The Good Guys

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.

Jó Reagen Budapesten - Ronald Reagan Statue in Budapest

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.

Surprise Amendment to the Church Law in Hungary

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.

Törvényjavaslat - Proposed Law in Hungary

A múlt héten egy olyan törvényjavaslat látott napvilágot (a 1990. évi IV. törvényt, a lelkiismereti és vallásszabadságról, valamint az egyházakról), ami súlyos következményekkel járhatná a magyarországi Golgota Keresztény Gyülekezet egyházra és több kisebb egyházra vonatkozóan.
Last week a proposal was made to change a law in Hungary (Act IV. of 1990. regarding the freedom of conscience, religion, and churches), which if it is passed would have major implications for Calvary Chapel in Hungary as well as other evangelical groups.

Ez a törvényváltozás kényszerítene minden magyarországi egyházat arra, hogy újra regisztráljon, de csak a 10.000 tagnál nagyobb, vagy a történelmi jellegű egyházak maradhatnának ezek után egyházak. Mivel a jelenlegi kormány koaliciónak kétharmados többsége van, a minősített többséget igénylő törvényeket is (így az egyházakról szóló törvényt is) meg tudják úgy változtatni ahogy az nekik (és a támogatóiknak) leginkább megfelel.
The law would require all religious organizations to re-register, and only those groups or denominations with more than 10,000 members would be allowed to retain their legal status as churches. Since the current government coalition has two-thirds majority, they are able to even change laws that require a qualified majority, so basically they can change things the way it suits their (and their supporters') best interest.

Ez jelenleg azt jeletni, hogy valószinűleg 6-7 jelenlegi magyarországi egyház maradhatna egyház a jövőben, és a Golgota Keresztény Gyülekezet elveszitene az egyházi státuszát, és így, nem tudná többé intézményt fentartani, ami komoly következményekkel járhat a vajtai Golgota Teológiai Fősikolával kapcsolatban, ami tavaly kapott akkreditációt, mint egy felsőoktatási intézmény.
Currently this would mean that only 6 or 7 churches in Hungary would be able to retain their legal status as churches. This would mean that Calvary Chapel would lose its status as a legal church, meaning, among other things, that Calvary Chapel could no longer offer education of any kind, accept tax-deductible donations, or attain visas for foreign missionaries or students. This would have serious consequences for the Bible college in Vajta, which just received accreditation last year as a religious school of higher education.

Az az érvelés, hogy így lehetne eltörölni azokat az "egyházakat" amelyek nem is igazán egyházak, és igazságtalan módon kapják a SZJA 1%-ot. Ez amúgy jó dolog lenne - de gyakorlatilag ez a törvényváltozás arra is jogosítaná fel a kormányt, hogy elszüntesse azokat a csoportokat amik nem szimpatikusak nekik vagy a támogatóinak.
The reasoning given for this proposed change to the law is that it would get rid of tax shelters and those "churches" which aren't churches at all. That would be a good thing - but practically, this law would give the government power to dissolve any religious groups and denominations which they and their supporters do not like.

Ha azt gondolja valaki, hogy ez a törvényjavaslat tényleg csak azért van, hogy takarítson pénzt az államnak, nézd meg a számokat: A tavalyi adózási adatok alapján az állam közel 353 millió forintot takarítana meg évente (azaz 35 forintot állampolgáronként egy évben) azzal, hogy megvonná a kisebb gyülekezetek egyházi státuszát, miközben a legnagyobbaknak összesen 4 milliárd 850 millió forintot fizetett ki (ebből a Magyar Katolikus Egyház 3 milliárdot, a Magyarországi Református Egyház pedig 1 milliárdot kapott).
Így, úgy tűnik hogy ez a törvényváltozás, bár elszüntetne azokat a csoportokat akik igazságtalanul kihasználják az egyházi státuszt, komolyan kockáztatja a vallási szabadságot Magyarországon. Ha kineveznek egy személyt vagy tanácsot aki megmondja, melyik csoportok lehetnek hiteles egyházak és megtarthatják azokat a jogokat amik eddig biztosítva voltak a rendszerváltozás és az új alkotmány írása óta.
If you think this proposed change to the law is only for the purpose of saving money, then check out the numbers: Based on last year's tax data, the state would save 353 million forints in a year (or 35 forints per citizen annually) if they deny giving the status of a church to smaller congregations. All the while a total of almost 5 billion forints were paid out to the largest churches (the Hungarian Catholic Church received 3 billion forints, the Reformed Church of Hungary received 1 billion forints).
So, it seems that while this proposed law would put an end to groups taking advantage of church status to get illegitimate tax exemption, it would put religious freedom in Hungary at great risk by appointing a person or group with the authority to determine which groups have the right to exist as religious organizations and keep the rights which have been guaranteed since the end of Communism and the writing of the new constitution in 1990.

Kérlek, imádkozzatok ezért a helyzetért, hogy Isten akarata legyen meg, és hogy az Ő neve dicsőüljön meg a Golgota Keresztény Gyülekezet szolgálata által.
Please keep this situation in prayer, that God's will would be done and that His name would be glorified greatly through the ministry of Calvary Chapel in Hungary.

Itt az Idő, Válasszátok

Amint tudjátok, vasárnap lesz a parlamenti választás. Nem szeretek politizálni és úgy sem szavazhatok Magyarországon, de szerintem fontos dolog részt venni a demokráciában úgy, hogy az ember elmenjen szavazni.
Ez a választó polgár egy példakép mindannyiunknak, hogy miért szavazzunk:

This Sunday will be the parliamentary election here in Hungary. I don't like to argue politics, and I can't vote in Hungary, but I think it's a good thing to take part in the democratic process by going out to vote.
This voting citizen is an example for us all as to why we should vote.

Győzelem / Victory

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

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

Tear Down This Wall

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

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

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

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

For the Love of Bill

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

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

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

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

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


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

Nobel Peace Prize

First, let me start out by saying that I don't hate Obama and I don't really have a big problem with socialized health care.
However, awarding him the Nobel peace prize for a nebulous message of change and for what he might do in the future is just plain silly.

I snagged this cartoon from this blog. Check it out:

Hoppá! - Oops!

Úgy tűnik, többen nézik ezt a blogot, mint gondoltam.
Amikor az unokatestvérem, Tess, itt volt júliusban, ő csinált egy fényképet Habis Lászlóról, Eger polgármesteréről, ahogy a pogármester úr megtartotta Tess plüss majmát. Erről írtam és feltöltöttem a képeket itt, ebben a bejegyzésben.
Nos, tegnap telefonált az egyik barátom, és azt mondta - Képzeld el! Emlékszel arra a képre amit az unokatesód készített a polgármesterről? Ma kaptam egy szórólapot ami arról szól, hogy a polgármester mennyire rossz - és az a kép van rajta!
Íme, a szórólap:
Erről fontos mondonom egy-két dolgot:

• Nem én írtam ezt a szórólapot
• Nem én adtam oda ezt a képet, hanem valaki csak letöltötte.
• Nincsen semmi bajom a polgármesterrel.
• A Biblia szerint, keresztényként, az a dolgom, hogy imádkozzak azokért akik hatalmi poziciókban vannak. (Romaiakhoz írt levél 13)
• Én csak ilyen szórólapokat szeretek osztani.

Csak remélem, hogy nem jönnek értem éjszaka fekete autóval... :)

It seems that more people are reading this blog than I thought.
When my cousin Tess was here in July, she took a picture of the mayor of Eger holding her stuffed monkey. I wrote about it, and uploaded the pictures here, in this post.
Well, yesterday a friend of mine called me up and said, Guess what - remember that picture your cousin took of the mayor holding the stuffed monkey? Today I got a flier about how bad the mayor is, and that picture is on it!
A few things I should say about this:

• I didn't make this flier
• I didn't give this picture to anyone - someone just downloaded it.
• I have no problem with the mayor.
• According to the Bible, as a Christian, my job is to pray for those who are in positions of authority (Romans 13)
• I only like to make fliers like this.

I just hope they don't come for me with a black car in the middle of the night... :)

Slovak Language Act

There is more and more tension between Hungary and Slovakia these days.
In addition to what happened last week - yesterday Slovakia passed a new language act, which "fines anyone misusing the Slovak language and limits the use of the Hungarian language in public." (Source)
Slovakia is being criticized for this law by many, even within the European Union, whereas the Slovak government claims that the law is being misrepresented and misunderstood. Here's the critics' view and the Slovak response.
I'm like Rodney King - I wish we could all just get along :)
Maranatha!

Egyre több feszültség van Magyarország és Szlovákia között manapság.
Azon felül, hogy mi történt a múlt héten, tegnap vezették be az új nyelvtörvényt, ami "bírságot követel azoktól akik helytelenül használják a szlovák nyelvet, és korlátozza a magyar nyelv nyilvánosságban való használatát." (Forrás)
Sokan kritizálják a szlovák kormányt e-miatt, meg az EU-n belül is, miközben a szlovák kormány azt állítja, hogy ezt a törvényt félreértik és média hamisan írja le.
Itt a kritika nézete és a szlovák válasz
Én olyan vagyok mint Rodney King - azt kivánom, hogy mindenki kijöjjön a másikkal :)
Maranatha! (Jöjj el, Uram!)

Denied

Last week, on August 20, the President of Hungary, Sólyom László was refused entry into Slovakia.
The president was going on a private visit to a town in southern Slovakia with a majority ethnic Hungarian population to unveil a statue of St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary.
The reason the Slovak government gave for refusing entry to the Hungarian president was the day he chose to come on. The Slovak government told Sólyom László that he could come on any other day, just not August 20th. When he came anyway, he was turned away at the bridge where he tried to cross into Slovakia.
This is the complication - because whereas for Hungarians August 20th is Saint Stephen's day - one of their most important holidays, when they remember the founding of the Hungarian kingdom, which used to include the territory of modern Slovakia and Transylvania - in Slovakia August 20th is the anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, in which the Hungarian army also invaded Czechoslovakia to shut down the "Prague Spring" - an attempt by Czechoslovakia to move away from communism and Soviet domination.
The problem is that Hungary and Slovakia are both EU members, and Slovakia's denial of entry to the Hungarian president is contrary to EU law which permits freedom of movement between countries.
This isn't even the first time this kind of thing has happened to Sólyom László. On March 15, he went to Romania, to celebrate Hungary's national day with Transylvanian Hungarians, and while his plane was in the air, he was refused landing permission, and ended up having to come into Transylvania by car. Pretty embarrassing for a president...
Both Romania and Slovakia are sensitive to Hungarian territorial claims to their land, and view moves like these by the president as challenging their territorial sovereignty.
I can personally understand why Slovakia and Romania are concerned about Hungarian claims to their land. I can also understand the Hungarians, who don't want to lose touch with fellow Hungarians who were separated from Hungary not by their own choice.

What do you think? Was Slovakia justified in doing this? Is the president of Hungary challenging the sovereignty of these nations by his visits there?

More Money

Probably everyone who doesn't live in a cave in North Korea is sick of hearing about the global financial crisis, and even those who do live in caves in North Korea have been effected by it.
We have certainly felt it here; we have less income from both work and support than we did last year, and more costs. People in our church have been effected by it as well.
But there are some signs this week that this crisis could come to an end sooner than later.

This week Germany and France announced that they have come out of recession.
That's good news for Hungary too, since many of the major employers here are multinational companies from Western Europe. Recession there means less orders in the factories here, less production, and people laid of. Hopefully the end of the recession in Germany and France will mean more work and job opportunities here, so people don't have to leave places like Eger to find work by going abroad or getting sucked into Hungary's 'black hole': Budapest.

Colorado is actually considering lowering the state minimum wage, because prices have gone down as a result of the financial crisis, but some good news is that the housing market is starting to recover. Forbes magazine rated Denver as the 7th best for housing recovery in the US.

This financial crisis is no fun. Hopefully it will be over soon...

Christians Face Persecution in Britain

On my way back to Hungary on Sunday, I was reading the Sunday Telegraph newspaper on the plane, and was surprised to see this article about how Christians face persecution in British society.

The article says that according to a poll, almost half of Christians in Britain feel that they are being rejected or discriminated against at work and at home because of their Christian faith. New laws are being proposed by an atheist group to forbid people from sharing their faith in their workplace, classifying it as harassment, and grounds for firing. Three out of four people polled said that there is less religious freedom in Britain now than 20 years ago.

This is sad news coming from Britain, which has historically been such a bastion of Christianity, but I think this is fairly characteristic of Europe in general. At least its being admitted and reported on in Britain.

Check out the full article here.

Socialist Realism

There is something I like about Socialist Realism. Maybe its because it is something different and something of the past, but for whatever reason, I like it.
Here are some posters in this style from communist Hungary:
Van valami amit szeretem a szoc-reál stilusában. Lehet, azért mert más és egy múltbéli, de akár miért is, szeretem.
Itt van egy pár szoc-reál poszter Magyarországból:

And here is one more poster, from the Soviet Union, which says in Russian: "Religion is Poison":
És itt van még egy poszer, a Szovjet Unióból, amely azt mondja orosz nyelven, hogy: "A Vallás Méreg":
This poster shows the ideology that went along with socialist realism, which was not so cool and which has surely had lasting effects on this part of Europe.
Ez a poszter mutatja azt az ideológiát ami a szoc-reál mögött állt, ami kevésbé szuper, és ami biztosan maradandó hatással volt Európának ennek a részére.

Savior?

Is it me, or is this just straight up blasphemy?
Painter Michael D'Antuono is going to unveil his new painting of Barack Obama on the president's 100th day in office, which will be displayed in New York City's Union Square.
Here's the painting:

Yes, that's a crown of thorns on Obama's head, and he is posing like Jesus.
The only thing I would agree with, is that some people do view Obama as a Messiah-esque figure - but since the title of this painting is "The Truth" it is obvious that the painter is also in the "Obama is our Savior" camp.
This is outrageous. This president covers up the name of Jesus, but does not object to being portrayed as Jesus in public.
Does this count as putting yourself in Jesus' place? Does this count as accepting worship as Savior? Those are pretty serious things. I'm not sure if this equates to that, but it makes me wonder...

Here's an article about it.

Csak én gondolom így, vagy ez tényleg pofátlanság és Istenkáromlás?
Michael D'Antuono festőművész be fogja mutatni a legújabb festményét Barack Obamáról az elnök 100. napján a Fehér Házban, amely ki lesz állítva a new york city-i Union Téren.
Fent található egy kép a festményről.
Igen, az tényleg egy tüvises koszorú Obama fején, és igen, ő tényleg úgy pózol mint Jézus.
Egy dologgal egyetértenék: vannak olyan emberek akik úgy tekintenek Obamára, mint egy Messiásra, de mivel e festmény címe "Az Igazság", nyilvánvaló, hogy ez a festőművész is az "Obama a mi Megváltónk" táborához tartozik.
Ez felháborító. Ez az elnök letakarja Jézus nevét, de nem tiltakozik attól, hogy nyilvánosságban Jézusként ábrázolják.
Ez annak számít, hogy Jézus helyére helyezi magát? Ez annak számít, hogy ő Megváltóként elfogadja a dicséretet? Azok igen komoly dolgok. Még nem vagyok benne biztos, hogy ezeknek számít ez, de elgondolkoztat...

Name Above All Names

This week Barack Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University - one of the oldest Catholic universities in the United States. He created quite a stir, especially among Christians, because his people decided to cover up the name of Jesus, in the form of a monogram with the letters IHS, with a black peice of plywood, right above Pres. Obama's head.
The White House issued a statement about it, saying that they did it for camera reasons, so as not to have any symbols which might be distracting to the eye or misunderstood. But obviously Christians are quite upset about this - both at Obama for choosing to speak at a Catholic university and then daring to request them to cover up the name of Jesus, AND at Georgetown University for being willing to cover up Jesus' name instead of telling Obama to buzz off.
I understand that they don't want this to be misunderstood out of context - as if propogating Christianity over other religions - but if this is the case, I think Obama should have chosen to speak somewhere else rather than covering up the name of Jesus.
Its a shame that the White House doesn't think the Name which is above all names is appropriate to be above Obama's head.

Here are some links to read more or see the pictures:
From: The Dawn Patrol and NBC

Ezen a héten Barack Obama beszédet tartott a Georgetown egyetemen - az egyik legrégibb katolikus egyetem az Egyesült Államokban. Elég nagy kavarodást okozott, különösen a Keresztények között, mert az ő emberei úgy döntöttek hogy eltakarják Jézus nevét egy IHS monogram formában, egy fekete szinű butorlappal, pont Obama elnök feje felett.
A Fehér Ház adott erről egy nyilatkozatot, hogy ezt kamerai okok miatt tették, azért, hogy ne legyenek szemnek zavaró tényezők vagy olyan szimbolum amit félre lehet érteni. Nyilván, Keresztények ezért fel vannak háborodva - egyrész Obamára, hogy úgy döntött, hogy katolikus egyetemen tartja a beszédét és aztán mert őket arra kérni, hogy tarkarják el Jézus nevét, ÉS egyrész a Georgetown-ra, mert hajlandóak voltak eltakarni Jézus nevét ahelyett, hogy nemet mondjanak Obamának.
Értem, hogy nem akarják a felreértést, mint ha a kormány vallást propogál - de ha ez van, akkor szerintem inkább Obamának máshol kéne beszélnie, ahelyett hogy Jézus nevét takarja el.
Szégyen, hogy a Fehér Ház úgy gondolja, hogy a Név ami minden névnél feljebb való nem alkalmas hogy az Obama feje felett legyen.

Its Official

Bajnai Gordon is the new prime minister of Hungary.

He has a pretty hard job ahead of him. He has told Hungarians that they should prepare for things to get difficult for a little while, as he takes drastic measures to fix problems, and that in the end it will be better for the country.

By the way - that's exactly what Gyurcsány Ferenc said a few years ago, when it came out that he had been lying to everyone about the financial state of the country...

I'm already not a big fan of Bajnai, because he is taking away state support for families buying houses from June 1st. So, we'll see if things work out for us to get into something in the next month, before they cut the funds.

Time will tell if Gordon bácsi can turn things around.
I personally hope he does, but I think that no matter what happens, he will be very unpopular because of his cutbacks. But alas, it would be really hard to be less popular that Gyurcsány Ferenc - the man who was so unpopular that it made George Bush seem like a teen pop idol in comparison.

20 Years

This year marks 20 years since 1989, when many of the communist regimes of Eastern Europe fell.
The BBC has a cool page about this, with old video footage from 1989:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7961732.stm

Life in Eger

Thoughts for the today:

• We really like the mall here in Eger. The Agria Park, as its called, was a big deal when it was built a year ago; in fact, it won an award for best shopping center of 2008.
  
  We go to the mall at least 2 or 3 times a week, and usually more. It is only 2 blocks from our house, and there's a grocery store there, a branch of our bank, an outdoor playground, an indoor play area, a hair dresser, coffee shops, etc... Nate loves to hang out there, because there is a lot of room for him to run. We often go there to meet with people from church.
  Unfortunately, our dear mall seems to be in decline. A lot of the shops have been closing up, even some owned by big international chains. One good side to this, is that a lot of the shops have sales.
  Today, to our great disappointment, we saw that the Subway restaurant in the mall closed too. Having a Subway was a big source of pride for us here in Eger, since we were one of the only places outside of Budapest to have one! Its true that the prices were really high, and because of that we only ate there once - but we were sad to see it go. In fact, they already took Eger off of their international list of restaurant locations! Farewell Subway. Its back to the dark ages for us citizens of Eger.
  
  
• Today we watched the movie Fireproof with Shane and Marianna.
  I have to say that this has to be the best Christian film I've ever seen. Usually I don't like Christian films; I didn't even like Facing the Giants - made by the same people who made Fireproof - movies about high-school football don't do it for me in general.
  Kirk Cameron out-acted everyone else in the film like Michael Jordan playing on a team of 5 year-olds, and some of the actors were so bad that we wondered if they were just nice people from the church of the producers rather than professional actors.
  But overall, the movie was great - well written and captivating. Good job on this one Christians! Keep up the good work.
  
  
• The actual vote will happen on April 14th, but it seems that Hungary's next Prime Minister is going to be Bajnai Gordon.
  I've never met a Hungarian named Gordon before, and I wonder if they just chose him because he's the closest thing they could find to Gordon Brown. Even Balázs told me that he's never heard of the name Gordon before in Hungary; the weird thing to think about is that when this guy's parents named him Gordon like 50 yrs ago, they were being hip and trendy by naming him something different, before it was even popular in Hungary to be hip and trendy! Nice work Bajnai Gordon's parents!
  I just hope Gordon does good things for the country, as Hungary is in danger of economic collapse this year. Hopefully that won't happen.