Total Abandon

Our friend Gary Witherall has written a book. Total Abandon is extremely personal and highly challenging. Gary writes about Bonnie and her martyrdom as well as their lives and ministry in Sidon Lebanon.

You can find this book just about anywhere. If you click here you'll be able to order it from Amazon.com. If you're not familiar with Gary's story, click here for an informative article.

I know that many of you reading this already have this book and have already read it. Well, we'd like to know your thoughts. Please use the comments feature at the end of this post to write about the book. This is a Blog after all. Share your comments for all to see and benefit.

Szilveszter

January first is Szilverszter's name day - everybody in Hungary has a name day. Because of this, New Year's as a celebration is called Szilveszter. People will ask, "where will you szilveszter?" or "how did you szilveszter?"

This year we accepted the invitation to celebrate with a few people at the Molnars' house. Oliver was left to celebrate with the Grandparents. Meanwhile, Laszlo and Eva Molnar, our hosts, pulled out all the stops. We expected finger food and balloons. Instead we had a gourmet meal with candles and crystal. It didn't hurt that Eva is a fantastic cook.

It was a great evening with lively and meaningful conversation. At midnight we toasted each other after singing the Hungarian national anthem.

We were prepared to play some games, but the conversation was so good we chose to talk instead. At about 5 am we returned to the dining table for the traditional first meal of the new year - hot dogs and lentils with fresh ground horse radish.

If I understand correctly, the hot dogs are eaten because of their meagerness. The idea is that things can only get better during the course of the year. Lentils are eaten as an omen of wealth. I was told after eating my portion that you're supposed to count the lentils before you eat them to know how much money you'll make in the coming year. Oh well.

Here's another superstitious tradition: In no way are you to eat chicken at Szilveszter because the chicken will "scratch away" your good luck. Consequently, there are no chickens butchered in Hungary between Christmas and New Years! This is something that not even all Hungarians know. You can thank me later!

Well, we are thankful that we do not have to trust in luck in the coming year. We have a Father in Heaven who looks out after us. So sharpen the ax and let the chicken scratch all he wants! Happy New Year!

~matthew, melinda & oliver

Christmas in Hungary

Ah, Christmas: a celebration of the mysterious incarnation. Christmas is a special holiday for us. We enjoy the focus on Jesus and we enjoy the deliberate time together as a family.

Before I write about how we spent our holiday, let me make a few observations about what is traditional here in Hungary.
The Holy Eve, as they call it here is Christmas Eve. This is the time when Hungarian families retreat into their smallest units. All day is spent in preparation for the evening meal and celebration. The 25th and 26th are days for visiting extended families and to eat each other's leftovers!
Decorating, likewise, happens on Christmas Eve. The house and tree traditionally stay decorated until January 6 - the day on the church calendar commemorating the visit of the Wise Men.
The meal on this evening is usually fish. Supermarkets in Hungary set up large aquariums and stock them with live trout and carp and people line up to pick out their holiday fish. I was in such supermarket on the 22nd and saw a line of about 50 people wrapping around the aquarium and stretching well into the produce area. As I looked on curiously, I saw a fish break the surface with his tail in protest and drench several people in line. I struggled not to laugh aloud.
Gift giving is a big deal. You greet everyone with at least a token gift of chocolate or something similar. When we went to church Sunday morning, Melinda's bag, like Santa's, was full of gifts. We even had extra, in case we met someone we hadn't counted on.
Speaking of Santa, he has a separate day. December 6th is Nikolas day. This is the day that children either get chocolate or coal in their shoes when they wake up. So then if Santa gives chocolate on the 6th, who then brings all the gifts on the 24th? Well, you have a couple options to choose from: there's the communist favorite, Father Winter (His popularity has declined rapidly since 1990), or there's the "little angel" or even the "little baby Jesus." We're not sure how we feel about any of these options and have chosen to tell Oliver than the gifts have come from Mama and Dado.

So, this is what we did: we decorated our tree on the 22nd, so we could enjoy it a little longer. We will probably take it down tonight. On the 24th, we baked and decorated something like gingerbread cookies to give to friends at church. For our meal, we chose to cook a turkey stuffed with chestnut bacon dressing. After our meal, we told the Christmas story to Oliver, sang a few songs and gave gifts to each other.

On Christmas day, I lead worship at the Budapest Calvary Chapel. So I rose early (5:30) to catch the bus into town. Melinda and Oliver came in later. We spent Sunday and Monday at Melinda's parents. Melinda's brother and family came on Monday and we celebrated with them Monday evening. There was lots of good food, conversation and cool toys for the kids.

Another part of our Christmas experience was watching a Christmas Choir concert put on by the Budapest Calvary Gospel Choir. It was fantastic. If you'd like to see the concert, click here and download it. www.gospel.golgota.hu Be warned that that these are large files and may take a while to download, even with a fast connection.

Please check out the photo album "Holiday" to see some photos of our celebration.