Nick and Rosemary's Blog

Little Angel

2012-01-29T22:38:00.001+01:00

Little Angel
Originally uploaded by nickandrosemary
Little Angel

Big Day

2012-01-24T00:16:00.001+01:00

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.

Change - Változás

2012-01-19T20:21:00.000+01:00

(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!

Most Popular Posts of 2011

2011-12-31T13:28:00.000+01:00

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:

Skiing in Bánkút

2011-12-30T00:14:00.000+01:00

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.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T16:57:00.000+01:00

Funny Guy

2011-12-21T17:00:00.000+01:00

Nate likes to make people laugh. His main audience is his sister Felicia - who is usually pretty easy to impress and make laugh.

I have been teaching Nate to tell jokes lately. So far, he knows 3:

"A mushroom walks into a bar and says, 'hello everybody! I'm a fungi (fun guy)!"
"A horse walks into a bar, and the bartender says, 'Why the long face?'"
"What's brown and sticky? ... A stick."

The other night there was a youth group meeting, so Nate went and tried to tell them some jokes. He kind of messed up the horse one - he told them:

"A horse walks into a bar, and the bartender says, 'Why do you have such a long head?'"

Then he started making up his own versions:

"A crocodile walks into a bar, and the cowtender says, 'Why do you have a long face?'"

It was at that point when I realized that Nate has no idea what a bar or a bartender are. :)

It's Official

2011-12-20T21:30:00.000+01:00

Here is the blog post I wrote a little over 3 years ago, when Balázs moved in with us and we became his foster parents. nickandrosemary.blogspot.com/2008/11/ch-ch-changes
Check it out - it is a blast from the past and worth the read.

This August we began the process of adopting Balázs. We didn't tell many people about it, because we weren't sure if it would be possible, as adoption can be a complicated and sometimes long and difficult legal process.

This Monday we got the papers in the mail that our adoption of Balázs has been approved and finalized. It's official; Balázs is now our son!

Why now? There are multiple reasons. To name only a few: Balázs is 17 now, which means that it was now or never. After turning 18 a person can no longer be adopted in Hungary. Another reason is because Balázs is part of our family - our little ones don't even remember a time when Balázs wasn't around; Nate was 1 and a half when he moved in - and we want to make Balázs' place in our family official and stable, and ensure that even after he turns 18, he has a secure family background.

I must say though, that as difficult as the adoption process can be for many people, we had an amazingly smooth experience. We saw the hand of God in a lot of things along the way which were potential roadblocks to us being able to adopt Balázs at all. It was also to our benefit that we had already had Balázs as a foster child for years and the authorities knew us and saw that we had his best interest in mind, which caused them to speed up the process.

We are glad to have Balázs as an official member of our family, and we are blessed that we get to be a part of God's work in his life.

The Good Guys

2011-12-19T08:30:00.000+01:00

Last Tuesday I got to preach about Christmas and the love of God to a group of cancer survivors and their families. This is the 3rd time I've been invited to speak to them at Christmas time, for their annual Christmas gathering, and it was a great blessing for me to get to minister to them from the Word of God and get to meet so many of them.
We don't have many older people in our church, so I enjoy getting to minister to the older generation here in Hungary from time to time.

After I preached, a man came and sat down next to me, and introduced himself as an atheist. As we got to know each other, it turned out that this man, who is now 80 years old, was a former communist leader in Eger.

He told me how he had become a Communist party member in 1948, when he was 17 yrs old. This means that he not only lived through the Stalinist era of the 50's, but that he was even part of the regime during the harshest, most repressive period of communism in Hungary. Later he became the head of the biggest factory in the region (Berva), and became an upper level party leader in Eger.
His world has changed a lot since the end of communism in Hungary.

The thing that I think many people in the West don't understand about the people who were communists here in Eastern Europe, is that many of these people thought of themselves as the good guys.
They thought of themselves as those who were really compassionate and humane, who cared about creating a society where everyone was equal. They really viewed the capitalists as the bad guys who wanted to get rich by taking advantage of other people rather than creating a society characterized by equality.
They viewed themselves as morally superior to capitalists, because they believed that life is not primarily about accumulating material possessions (Jesus taught that by the way too... see Luke 12:15), and that it is better to be satisfied with having "enough" than to constantly strive for more and better material things (another Biblical concept - see 1.Tim 6:6-8)
They viewed the church as a corrupt institution, a 'good old boys club'.
They believed that certain forms of suppression of freedoms were necessary and good to protect the society they were trying to create.

This man I talked to still believed sincerely in these ideals - as did the other people we were sitting with at the table, all of whom were raised during communism. It was interesting to talk with them and hear their perspective.
The one thing I was able to tell them that I felt broke through their walls against religion was that for me Christianity is not about a church hierarchy or organization, but it is about following Jesus - his teachings and example. When I started talking about JESUS, they were captivated. Especially when I told them that many of the ideals which they believed made the 'old regime' good, were taught and exemplified by Jesus long ago.

In reality, Jesus is the revolutionary their hearts really long for. His revolution is the one that they really desire deep down - they have just been turned off from Christianity by both rhetoric and by the poor representation of Christ that some parts of the body of Christ have been guilty of throughout history.
My hope and prayer is that these people would be able to see Jesus and not the actions of men.

Kitüntetés - Award

2011-12-18T08:00:00.000+01:00

Balázs több mint más fél éve tagja az egri polgárőrségnek.

Tegnap egy kitüntetést is kapott: Az Év Ifjú Polgárőre.

Nagyon büszkék vagyunk rád, Balázs!

Balázs has been a member of the Eger citizen's brigade - a volunteer organization that helps support the police - for about a year and a half now.

Last night he got an award: Youth Guard of the Year

We're proud of you Balázs!

New Life in Heves - Új Élet Hevesen

2011-12-17T19:52:00.000+01:00

The Lord has really been blessing our church's ministry in the town of Heves. New people have been coming around, and people are growing under the teaching of God's Word. It is really great to see and to be a part of.

Az Úr nagyon megáldja a gyülekezetünk hevesi szolgálatát. Mindig vannak új arcok, és az emberek növekednek Isten Igéjének a tanítása által. Nagyon jó ezt látni, és részt venni ebben a munkában.

There have always been quite a few people who attended the services who were not believers, but were interested in studying the Bible. Tonight I gave people a chance to respond to the Lord, and asked if there was anyone who would like to repent of their sins, and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Hevesen eddig sok olyan ember is járt a gyülibe aki még nem hívő, csak érdekelte őket a Bibliatanulmányozás. Ma este lehetőséget adtam, hogy ezek az emberek válaszoljanak Isten hívására, és megkérdeztem, hogy szeretne-e valaki megtérni és befogadni az Úr Jézust mint az élete Úra és Megváltója.

I knew that at least one or two people would come forward - because I had been talking with them for weeks about it. But I was happily surprised when 7 people came forward to repent of their sins and receive God's grace, and become children of God.

Tudtam, hogy legalább egy-két ember előre fog jönni - mert néhányukkal már hetek óta beszélünk róla. De meglepődtem és örültem, amikor 7-en előre jöttek, és megbánták a bűneiket és elfogadták Isten kegyelmét, és Isten gyermekeivé lettek.

Here is a picture of the 7 who received the Lord tonight:

Itt vannak azok akik ma este megtértek Hevesen:

Please continue to pray for the work that God is doing in Heves!

Kérlek, imádkozzatok továbbra is, hogy munkálkodjon az Úr Hevesen!

Red Eye

2011-12-16T23:22:00.000+01:00

We thought Nate had pink eye this week. He woke up in the middle of the night on Tuesday complaining that his eye hurt, and in the morning it was swollen. It got to the point that he wasn't able to open his eye all the way and he was complaining that it hurt all the time.

We took him to the doctor, who referred us to the hospital, where Nate had to see a specialist.

In the end it turned out that it was only a stye (árpa) and we were able to treat it by putting a compress on his eye.
He was pretty excited about wearing it though, and enjoyed looking like a pirate. Our friend Dani came over once, and Nate promptly called him a "dirty scallywag".

Teaching Kids about the Real Saint Nicholas

2011-12-06T12:05:00.001+01:00

December 6 is St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) Day - HU: Mikulás - in Hungary and other countries of Europe.

Nate came into our room this morning and climbed into our bed. He has been pretty excited about Mikulás - today there is a Santa coming to visit his preschool, and last night we took him to a toy store that had a Santa. Nate told him exactly what he wanted for Christmas, and even wanted to sit on his lap.
We proceeded to tell Nate the story of Santa Claus - that is, the real Saint Nicholas - who was not a mythical fat man in red clothes who rode through the skies on a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, but a devout Christian man, a pastor, who was persecuted for his faith, and gained fame by his generosity to the poor and those in need.

There are some Christians who think that Santa is evil, and that he takes away from the true meaning of Christmas. Not to mention, some would point out, that Santa is nothing more than a misspelling of SATAN, which must be why he goes around in those obnoxious red clothes: because he is from HELL and wants to take you and your kids back there with him!
This of course, is based on a sad lack of knowledge regarding the origin of Santa Claus - the name (in English) being simply a direct derivative of "Saint Nicholas".

For this reason, many Christians protest anything to do with Santa Claus, and tell their kids that Santa is not real, he is bad, and he takes away from the true meaning of Christmas, which of course is Jesus.

We don't avoid Santa Claus - we don't even want to. We see it as a great opportunity to teach our kids about a great Christian man who loved Jesus and was generous and kind because of the love of God which was in his heart. THAT is the "Christmas spirit".
We tell our kids that there are many people in the world who want to follow the example of Saint Nicholas, and that is why they will meet a Santa at their school and at the mall. And we teach our kids that we want to be like Saint Nicholas, and we are going to be generous to the poor and needy because God loved us so much that he gave us his Son, Jesus, so that we could have eternal life and have a relationship with God.

The Story of the Real Saint Nicholas

The real Saint Nicholas was born in the 3rd century in the village of Patara, in what is now southern Turkey, into a wealthy family. His parents died when he was young, and he was taken in and raised by a local priest. Following Jesus' call to the Rich Young Ruler to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor", Nicholas dedicated to use his entire inheritance to assist the sick, needy and suffering.
He became a pastor, and was later made Bishop of Myra. He became famous for his generosity and love for children.

Nicholas suffered persecution and imprisonment for his Christians faith during the Great Persecution (303-311) under Roman emperor Diocletian.
He attended the Council of Nicaea (325), at which he affirmed the doctrine of the deity of Christ.
Nicholas died in 343 in Myra. The anniversary of his death became a day of celebration, St. Nicholas Day, December 6th.

Many stories are told about St. Nicholas' life and deeds. Perhaps the most famous story is one of a poor man who had three daughters who were of marrying age. Because the man was poor, he was unable to provide a dowry for his daughters, which meant that they would not be able to find a descent husband, and would either be married into further poverty or would have to become slaves. After Nicholas found out about this family's situation, he visited the family's house, leaving them 3 anonymous gifts - each time a bag of gold, which was tossed through an open window while the family was sleeping. Legend has it that the gold fell into their shoes, the reason for the tradition in Europe that St. Nicholas leaves gifts in children's shoes. Nicholas provided for these poor girls to help them break out of the cycle of poverty.

Rather than teaching your kids the common myth about Santa Claus, and rather than trying to make Christmas Santa-free, take back the true story of Saint Nicholas and take hold of this opportunity to talk about a Christian man who loved Jesus and who exemplified the true Spirit of Christ and Christmas through compassion and generosity.

Baptism

2011-12-05T13:41:00.001+01:00

I love baptisms. And I love having the privileged of baptizing new believers, as they make a public statement that they have died to the person they used to be, and they have been born again to new life in Christ.

By God's grace, we have baptized people every year that we have been here in Eger. This year we baptized 6 new believers.

We have a good relationship with the Baptist church in Egerszólát, and they let us use their building, which has a baptismal.
We rented a bus and brought the Heves church up, so they could be with us for this event and because some of the people who were baptized were from Heves. God is doing a good work down there, and it is exciting to be a part of it.

Here are some pictures from the baptism which was on November 20.

Ukrainian Playground

2011-11-17T15:14:00.000+01:00

When we were in Ukraine recently we took the kids to a playground in Ternopil.

I had read before about the elaborate, and sometimes strange, playgrounds in the former Soviet Union - such as the one in this picture below, so I was interested in checking one out.

We were not disappointed. The playground we went to was both elaborate and strange. A perfect mixture of both elements which I had hoped to find.

The kids really liked it, and they had some pretty cool stuff - like a police officer that you could climb up into

There was also this cool castle that they could climb on

And this giant slide

But there were some strange things as well - like the "slide of death", a 3 story tall straight drop designed to give near-death experiences to toddlers

I heard stories of dads taking their kids up to the top and trying to make them go down, while the kids shouted "No!" and cried. Sounds like a nice family day at the park :-)

There was also a new prefab part of the playground

Ukrainian playgound, you did not disappoint us!

From the Mouths of Babes

2011-11-16T22:14:00.001+01:00

Lately Felicia has been having days where she wants only dad or only mom. Sometimes she has to have ONLY mom change her diaper and get her dressed, or ONLY dad put on her shoes or her jacket.

Tonight when I kissed her goodnight, I told her: "I love you Felicia" - to which she replied: "I love mom!"

On my way out the door tonight I told Nate: "Be obedient to your mom tonight" - to which he replied: "Ok dad. And you be obedient to Kati!" (the translator in the church).

Thanks Nate...

Brief Ministry Update

2011-11-14T22:54:00.001+01:00

The last few months have been very encouraging and exciting.

In August we started a Bible study in the town of Heves, about 45 min south of Eger by car. This is something we had prayed about doing for years, but didn't feel that the time was right before. We started it in part as a way to reach out to people from our church who live in and around Heves, but shortly after we started it, the people we had originally started it for were not able to come for various reasons - however the Lord led a whole different group of people to the fellowship there.
We have started calling the Heves ministry a church plant of our Eger church, and there are an average of 25 people coming to the meetings, which are held in a house. Most of the people attending are Roma (Gypsies), and so we moved the Bible study from the culture center in downtown Heves out to this house in the Roma part of town. As a result, we have had a lot of people who aren't believers attending our services out of interest, and some of them have gotten saved.

We will have a baptism this coming Sunday (Nov 20) in which 3 new believers from the Heves church and 2 believers from our Eger church will get baptized. We are expecting a full house with our church and the Heves church together, and praying for a blessed time.

We have had a wave of new people in our church in Eger, which is encouraging for us. There are some people whom the Lord is raising up to take part in ministry as well, so we are praising Him for that as well.

Rosemary has been doing a women's book club for the women's ministry, which has been well attended and fruitful. She has also started a group for moms with small children as an outreach to non-believers, as well as a ministry to some moms in the church.

We have been doing a bit of traveling as well. We spent 2 weeks in October in Colorado visiting family, friends and ministry partners, and then the first week of November in Ukraine, where I (Nick) taught church history at the School of Missions at CC Ternopil.
The travel was a bit hard on our kids, mostly in that Nate is now having to get back in the routine of going to preschool and speaking Hungarian there. He was doing quite well in it before we left for the States, but after being out of that environment for about a month, he needs some time to get back to where he was.

Thank you for praying for us!

Spelling Matters

2011-11-10T13:09:00.000+01:00

One of the hardest things about English for those who learn it as a second language is that there are a lot of words that we don't spell phonetically.
Spell check filters out a lot of mistakes - but it doesn't when the word you spell is an actual word which means something else.

For example: at this restaurant in Ukraine, you can get a delicious "stake".

I hope that is just a misspelling of steak and not a comment on the quality of their meat.

If you aren't in the mood to eat a stake, you could always order some pancakes, AKA: "craps".

Again, I hope this is simply a misspelling of crêpes, and not a warning about what their pancakes taste like.

A Few Thoughts After a Week in Ukraine

2011-11-06T01:15:00.001+01:00

I like Ukraine. Maybe it is the great people I know there. There is something about the country that I like a lot. Maybe I just like a bit of imperfection and incongruity. Maybe I just like a bit of grunge. I can't put my finger on it - but there is something I like about Ukraine.
L'viv is a beautiful city. I would recommend everyone to go there. And it is closer to Eger by car than Krakow. Only 5 hrs away by car, and the roads are good. Not all roads in Ukraine are good - but that one is.
Hungarian roads are GREAT. Whoever those people are who criticize Hungarian roads as bad, they have no idea what they are talking about, and they need to get out more.

Border Lines

2011-11-03T19:49:00.000+01:00

It seems that this Ukrainian tea company doesn't believe in the existence of Hungary or Slovakia.

Probably it is a conspiracy from Romanian nationalists... :-)

Putting It to the Test

2011-10-31T07:30:00.000+01:00

I have had my Samsung Galaxy tablet for a few months now, and have really been able to put it to the test.

Using a tablet for school
Aside from everyday productivity, one of the main things I use my tablet for is my theology studies. It is really great for this, because I can carry all my course material on it, all my books and keep all my notes on it with Evernote. It is much nicer to read off of than a laptop - much more like a real book in shape and size.
The only problem I have run into so far is that my course material gives me page numbers from my text books, and the Kindle app only gives "location". You can navigate by page number if you use Kindle on a laptop, but not on a mobile device. So I'm not totally lost, but sometimes I have to open up my laptop - like people used to do in the old days :) - to find out what location relates to a given page number. I hope that Kindle will add page number navigation to their tablet and mobile apps soon. I think more people would be interested in using Kindle books for reference and school if they did.

Traveling with a tablet
The trip we took to Colorado a few weeks ago was the first time I have traveled without a laptop in about 10 years, and I must say that it was a great feeling. The battery life on the tablet is great. I was able to use the internet, study, read books to my kids, watch movies on the airplane, all from a single charged battery, which was still going strong for a whole day after we arrived. The key to saving the battery on the tablet is to turn off the wifi when you are not using it.

Preaching and teaching from a tablet
This is probably the thing I use my tablet for most. I have been teaching Bible studies 2-3 times per week for years now. It is great to have all my teachings stored on my tablet, so I can access them any time I'd like, and I never have to print my notes any more.
A few weeks ago we visited another church. We walked in late: the service had already begun, and the pastor walked up to me and told me that he had scheduled me to preach! I didn't know that when we arrived, but I was ready to go nonetheless, and I asked the Lord what message he wanted me to share with the church.
Having a tablet adds a new dimension to 2.Timothy 4:2 -"Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season".

This week I am going to Ternopil, Ukraine to teach a course on church history for their school of missions. This means I will teach for about 20 hrs over 4 days - and I will do it all from notes on my tablet.

One of the only weakness I see so far is that Google Movies hasn't been released for all Android tablets yet. The release is rolling out, and there are other apps like Netflix and Redbox that you can watch movies on, but if they want to compete with Apple, Google really needs to fix that soon.

Was there life before tablets?
I look forward to the future, when all the bugs will be worked out. These things are great tools.

Go to Sleep, Sister!

2011-10-30T01:59:00.001+02:00

When we got back from our visit to the States last week we moved Felicia's crib into Nate's room, which seemed like a great idea at the time, and both kids were excited about it.

But since then, partly because of jet-lag - which Nate got over faster than Felicia because he went back to óvoda - Felicia has been waking up in the middle of the night and yelling "NATE!" to wake him up.

Sometimes she is successful at waking him up, and sometimes he talks to her and they laugh and make silly noises at each other, but other times he is just annoyed with her because he is tired and wants to sleep.

Tonight we overheard him telling her: "Go to sleep, sister! Be quiet! It's night time! It's dark outside, we have to go to sleep!" - in other words, all the things we used to say to him when he didn't want to sleep :-)

So in the end we made Felicia sleep in another room.
It's hard to be too frustrated with them when they are so cute :-)

**Update** - Tonight when we went to put the kids down, Nate told us: "Don't let her sleep in here. She is going to talk!"

Colorado Trip

2011-09-30T07:51:00.000+02:00

We will be coming to Colorado for 2 weeks from October 6-20.
In addition to visiting family, friends and supporters, we will be visiting Whitefields Community Church in Longmont, who we have been partnering with for a while and who sent a team to Eger this summer. Nick will be teaching at the church and Rosemary will teach at their women's conference.

If you are in Colorado, we would love to meet with you. Please write us so we can plan ahead, as our time there will be very short.

Ministry in the Eger College

2011-09-28T10:34:00.000+02:00

The Lord has opened a great door for us into the college here in Eger to share the Gospel and meet students.
For the third year in a row we are working together with FÉK, which is the Hungarian branch of Campus Cru (who until recently were known as Campus Crusade for Christ).

We do their túlélőcsomag (survival pack) outreach here in Eger, which means that we go into the college dorms and go door to door handing out these binders which contain note paper, articles and a questionnaire for them to fill out which has questions relating to ethical and spiritual issues. Based on the responses on the questionnaires we then follow up with those who said that they would be interested in knowing more about a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

In addition to personally contacting those who are interested, we organize follow up events which we promote to all the students.
The first of these follow up meetings will be on Monday, Oct 3, and will be a presentation in the main dormitory. I will be the one doing the presentation and the title will be "Sex, Drugs and Rock-n-roll".
The next follow up even will be on Wednesday, Oct 12 in the Hallgatói Klub, and will be a concert and lecture by a guy from FÉK in Budapest.

Please pray for the college students here in Eger that we would be able to reach them with the Gospel and follow up with them effectively, for their good and for God's glory.

World Heart Day Outreach

2011-09-24T22:17:00.000+02:00

Today we had our 3rd annual outreach for World Heart Day - in which we organized free medical check ups in 2 locations downtown and were able to serve hundreds of people and share the Gospel with even more.

The idea for this outreach came from a lady in our church - Ági - who since birth has had serious medical issues relating to her heart. The basic premise is that we organize a free service in the city, complete with doctors who volunteer their time, and we measure body-mass index, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. The "patients" then have the opportunity to get medical advice from a doctor, who, in addition to the medical advice, share the Gospel with them and offer to pray for them.
We also hand out fliers which on one side give information about how to keep your heart healthy, and on the other side speak about the importance and need of receiving Jesus into your "heart" as your Lord and Savior.

For the past few years we have gotten a lot of publicity for this as well - we have worked together with the local government and the city hospital, and the event has been reported on in the local news.

This year in addition to people from our church who came out and spent their Saturday serving the Lord in this way, we had helpers from Budapest, Debrecen and Szeged who joined us and were a great help.

It was such a blessing to be out on the streets doing something to benefit the people of our city and getting to share with them the love and hope that is found in the Lord Jesus.

Photos by Kiss Ági:

Eger Airport

2011-09-16T07:30:00.000+02:00

One of the best things about living in Eger is that there are a lot of festivals. Every weekend in the summer there is something going on. One of the main sources of income for the city is tourism and they do a really good job organizing these events.

This past weekend there was a festival at the Eger airport. There were vintage cars on display and demonstrations with small aircraft.

Here are some pictures:

Reflecting

2011-09-15T09:00:00.000+02:00

Our friend Ocean took this picture of Felicia when he visited us last week:

Archeological Proof of the Kingdom of David

2011-09-13T23:53:00.000+02:00

One thing I love about the Bible is that as time goes on, and as more and more archeological work is done, archeological discoveries confirm the historicity of the Bible.

One of the most famous such discoveries was the discovery of the ruins of a great Hittite civilization in Turkey. The Bible mentioned the Hittites as a great and powerful nation, but because no reference to them was found outside of the Bible and no remains of a great Hittite civilization had be found, the Hittites were used as an example of how the Bible was not historically accurate....UNTIL the Hittite capital and records were unearthed in Bogazkoy, Turkey in the early 20th century, and it was found that the Biblical descriptions of them really were accurate.

Another claim that has been brought against the historicity of the Bible is that there is very little historical record of the Kingdom of David mentioned in the Bible. There are records of Solomon, but very few of David, and for this reason, some have questioned whether David actually lived, or whether he was a purely legendary figure.

CNN put out this video recently about some archeological discoveries which could be proof of David and his kingdom.

I have great confidence in the Bible, and I'm sure that with time more and more archeological discoveries will be made that prove the Bible to be historically accurate.

More Thoughts on Tablet Computers...

2011-09-09T13:11:00.000+02:00

CNN put out this video report today about the legal battle going on between Apple and Samsung:

I have one of these disputed Samsung tablets, and I love it. It is really similar to the iPad - perhaps the only significant difference is the operating system, which in the end was the very reason I chose the Galaxy Tab over the iPad - because I prefer the Android Honeycomb OS to the iOS.

I haven't seen many people in Europe with tablets yet, but I suspect that Android tablets will dominate the iPad in Europe because Apple products are much more expensive here than in the US because of all the import taxes. And if people here can choose between two products that are essentially the same, but the one costs less and uses a more widespread operating system, I'm sure people would choose that.

We'll see what happens :)

My Wife is Cool

2011-09-06T13:09:00.000+02:00

I am impressed with my wife.

On Saturday Rosemary organized a birthday party for Nate with some of his friends from church. Lídia, Julcsi, Alex, Korni and András - and of course Dani bácsi were in attendance, all at Nate's request.

Our little boy is pretty decisive about what he wants. Rosemary took him into a few stores to plan his birthday party, and he knew exactly what he wanted - a Lightning McQueen cake with chocolate on the inside from the cukrászda in the plaza, and balloons with helium and confetti poppers.

But what I think was most impressive was that Rosemary built Radiator Springs in our back yard for the kids to drive their cars on during the party.

She had a lot of other good ideas for the Cars theme and for games the kids could play - and they all got Piston Cups at the end.

A good time was had by all. My wife is cool.

Family Portrait

2011-09-04T22:57:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was the celebration for the 20th anniversary of Calvary Chapel in Hungary. There was a big event in Budapest with people from all over the country getting together for one big service, remembering what God has done and looking forward to what He will do in the future through our movement in this country.

We rented a bus to take people from our church up to Budapest for the event - but at the last minute I ended up deciding that I needed to stay home with Nate who has an infection in his throat and a high fever. I was bummed that I couldn't go to the event, but I wanted Rosemary to be able to go and get to see everyone, and Nate wasn't in any condition to go.

So, while we were at home yesterday Nate and I made a present for mommy: he drew this family portriat:

Everybody's in there - Nate put himself in the center, Balázs is the one in the corner with glasses and hair that stands straight up.
I'm not quite sure why Nate gave me so much hair :)

We framed his family portrait and put it up in his room:

7 Years Ago

2011-09-04T11:08:00.000+02:00

On this day 7 years ago Rosemary and I stood before God and witnesses and took vows of love and faithfulness and service to one another.

By God's grace, 7 years and 3 kids later we are still going strong - and by God's grace we will continue to do so.

I love you Rosemary Cady! Happy Anniversary!

Four Years Ago

2011-09-01T23:14:00.001+02:00

On this day in 2007 our baby boy was born, and we named him Nathaniel, which means "gift of God".

Here is the birth announcement that we made for him:

Today Nate turned 4 years old.

He loves cars, trains, ninjas and Spiderman, and doesn't like wearing shorts. He is intense and challenging and loving and sweet.

Although today was his official birthday, we have been having a sort of "birthday week" for him. Yesterday he had a party at óvoda, today we had the "family birthday" at home, and on Saturday he will have some friends over for a garden party.

Nate's request for the óvoda birthday party was that Rosemary would make cupcakes and that everyone would have juice :)

Here's a video of him at óvoda yesterday leading the party snake:

Nate and Felicia wore matching "birthday shirts" today that they got from Grandma and Grandpa:

We love you Nate!

Szalapart School and Other Open Doors

2011-08-30T17:26:00.001+02:00

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (Luke 10:2)

Yesterday I had an appointment with the director of the school where we started doing religious ed classes last school year. They were very excited that we were still interested in coming and hadn't been turned off by the poor behavior of the gypsy children. The director asked if we would expand the ministry to two groups - one for little kids and another for older ones who will live in the school's dormitory which they just finished building. We will also start doing social programs in the school on some Saturdays for the poor gypsy population - mostly giving away donated items, like clothes and things for the household, and organizing events for children. We hope that in these ways we will be able to bless them, build relationships with them and share the Gospel.

In other news, the Bible study we started two weeks ago in Heves is doing well. We have a core group already developing. The first time out we had about 20 people show up - last week 12, and we will see how many come out tomorrow. They core group has asked me to come out to their neighborhood and meet some of their friends who are interested in the Lord, but are too shy to come out to the Bible studies. We are planning to do that next Saturday.

The thing that strikes me is how many opportunities there are in our city and region for effective and fruitful ministry - but truly the laborers are few.
I am quite glad to see that our church is an active church that really sees their city and region as their mission field. But we there are only so many of us, and we are all busy with life - work, school, family, church - including myself.

So I am praying that God will send more workers into this ripe harvest field. Please join me on doing so!

Weekend Trip to Serbia

2011-08-26T21:26:00.002+02:00

This past weekend we filled up all 7 seats of the Dacia, and drove to Subotica, Serbia.
Our purpose in going was to take some people from our church to see the work that God has done through the Calvary Chapel there - which was the first one in Central/Eastern Europe.

On Saturday we hung out in the city, ate some great čevapi and hung out with friends from the church.
Nate and Felicia like traveling and found plenty of places to play and run around.
(pictures by Kovács Kati)

Because the Subotica church service is on Sunday evenings, Sunday morning we went down to Bačka Topola for church, and I had the privilege of preaching the sermon.

After church we went to a lake outside of town, where we drank coffee and the kids got to play at a playground.
Later in the afternoon we went back to Subo for lunch, and we hung out in the church coffee shop until service started.

Church in Subotica:

On Monday morning we headed back home to Eger, but we did some shopping first. We found this juice, which I think God ordained for our family:

I think we need to find a way to get this stuff by the trucklload!

Border Crossing with Kids - Határátkelés...Gyerekekkel

2011-08-25T21:28:00.000+02:00

This past weekend when we went to Serbia we had a little problem at the border, and I'm writing this in the hope that it will help someone to avoid the problem that we had.

Múlt hétvége amikor elmentünk Szerbiába, volt egy kisebb problémánk a határnál, és ezt azért írom, hogy segítsek másoknak elkerülni egy kellemetlen helyzetet.

I'm pretty sure that changing laws is the main hobby of all politicians.

Úgy tűnik, hogy megváltoztatni a törvényeket minden politikus fő hobbija.

When I first moved to Hungary in January 2002, I was told not to bother getting a visa for Hungary in the US, but to just go to Hungary and then get my Hungarian visa in one of the consulates in a neighboring country like Slovakia or Romania. When I arrived in Hungary I found out that the law had been changed on 1 January, and now you could only get a Hungarian visa in your country of origin. I didn't have the money to get a ticket back to the US, so I stayed as a "tourist" for 8 months by "border hopping".
By August 2002, the law had been changed again and had reverted back to the old way - so I was able to get my visa in Slovakia.

Amikor ide költöztem Magyarországra 2002 januárjában, azt mondták nekem az USÁban, hogy nem kell magyar vízumot intézni Amerikában mielőtt megyek - hanem csak menjek el Magyarországra, és majd valamelyik szomszéd országban intézzem el a vízumot egy konzulátusnál, pl Romániában vagy Szlovákiában. Amikor megérkeztem, megtudtam, hogy 2002.január 1-jén megváltozott a törvény, és a magyar vízumot csak abban az országban lehetett igényelni ahonnan származott az illető. Mivel nem volt pénzem visszamenni Amerikába, itt maradtam "turista"-ként 8 hónapig, úgy, hogy néha átmentem Romániába egy egy pecsétért.
2002 augusztusában megint megváltoztatták a törvényt és visszaállt a régi rendszerre - így Szlovákiában tudtam elintézni a vízumomat.

So, here is what happened this weekend:
Rosemary and the little ones are dual citizens, but we never bothered to get Hungarian passports for the kids - we always just used their US passports whenever we traveled, and had no problems. This time when we were leaving Hungary, the border guard told us that we have to prove that our are Hungarian citizens, because otherwise it seems that they have been living in Hungary illegally without visas.
In the past it had been enough to show their Hungarian address cards, but this time they said it was not enough. We would have been able to prove that easily by showing their birth certificates, but those were back in Eger - 320 km away.

Szóval, ez az ami most történt a hétvégén:
Rosemary és a kicsik mind kettős állampolgárok, viszont soha nem igényeltünk magyar útleveleket a kicsiknek - mindig csak az amerikai útleveleit használtunk amikor utaztunk valahová, és soha nem volt ebből probléma. Most, ahogy elhagytuk Magyarországot, a határőr azt mondta nekünk, hogy be kell bizonyítanunk a gyerekek magyar állampolgárságukat, mert különben úgy tűnik mint ha illegálisan tartozkodnak Magyarországon vízum nélkül. Eddig elég volt megmutatni a magyar lakcímkártyait, de most azt mondták, hogy ez már nem elég. Simán be tudtunk volna bizonyítani az állampolgárságukat a születési anyakönyvi kivonataival, de azok otthon voltak Egerben - 320 km-re tőlünk.

In the end, the border guards were very understanding, and after making some phone calls were able to let us through by leaving a note at the border that we should be allowed through, as it was clear that the kids were ours and Rosemary was able to verify her Hungarian citizenship.

Végül nagyon rendesek és megértőek voltak a határőrök, és egy kis telefonálgatás után átengedtek bennünket, mert nyilvánvaló volt hogy a gyerekek a miénk és Rosemary be tudta bizonyítani a magyar állampolgárságát.

The point is this: if you have kids who are dual citizens, you need to get them a passport or a photo ID card. It used to be that they only issued these ID cards to people over 14, but now the law has changed and they can be issued to newborn babies as well.

A lényeg az, hogyha kettős állampolgárok a gyerekek, igényelni kell nekik vagy egy útlevelet vagy egy fényképes személy igazolványt. Régebben csak 14 évesen lehetett kapni személy igazolványt, de most már az újszülött babáknak is lehet kérni.

Bomba Jó - Bomb in Eger

2011-08-24T21:36:00.006+02:00

Today while doing a construction project on a garage in Eger, they found a 250 kg bomb from World War 2.
The bomb was apparently dropped by an airplane but never detonated. It must have been covered up by dirt and was undetected for years, during which time someone built a garage over where the live bomb rested and parked a car on top of it every day for the past 66 years.

Here are some pictures of the bomb:

And here is a map of where they found it on Fazola Henrik utca:

View Larger Map

Because of the bomb, they evacuated the entire downtown.
Happens to be that our church is downtown, and was included in the evacuation zone. We have Bible study on Wednesday nights, and what's more is that tonight we had one of our "Vision Meetings" scheduled, in which we talk about the vision of the church and discuss the church's various ministries.

Because the church was inside the evacuation zone, those of us who came to church found each other, and after waiting for a while for them to let us back into the city center, we decided to go to our house and have the Bible study in our garden. Turned out that our neighbor was entertaining guests in the garden, so we tried the basketball court at the end of our street - which also turned out to be full.
When we got to the basketball court, I realized that we were right across the street from the house of a family from our church, so I went over and asked if we could meet in their garden. They are wonderfully hospitable people, and they let us come and have our meeting in their yard.

In the end, it turned out to be much nicer than sitting cramped inside the four walls of the church building.
Here's a picture of our Wednesday night group in Kati néni's garden:

Life in Eger is never dull!

Back to Normal

2011-08-23T17:10:00.003+02:00

Our summers are always one of the busiest times of the year for us, filled with outreaches, conferences, guests and traveling.

But today, as summer is coming to a close, life is getting back to normal.

Balázs came back home today from Summer of Service in Vajta. He had a great time and made good friends. He was telling me today about how they would pray together and encourage each other - that is exactly the kind of experience we had hoped he would have. He is home a week earlier than originally planned, but it is better this way, because he can get ready for the start of school at the beginning of September.

Nate went back to óvoda today. He seemed a bit nervous at first about going back, but was excited to play with the new toys. When I took him to the courtyard where the kids were playing, he at first just looked around and didn't want me to leave, but after a minute some kids called him over to play with them and he went off running around with them laughing and smiling.

After being away from home, Felicia was excited to sleep in her own bed again :-)

20 Éves a Golgota - Golgota is 20 Years Old

2011-08-18T15:54:00.002+02:00

Kevesebb mint egy hónap múlva, szeptember 4-én, ünnepelni fogjuk azt, hogy a Golgota Keresztény Gyülekezet már 20 éve működik Magyarországon. Egy nagy közös ünnepi Istentisztelettel fogjuk megünnepelni az évfordulót Budapesten, a Városmajor Szabadtéri Színpadon.
Vissza fogunk tekinteni és megemlékezni mind arra amit Isten elvégzett a Golgota gyüelekezeteken keresztül az elmúlt 20 évben, és előre tekinteni mind arra amit Ő még szeretne elvégezni rajtunk keresztül az elkövetkezendő években.

Íme az évforduló weboldala: http://20eves.golgota.hu/

In less than a month from now, on September 4th, Calvary Chapel will be celebrating 20 years of work in Hungary with a big anniversary celebration in Budapest at the Városmajor Szabadtéri Színpad
We will be looking back and remembering all that God has done through Gologta in the past 20 years in Hungary, and looking forward to all that he desires to do through us in the years to come.
Here is the website for the anniversary - check it out: http://20eves.golgota.hu/

New Ministry - Új Szolgálat: Heves

2011-08-16T10:23:00.000+02:00

For some years now we have prayed about starting a new fellowship in the town of Heves, about 45 km south of Eger. We have had quite a few people in our church from Heves and the surrounding region, and we feel that now is the time to take a step of faith and see if the Lord blesses it.

Néhány éve már keresük az Urat abban, hogy indítsunk-e egy új közösséget Hevesen. Jó néhány ember járt már hozzánk gyülekezetbe Heves környékéről, és úgy érezzük, hogy itt az idő, hogy kilépjünk hitben és meglássuk, hogy áldja meg az Úr.

Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the LORD will work for us, for nothing can hinder the LORD from saving by many or by few.”
And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.”
(1 Samuel 14:6-7 ESV)
Jónátán tehát ezt mondta fegyverhordozó legényének: Gyere, menjünk át ezeknek a körülmetéletleneknek az előőrséhez! Hátha tesz valamit értünk az ÚR, mert az ÚR előtt nincs akadály: akár sok, akár kevés ember által szerezhet szabadulást. Fegyverhordozója így felelt neki: Tégy mindent úgy, ahogyan gondolod. Láss hozzá, én veled leszek, bármit tervezel!
(1.Sámuel 14:6-7)

I love church planting and being part of new things that the Lord is doing and reaching new people.
Please pray for this endeavor, that God would be glorified in it and that it would be a blessing to the people who live in and around Heves.

Szeretek új munkákban részt venni és új gyülekezeteket plántálni, hogy még több embert tudjunk elérni az Úrért
Kérlek, imádkozzatok ezért az új kezdeményezésért, hogy Isten dicsőségére legyen és hogy áldás legyen azoknak számára akik Hevesen és annak környékén laknak.

Here is a picture of the building we will be holding the meetings in, and the flier we used to announce the first meeting:
Íme egy kép a hevesi műv központról, ahol az alkalmakat fogjuk tartani, és a szórólap amivel hirdettük az első alkalmat:

Short Trip to Vajta

2011-08-09T21:33:00.001+02:00

We went to Vajta last week for the last 2 days of the all-Hungary conference on Thursday and Friday.

Because we hadn't signed up for the conference on time, there weren't any places for us to stay at the conference center, so we stayed at the horse farm across the street.
The kids were really excited about the horses!

On Friday I taught a morning session at the conference and then in the afternoon got to baptize Dani, a guy from our church who came to the conference for the week.

Originally, Kristen, our friend from California who stayed with us for a few weeks, was going to attend the conference for the whole week, but instead decided to go for the last two days and use the money she saved to send Dani for the whole week. She was especially happy to see the impact the week in Vajta had on Dani, and that he decided to get baptized and publicly declare his commitment to Jesus.

Dani is a friend of Balázs, and it has been cool to see Balázs encourage his friend to walk with the Lord.

When we told Nate that Dani was going to get baptized, he was very excited that "little Dani" was going to get "bath-tized"!

After we did the baptism Nate came up to talk to me:

Nate: Dad, I want to get baptized too!
Me: Maybe you can get baptized in a few years. You can get baptized when you decide that you want to believe in Jesus forever.
Nate: Dad, I want to be Jesus from Eger!

I think we had a communication error, and that Nate probably doesn't understand what 'forever' means - but that is quite the ambition, none the less!

Balázs is working hard and having a great time in Vajta. On Friday night, after the final session, we packed up and headed home and said goodbye to Balázs until the end of the month.

Saving Trees

2011-08-03T10:46:00.002+02:00

I just bought my textbooks for my next semester of seminary. For the first time ever I won't have to pay expensive shipping costs to get my school books to me in Hungary because I bought all of them in Kindle format.
Besides saving on the shipping costs, all the books also cost less in Kindle format.

I was a bit concerned about using e-books for school, but after using one of my Kindle books as a reference last year, I realized that it is actually much better than having a paper book. Besides not having to carry huge texts books with you in order to study outside of your house, you can easily do word searches and highlight, and if you want to reference something, you can simply copy it and Kindle automatically gives you all the reference information for your footnotes.

I have had my Android Tablet for 3 weeks now and absolutely love it. I preach from it at church, I read on it, takes notes on it, blog from it, etc.

I'm excited about going paper free - saving some trees, not having to store a bunch of books and handwritten or typed notes all over my house...

Here are my favorite apps for my tablet:

Kindle reader
Documents to Go (the full version is well worth the money - it is the one app I have paid for)
Dropbox
Evernote
Pulse

When will you join the revolution? :)

American Christianity

2011-08-01T23:40:00.007+02:00

I got an invitation to teach a class this fall on church history at a school of missions in Ukraine, so I have been reading the book "From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya" by Ruth Tucker as part of my preparation.

Today I came across a quote I found very interesting. It was written in 1926 by a Japanese Christian leader named Kanzo Uchimura. One of his main goals was to establish a truly Japanese church and Christian movement rather than have a Christianity that was viewed as a western import.
Here's his critique of American Christianity:

Americans must count religion in order to see or show its value…. To them big churches are successful churches…. To win the greatest number of converts with the least expense is their constant endeavour. Statistics is their way of showing success or failure in their religion as in their commerce and politics. Numbers, numbers, oh, how they value numbers! … Mankind goes down to America to learn how to live the earthly life; but to live the heavenly life, they go to some other people. It is no special fault of Americans to be this-worldly; it is their national characteristic;

Kanzo Uchimura, “Can Americans Teach Japanese in Religion?” Japan Christian Intelligencer 1 (1926): 357–61, cited in Walls, “The American Dimension,” 2., found in Tucker, Ruth A. (2010). From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions . Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

I like Uchimura's focus on establishing a truly indigenous Christian movement in his country - I believe that should be the goal of all mission work.
I think there is something to what he says about American Christianity, although I don't fully agree with his critique.
On one hand, what he says about how Americans tend to measure success in ministry similar to how they measure success in commerce is often true, and definitely deserves consideration.
On the other hand, Kanzo Uchimura himself came to faith in Christ through the efforts of American missionaries in Japan, and I think the focus he mentions of American Christians to make as many converts to Christianity as possible is a noble, and Biblical thing.

As one who is American but has lived outside of the US for many years now, I have gained a bit of perspective on American culture and mentality by being able to observe it from the outside. Despite all the critiques that could be (and are often) made, there are some very positive things that I see. For example: American people are generally very generous, and are quite willing to give of what they have to help people in need or to support causes that they believe in. That is a praiseworthy thing. Also, Americans tend to have an entrepreneurial spirit - which amongst believers can create a culture of being willing to step out in faith and attempt great things for God. The parting words of William Smith Clark, the American missionary who trained the local evangelists who led Kanzo Uchimura to the Lord were: "Boys, be ambitious!" I believe that culture of being willing to step out in faith and follow the Lord wherever he leads is something which is not American, but very much Biblical, and something which Jesus taught and demonstrated in his life and ministry.

What do you think?

Counting Down OR How to Save Money as a Parent, Part 3.

2011-07-31T20:35:00.008+02:00

Tomorrow morning Balázs leaves to Vajta for 1 month to serve as a volunteer in the Summer of Service program. We are excited for him, and expect that this will be a great experience and that he will grow a lot as he serves the Lord there.

We told Nate today that Balázs will be gone for a month, and he was pretty sad about it, and told Balázs that he should stay home and not go.

So Rosemary made a way for the kids to count down the days until Balázs comes back. She strung together old toilet paper rolls and numbered them and hung them up in Nate's room.

Every day they will take one roll off, until Balázs gets back home.

God bless you, Balázs! Have a good time in Vajta. We'll be counting the days until you return.

Cars 2

2011-07-29T00:03:00.001+02:00

Nate is a huge fan of the movie Cars. He knows the whole story, all the characters, and has assigned everyone in our house a car name. He, of course, is Lightning Mcqueen, I am Tow Mater, Rosemary is Sally, Balázs is Doc, and Felicia is "Low and slow"

So when when Nate saw the advertisements a few months ago for Cars 2 he was pretty excited.

Over the last few months we've been building up to it - grandma and grandpa have sent a few toys and today he got a special Cars 2 hat from them to wear to watch the movie.

Today was the big day - the opening day in fact, for Cars 2 in Hungary, so we took him to see it. It was his first time at the movie theater, and he had a great time. Nate has been counting down the days since before English camp, and when I went into his room this morning, I asked him: "do you know what day today is?" - to which he said: "it's Cars 2 day!"

We were curious how he would like it, and if he would be scared by the dark room or the loud speakers, so we tried to prepare him for it as best we could. In the end there was no problem at all - in fact, I think we may have just turned him on to a new and expensive interest!
We went with our friend Leo and his son Alex. Balázs also came with a friend, but Felicia stayed home with Kristen, a friend of ours from California who is staying with us for few weeks here in Eger. It was nice of her to watch Felicia so we could both take Nate out for his special day.

Nate got to know some new cars today: Finn, Pacer and others, and Rosemary got a new car name. She is now called Holly Cady (the girlfriend of Tow Mater :-)

Here are some pictures:

Morbid Angol Mondókák, 2. rész - Morbid English Nursery Rhymes, part 2.

2011-07-28T00:01:00.000+02:00

Egy pár hónapja írtam egy bejegyzést néhány különösen morbid angol mondókáról, és megtudtam, hogy a magyar mondókák közül is van olyan ami elég bizarr.
Fogalmam sincs miért akarná bárki halálról, pusztulásról, betegségről és szenvedésről szóló gondolatokat ültetni egy kisgyermek eszébe lefekvés előtt, de úgy néz ki, hogy ez világszerte egy elég elterjedt szokás!

A few months ago I wrote this post about some particularly morbid English nursery rhymes, and found out that Hungarian nursery rhymes can also be quite bizarre.
I don't know what it is that would make someone want to put thoughts of death, destruction, sickness and suffering into the mind of a little child right before bed, but it seems to be a fairly common practice worldwide!

Íme, még egy mondóka amit találtam néhány napja a gyerekeim egyik könyvében:
Here is one more such nursery rhyme that I came across the other day in one of my kids' books:

"Goosey, Goosey, Gander (Libácska, Libácska, Gúnár)
Wither shall I wander? (Merre járjak?)
Upstairs and downstairs, (Fent, lent)
And in my lady's chamber. (És a hölgyem kamrájában)

There I met an old man, (Ott egy öreg emberrel találkoztam)
Who wouldn't say his prayers, (Aki nem akarta elmondani az imákat)
I took him by the left leg, (Megfogtam a bal lábát)
And threw him down the stairs." (És lehajintottam a lépcsőn)

Először is: Ki ez a liba? Valami gengszter Istenért?
Who is this goose? Some kind of thug for God?

És mit mond az ember a gyerekének miután elolvasta neki ezt a verset? "Jól van fiam, most mondjuk egy imát - mit szólsz hozzá?"
What do you say to your kid after you read them that poem? "Alright son, so what do you say we say our prayers now?"

Lehet, hogy ez nem a legjobb módja, hogy az ember arra tanítsa a gyermekét, hogy szeresse az Úr jelenlétét...
Maybe this isn't the most effective way to instill in your child a love for the Lord's presence...

Attitude

2011-07-27T00:25:00.004+02:00

Attitude

Took this, photoshopped it, and uploaded it from my tablet.

Taking it easy this week, decompressing after a very blessed English Camp last week.

English Camp update

2011-07-23T00:57:00.002+02:00

The last few days of camp have been very good. The kids have been having a great time, and we have had many opportunities to share the love of the Lord with them.
We have a book table with free Bibles and other books for free, and everything has been taken. The Gospel has been shared many times and in many ways, and all the kids have heard it. Please pray that they would not just view it as simply information, but as something which can be theirs, and that they too would make the decision to follow Jesus and receive his love and grace for them.
All in all the camp has been really fun. I think it is so cool that we can organize an event that is very fun and also focused on sharing the Gospel.
Tomorrow is the last day of camp, but hopefully it is the beginning of something new in the lives of these kids and in our church.

Please pray for us!

New Toy

2011-07-21T09:05:00.001+02:00

My parents generously bought me an Android tablet - a Samsung Galaxy 10.1.
The team from Whitefields Community Church in Longmont, CO brought it over for me when they came out to serve at our English Camp, so I've only had it since Saturday, and am still learning the ins and outs of it.
I'm looking forward to seeing how I will be able to use it. I am planning to preach from it - and am looking forward to not having to print anymore, and having all my sermons and messages saved on one portable device. I have also been using the tablet here at camp a lot to look at and update the excel sheets we use for camp and for the church accounting. Whenever someone comes to me with a question I can easily access the information they need.
I've also been reading a lot on it with Kindle - which is awesome on it - as well as using it to blog during the camp.
I expect that my laptop will gather quite a bit of dust in the near future, and that I will mostly use it for writing sermons and papers for school and for uploading photos from my camera. It's hard for me to see tablets totally replacing laptops, although I'm sure that time is coming soon.

I had debated between getting an iPad or the Galaxy tab, as they are the same price, but decided on the Android for the following reasons:
- I have an Android phone, use Google calendar, Gtasks, Picasaweb, Google Docs and have all my contacts synced with Google - and on Android this all synchronizes so well.
- It has a great screen with higher resolution than ipad.
- It runs flash. Using it to browse the web is not like using a big phone, because you can do everything on it that you could do on a laptop.

The only thing that was enticing about the ipad is that there are more apps available. But as the Android market share grows, more and more apps will be made for Android tabs.

Anyway, I like this new toy.

English Camp - Day 2

2011-07-20T10:17:00.003+02:00

English Camp is up and running smoothly.

In a way, camp is what you make it - the environment and the opportunity are here; what we do with it and how we use the time is up to us. Please pray for wisdom and guidance in how we use the short time that we have here!

Yesterday I had to discipline some kids who were breaking rules, and since then I have realized that because I am the disciplinary figure at camp, the kids aren't too interested in being my friend :-) When I go up to them and ask them what they are doing, they automatically get defensive and nervous. But that is fine really, because there are 26 other helpers they can get to know and be friends with.

Lisa and Jason gave their testimonies today. The testimony times have been well attended and are a great way for us to share the Lord with the kids, as well as a good starting point from which to start conversations about spiritual things.

For me Wednesday always marks a turning point in the camp, where once we have established relationships, we can take them a bit deeper without it feeling forced or out of place. Please pray that we would be able to do this effectively.

Camping Trip to Slovakia and Poland

2011-07-20T08:49:00.001+02:00

Two weeks ago I took a few days off and went up north to the border of Slovakia and Poland with Balázs and Dani for a few days of camping, hiking and sightseeing.

We started out with the idea of wanting to go white water rafting, and after looking into it, we found that the closest options were Bosnia, Slovenia, or Slovakia/Poland. The former two options are about 7 hr drives from us, but SK/PL is about half of that.

Our destination was the Pieniny mountains, a national park which spreads across the border of the two countries. The Dunajec river forms the border for some kilometers, particularly in the Dunajec Gorge, which is the pearl of the whole national park, and is on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

There is a long history of rafting in the Dunajec gorge - about 150 years ago rafting trips began on the river for the guests of the Polish spa town of Szczawnica. The traditional rafting is done on wood rafts tied together, and although it is interesting and traditional, the wooden rafts are mostly for seeing the canyon, not for riding the rapids - they try to avoid them as much as possible so as not to damage the boats.

We decided to go with rubber rafts, and tried to hit all the biggest rapids and get as wet as possible. We had a great time, and the scenery was beautiful.

We also climed Trzy Korony, the most famous peak in the region.

One of the best things we did was to take mountain bikes with us. There were 3 of us, and we were only able to bring 2 bikes, but that wasn't a problem. There were times when 2 of us would go biking and one of us would stay back - other times we were able to rent a third bike. It definitely made the trip a lot more fun - both in the mountains and in the cities we visiting.

When we weren't climbing mountains we went to the cities of Bardejov, SK (also a UNESCO site) and Zakopane, PL.

All in all it was a great trip. I miss the mountains already, and can't wait for the next time I get to get back up in the hills.

English Camp - Day 1

2011-07-19T08:15:00.002+02:00

The first day of camp is always the most tiring for me, and today was no exception. The great thing about how the camp has grown and evolved over the years is that God has given us great helpers, and I often find that if I step back and don't try to do everything myself, then other people step up and use their giftings, and do a great job.
Today was a good example of this. I love engaging the kids, but with the camp getting bigger, my role has now become more overseeing and behind the scenes. It has been great seeing others grow and "take the ball and run with it".
The helpers we have this year are great and have already started building relationships with the kids and are spending a lot of time with them. Last year we got the idea to have a coffeehouse for the kids, where they can buy soft drinks or hot chocolate and can hang out and listen to music at night before bed. The coffeehouse has been a big hit, and is a great place for us to engage the kids and get to know them. Please pray that these relationships grow and that as we share our lives with these kids, they would feel the love of Christ and we would be able to share the Gospel message with them.

Unfortunately one of our helpers, Phillip, a football coach from Miskolc, had to leave early today because of something to do with his job, so we have one less teacher, but it seems like we are going to be ok.
Geoff and Angela from Syracuse did a great job with the evening program "Minute to Win It". The kids were super into it, even though it was very hot in the big stone building were we have the evening programs.
The teenagers from Colorado have been really good at making friends with the campers. Please pray for them to have boldness and wisdom in sharing their faith with their Hungarian peers.
Please also pray for the testimony times to be powerful and well attended. Dani is taking a greater part in leading the camp with me this year, and is doing a lot of the speaking and announcing. Our hope is that the kids would get to know him and attend youth meetings after camp is over.

William Carrey said: "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." We expect great things from God this week.

Jó Reagen Budapesten - Ronald Reagan Statue in Budapest

2011-07-19T08:11:00.001+02:00

Csütörtökön Budapesten voltunk, és a Szabadság Téren ráakadtunk a nem-rég felavatott Ronald Reagan szoborra.

On Thursday we were in Budapest, and came across the recently dedicated statue of Ronald Reagan in Szabadság Tér.

How to Save Money as a Parent - Part 2: Use Your Hands

2011-07-16T08:26:00.000+02:00

Being a parent is expensive.

As if feeding them and clothing them isn't enough - they want to have fun all the time. No matter where you take them, there are advertisements for films or products that they don't need, but they would enjoy nonetheless. Of course, every parent wants their kid to be happy and enjoy life, but some of us are on a budget!

One method I use to save money: Using my hands.
Here's what I mean:

I have probably saved THOUSANDS of Hungarian Forints using this method (roughly about 10 US Dollars) - but that is $10 more I can spend on sending my kids to college, right?

Anatomy and Huncutság

2011-07-14T12:49:00.006+02:00

A conversation with Nate at breakfast this morning:
"Daddy, you're a farmer, and I'm a cow!"
"Oh, ok cow. Can you give me some milk? Do you have milk in your tummy?"
"No. Cows don't have milk in their tummies.
"No? Then where do they keep the milk?"
"Cows keep the milk in their butts!"
"Really?"
"Yea, cows keep the milk in pink butts that are under the cows."

I found it so funny I decided not to correct him :)

Felicia on the other hand is quite the "huncut" (HU for rascal)

She insists on sitting like this at the table when we eat:

She wants to sit on the table with her feet in her chair, and she insists on feeding herself.
Unlike Nate, when he was her age, Felicia is in a hurry to grow up and do everything her big brother does (by this I mean feeding herself and talking - Nate never sat on the table!).

Today Rosemary put Felicia's hair in pig tails for the first time.

The purpose was to get her hair off of her neck, because it has been so hot lately - but she looks very cute with them too :)

Surprise Amendment to the Church Law in Hungary

2011-07-12T22:48:00.007+02:00

Last night the Hungarian parliament passed the new law regarding churches.

At the last possible moment - at almost midnight - in a move which is seen by most observers as very tricky and shady, the proposed law, which I wrote about previously in this post, which included Calvary Chapel and many other churches, was modified right before it went to vote before the parliamentary assembly.

Whereas the original proposal, which was made public a few weeks ago, listed 3 categories for churches (a., b. and c.), these categories were now removed, and only the following groups were permitted to retain their church status: Roman Catholics, Hungarian Reformed Church, Lutheran Church, 3 Jewish denominations, 4 Orthodox denominations, Unitarian Church, Baptist Church and the Faith Church.

This means that not only Calvary Chapel, but the Methodist Church, Seventh Day Adventists, Evangelical Pentecostals, Islam, Buddhism and many other churches and religions will have to apply to receive recognition as a church, and each will have to be voted upon by the parliament, which must approve it with a 2/3 majority.

In my opinion - and I am not alone in this - this is a major step backwards in regard to religious freedom in Hungary, especially considering the part about the parliamentary representatives needing to approve a church with a 2/3 majority in order for them to be given the title of church.

As I understand it, this will not affect the status of Calvary Chapel in Hungary immediately, and we still don't know the details of exactly how this will affect us.
Most likely, we will apply for continued recognition as a church, and I believe that we will receive it. What is sure is that it will be a difficult road, navigating the political and legal issues involved.

Please join us in praying for Hungary and for the ministry of Calvary Chapel here.

Please Pray for Our English Camp

2011-07-11T16:28:00.004+02:00

Our church's English Camp begins one week from today, on July 18!

This is our biggest outreach of the year. This will be our 6th camp, and this year will be the biggest one so far.

Here are some stats on this year's camp:

121 campers
75 girls, 46 boys
78 first-time campers, 41 returning campers
Average age of campers - 15-16 yrs old
27 teachers and helpers - 17 Americans, 9 Hungarians and 1 Indian

Over the past few years, this camp has always been a very fruitful time.
Please pray that the Lord would prepare the hearts of the campers to receive his love. Please pray the helpers that we would be sensitive to the Spirit and speak about the Lord with conviction and anointing.

Last year we began a youth ministry to follow up with the kids, that was quite strong for a few months. Please pray for this follow up aspect, as the camp is really just the first part of our outreach to the youth of this city.

From Her Poverty

2011-07-10T15:05:00.004+02:00

This past week we received a tragic report from another part of Hungary, that a young family had lost their 2 year old daughter in an accident. To make matters worse, the husband is unemployed and only works occasionally.

This morning I told the church about this family's situation, and asked them to pray for them, and pray about whether or not they would be able to help this family pay for the cost of the funeral, so they wouldn't have that as an extra burden during this incredibly difficult time.

A few people came up to me after church to offer money, but the most moving was that the one woman in the church whose family is in the most difficult situation financially came and gave me some money to send to this family.
It wasn't the biggest donation that was given, but it was especially moving, because I know that she couldn't afford it - she just did it as an act of generosity and compassion.

It reminded me of the story of the poor widow from Luke 21 -
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:1-4 ESV)

What an example that woman is for the rest of us.

Toy Doctor - One of Dad's Many Roles

2011-07-09T19:17:00.004+02:00

As a dad, there are many hats that you wear and many roles that you play.
You are counselor, instructor, handy-man - in Christian families, hopefully dad fills the role of spiritual leader as well.

Another role I find myself playing quite a bit is that of 'toy doctor'.

Today, two of Nate's favorite toys broke - the ninja sword I just brought him back from Poland was broken in the heat of combat, during a sword fight with Balázs, and the leg of Woody the Cowboy was tragically severed in the middle of an obstacle course.

I got out the super glue and attempted to repair the broken sword and reattach the severed limb.

The reattachment of Woody's leg seemed to be successful, although all movement in it was lost - but after a few minutes of play it broke off once again.
At this point I told Nate that I was sorry, but now Woody's leg was gone forever, and there was nothing more I could do. When Nate heard this, he put his head in my lap and started to cry and asked if we could go to the store and buy a new leg - which I told him was unfortunately not an option.

As he cried, I realized that he was not only sad that his toy was broken, but it was as if he was actually mourning the loss of a friend - something that he had played with and was attached to.
So, I got out the tools, and figured out a way to reattach Woody's leg with a screw. He hasn't regained all of the movement in his leg - but the operation was a success.

Thoughts on Poverty, Injustice and Generosity

2011-07-01T14:15:00.005+02:00

A few years back, someone from church came and asked me how it could be that God allows famine in Africa.

According to the Bible, there are 2 reasons for poverty: 1) Laziness and 2) Oppression and Injustice.

The Bible talks about this:

A poor person's farm may produce much food,
but injustice sweeps it all away. (Prov. 13:23)

Why is there famine in Africa?
Obviously it is not because there is not enough food in the world to feed the entire population of the world - it it because the food of the world is disproportionately distributed. The wealthy countries of the world consume much more than the poorer countries of the world.
And much more food could be produced than is being produced. Much of the farmland in Hungary and Ukraine, for example, is not used to its potential.

So, the short answer to the question - Why is there famine in Africa? Corruption. Injustice. Sin. Because being ethical is often not financially advantageous.

I just finished writing an essay for my theology studies on the contribution of the book of Jeremiah to the issues of social justice - and one thing I found when studying Jeremiah was this: Jeremiah's main claims in the book regarding social justice are 1) that kings and governments have a responsibility to provide care and justice for the poor, but 2) the responsibility to care for the poor does not rest on the government alone, but it is God's expectation that all people be involved in the cause of justice for the most vulnerable members of society.

The basic ethical demand of the Bible is to imitate God (Lev 11:44); as God sums up goodness in his own person, man’s supreme ideal is to imitate Him. Words like ‘hesed’ (steadfast love), ‘munah’ (faithfulness), 'mishpat' (justice) and 'sadaca' (righteousness) are used to describe both God’s character and his moral requirements of human beings.

The "quartet of the vulnerable" in the Bible are: Widows, Orphans, the poor, and Immigrants.

Here is a thought provoking quote from Daniel Estes:

God puts needy people on our path so that we can help to meet their needs, and so that they can be the means by which we can learn to be sensitive and compassionate. When we refuse to look at them, we become blind; when we refuse to listen to them, we become deaf; when we refuse to feel for them, we become cold and hard.

Estes, Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalms p.240-241

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker. (Prov. 14:31a)

That makes me ask the question - what does it mean to oppress the poor? Other than politicians and rich people who take advantage of the poor, where does oppression of the poor end? Does it include supporting industries that oppress the poor? Is that passive oppression?

What can I do to "do justice" and care for the vulnerable?

The righteous know the just cause of the poor,
but the wicked do not understand knowledge. (Prov. 29:7)

Generosity in the Bible is a practice that imitates God's pattern of giving to address the needs of others.
Estes, Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalms p.243

These are things I am thinking about lately.
I don't have all the answers yet, but I believe I am asking the right questions.

Quote for the Day - Social Justice

2011-06-28T17:23:00.002+02:00

This week I am writing my final paper for my class on the Old Testament prophets on the subject of the contribution of the book of Jeremiah to the issues of social justice.

Studying the Old Testament prophets is something I have really enjoyed and been challenged by, and in general the message of the Bible regarding issues of social justice is something that has interested me for some time now.

Perhaps the most challenging thing in regard to social justice is figuring out how concern and care for the most vulnerable members of society works out practically in your given life and situation - but like many other things, I think that it has to begin with getting the right attitude and perspective, because once you have the right heart, situations will find you and God will bring them to you.

So, here is the quote for today:

Proverbs 14:31 says, “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker.” The God of the Bible says, as it were, “I am the poor on your step. Your attitude toward them reveals what your true attitude is toward me.” A life poured out in doing justice for the poor is the inevitable sign of any real, true gospel faith.

Keller, Timothy (2010). Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just (loc. 2113). DUTTON ADULT. Kindle Edition.

Quote for the Day

2011-06-27T12:57:00.003+02:00

This week I need to finish two final assignments to finish my semester in seminary.

I really love studying theology, and the way the courses help me to dig deep in the scriptures and get beyond the surface meaning to get a broader perspective on what God is communicating through the scriptures.

One of the papers I am writing is about the contribution of the book of Jeremiah to the issues of social justice - something I have really been blessed and challenged by as I have studied it, and the other is on the theology of the book of Proverbs.

Here's a quote for today about the book of Proverbs:

Specifically religious language is seldom used in Proverbs - although it is present, it does not predominate. Not everything in life has to be strictly religious to be godly. Proverbs can serve as a corrective to the extremist tendency to spiritualize everything, as if there were something wrong with the basic material, physical world; as if God had said, “it is bad” rather than “it is good” when he first look on what he had made.
Fee & Stewart, How to Read the Bible for All its Worth, p.217

How to Save Money as a Parent - Part 1: Rescue Toys from the Trash

2011-06-24T20:48:00.001+02:00

Being a parent is expensive.

According to this report from the New York Times, the U.S.D.A. study shows that the average cost for a middle income family in the US to raise a child is $222,360.
If you can manage to spend no more than $2.50 on your child every day, it will still cost you $16,500 to raise them to age 18.

The point is, it is expensive.
We are not a wealthy family, but we want our kids to have a nice life - and I'm sure that there are many others of you out there in a similar situation who feel the same way.

Here are a few tips for how to save money as a parent whilst ensuring your kids enjoy themselves:

Tip #1: Rescue Toys.

Toys are extremely expensive.

However, we have a dump truck which we found outside an óvoda, which was going to be thrown out. It was trash, but we rescued it, cleaned it up, and our kids love it. And it was free.

Here's a video of our kids playing with the dump truck:

Tall and Silly

2011-06-21T10:36:00.002+02:00

We've never really measured Nate at home. Sometimes people ask me how tall he is, and I have no idea. I also have no idea how much he weighs - I just know that he's heavy.

I took this picture of Nate at óvoda the other day, to show Rosemary how tall he is now: 117cm (3' 10")

After that nice photo, Nate told me to he wanted me to take some photos of him making a silly face:

This is actually just one of the "silly faces" that he likes to make these days. He has another one where he pulls his face down, and another where he pushes his nose up.
I'm not really sure where he picked this up from - probably from óvoda, like a lot of other things - but it's funny either way. He even practices them in the mirror :)

Blessed to be a Dad

2011-06-18T16:02:00.006+02:00

Rosemary and the little ones just surprised me with some handmade fathers day presents and a thermos coffee mug. (Nate wrote his name on the card all by himself!)

Earlier today we went out to a lake in Egerszalók and had a picnic.

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Good News for Calvary Chapel in Hungary

2011-06-15T09:40:00.000+02:00

Magyar verzióért, katints ide.

Since the Fidesz party came to power in the last parliamentary elections in 2010, they have been working on a new constitution for Hungary.
One of the things which will change in the new constitution will be the law regarding churches - which groups can legally be called a church (egyház) and what requirements a religious group must meet in order to be registered as a church, among other things.

A few months I wrote about the concern that the change in this law would have serious repercussions for Calvary Chapel in Hungary, and how there was a chance that we would lose our status as an egyház, and would therefore not have the legal rights of a church, e.g. we would not be able to operate any institutions, such as schools, homeless shelters, etc. This would have serious implications for the Bible College in Vajta, which received accreditation last year, and for the soup kitchens run by the Budapest church.

Well, after a lot of speculation over the past few months over what the new requirements would be (i.e. how many members a group must have and how many years they have existed in Hungary) and who the government would allow to keep their status as an official church, the official proposal for the new law was submitted to parliament, and can be downloaded here: http://www.parlament.hu/irom39/03503/03503.pdf

Over the past few months reports were going around, that the new law would require that a group have at least 10,000 members and have existed in Hungary for at least 100 years. Later, the number was said to have increased to 50,000 - but the official proposal lists the requirements as roughly 20 years and at least 1000 members.
Most importantly, Calvary Chapel is included in the list of groups which will retain their status and legal rights as a church.

Thank you to all of you who joined us in praying for this issue!
Please continue to pray for Calvary Chapel in Hungary to have a great impact on this country for Christ.

Nate Says the Darndest Things

2011-06-14T14:12:00.000+02:00

Last night before bed Nate told me: Dad, I'm an adult.
I told him, No, Nate, you're a kid. Mom and Dad are adults. You and Felicia are kids.,
to which he responded, Dad, I want to be an adult!

He's already in a hurry to grow up. If he only knew how many adults there are out there who are jealous of his lifestyle, and would love to be a kid again!

Right after that, Nate pointed at the top of my head - where my hair is thinning - and said, Dad, your hair is just like a Grandpa!

Thanks...

Reflections on a Semester of Religious Ed

2011-06-13T17:00:00.001+02:00

This past Tuesday Rosemary and I had our last Religious Ed class of the school year at the "gypsy school". It was our first semester there and we definitely learned a lot.

Here are some reflections on it this past semester:

When I met with the director of the school last year and she asked us to come and teach Religious Ed, she told me that years ago some Catholic priests used to come to the school to teach, but they stopped coming because they couldn't handle the kids. When I heard this, my first reaction was to assume that they probably just didn't like the kids because they were gypsies, or maybe their program was so boring that it didn't hold the kids' attention.
However, I must admit that there were many times this semester when I found myself thinking: "I totally understand why those Catholic priests stopped coming to this school..."
Almost all of the kids are really poorly behaved - they are disrespectful and run around and curse and fight during class - and it is very tiring to work with them and keep things in order.
BUT - sometimes there are breakthroughs. And the breakthroughs are what makes it all worthwhile. When you see some kid understand the basic truths of the Gospel, and you realize that there is no one else in their life who tells them about the things of God or even simply that they are valuable - that is what makes all the frustration involved with teaching them worthwhile.
MUSIC is the best method I found to reach these gypsy kids. I could have talked until I was blue in the face, and they wouldn't have remembered anything I said - but as soon as I pulled out a guitar and taught them some songs, they immediately memorized them, and the lyrics stuck with them.
Charles Wesley wrote literally thousands of songs, which in his time, in the 18th century in England, were "Contemporary Christian Music". He said that one of his main goals in writing music was to teach the uneducated working class the doctrines of the Bible. Many of them couldn't read, and many of them wouldn't sit through a long sermon and retain all the information - but if they could easily learn doctrine through songs. So Charles Wesley wrote music to teach the poor of England the truths of the Gospel.
I found that this is the most effective way to teach these gypsy kids about Jesus as well. At the beginning of the semester I taught them a song called "Ó Én Hiszek Jézusban" (I believe in Jesus). The song is really just a very succinct statement of faith - and it is catchy. And for the rest of the semester, whenever I asked them a question about Jesus, most of the time they answered by quoting the lines of that song! That means that they remembered it - and it stuck in their minds. MUSIC is a wonderful resource for teaching the deep truths of the Bible.
One thing I will do more next year is kick more kids out of class if they misbehave. Because there are some kids who want to be there, and some kids who think that they are doing you a favor by being there, and so they just do whatever they want, and they are a drain on the entire class.
Another thing I would like to do more next year is to do more big programs. We had a group come from New York, who did a big program for the entire school, and it was a great success. I would love to have groups come who do puppet shows and stuff like that.
It seemed to me that a lot of these kids had problems at home. Some seemed neglected and some had a lot of anger. There comes a point when you stop being frustrated at these kids for being so badly behaved, and you start feeling compassion for them because most of them are products of the environments in which they are raised.
I think the opportunity to teach Religious Ed is a great thing, and I would like to do this in more schools, and I pray we will have open doors to do so.

Please join us in praying for these kids, their families, and the future of this ministry.

Kids

2011-06-10T00:18:00.001+02:00

Most of my free time these days is spent with my kids. There are times when I wish I had more time for myself, to pursue hobbies or hang out with friends, but I realize that these few years that Nate and Felicia are small and need a lot of attention will be gone before I realize it, and it is a privilege to be able to devote time to them.

Felicia is not even a year and a half old, but she has a big personality and is already very girly. She loves her "babies" and her stuffed animals, and likes to pack them into a stroller and push them around.
She talks a lot already, and recently started picking up some words in Hungarian, which is interesting because we only talk to her in English. She even started calling Rosemary "anya" (mother in HU).
Felicia's favorite article of clothing to wear is a miniskirt... It doesn't even reach her knees - she could easily be kicked out of some Baptist churches for wearing it.
She's so cute it hurts.

Today Rosemary taught Nate to play Candy Land and I taught him to talk like a pirate - both things which I always looked forward to teaching my children to do one day :)

Every day Nate says stuff that just cracks us up.
When Nate was first born my parents bought him a farm set, and we still use the box that it came in to store toys for the kids in our kitchen. Nate is interested in instructions these days, so he decided he wanted to read the instructions on this box for the farm set. He pointed to each paragraph and "read" down the line: "Play with toys...play with toys...play with toys..." and then he looked at me and said, "Dad, I do all of the instructions!"

Nate has been picking up more and more Hungarian at óvoda. Every day he comes home and surprises us with stuff he has picked up. Óvoda has been really good for him.

Balázs is finishing school next week, and will turn 17 this month. The change in his life over the past 2.5 yrs since he joined our family is huge. His grades have gotten so much better, he takes part in ministry in the church, he helps a lot with the kids, and is generally just a really great person. It is such a witness to God's redemptive power, that he was able to take the bad events in Balázs' life that led him to joining our family, and use them for Balázs' good.

Finally a Mobile Version for Blogger

2011-06-09T12:56:00.003+02:00

A few years ago, when we started a church newspaper, we made the decision to do it online rather than have a printed version, for various reasons. One reason was because having an online newspaper would make it possible for us to reach more people with our articles and another reason was because paper is so passé.
Seriously, who reads on paper any more? I barely even read books on paper nowadays - and I read a lot of books!

Just as paper is now passé - it seems to me that desktop computers are also passé, and it is a matter of time before laptops will also be passé.
Even if laptops will not be passé for a long time to come, more and more people are using mobile devices like smart phones and tablets so they can be productive on the go.

I have used both Blogger and Wordpress to blog. Our church's blog is on Wordpress, and I like many things about it - but I started this blog on Blogger, and I like how simple and easy to use it is, so I have kept it here.

The thing I really like about Wordpress is how well it works on mobile devices.
I have an Android phone, and I can easily write and post on Wordpress through their official Android app - which is superior to any of the apps for Blogger.
Furthermore, I prefer reading Wordpress blogs on my phone because they are automatically switched to the mobile version, which doesn't take as long to download and is easier to view on a phone.

So, I was glad today, when I signed into Blogger, to find that there is now a mobile optimized setting for Blogger blogs - and I must say, that I think the Blogger mobile versions look better than the Wordpress ones.

If you want to check out how this blog looks on an iPhone or Android or other smart phone, you can either look it up the old fashioned way, or scan this picture with the Barcode Scanner app.

Summer Has Begun

2011-05-31T23:08:00.002+02:00

Summer is in full gear!

Our English Camp outreach is only 7 weeks away, and we already have over 90 kids signed up. Please join us in praying that God would do a great work through this camp. We are starting a prayer chain; if you would like to join it, please write us an email or a comment, and we'll include you.

We have a great balcony on our house. One of my favorite things in the summer is to sit out on the balcony during a thunderstorm and watch the lightning - God's fireworks.

Yesterday Rosemary went out and got a table for the balcony, so we can eat and drink coffee and read out there. We've only had it for 2 days, but we have already gotten a lot of use out of it.
Nate was excited about it, and told me he wanted to drink a coffee with me (his was chocolate milk) at the new table.

In other news, Felicia is cuter by the day:

Gyermeknap / Children's Day

2011-05-29T20:59:00.004+02:00

When I was growing up I remember asking my parents why there is a Mothers Day and a Fathers Day, but no Children's Day. The answer: "because every day is children's day!"

Then when I moved to Hungary, and found out that they don't have a Fathers Day - the same explanation was given: "because every day is Fathers Day!"

But, although there is no Fathers Day in Hungary - they do have a Children's Day. And I must say that now that I have kids, this is one of my favorite holidays.

Here in Eger, they have a Children's Day festival every year in the Érsekkert - the city park.
We'd never gone before, until today, when we packed up the kids and went down to the park. We all had a great time.

Here is a video of our time at the park. Make sure to check out Balázs' very bling necklace that he picked up from a vendor...

Adora-calves

2011-05-24T20:18:00.003+02:00

Adora-calf: n. A young version of an adora-bull.

Óvoda Évzáró

2011-05-21T10:12:00.002+02:00

Yesterday Nate's óvoda (preschool) had their end of the year show for the parents, in which the kids performed songs and nursery rhymes.

Nate loves these programs, and we love going to them.

We were very proud of our little boy :)

The teachers said that he loves to perform, and sometimes stands in front of the other kids and sings songs in English for them.

Here's a video of yesterday's performance:

Perspective

2011-05-19T17:59:00.000+02:00

There are quite a few Dutch people in Hungary, and the other day I was talking with one of my Dutch friends, and asked him what exactly it is about Hungary that attracts people from Holland to move here.

I found his answers very interesting, because what he told me about what Dutch people see in Hungary - although valid - for me, coming from the US, many of these things were just the opposite of my perspective on Hungary!

Here is what he said Dutch people see when they look at Hungary:

A Big Country.
Hungary is 3 times the size of the Netherlands, so I can see why they would see Hungary as a large country.
Coming from the States, obviously I saw Hungary as a very small country.
Low Population Density.
There are less than 10 million people in Hungary - the Netherlands has a population of 16 million in a country one third the size of Hungary.
For me, however, coming from Colorado - Hungary seemed absolutely packed with people.
Mountains!
I've never been to Holland, but according to my friend, they don't have any mountains there. Here in Hungary, however, there are mountains!
Obviously, for me, coming from Colorado, I would be hesitant to use the term mountains in regard to Hungary - although I must say that I do love the Mátra and the Bükk very much!
It's Not Sinking.
Ok, I have to agree with this one. Hungary is not sinking - and that is good!

I guess it just goes to show that how you see things depends a lot on your perspective.

Laura

2011-05-18T12:24:00.000+02:00

The other night at dinner I was telling Rosemary about this article I read on Time talking about the benefits of staying married.

Nate was at the table and asked what "married" meant, so we started talking about it.

We explained marriage to him, and what a wedding is like - and then asked him if he wanted to get married, to which he said "Yes!"

So, we asked him who he wanted to get married to, and started with his friends from church (we want him to marry a believer :)

"Do you want to marry Lídia?" "No, I don't want to marry Lídia."

"Do you want to marry Korni?" "No, I don't want to marry Korni."

"What about Adél?" "No, I don't want to marry kids!"

"Oh, so do you want to marry an older woman?" "Yes, I want to marry an old woman!"

"Someone from church? Judit? Kati? Réka? Ilona?" "No, no, no!"

"I want to marry Laura!"

Who is Laura? At Nate's óvoda (preschool), a little girl walks up to me and says - "Engem Laurának hívnak" (My name is Laura).

Nate is one of the youngest kids in his class, but I don't think Laura is too much older than him, but apparently in his mind, she is mature enough for him.

Yesterday Rosemary went to pick Nate up at óvoda and asked which little girl is Laura - she just happened to be walking by at that moment and Nate told Rosemary: "I like Laura!" "Oh, her hair!"

I don't know if Laura knows how Nate feels yet, but I just hope she's a believer :)

How to Use a Dacia

2011-05-17T12:26:00.004+02:00

A while back I wrote a post called "Why I Love My Dacia".

Over the past few weeks my beloved car has been put to the test, and I am more satisfied with it than ever.

A few weeks ago I got a call in the middle of the night from a friend whose car had broken down in Füzesabony and needed me to tow him to Debrecen. His car had actually broken down while he was towing someone else. Dacia did great towing his car 100 km to Debrecen.

Last week we took a family trip - and put almost 3000 km on the car.
It ran great and fit all our stuff comfortably. It had no problem in the alps, even with 6 people and a bunch of stuff weighing it down.

Here's how the trip went:

Day 1: Eger - Millstatt, Austria. 775 km.

Day 2: Millstatt - Freilassing, Germany - Millstatt. 312 km.
Went to pick up my friend who came by train from Germany.

Day 3: Millstatt - Gmünd, Austria - Tarvisio, Italy - Millstatt. 191 km.
We went to a Porsche museum in Gmünd, and then went to Italy to eat lunch and visit a scenic lake in the mountains.

Day 4: Millstatt - Salzburg - Millstatt. 317 km.
Taking my friend back to the train station.

Day 5: Millstatt - Grado, Italy - Millstatt. 448 km.
Went to the beach in Italy. Had a great time, with great weather.

Day 6: Millstatt - Eger. 775 km.

Total: 2818 km (1751 mi.)

It was a good trip, but we're glad to be out of the car...

Felicia and Her Airplane

2011-05-10T22:44:00.001+02:00

Laghi di Fusine, Italy

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

GOOD Morning

2011-05-09T10:06:00.001+02:00

Any morning that begins with this view is a good morning.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

An Interesting Day

2011-05-06T21:07:00.006+02:00

Today I was at McDonald's with the kids, and when we were getting ready to leave, a parade started going by, with a marching band and all, filling up the whole street. We were in a bit of a hurry, and I could see that it was going to take a while for the parade to pass - and it was going in the same direction as where my car was parked - so the kids and I joined the parade!

People were taking pictures and video of us walking in the parade - and for the first couple of minutes I didn't even know what kind of parade we had joined; I was just hoping it wasn't a "love parade"!

Turns out the parade was for alternative energy vehicles, and once we got closer to where our car was parked, we ducked out and went on our way.

Other things that happened today:

The screen on my computer died...which was really bad timing as I have an assignment due for school next week and all my notes are on this laptop. Thankfully I was able to get it fixed right away...but it wasn't cheap...
I've had quite a few problems with this Toshiba laptop in the short 2 years I've had it.

They recently introduced paying for parking by text message in Eger, so I tried it, and then when I came back to my car I had a big red parking ticket waiting for me. Hopefully I can get that worked out.

At one point today I told Nate that I am going to take him to Austria and we will see a castle in the mountains. Later on I heard him talking about how excited he is to go to the castle in the mountains where there are ostriches :) Hopefully he won't be disappointed on our trip - or else, hopefully we will happen upon some ostriches!

Miskolc Zoo

2011-05-02T22:11:00.006+02:00

We kept Nate home from óvoda today because we were planning to go out to a village (Feldebrő) where a friend of ours is from, and take the kids to see some farm animals - something they absolutely love doing.

But when we called that we were ready to go, our friend said it wasn't a good day for her. So, since we had already kept Nate home from "school", we were determined to take the kids to see some animals.

We had heard about a small zoo in Gyöngyös, and thought we might go there, since it's not too much further than Feldebrő - but then we realized that Miskolc is just as close as Gyöngyös, and they have a zoo that we'd never been to.

So we went. And it was good.
It wasn't the biggest or best zoo I've ever been to, but for little kids it was perfect, and it is in a great location in the forest.

Here are some pictures from the zoo:

Life in Eger

2011-04-11T08:07:00.000+02:00

Some recent pictures and videos taken here in Eger.

Camping in the back yard:

Balázs and Nate with the Lego Buzz Lightyear in the Agria Park:

Köcsög fa. Hungarian tradition to decorate a tree with clay jars.

I realized the other day that this drainage pipe on my house is NOT connected to ANYTHING:

Taking the kids out to a coffee shop:

Felicia Body Building:

Nate telling how old people are:

Benefits of Being Bilingual

2011-04-08T16:39:00.000+02:00

National Public Radio (NPR) posted this interesting report on being bilingual, a topic which is obviously close to our hearts.
Among others, they interview a Hungarian-American family who speak Hungarian in their home.

Nate has been going to óvoda (Hungarian preschool) for two months now, and we have found that the way he learns Hungarian best is by learning Hungarian nursery rhymes (mondókák).
Like the parents in the radio report, people have also criticized us for not speaking to Nate in Hungarian at home. For us, that is just something that isn't natural, and we trust that he is going to learn Hungarian in school, and will be better off for it.

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

2011-04-07T00:15:00.000+02:00

It has been said that one man's trash is another man's treasure.
That is certainly true during Lomtalanítás (Spring Cleaning) in Hungary.

Lomtalanítás is the one day of the year in Hungary, when you can put as much garbage out on the street as you want, of any size, and the city will take it away - but before the city comes to take it away, they give people a chance to rummage through it and take what they can find.

I have heard one person call this "a form of socialized refuse distribution".

At this time of the year the streets are filled with garbage - everything from green waste to broken appliances to old clothes.

And there are groups, which almost qualify as gangs, for whom lomtalanítás is better than Christmas. They are fairly well organized, knowing when different parts of the city will have lomtalanítás, and they will mark their territory by putting their people at different piles of trash to guard them. They even spend the night out on the street guarding their "property" until morning. There are even some people parked on the pile of junk opposite our house right now.
When we lived in our old place, once we were bringing a broken fan out to the street when someone ran up and asked if they could have it. We gave it to them, and then the person who had been sitting in front of our building for hours on a bucket started yelling at him, and demanding that he give him the fan, because that was his territory!

I must admit that we have actually gone "shopping" during lomtalanítás - we went to a local kindergarten last year and found a dump truck toy for Nate to play with in the sand box. It was a good find.

Here are some pictures Rosemary took today of the people who are guarding our street's pile of junk:

Why I Love My Dacia

2011-04-06T08:19:00.001+02:00

We have had our Dacia Logan MCV since June of last year, and we love it.
In fact, we even often tell each other how much we love our car, when we are getting into it or driving it.

When we started shopping for a car last year, we didn't plan to buy a Dacia, but after weighing our options we found that it was exactly what we needed and the best deal for the money. I don't regret it at all.

Here are some reasons I love my Dacia:

7 full-sized seats.
We looked at a few cars that had 5+2 seats, with those ones that fold down in the back - but those seats are usually quite small and uncomfortable. I actually find the 3rd row of seats in our car to be one of the most comfortable places in the car, and sometimes choose to sit back there on long trips so I can relax.
Off-road Capabilities.
The MCV is not a 4-wheel drive car, but it was designed for Eastern European roads. So, it sits up quite high off the ground, and it has 16 in. wheels with 185 cm sidewalled tires. Sleek design was obviously not the main priority - but I love that I never have to worry about driving off-road with it, or on bad roads. I have taken this car to Ukraine a number of times, and on many bad roads and dirt roads in Hungary and have never bottomed out - whereas the others with me driving Fords, Peugeots and Opels bottomed out and got racked by pot holes.
Cargo Space.
By removing the 3rd row of seats, I have had 5 adults and 6 full-size suitcases in the car before - comfortably.
I often also take 6 people with luggage, comfortably.
Shelf.
This may seem trivial - but it is one of the things we like about the car: The ceiling is high and there is a storage shelf above the back seat. It's the little things...

What do I not love about the car? Only a few things:

The fuel consumption isn't great: 8-8.5 l/100km (28 mile/gal). It's not the best, but it's not that bad either.
The button to roll down the window is not on the door, but on the center console. I don't think I'll ever get used to that.

We have put about 17,000 km on it, and are really satisfied with it, and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a maximally practical but yet affordable car.

I Heart Revolution

2011-04-03T23:03:00.000+02:00

Last Thursday, together with some other churches in town, we promoted a showing of Hillsong United's documentary film, "I-Heart Revolution".

To summarize the film, it breaks down into 3 parts:

Injustice, poverty and human suffering that is rampant in our world.
The solution, the remedy is Jesus Christ.
Because #2 is true, we as the body of Christ can and should do something about #1.

The film actually had very little to do with the Hillsong United band and their music and was more about what God worked in their hearts over 2+ years touring around the world, during which time they became aware of many significant world issues such as poverty, human trafficking, and other human suffering - and how this stands in such great contrast to those who live in abundance and have little or no awareness or concern about these things.

The film is essentially their message which they seek to communicate, which is that caring about individuals and showing them the love of Christ is something that is revolutionary, something which honors God and is an essential part to our calling as the body of Christ.

There were parts of the film, when they were talking about human suffering when I was on the verge of tears, and I could hear people around me in the theater crying. As a parent, the idea of children suffering is something that makes me very sad, and I know that for some people, the film would be too intense for them to handle. In fact, in the film, one of the things they mentioned is that we have a tendency to harden our hearts to the suffering around us, because if we would empathize with all the suffering in the world, it would simply be too much for us to handle; we would go mad - and in a way, this film was a small window into that feeling. In light of this, you realize how amazing it it that God does exactly that.

Here are some quotes from the film which sum up its essence:

"You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know" - William Wilberforce
"Injustice and indifference go hand in hand"
"The church is known for what we are against. The problem is that too often the things we are against are petty compared to the incredible suffering and injustice that takes place in the world. We have a tendency to make a big deal out of small things, and a small deal out of big things."

I am studying the OT prophets this semester in my theology studies, and Amos especially deals with how much God cares about human suffering and injustice, although these are topics which are dealt with a lot in the prophets. So, for me personally, this film resounded with a lot of things I have been reading lately - including other books like Crazy Love and Generous Justice - and a general movement I see in the Church towards caring about social justice and caring about people who are suffering, realizing that the Gospel is more than just a "get out of hell free card", and that walking with God is about more than just reading your Bible for 5 minutes a day and praying and going to church, but actually being part of God's mission here on earth.

I you have the chance to see it - I would definitely recommend it. It certainly changed how I think about Hillsong, in a positive way. It is 2 hrs long, and some parts might be a bit self-indulgent - but it is definitely worth watching.

Have you seen the film? What did you think?

What does the LORD require of you but to do justice,
and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
(Micah 6:8 ESV)

Morbid Angol Mondókák - Morbid English Nursery Rhymes

2011-03-31T16:47:00.000+02:00

Rájöttem, hogy sok angol mondóka van ami eléggé morbid. Mi akik ezeken nőttünk fel ritkán gondolunk arra, hogy igazából mennyire negatívak a jelentései ezeknek a mondókáknak.
I realized that quite a few of the English nursery rhymes are pretty morbid. We who grow up with them are so used to them that we rarely think about the negative meanings that they have.

1)

Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.

Körbe a rózsa, zsebek tele bokrétával,
Korom, korom, mindannyian leesünk.

Ez egy több száz éves mondóka, ami állítólag a bubó pestisre utal. Morbid.
This is an old nursery rhyme which allegedly refers to the black plague. That's morbid.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Humpty Dumpty ült a falon,
Humpty Dumpty nagyot esett,
A király összes lova és összes embere
nem tudtak újra összerakni Humptyt.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do.
She fed them some broth without any bread,
Kissed them all soundly and put them to bed.

Volt egy vénasszony aki egy cipőben lakott,
Annyi gyereke volt, hogy nem tudott mit kezdeni velük.
Adott nekik levest kenyér nélkül,
Megpuszilta őket és letette őket aludni.

Szegénység: Minden gyerek kenvenc témája!
Poverty: Every kid's favorite topic!

Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock
When the bow breaks the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

Ringatózik a baba fenn a fa tetején,
Amikor fúj a szél, ringatózni fog az ágy,
Amikor eltör az ág, a kiságy le fog esni,
És le fog esni a baba, a kiságyával együtt.

Ezt a mondókát szoktak mondani az anyukák a gyerekeknek amikor lemennek aludni. Semmi nem nyugtatja egy gyereket úgy mint egy történet egy kisbabáról aki kiesett egy fából. Jó éjt kicsim!
Mothers sing this to their kids as they put them to sleep. Nothing is more calming to a child than a story of a baby falling out of a tree. Good night little one!

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
and Jill came tumbling after.

Jancsi és Juliska felmentek a dombra egy vödör vízért.
Jancsi leesett és eltörte a fejét,
és Júliska jött utána bukfencezve.

London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.
London bridge is falling down, my fair lady.

A londoni híd leszakad, leszakad, leszakad.
A londoni híd leszakad, szépséges hölgyem.

Did I miss any?
Magyarul is vannak morbid mondókák?

Reminiscent

2011-03-30T09:00:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I met with a guy from church for coffee, and after walking from the church to the coffee shop we go to almost every week, we found to our surprise that it was closed.

Not only was I sad to see that one of the best small businesses in Eger had closed, but as I thought about it, I realized how many memories that place held for Rosemary and I from our time here in Eger.

It was in that coffee shop that we first met with 2 young women back in 2003 to talk about the possibility of a Calvary Chapel church in Eger. We borrowed our friend's car and drove up from Debrecen just for the meeting. In the end, nothing really came out of that meeting itself - but upon hearing about this meeting, and realizing that we were seriously praying about coming to Eger, someone else offered to let us hold Bible studies in her house.

After moving to Eger in 2005, we met with our church planting team in this coffee shop every week for prayer and planning. The four of us were regulars - every Tuesday at 10. The coffee shop was quite compact, and I will never forget one time when we were praying and I overheard the elderly woman sitting next to us say to her friend, "Look, they're meditating!"

I met with people from church in this coffee shop for years, had a lot of meaningful conversations, and went on dates with my wife here.

Café Arabica, this is a sad day. You were an Eger icon, and you will be missed.

Church Retreat in Nagybarca

2011-03-29T10:56:00.003+02:00

This past weekend we had our annual church retreat. It was our fifth church retreat and our second time having it in Nagybarca.
This retreat is one of my favorite events of the whole year, because we go away as a church and spend a weekend together, worshiping, studying the Bible and seeking the Lord, and being together in fellowship.
Our goal with these retreats is to draw closer to the Lord and closer to each other. We often worship together, but things like cooking together and playing sports together and having time to talk and hang out together are things which help build community.

This weekend, instead of inviting a guest speaker as we have in the past, we had some of the men from the church share on the topic of fellowship and community - how God's design for the church isn't that it be a club or a support group in which a bunch of individuals who follow him gather together occasionally to study the Bible and worship and then go our separate ways, but that rather God's design is to create a people for himself (Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 2:1-12, and many verses), a body. And therefore true fellowship (Gk: koinonia) is about community and about belonging to each other (Romans 12:5).

It was a blessing to see that message of community being worked out amongst us and people serving each other - watching each others' kids, taking turns cooking, cleaning, etc.

We also had a really blessed time of prayer together on Saturday night. I prayed for one young guy who afterward told me that in his entire life he had never prayed and had never been to church other than the one time he came to our youth group.

Nate also loved being at 'camp', and had a great time.
Last summer during the World Cup I told him about how soccer players fall down and pretend to get hurt, even when nothing has happened to them. Nate apparently took note of this, and his favorite game to play is that whenever we play soccer and the ball gets near him he pretends to fall down and get hurt.
It seems that he has really understood the most important aspect of soccer, and is potentially on his way to a successful career on the Italian national team!

God and Pop Music

2011-03-19T16:27:00.005+01:00

In 1977 Aurthur Holmes wrote a book called "All Truth is God's Truth". The basic premise of the book is that it is not only Christians who are able to recognize God's truth, and that if someone recognizes some aspect of truth, even if they are not a Christian, that truth is still valid, as it is God's truth.

I find it interesting to observe how people who are not believers perceive God, especially when they have apt or profound perceptions.
And I think there is a lot of music and other forms of art which reflect spiritual truths even though they are made by people who have no commitment to Jesus.
There is also just as many - if not more - examples of popular art forms saying things about God that are wrong, sometimes even blasphemous.

Robert Frost once said: "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."
Discerning Christian people should be able to engage ideas, weigh them against God's truth revealed in the Bible, glean from the good and 'spit out the seeds'.

In a way, the whole genre of 'Contemporary Christian Music' is a bit odd, if you think about it. I love music made by Christians that communicates Christian messages and reflects Christian values, and I think that modern worship music is inspirational and even a great tool for outreach and evangelism. However, it is the whole CCM scene that I think is a bit odd.
For example:

Before Christians started making their own 'pop' music - what music did Christians listen to? Did they ever listen to music that was not made by Christians - and yet continued to love Jesus and walk with Him?
Why do many Christians trust that others Christians are capable of using discernment in regard to what Hollywood films and television programs they watch, but tell them categorically not to listen to 'secular music'.
If the point of art is expression and communication of ideas and feelings - wouldn't it be more effective to have Christian art forms in the mainstream, rather than creating a sub-genre ghetto in which Christians are making music (and movies) which will only be listened to and seen by other Christians?

Anyway - here are some songs about God that I have run across lately:

This is Dashboard Confessional - one of my favorite bands:

Other examples of God in popular culture?

Reminder

2011-03-16T00:48:00.007+01:00

I found this sign on a building in Budapest today:
Ezt a kiírást találtam ma egy budapesti épület falán:

In English it says:

"In this building operated the State Office of Religious Affairs.
In remembrance of the victims of the Communist religious persecution
Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the truth"

That last line is something similar to something Jesus said - but here is the real thing:
Az utolsó sor olyasmi mint amit Jézus mondott egyszer - de itt az igazi:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
(Matthew 5:10-12 ESV)
Boldogok, akiket az igazságért üldöznek, mert övék a mennyek országa. Boldogok vagytok, ha énmiattam gyaláznak és üldöznek titeket, és mindenféle rosszat hazudnak rólatok. Örüljetek és ujjongjatok, mert jutalmatok bőséges a mennyekben, hiszen így üldözték a prófétákat is, akik előttetek éltek.
(Máté év. 5:10-12)

A lot has changed in Hungary and in Eastern Europe since the end of Communism. Religious freedom is a blessing and something that we should be thankful for. This is a good reminder that we shouldn't take the freedom we have for granted.
Sok minden megváltozott Magyarországon és egész kelet Európában a rendszerváltásóta. A vallásszabadság egy áldás és egy olyan dolog amiért hálát kellene adnunk. Ez egy jó emlékeztető a számunkra, hogy ne vegyünk természetesnek azt a szabadságot ami van nekünk.

However, we should not forget what Tertullian said: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church". Persecution is thus, not only something which the Church can overcome - but it is in fact something we NEED in order to grow.
Obviously official persecution by the state is not the only form of persecution that Christians can experience, and 2 Timothy 3:12 tells us, 'Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted'.
Azonban, ne felejtsünk el Tertulliánus szavait: "A mártirok vére az Egyház magja." Az üldöztetés így nem csak egy olyan dolog amin a Keresztények tudnak felülkerekedni - hanem valójában olyasmi ami szükséges a növekedésünkre.
Nyílván, a hivatalos állami üldöztetés nem az üldöztetés egyetlen formája amit a Keresztények megtapasztalhatnak, és a 2. Timóteus 3:12 azt mondja nekünk, "mindazokat, akik kegyesen akarnak élni Krisztus Jézusban, szintén üldözni fogják".

Opposition to our faith is not just something we can overcome, it is something we need in order to grow. May God help us that the opposition we experience to our faith would lead us closer to Him and out of complacency.
A hitünk ellen való ellenségeskedés nem csak egy olyan dolog amin felül tudunk kerekedni, hanem olyasmi amire szükségünk van ahozz, hogy növekedjünk. Adjon az Úr, hogy a minket érő üldöztetés közelebb vigyen minket hozzá és kirázzon bennünket a 'nem-törődöm' vagy 'nem érdekel' hozzáállásokból.

Special Ingredients

2011-03-06T22:12:00.004+01:00

Found this in the menu of a restaurant in Mukachevo, Ukraine:

I have a few questions:

Bathing? On a pizza?
Do hunters really bathe so often, that it belongs on a pizza that bears their name?
What is this supposed to say?
This was approved? What was approved? By whom? Was the the translation approved, or was the use of "bathing" as a special ingredient approved by the public health department?

In Hungary I always want to read menus in Hungarian, because more often than not, the English translations of the menu are strange, if not incomprehensible.

I don't say this to criticize the people who translate the menus - I know that it can be hard to know how to translate specific dishes - and I also know that most restaurants don't have the money to pay for an expensive professional translation, and so it usually gets done by the owner's nephew who speaks a little English, mostly learned in high school and from watching TV and playing video games.

Every now and then we run across some really funny translations. Our favorite was at one of the nicest restaurants here in Eger, the menu featured "cake with scum on top" (HU: scum = salak, söprödék).
Obviously, what it should have said was "whipped cream", but when the person translating the menu looked up the word "hab" in the Hungarian-English dictionary, there were many options, and he/she guessed that scum would be most appropriate to describe a desert.

Nonetheless, I did not order the Hunting Pizza. Mostly out of fear that it would have scum on it. The pizza I did order was scum-free and quite good.

Published

2011-02-24T10:44:00.002+01:00

There are many reasons I love Flickr. One of the reasons it is great is that photos posted on Flickr are copyrighted, and you can also decide whether you want to allow people to be able to download your pictures or not.

For this reason, there are a lot of both professional and amateur photographers who use the site and post high quality images. Because of this, Flickr is a place that people like journalists and newspaper writers will go to search for images to illustrate articles, travel guides or websites.

In the past few years I have had 3 pictures published, and I got an email yesterday requesting my permission to publish another one.
For an amateur photographer, the recognition feels great.

Here are the pictures I've had published. I don't actually think these are my best photos, but they were what these people were looking for.

This one of the Denver City and County Building was used in a travel guide:

This one of Bill Clinton Street in Prishtina, Kosovo was used in a French news article about the unveiling of a statue of Clinton in Prishtina:

This one of Nessebar, Bulgaria was also used in a travel guide:

This photo from Sirok, Hungary will be published in a German economic journal:

Pray for the Children of Juarez

2011-02-23T05:25:00.000+01:00

Ciudad Juarez is the most deadly city in the world, and known as the most violent place in the world outside of a declared war zone.

CNN posted these videos about the children of Juarez, which, as a parent, broke my heart.

Please join me in praying for the children of Juarez and of Mexico in general, that God would watch over them and give them peace.

Farsang

2011-02-20T21:46:00.003+01:00

Farsang is a Hungarian folk holiday, which takes place before the beginning of lent, and is celebrated somewhat like Carnival or Mardi Gras, with dressing up in costumes and large feasts.

It is a big deal for school kids in Hungary, where they have an event at school where they get dressed up and put on a performance.

Nate has only been in óvoda (preschool) for 2 weeks, but he participated in the Farsang celebration this past Saturday.
He dressed up as one of his favorite characters: Woody the Cowboy, and performed along with the kids in the show that they did.

He had a really good time, and we were so proud of him that even though he doesn't speak Hungarian he was able to learn a lot of the hand motions and the words for the show.

Here's a video:

Happy Birthday Rosemary!

2011-02-16T07:00:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday to my lovely wife Rosemary!

You are a blessing to the lives of so many.

Here's wishing you a blessed birthday!

Halacska - Little Fish

2011-02-08T21:59:00.003+01:00

Nate hétfőn elkezdte az óvit. Halacska a jele. Mi más illene egy pásztor gyerekének? Nate started óvoda (preschool) this week. His symbol (every kid is assigned one) is a little fish - quite fitting for the son of a pastor.

Igaz, hogy csak 2 napja jár - de eddig nagyon szereti! És ennek nagyon örülünk.
Although he has only been twice - so far he really likes it, which we are really happy to see.

Nate, ahogy reggel készül elmenni az óviba: Nate getting ready to go to "school" in the morning:

Nate óvija: Nate's óvoda:

Felícia's Story

2011-02-04T21:30:00.002+01:00

This slideshow was made by our very talented friend Joel for Felicia's birthday party. It tells the story of Felicia's first year.

Angry Bird

2011-02-03T17:17:00.003+01:00

If you have a smart phone, or know anyone who does, you have probably heard of Angry Birds.

Nate loves playing Angry Birds on my phone, and he is actually pretty good at it.

The other day he got an idea, and came to me and said, "I want to fly like an angry bird!" Then he went and stacked up some pillows and wanted me to throw him into them and knock them over.

Here's the video:

Felicia is ONE Year Old!

2011-01-22T14:35:00.002+01:00

Last year on this day, we awoke to labor pains, and excited expectation, that our little girl was finally coming.
That excitement quickly turned to fear, sadness and worry when we got to the hospital - and for weeks as Felicia's life was in the balance between life and death.

Here are my blog posts from this time last year.

Now, one year later, we are so thankful for God's grace, that in His kindness He healed our little girl. She gives us so much joy, and her life is a testimony to God's power and grace.

Happy Birthday beautiful girl!