Day Trip to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison

 

Felicia Quotes

Rosemary talking to Felicia the other day:
"Good job, Felicia!"
"Don't say 'good job', say 'great job!'"

Walking down the hall tonight, I heard Felicia talking to Rosemary:
"Mommy, I love you, and I love daddy!"
I stuck my head in the room and said, "Oh, Felicia, I love you too!"
She walked towards me, I assumed to give me a hug, but pushing past me, she said "Get out of my way - I have a movie to watch!"

Yesterday on a family outing:
"Felicia you are very cute!"
"Of course. That's because I'm a child."

Thanksgiving Video Update

This is a video we made for our friends and supporters over at Calvary Vista. They showed it as part of their Thanksgiving Eve service.

It was pretty cold outside when we made it - I thought I wouldn't need a jacket. I was shivering!

Calvary Vista supported us while we were in Hungary and they have continued to love us and support us since we've come to Colorado. We are thankful for them!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! What are you thankful for this year? How have you experienced God's grace and provision?

Best Birthday Message Ever

I got this message today from a young man who came to know The Lord through the English Camp.

May I say - best birthday message ever.

Szia Nick!

I wish you Happy Birthday and I would like to say thank you for the last week and for the past years as well. I'm so blessed because of the day Rosemary came to our class and gave me that flyer. That was the beggining of a "trip" but finally I arrived and I can go on with God! So thank you again for you and Rosemary to establish this camp because without you I wouldn't know anyting about God.

Hope see you soon! At least in next camp! 😊

 

Images of English Camp

Camp is over; the week flew by, but it was an excellent week - a lot of good ministry was done and the Gospel was preached.

Nate had such a good time at camp. On Friday night he was so sad that camp was almost over, that we let him stay up until almost midnight playing games with us in the coffee shop. The next morning he was so exhausted, we couldn't get him to wake up when it was time to go!

Natalie and Suzan did a great job teaching classes, crafts and archery to the kids. They loved the archery - it's somewhat of a national past time here in Hungary, so it was a good connecting point.

This year we had the greatest number of kids come to our testimony times than ever before. We don't make this part of the camp compulsory for them, but this year we had so many kids each day, that often times, kids who came late had to stand because there were no more seats. In spite of that, kids would stand on their feet for an hour listening to us tell them stories of how God had worked in our lives. It was great.

Here's a photo of Anil sharing his testimony. Anil was a medical student in Debrecen back in the day, when Rosemary and I ministered amongst them, and now attends Calvary Chapel in Syracuse, NY.

Erika from church here taught the kids how to do tie dye.

Rosemary spent time with pastors' wives Tünde from Eger and Anna from Nyíregyháza

 

You can find a lot more pictures of the camp on the official Eger English Camp Facebook page.

 

Reunited

I arrived in Hungary on Saturday night; I actually love doing the long flight alone - it's so relaxing!

My friend Laci, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Dél-Pest, picked me up and we spent some time catching up. I always enjoy spending time with him - great guy with great vision, and The Lord is doing a great thing through him on the south side of Budapest.

It was great to see Rosemary and the kids again!

Nate and I got coffee in the morning; his was a milk actually. He's so excited being in Hungary. He's been speaking in Hungarian and been outgoing and friendly with people. He was looking forward to this trip for a long time, and he's having a lot of fun.

Natalie and Suzan got into Budapest by train Saturday night, when I was already asleep, so in the morning, we all went to church and then took the train to Eger, where we were picked up by Jani, Szabi and Kati. Jani and I took Nate and Felicia over to Dr. Krisztina's house, and then we joined the others at the orientation for the camp.

Orientation is something that Rosemary and I used to do, and we took it pretty seriously, but now Kati and Ilona were doing it - and I must say that I think they were more efficient and better prepared than we were! They made bound books of material for each level, and it seems that they have thought of everything. Essentially, they have taken what we handed them, and they have made it better.

From a leader's perspective, this is and should be the goal: to raise up people who surpass you in their accomplishments. It was great to see how the church here has done a good job organizing the camp for the first time completely on their own. Many people have stepped up to fill in the gaps, and are succeeding.

But, of course, good preparation is only one piece of the puzzle. What we also need for this camp to be a success is a move of the Holy Spirit, so that the kids would hear the Gospel and it would penetrate their hearts. Please do pray for that!

Speaking of being reunited, one thing I'm really happy about is that our Australian friends Andy and Kim are here at camp again this year, along with many other dear people who have served at camp before, like Geoff and Angela from Syracuse and Shane from Szolnok. One great thing is that a young man named Kristóf who attended camp for many years, whom we shared Jesus with for YEARS, seemingly to no avail, has given his life to Christ, attends the church now, and is one of our main helpers this year! Praise The Lord for that. Another young man, Balázs, who got saved through our first camp in Eger, and has been a staple and cornerstone helper for years, had to drop out because some family members have fallen seriously ill. We will miss him this year; please pray for him and his family members.

Anyway, I will keep posting on here about how camp goes, so keep checking in. In about an hour I am heading up to Felsőtárkány to set up for registration. Camp begins today!

Family Photos

At Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park.

Right before these guys left for Hungary.

 

Disneyland

A few months ago we promised our kids we would take them to Disneyland when we were in California. Thanks to the generosity of some friends and Christian brothers and sisters we were able to make it happen, and we all had a great day.

Here is a video of some pictures from our day there:

Our First Week Back in the States

We've been back in the US for over one week now. Before we head on to Colorado and get into ministry there, we are spending some time in San Diego with family and people who have supported us over the years in Hungary.

Our flight back to the US went really well. The kids were really well behaved on the long flight from Frankfurt to London, and took good naps. When the kids are well behaved, it makes the whole experience better.
We had a 5 and 1/2 hour layover in San Francisco, which was very long - but it turns out we needed the time, because we accidentally lost Balázs' passport… We got it back, but it took a long time to find out exactly who had it, because it had been passed around from the airport employees to the police, to United…

On Saturday we went with Rosemary's brother Tony to see the USS Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego, and on the way our car started to overheat. Long story short - the radiator cracked and needs to be replaced. In all actuality, it couldn't have happened at a better time or in a better place. We have friends here in the car business who are going to get the car taken care of for free - not to mention how much worse it could have been if the radiator had gone out later this month in the middle of the desert or in the mountains while driving out to Colorado.

But while I took the car back to Vista, the kids and Rosemary and Tony all went down to San Diego and checked out the aircraft carrier.

On Sunday we were at Calvary Chapel in Vista, where Pastor Rob prayed for us at both services and we got to connect with people from the church. After church we had some people over who have been supporters of ours for years, and Rosemary made Hungarian food for them and we talked and hung out.
We really are thankful for all the support we have gotten from Calvary Vista over the years. This is a church that is really missions minded, both internationally and locally, not to mention a very loving body of people.

This past weekend we went to LA. We went to church at Reality LA and on our way back were able to make a short but blessed visit to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, where we joined the missions prayer meeting, a great group of people committed to praying for missionaries week in and week out. They have prayed for our needs and requests for many years, and we are so thankful for their support and impressed with their hearts for the mission of God and for prayer.

On Wednesday Balázs and I will be driving out to Colorado, with Rosemary and the kids coming by plane on Friday. Please pray for our travel and our transition to Longmont!

Moving Day

Today was moving day!

Early this morning we started the day with packing up some of the kids toys which they didn't want to be put into the container, then I took Nate to óvoda, and by the time I got back home the movers were here.

The truck in front of our house in Eger - ours is the top floor.

Isaac was a big help today. While we ran around and packed he played "dolly house" for hours with Felicia :)

Nate had a great time with the movers. He followed them around talking to them in Hungarian, trying to help them as much as he could. It was cute. He loves tools and big projects.
He is sad about leaving and doesn't like saying farewell, but he is excited about going to Colorado.

We still have a few days left here in Eger, but without any furniture or dishes we are having fun camping out in our empty apartment.

Ballet at the Opera House

As we are getting closer to the day when we will leave Hungary, we have a list of things to do before we leave.

For years I have been promising to take Rosemary to a ballet. Realizing that time is running out, and also because Rosemary's birthday is on Thursday, I finally took her to the ballet last night in Budapest.

The national ballet performs in the Hungarian State Opera House - a building that I have always wanted to see.
It was a great experience. Here are some pictures:

Skiing in Bánkút

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.

Ukrainian Playground

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!