to the Hungarian people.
Rájöttem egy dologra a magyar közmondásokkal kapcsolatban: A ló a legfontosabb állat a magyar nép számára.

Here are some examples of what I am talking about:
Íme, néhány példa:

• Úgy izzad mint a ló (Sweat like a horse {a lot})
  
• Úgy zabál mint a ló (Chow down like a horse {to eat a lot, fast})
  
• Úgy röhög mint a ló (Laugh like a horse)
  
• Úgy dolgozik mint a ló (Work like a horse)
  
• Húzza a ló bőrt (Pulls the horse skin {to sleep})
  
• Úgy alszik mint a tej (Sleep like milk {sleep well})

Ok, I realize that last one didn't have anything to do with horses, but I think it is an interesting saying.
Tudom, hogy az utolsónak semmi köze nincs a lovakhoz - csak nekem tetszik ez a közmondás.

Here are the English equivalents to those Hungarian colloquialisms:
Íme, úgyan azok a közmondások az angol nyelven:

• Sweat like a pig (Úgy izzad mint a disznó)
  
• Eat like a pig (Úgy zabál mint a disznó)
• Laugh like an idiot (Úgy röhög mint a hülye)
  
• Work like a dog (Úgy dolgozik mint kutya)
• Sawing logs (Fatörzsöket fűrészel {horkolni})
  
• Sleep like a log (Úgy alszik mint a fatörzs)

I don't know what is to be concluded from this...but it's interesting.
Nem tudom mit kellene ebből következtetni...de érdekes.

Do you know any more Hungarian sayings involving horses?
Tudtok-e más magyar közmondást ami lovakról szól?

Reminders

Whereas Hungary and other former Eastern Block countries have taken down and removed all reminders of the Communist period - Budapest and Prague having gathered statues and placed them outside of the city, as a tourist attraction - Ukraine is one of the countries that has kept, even polished theirs.

All over Kiev, we saw reminders and symbols of the Soviet Union, to which Ukraine belonged for almost 70 years. The hammer and sickle, the communist star, and even statues of Lenin can be found throughout the country.
I find these things intriguing, and I can understand in a way why they keep these things. The Soviet era is a part of Ukraine's history, and not something they feel a need to forget or pretend didn't happen.

Here are a few pictures I took while I was there:

Statue of Lenin in the main square of Zhytomyr:


Soviet tank on display in Kiev:

Hammer and sickle:

Star on the top:

Memorial to the Great Patriotic War:




Tanks:

Mother Motherland statue - with Hammer and Sickle on shield:

Leningrad:

Gate:

Happy Thanksgiving!

God is good. We have so much to be thankful for; we have experienced the grace of God in a special way this year, and we are grateful.

Have a good Thanksgiving holiday!

Leaving the Liberal Church

This video from CNN illustrates a trend amongst churches.
Many traditional or main-line protestant churches, especially the Episcopalian and some Methodist denominations, have moved towards a more liberal stance regarding issue like homosexuality and the role of women in the church.

Personally, I think that even more than the role of women in the church, the issue of homosexuality is the most pressing issue facing the church in the West now and in the near future. It is certainly not an issue that we should ignore. Part of God's mission is ministering to all people with the message of God's love, redemption and restoration - but the way in which we do that needs to be faithful to God's Word. Shunning people who are different or who do things we don't agree with is not what Jesus would have done, but yet he called those who followed Him to repent and submit their lives to God's will and standards. So, this is not a simple issue, and it is one that will be a main issue for the church for years to come.

Part of this trend I mentioned is that attendance in increasingly liberal main-line protestant denominations has been steadily declining whereas attendance of newer, but more conservative protestant churches has been increasing. This has been the case for many years, and something that is certainly troubling for main-line denominations. It isn't that church attendance is decreasing in the US and England - in fact there are reports that show that church attendance in the US has increased in recent years - it is just shifting.

It seems that in the attempt to conform to the expectations and norms of popular Western culture, these main-line churches are killing themselves.
I believe this reflects that most people who go to church are looking for people with living faith who really believe God's Word at face value, and are turned off by, rather than attracted by compromise and a soft view of the authority of God's Word.

Anyways - here is the video:

Dressing the Dog

Nate likes to dress his stuffed dog in his clothes. This time the dog even got his diaper changed!

Trip to Ukraine

Upon crossing the border back into Hungary, the Ukrainian border guard asked me: What were you thinking driving to Kiev with 2 little kids? I'm not quite sure what we were thinking either, but nonetheless, we had a good time - although we are all very glad to not be in the car any more!

Last summer I talked to George Markey about how we have a heart for Ukraine, and how we have started taking mission trips with our church to the region of Ukraine which borders Hungary. He suggested that we come to the pastors and leaders conference in Kiev, both so we could meet people, and so I could translate from English to Hungarian for Dankó József, the Hungarian pastor we work with in Beregovo, Ukraine (HU: Beregszász), who leads a Hungarian speaking church in that region.

We weren't sure if we were going to be able to go, because I had some assignments due for school the same week of the conference - but I was able to finish them early, and on Wednesday we packed the car up and headed for Kiev. We decided to drive through the night to Kiev, so that it would be easier on the kids. We picked up Józsi in Beregszász and hit the road at 8:30pm.

Around 4am we arrived to Zhytomyr - the town that my grandfather's family was from before they moved to Canada. I've always wanted to visit this town, and so we drove through and took some pictures:


Greek Catholic Church:

My personal favorite: Statue of Lenin in the main square.


We got into Kiev at about 6am. The conference started in the afternoon, so we had a few hours to see the city and get some coffee.
I really liked Kiev, and wish I could have had more time to look around.





More pictures here.

The conference was a great blessing; it was good to meet people and visit with some people we already knew. God is doing a good work through Calvary Chapel in Ukraine, and it seems that they have a great fellowship amongst the pastors and leaders.

After the conference we decided not to drive straight back to Eger, but to stay the night in Ternopil - about half way between Eger and Kiev - where we stayed with a missionary friend of ours, Merilyn Gibbs. On Sunday morning I got to teach in the church in Ternopil, and after church we went out to eat, then packed up our things and got back on the road to Eger.

A few quick thoughts/fact about Ukraine:

• They sell Oreos there!
• They sell caviar flavored chips! How cool is that!
• Fuel is much cheaper in Ukraine than in Hungary. 95 octane benzine in Hungary is about 334 HUF/L (1.65 USD/L or $6.25/gallon). In Ukraine, the price is 191 HUF/L (0.94 USD/L or $3.56/gallon). I have a 50 liter tank in my car, which means that if I fill it in Ukraine I save 7150 ft/$35.39. That certainly helped make the trip a bit cheaper.

Here is a map of our route. According to Google, it was 2109 km (1311 mi).


View Larger Map

Sex, Drugs, Rock n' Roll and God?

As part of our outreach to the Eger college (www.ektf.hu) this fall, we will be doing a concert and a lecture this Wednesday on the college campus. Matt Edwards will be coming from Tatabánya to do the concert, and I will be giving the lecture.

Here is the poster, it was designed by Scott Fales, and I think it is a fine piece of work.


Please pray for this outreach to be effective!

Recent Photos of Our Family

There are a lot of things I would like to write about, and I have actually a few drafts waiting to be written - but as I am back in school now, blogging is not among my main priorities.

Nonetheless, here are some recent photos of our family:

Nate and his dad


With our friend Naveen and his new baby Hannah - she was only 2 weeks old when we got to meet her! Naveen's wife, Rani took the picture, so unfortunately you can't see her.


Felicia and her two front teeth


Balázs in Colorado - posing with a Mustang, at his request :)