Esztergom

We spent the weekend in Esztergom, a town north of Budapest. We attended a "mini-conference" on the topic of revivals in church history and the work of the Holy Spirit. Matthew lead worship and Melinda translated some of the sessions (while Oliver was being spoiled by the grandparents :). It was a great time. We also got a chance to spend some time with our friends Jani and Kata (who live in Esztergom) and to visit Slovakia, which is right across the River Danube! The picture is taken from the Slovak side and you can see the beautiful basilica on the Hungarian side.

On our way home after picking up Oliver we had a strange adventure. As we were following a car, we noticed that it kept swerving into the oncoming traffic lane and was very close to causing a head-on collision several times. We were sure that the driver was either drunk or stoned! So we called the police on our cell phone and gave them the car's license plate number. Unfortunately all their patrol cars were busy with accidents (it was a nasty day, terrible weather for driving, let alone if you are drunk!). So we didn't know what else to do but kept following the car and honking at him when he swerved into the wrong lane. Then it pulled into a parking lot by an apartment complex. We both got out and knocked on the window (God gave us the boldness I guess - but don't tell our moms! :). The guy opened the door, and indeed, he was totally drunk! We told him in no uncertain terms that he is insane driving like that and he is endangering lives such as our precious son on the back seat and other children on the road. He first was very defensive, but then got very humbled. He told us that he is a university professor and lost his wife a couple of years ago, and now his girlfriend left him. It was shocking to see such an intelligent man completely broken and aimless in life. As we were standing in the rain in front of the apartment complex, we thought surely there is a reason why God put us right there right then! So we shared the Lord with him, and gave him John's gospel, along with our phone number and some fresh rolls. Please pray with us for this man's salvation!

Well, hope your weekend was as good (and safe) as ours! :)

Thanksgiving in Hungary

In case you're wondering . . .

We celebrated Thanksgiving in the usual way. We roasted some turkey (though not a whole one, just two thighs and a breast), mashed some potatoes and squash, baked a blueberry pie, and even made something like cranberry sauce out of red currants.

But before all that work, we invited two friends, Arpi and Kata. We tried to spoil them as best we could.

We had a great time. Arpi and Kata are fun guests to have. I met Arpi when I first came to Hungary in 1993 and learned all sorts of useless slang from him, like "belcsavaroan undorito." (Intestine-twisting disgusting)

That phrase, by the way, was not used at all during the course of the evening. Everything was delicious and tasty. To add to the feeling, we even ate on my grandma's vintage crazy daisy Correll ware.

But just three hours before dinner we weren't so sure that things would turn out so nice. We had no gas, which meant no heat, no hot water and no stove - all of which are important for an enjoyable evening.

The only thing missing, obviously, was our American family.

One more observation by Melinda who just celebrated her first Thanksgiving in Hungary. It was strange to celebrate a holiday without anyone around us being aware of it. We wanted to great everyone with "happy thanksgiving" but for them, it was just another Thursday in November.

We hope you, at least you who are Americans, had a happy Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for.

~Matthew and Melinda