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:

Český Krumlov

Český Krumlov
Originally uploaded by nickandrosemary

I took this photo in Český Krumlov, Czech Republic quite a few years ago. I always thought it was a good photo and it was even my desktop background for some time, but it never got many views on Flickr - until a couple days ago when someone put it up on their Tumblr.
Since then it has been viewed a lot and been favourited by some. I wouldn't go so far as to say it is viral, but it is cool to see how fast things can spread on the web.

Farewell Dear Dacia

In June 2010 we bought our first new car - a 7 seater Dacia Logan MCV.

Today we said goodbye to our dear car, which we loved very much. It really was a great car. We had hoped to take it with us to the US, but it would have been too complicated.

The car sold very quickly - within only a few days of us putting it up online, and amazingly, we actually got more for it than we had hoped :) God is good, and he keeps using things like this to confirm that our move to Colorado really is His leading.

Farewell Dear Dacia! You will be missed.

Little Angel

Little Angel
Originally uploaded by nickandrosemary
Little Angel

Big Day

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

(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

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:

1. May 21, 2011
2. Surprise Amendment to Church Law in Hungary
3. It's Official
4. Morbid Angol Mondókák - Morbid English Nursery Rhymes
5. Teaching Kids About the Real Saint Nicholas
6. Bomba Jó - Bomb in Eger
7. Felicia is One Year Old
   

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.

Merry Christmas

Funny Guy

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:

1. "A mushroom walks into a bar and says, 'hello everybody! I'm a fungi (fun guy)!"
2. "A horse walks into a bar, and the bartender says, 'Why the long face?'"
3. "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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!