Reminders

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

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

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

Statue of Lenin in the main square of Zhytomyr:


Soviet tank on display in Kiev:

Hammer and sickle:

Star on the top:

Memorial to the Great Patriotic War:




Tanks:

Mother Motherland statue - with Hammer and Sickle on shield:

Leningrad:

Gate:

Happy Thanksgiving!

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

Have a good Thanksgiving holiday!

Leaving the Liberal Church

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

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

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

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

Anyways - here is the video:

Dressing the Dog

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

Trip to Ukraine

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

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

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

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


Greek Catholic Church:

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


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





More pictures here.

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

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

A few quick thoughts/fact about Ukraine:

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

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


View Larger Map

Sex, Drugs, Rock n' Roll and God?

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

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


Please pray for this outreach to be effective!

Recent Photos of Our Family

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

Nonetheless, here are some recent photos of our family:

Nate and his dad


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


Felicia and her two front teeth


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

Desynchronosis

We have arrived back in Hungary, and it seems we all have a case of desynchronosis, AKA 'jet lag'.

From Wikipedia:
When traveling across a number of time zones, the body clock will be out of synchronization with the destination time, as it experiences daylight and darkness contrary to the rhythms to which it has grown accustomed: the body's natural pattern is upset, as the rhythms that dictate times for eating, sleeping, hormone regulation and body temperature variations no longer correspond to the environment nor to each other in some cases. To the degree that the body cannot immediately realign these rhythms, it is jet lagged.

I used to be really good at not getting jet lag. I knew how to avoid it and when to go to sleep in order to prevent myself from getting my sleep rhythm messed up.
That all went out the window when we began traveling with little kids!

Although we were dreading the flight, the kids did much better on the long flight coming back to Europe than they did going to the States. The only thing was that they didn't sleep on the long flight - and crashed once we got on the plane from London to Budapest.
I think that all 4 of us are actually going to be on a different sleep rhythm, which should be interesting. Hopefully we get over it quickly!

Flood of Sludge in Hungary

This is sad. Please pray for all of those impacted by this disaster.

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.

Miracle

We have been very busy for the last 3 weeks that we have been in the States. There are many stories that I would like to tell - and hope to post a few up here when I have more time, but I wanted to share something noteworthy that happened yesterday.

I believe that stories of the great things that God does should be told over and over. They give glory to God and they strengthen the faith of those who hear them or read them. Here's one of those stories:

My parents have a friend in their neighborhood named Jeanie. Jeanie has a benign tumor in her brain, which she had surgery on last year. Since then, the tumor grew again very quickly and was putting pressure on her brain, causing her pain and becoming so dangerous that doctors told her in the summer that if she did not have surgery to remove it, she would die within 6 months.
She was scheduled for surgery, which was postponed twice because her brain surgeon suffered an eye injury. Finally, Monday she went in to have the surgery.

We had been praying for Jeanie ever since my mom told us about the situation, and on Sunday I felt that God would want me to go over to her house to pray for her in person. Jeanie is also a member of a local church here in Colorado, and many people there have been praying for her as well.
On Monday when she went in for the surgery, after she had the MRI, gotten her head shaved, and was about to receive the anesthesia, the surgeon came in the operating room and told the anesthesiologist to stop, because he needed to talk to Jeanie about what he had seen on the MRI. The MRI showed that her tumor had shrunk to 2cm, and thus she didn't need to have surgery. Previously this same surgeon had told Jeanie many times that this kind of tumor does not shrink.

After praying for Jeanie on Sunday evening, I hadn't expected to see her again before leaving Colorado, but this morning she came over to bring us some scones!
God is good, and we believe that He caused this tumor to shrink.

It has been such an incredibly faith-building experience to see God heal Felicia, and it was so good to see him answer our prayers for Jeanie. Please continue to pray for Jeanie, that the tumor would go away completely.

Don't believe in prayer - believe in God. Don't talk about the 'power of prayer' - talk about the power of the God of the Bible who creates and heals. The glory is all His.

Nate and the Giant Mouse

We took Nate to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday for a birthday party. Some of my cousins and family friends came with their kids, and Nate had a great time - until he saw the 2 meter tall mouse...

Nate had a great time for about 2 hrs, playing skeeball and sitting in the photo booth - but when it came time for food and cake some girls from another party started screaming and the guy in the giant mouse costume came and tried to hug Nate. After that he was done. He started telling my dad, "I want to put on shoes and go in the car and go to grandma's house!" Then after a while, he started telling me: "I want to go on the airplane and go home!"

So, we won't be going back to Chuck E. Cheese for a while - and that is probably not a bad thing. I hadn't been to Chuck E. Cheese in like 20 years until last night. Turns out that what's cool and fun when you are 7 years old is terribly annoying when you are 27 years old.

Nonetheless, the party was fun, and Nate did have a good time, and it was good to see everyone who came out.

Survival

We made it to Colorado and are at my parents' house now. There were times today, however, when it was hard to believe this moment would ever come.
I used to really like long distance flights; I saw them as a great opportunity to relax, think, read, etc. I liked taking those flights with Rosemary before we had kids. Then Nate came along and those flights became a lot of work - although because we could tag-team it wasn't too bad. But traveling with 2 little ones was pretty rough...

We had expected that Nate would be the difficult one, but actually he was very well behaved. He was so excited about being on the airplane. Felicia had a hard time and was more work for us than we had expected.
By the time we forget how rough it actually was today, it will be time to do it all over and head back to Hungary!

On a side note: I overheard Nate talking to himself today; he said: 'Time is money. Nate's time is money!'
I wonder where he got that one from.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.5.2

Good Night Jesus

One of the best times with Nate is when we get ready for him to go to bed.
Every night it's the same program: We read a book, and then we pray.
Nate really likes to pray - especially when we pray for people who are sick. He always prays that Jesus would take away their owies.
He was cute tonight after our prayers - here's how it went:

Me: (praying...) Amen!

Nate: Goodbye Jesus!

Me: We don't say goodbye to Jesus, because he never leaves us. He is always here because he loves us.

*Pause*

Nate: Good night Jesus!

Nate (whispering to me): Jesus is going to sleep!

Me: Jesus is always awake to help you.

Nate (whispering to me): 7 times!

Me: Huh? What?

Nate: 7 times! Then shout! Then the walls fall down!

He's a clever little guy :)

Dorothy Grace Blog

Írtam már többször Dorothy Grace-ről, egy kislány aki nagyon hasonló problémákkal született mint a mi kislányunk, Felícia.

Azoknak, akik szeretnétek követni Dorothy életét és fejlődését, ajánlom ezt a weboldalt és blogot amelyet az édesanya, Enikő, készített róla: http://www.dorothygrace.elivepage.com/

I have written before about Dorothy Grace, a little girl who was born with very similar problems as our daughter Felicia.

For those of you who are interested in following Dorothy's progress, her mother, Enikő, has started a webpage and blog about her: http://www.dorothygrace.elivepage.com/

(the blog is only in Hungarian, but you can easily translate it into English using a service like Google Translate or the Google Chrome browser)

Local Celebrities - Helyi Hírességek

Rosemary, Nate and Felicia had their picture in the local newspaper today.
Ma megjelent egy kép Rosemary, Nate és Felíciáról a Heves Megyei Hírlapban.

They had gone to the children's library, which happened to be closed - but there was a photographer from the newspaper who asked them to pose next to this art exhibition, since they seemed very photogenic.
Úgy volt, hogy elmentek a gyermek könyvtárba, ami amúgy zárva volt, de közben volt ott egy fényképész a hírlapból aki megkérte őket, hogy pózoljanak egy művészeti kiállítás előtt, mert annyira fotógének voltak.

We are becoming local celebrities :)
Egyreinkább helyi hírességekké válunk :)

Tweeting the Bible

This British man made the news with his project to tweet summaries of every chapter of the Bible.


I think this is an interesting idea, and I think it's great that he's getting so much press for it.

You can follow him here: @biblesummary

Are you on Twitter? If you are, you can follow me here: @nickcady

Felicia Neurology Check Up

Today we were back in Budapest for a check-up with the neurologist at the developmental neurology department. It's been 3 months since our last visit with this doctor, at which time she told us that Felicia's condition was still bad, but that there was a good chance of her having a total recovery.
Ma újra felmentünk Budapestre kontrol vizsgálatra a neurológusnál a fejlődés neurológia osztályon. 3 hónapja voltunk legutóbb ennél a doktornál, és akkor azt mondta nekünk, hogy Felícia állapota még mindig rossz volt, viszont jó esélye volt annak, hogy teljesen meg fog gyógyulni és felépülni.

Today she told us that Felicia has recovered so well that she no longer has any symptoms of being sick, and thus we don't have to continue doing the therapy with her at home.
Ma azt mondta nekünk a doktornő, hogy Felícia már annyira meggyógyult, hogy már nincsenek kóros tünetei, és így nem kell folytatnunk vele a gyógykezelést otthon.

We were somewhat expecting to get a good report, as we have observed for ourselves how healthy she seems, but it was so good to hear from the neurologist that Felicia seems perfectly healthy. Although we will have to continue going back to the neurology department for check-ups, this gives us a sense of closure to this chapter of our lives, and now we can move on from here with our healthy little girl.
Valamilyen szinten el is vártuk ezt a jó hírt, mivel látjuk a saját szemeinkkel, hogy Felícia már mennyire egészséges, de nagyon jó volt azt hallani a neurológustól, hogy Felícia teljesen egészségesnek tűnik. És bár vissza kell járnunk a neurológiára kontrolra még egy jó darabig, így valahogy letudjuk zárni az életünknek ezt a fejezetét, és folytathatjuk innen az egészséges kislányunkkal.

God has been so good and so kind to us. Thanks again to those of you who pray for us.
Ez alatt az idő alatt Isten annyira jó volt hozzánk, és annyira kegyelmes. Köszönjük még egyszer azoknak akik imádkoztok értünk.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.3

Together

Rosemary and I both enjoy taking photos, but we don't have enough pictures of just the two of us as a couple. Today was an exception. We filled up all 7 seats of the Dacia and headed up to the mountains in Slovakia for the day. On the way home we stopped at the top of the Dobšiná pass and took this photo.

Tornado in Eger

Here is a picture and a video of a tornado on the outskirts of Eger yesterday.
I was outside with Nate, and the wind was really strong, but I would have never expected there to be a tornado in town!

The tornado didn't touch down, but the high winds did cause some damage to houses and knocked over some trees. Nothing too serious - but big news in a quiet town like Eger!
Here is an article (in Hungarian).

English Camp Video

This video was made by some guys from the church at our English Camp last month.
The guys are really talented and did a great job with the video; it gives a great picture of all that went on at camp.

Summer Update

Greetings from Eger!

We hope you are having a nice summer. For us, this is one of the busiest times of the year, but one of the most exciting and fruitful. We will be traveling to the US in September and October on the following dates:

• Denver: September 2-22
• Southern California: 24- October 14.

We are looking forward to seeing family and friends; if anyone would like to meet, please write us so we can set something up.

Here's what's new with us:

Church
We bought a new car in June - a Dacia Logan. It seats 7 and we love it; it totally meets our needs, and it was certainly time for us to get a new car. You can read more about the car here. Our old car is up for sale here; please pray that we are able to sell it soon.

The biggest event for us every summer is the English Camp. We put a lot of work into preparing for it, and it has been getting bigger and better every year. This year's camp was very fruitful, and right now we are working hard on following up with the kids who came to camp., through our youth group, which is led by Dani. A lot of kids have been coming to youth group, which has been great to see. Read more about English Camp and youth group here.

We have a new co-worker at the church here in Eger. Scott Fales arrived in July from Southern California, and will stay for at least one year. He has been a big help so far, with the youth and with setting up the church. More about Scott here.

The church is doing well. In this year we have said goodbye to a few key people, but there are many new people in the church, and we see the Lord at work amongst us.
We started doing some mission trips to Ukraine, which we plan to continue. More about Ukraine here.

September is a really busy time in the church, and one of the months when we do a lot of outreach, as students return to the city and people are back from summer holidays.
This September, the major outreaches we are planning are: Distributing "Survival Packets" in the dormitories of the Eger College with a follow-up event in October when we return, and a medical outreach in the city center for World Heart Day. We did both of these outreaches last year too, and we hope this year to do them better and more effectively.
For the church, this will be an interesting time, as they will do these things without us here to oversee them. We know that this will be a stretching, but good thing for them.
It is a real blessing to see the growth in the church, and that the ministry of the church carries on without us.

Family
Felicia is doing great. She is now 6 months old, and it seems that she is totally healthy. We still continue to do her therapy, although less now than before. The doctors are amazed and are saying that most likely she will have a FULL RECOVERY! We are so thankful to the Lord for healing our little girl. You can read more about Felicia here.

Nate will be 3 years old on September 1st. He is a big boy, and full of energy. He has really enjoyed summer time and getting to spend so much time outside running around and swimming. He is good at soccer and loves cars and trains - and sometimes his sister too. We enrolled him in Hungarian nursery, which he will start when he comes back from the US. You can read more about Nate here.

Balázs will start 10th grade this fall. He will be coming to Colorado with us, and is very excited about going to the US. Balázs is a really good kid, and it's a joy to have him as part of our family. More about Balázs here.

Rosemary is very tired because of the kids; Nate wears her out. Rosemary had a major role in organizing the English Camp, which was a lot of work, but she was satisfied with how well the camp went. She is enjoying not having any major programs this month before we head to the States.

I, Nick, apart from pastoring the church, still teach English part time. I am sill doing my theological studies, but have enjoyed a nice break from it during the summer. I stay busy, but it is a blessing to make my own schedule and be together with my family a lot.

Prayer requests

• For safe travel and a blessed time in the States.
• For the church, its ministries and outreaches, especially while we are away.
• For the kids' health and development.
• For Rosemary to be refreshed and strengthened.
  
• For our marriage to be strong and healthy.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

English Camp 2010

This year we held our 5th annual English Camp in Felsőtárkány, in the hills right outside of Eger.
100 kids attended the camp, which is the most we've ever had before, and God provided us with a great group of helpers from Hungary, the USA, Australia and India.

Our camp, and our church along with it, has gained quite a good reputation in Eger and the surrounding area. One of our goals in organizing the camp it to have a high standard and to do a quality camp - and the fruit of that has been that people in Eger have a good impression about it. This year, we were contacted by a local radio station, who interviewed me about the camp, and a reporter and photographer from the local newspaper came out to take pictures and interview a few people for an article about the camp.

Through the camp we are able to develop relationships with the campers, and we have always tried to follow up with them after camp is over, with varied success.
Last year, we started a youth group, with the hope that we could plug the kids into it after camp was over. There were kids from the camp who attended, but we wanted to do it a lot better this year.
We have had a lot more kids attending the youth group since camp. Dani (pictured on the right) is leading it and it now meets every week. Dani, as well as Scott and others in the church, have a real heart for the kids and have done a great job following up with them - organizing events and hanging out with them a lot outside of youth group as well.

Here's a picture from a church barbecue party we had that a lot of the campers came out to. This coming weekend there will be a canoe trip on the Tisza river.

Here is a video taken at a recent youth group meeting:


Thank you to those who prayed for the camp. It was a success, and a lot of fun.
Please continue to pray for the kids who attended and for our church as we seek to follow up with them.

Scott

We have a new co-worker in our church here in Eger. Scott Fales moved to Eger in July from Thousand Oaks, California to serve with our church for at least the next year, and possibly longer.

We have known Scott for the past few years, and he has been out to Hungary before. He is a good friend of Shane Daniels, who served with us for the past few years until recently moving to Szolnok, where he plans to start a church this autumn - our church, and Scott, plan to be involved in helping that new church plant to get started.

Here is a link to Scott's blog. Please keep him, our church, and the church plant in Szolnok in prayer.

Android

A few weeks ago I got a new phone, a Motorola CLIQ, which I bought used from a family member in the US.

The CLIQ uses the Android operating system, the main competitor to the iPhone - and it seems that Android has actually surpassed iPhone in sales in the smart phone market.

I've never had an iPhone, but I do have an iPod touch, and have some experience using the iOS operating system which also runs on both devices. There are some things which I like must better about Android, and there are others ways in which I think the iOS is better.

One of the main things that makes the iPhone better I think is that it functions as an iPod. Android also has a media player, which is also very good - but it is not as easy to navigate and use as the iPod in the iPhone.
There are also some apps for the iPhone/iPod touch which I really miss on the Android, such as the ESV Bible app, Tweetdeck (coming for Android, but still in development), and especially Amazon Kindle reader.
To me, the iOS seems a bit more fluid and responsive, but there isn't a huge difference.

On the other hand, there are some things I prefer about Android, particularly how it syncs so well with everything on my Google account - particularly that it uses the Google Calendar and GTasks.
Another thing I really love is the universal inbox, where I can view both my email accounts, text messages, facebook and twitter messages all in one place, and respond to them all without having to open separate applications.
The CLIQ has a virtual keyboard, similar to the iPhone's, and I actually prefer the Android's spell check to the iPhone's. The CLIQ also has a full keyboard, something I didn't think I would use or like, but which I now actually prefer to the virtual keyboard.

All in all, I really like Android, and don't feel any need or desire to switch from it to the iPhone - although I really do wish I could read Kindle books on it!

Anyone else out there using Android? What do you think of it?
Is there a way to read Kindle books on it? Will it ever be possible?

Felicia is 6 Months Old

Today we took Felicia back to the hospital here in Eger to get a check up from the neonatal doctor who treated her when she was first born. We love this doctor, and she loves Felicia! She was the doctor who broke the news to me about how critical Felicia's condition was, and that there was a great chance that she would not survive.
Ma vissza vittük Felíciát az egri kórházba, kontrolra, ahozz az neonatalis orvosnőhöz aki kezelte Felíciát amikor megszületett. Nagyon szeretjük ezt az orvost, és ő nagyon szereti Felíciát! Ő volt az az orvos aki elmondta nekem azt a hírt, hogy Felícia állapota milyen, és hogy kockán forgott az élete.

The doctor told us something about Felicia today that we had not known before. She said that when Felicia arrived to the intensive care unit in Budapest, they detected a certain enzyme in her blood test which is an indicator of brain damage. The acceptable or normal level of this enzyme is 25 - but Felicia's was 1500. According to the doctor, this high number of enzymes usually means that the baby will remain in a vegetative state, perhaps for their entire life.
Felicia's level of this enzyme by the time she left the hospital was 25, which the doctor said is amazing, and she reminded us again of what a miracle Felicia's recovery is.
Az orvosnő olyan dolgot is mondott nekünk ma, amelyet eddig még nem tudtuk. Azt mondta, hogy amikor Felícia megérkezett az intenziv osztályra Budapesten, észlelték egy bizonyos ezimet a vérvételen ami agykárosodást jelez. Az átlagos vagy elfogadható mennyisége ennek az enzimnek 25 - Felíciáé pedig 1500 volt. Az orvosnő szerint, az ilyen magas mennyiség általában azt jelenti, hogy a baba vegetativ állapotban fog maradni, akár az egész életén át.
Amire Feliciát elengedték a kórházból, már 25-ös volt ennek az enzimnek a szintje a vérében - erről az orvosnő azt mondta, hogy ez egy kész csoda, hogy ennyire szépen és gyorsan gyógyult.

Because of Felicia's oxygen deficiency at birth, it would be expected that she would be lagging behind in her development, but amazingly she even ahead of schedule with some of her developmental milestones!
Felícia oxigén hiánya miatt, az lenne az elvárás, hogy egy kicsit lassú és visszamaradott lenne a fejlődése, viszont csodálatos módon, ő inkább az átlagnál hamarabb éri el néhány fejlődési mérföldkövet!

We are so thankful to God for the gift of our little girl. She is wonderful.
Thank you to all those of you who have prayed and continue to pray for Felicia's full recovery.
Nagyon hálásak vagyunk Istennek a kislányukért. Ő egyszerűen csodálatos.
Köszönjük mindenkinek aki imádkozott és aki továbbra is imádkozik Felícia teljes gyógyulásáért.

Be Careful What You Search For

I use Google Analytics on my blog to see how many people are reading my blog and from which countries.

It also tells me how they find their way to the blog, and if they got there through a search engine like Google or Yahoo, it tells me what 'keywords' they typed into the search engine which led them to my blog.

Every now and again I get some weird ones. I guess people type strange things into search engines when they think no one is watching. Today I saw that someone found my blog by searching for this:

A closer view:
I'm guessing Google directed them to this post about a baptism in our church - but why someone is looking for pictures of Pastor Nick bathing...that's just weird.
I just hope that they were looking for a different Pastor Nick!

Justice

About a year ago Balázs got robbed on the train on his way to Szihalom. 3 young guys started harassing him and pushing him around, demanding his money and mobile, as well as his jewelry. It got to the point where Balázs decided to go in and report them to the police.

At first, it seemed to us that reporting it would mostly just be a waste of our time, because Balázs had gotten his phone back from them, and had only lost a small amount of money and a necklace - but we reported it anyway. And it did take a LONG time. We spent about 12 straight hours at the police station filing the report - only finishing at 6 in the morning - just in time to get ready for church!

But it turned out that filing the report was worth it. We found out that Balázs wasn't the only person they had done this too - but in fact these 3 guys spent all day every day riding the train between Miskolc and Füzesabony, bullying people and stealing mobile phones and money. So, when Balázs reported them, although it wasn't a huge crime, it was the final straw.

Over the past year we have had to go back to the police station a few times and went to a court hearing where Balázs had to testify. And last week we got a paper from the court informing us of the sentencing that the 3 guys got. They were charged with a 'gang robbery' (tömeges rablás) against a minor, and the older 2 got sentenced to 3 years in jail, the younger got 2 years.

I have to say that I was impressed with the Hungarian justice system throughout this whole thing. I know that other people have had bad experiences with them - but in this case I think they did things right.
I think this story is a good example of how it is worth it report crime to the police, even if it is just for seemingly small crimes. I only wonder how many other people these guys robbed who didn't think it was worth it to report it to the police.

Anyone else out there had experiences with the Hungarian police - either good or bad?

Starbucks in Budapest: A Report

On our way home on Saturday from a conference in Vajta, we stopped in Budapest to eat and feed the baby, and we figured since we were there, we might as well try out the new Starbucks in the Westend mall.



The long and short is this: It's expensive. But that's probably not a surprise to anyone.

I got a solo espresso for 420 HUF and Rosemary got a caffé latte for 620 HUF. My espresso was good - but certainly not amazing. Rosemary said her caffé latte was very weak and tasted mostly like warm milk.

For anyone who likes Starbucks memorabilia - the mugs or thermoses, they have them there. They also have lots of expensive pies and cakes.
The atmosphere is very hip, and the place was packed. They do have free wifi, which is a major plus for any coffee shop - and an improvement on the US Starbucks, where there is wifi, but it's not free.

They also sell coffee beans for making at home - the espresso roast was 1500 HUF for 250 grams, which isn't bad for gourmet coffee. Illy costs at least 2000 HUF/250 gm.

So, if we go back it will probably only be to buy beans - or to stand outside and use their free wifi :)

The thing is that there are so many other cafés with coffee that is just as good and an atmosphere that is just as good at far better prices. The prices were all the more shocking since we had just come from Vajta, where we spent our days drinking espresso which tasted just as good for almost a third of the price.

One of the only things Starbucks offers which is unique is that if you want - and are willing to pay for it - you can get a GIGANTIC coffee. But I think we've been in Europe too long to appreciate that :)