If you know Oliver, you know that he has a little doggy friend. Here, he is getting his fur styled after a bath.
Incidentally, this is the most important item that we own. Guitars, cars, computers and Dr. Seuss books can be replaced easier that this. Even losing our passports would be a minor inconvenience in comparison to losing this doggy!
Dear all,
Hope you are all well. Today and tomorrow are holidays in Hungary - All Saints Day. We are still enjoying the beautiful sunny (albeit cold) fall weather.
A few people have mentioned how they check our blog and pray for us regularly (thank you, dear Granny Sally from Northern Ireland and many others! :-)).
You may have noticed that we kept this web blog more family and fun focused and don’t mention specific prayer requests or names of people we are ministering to, etc. (though Hungary is not closed to the gospel, we do want to respect the people’s privacy). For those who are interested in ministry news and prayer requests, we send out e-mail updates once or twice a month. All you have to do is e-mail us.
However, in this entry, we wanted to write a little bit about what we are doing "over here" and how you can pray for us.
Ofalu bible study: Matthew leads worship and teaches (in Hungarian!) at this church-plant in Ofalu Tuesday evenings. Please pray for many more people (especially adults) to come, meet Jesus and grow!
Tatabanya: We go down regularly to the Tatabanya Bible studies on Wednesday and every second Sunday. Please pray for this little flock and wisdom for us and Jani & Kata (the pastor and his wife) as to when to move to Tatabanya.
Friday children's club: Melinda is involved in this Bible club for children (ages 6-12). Please pray for the children and their parents!
Basketball ministry: Matthew takes part in this outreach to young boys (ages 10-14). We need a lot of prayer as to how to share the gospel with these boys, who are rough on the outside, but hungry for love on the inside!
Odd Jobs: We try to help out however and whenever we can. For example, this week Matthew is leading worship every morning for a group of missionaries attending a training conference in Hungary and Melinda is cooking lunch a couple times for them.
Hospitality/networking: We have had the opportunity and privilege to share meals and cups of coffee with past, present and future ministry partners, as well as friends and family. We are letting God weave us back into the fabric of Hungary. How's that for a metaphor?
OM's various ministries in Hungary: Church planting, mobilizing Hungarians to missions, village ministry, baseball outreach, English classes and training.
Thank you so much for praying! Please keep the news coming from Stateside (or wherever you are! :-))
M&M&O
Well, it’s been six years since we started saying, “I do.” For those who are married, you know what I mean. You don’t just say it once. You say it everyday if you want to enjoy the passing time and not just endure.
We were able to get away for the weekend. While Oliver was being well cared for at Grandma’s, we visited my favorite Hungarian city, Eger. We enjoyed relaxing in the sunny, but cool fall weather.
The picture above is taken from the fortress at Szarvasko, about 10 miles north of Eger and below is a picture of a few of the sights of Eger. If you want to see more, check out www.egeronline.com.
~matthew
I always thought it would be important to get a ball and gloves to teach Oliver about baseball. We wouldn't want him to be in the dark concerning this all -American sport. And besides, when he's older and throwing rocks at the sea side, I don't want him "throwing like a girl!"
Joska, an American-born Hungarian is on our OM team with his wife Sandy, who lives in the apartment behind ours, just happened to have the smallest baseball gloves I've ever seen - one for a righty and one for a lefty.
At this point it is difficult to know what Oliver's dominant hand will be, but I won't be surprised if he's a lefty. All the more reason to teach him to pitch. If he makes it as a lefty, he could take good care of us in our old age!
So bring your ball and glove and meet us in the park. We'll be ready. Exciting, huh?
~matthew
We just wanted to show a picture of our new car. I hate even writing this, as it is only a car. But it was something that we prayed about, asked about, looked about, etc about, a lot! We believe the Lord provided just this car for us. It was the only one that we saw on the market with low miles within our budget. Another selling point, for Melinda anyway, is the color.
I don't know if we explained before how dependent we are on a car. If we were living in Budapest, or a bigger city, there would be buses and there would be little need for a car. But Erd is a big suburb, or I should say it is a big village attached to Budapest. We have found that we are as dependent on a car here as we were in the States. This is a bit of culture shock for us.
We still have to register it, but we are glad the process is coming to an end. Now we can go and come as we please and take a lot of gear (baby/music) with us.
If you would like to suggest a nickname for the car, please post it here, or send us an e'mail.
~matthew
