The Lost Wallet

Here is another chapter of the Edwards family adventures. On Monday, Matthew was invited to lead worship at a YWAM (Youth With a Mission) event in Budapest. Because his parents were still here and were happy to spend a relaxing (?) evening with Oliver in our home, I (Melinda) accompanied my husband, which I always love to do whenever I get the chance.

We arrived downtown Budapest and found a parking spot (those living in this city know that this itself is no small success), got the gear from the car (guitar, amplifier, chord charts, etc. - I have no idea how Matthew does this without a "roadie" :) and rushed to the YWAM place, because we were running late. Matthew set up, we chatted with some people and he was ready to start. Then his cell phone rang. I was even thinking he shouldn't take that call "from the stage", but I sure am glad he did! It was a co-worker at the OM office, saying someone had called because he found Matthew's wallet by our car on the street!!! That itself was a miracle! I mean you lose your wallet on a main street in this 3-million city, it's history!!!

I quickly took the guy's phone number and called him. Indeed he had the wallet! We agreed to meet at the car, so I raced through the streets (pregnant belly and all :), meanwhile questions racing through my mind: Does he have everything from the wallet? Did he take some cash, and if so, how would I even know? Is he expecting a "reward", and if so, how much? How can I express our appreciation for this?

Soon after I arrived, three young people came riding their bikes and stopped at the car. We greeted each other and voila, one of them presented me with the wallet. I said thank you a million times and asked them how I could express my gratitude for this. They said it was not necessary and we said good-bye. I ran back, praising the Lord. We later checked and nothing was missing from the wallet: it had all Matthew's bank cards, driver's license, and about 15000 HUF and $500 in cash!!! These young people may have been angels! :)

Needless to say, we were ready to worship the Lord even more during the evening! :)

Stuck in Slovakia

We had an interesting (and somehat scary) thing happen to us last week. We went to visit a town in Slovakia, Komarno, which is just over the border, close to Tatabanya. We wanted Matthew's parents to see this beautiful town and also to be able to add another country on their list - without even boarding an airplane! :)

Well, all went well on the way there. We crossed the bridge between Hungary and Slovakia, had our passports stamped, took a nice walk in Komarno, had lunch, and headed back home.

At the border we were told to pull aside and wait (which happens all the time because of foreign passports. Citizens of Hungary and Slovakia, like Melinda, can just fly through with an ID because of the EU! :) A few minutes later the Hungarian border guard came back and said, very nicely but firmly, that Oliver won't be able to cross the border because he only has an American passport (without a visa!), and no proof of his Hungarian citizenship! From their perspective he is a foreign citizen in the country without a visa! I guess we should have thought of this, but we hadn't applied for his Hungarian passport thinking he already has a US one and it would only be good for 2 years anyway. The guard said that he understands the situation and believes that he is a Hungarian citizen, but he has to obey the law. I (Melinda) thanked him for his understanding and told him in no uncertain terms that I am not crossing the border without my baby! :)

We continued to wait and wait, meanwhile several border guards came to us with sympathetic looks on their faces and asked more questions. I gave them all the papers I had of Oliver (TAJ kartya and lakcimkartya, if you're a Hungarian reading this :) and they disappeared with these. More wait and prayers. I was thinking up different scenarios of staying in a Komarno hotel room with Oliver and applying to the consulate for an emergency passport, etc. Then the first border guard came back and told us they found him in their data base and indeed he is a dual citizen, if without a passport. We may cross the border!!! The sign on the bridge welcoming us to the Magyar Koztarsasag (Republic of Hungary) never looked so beautiful before! :)

PS: The picture was taken on another visit to Slovakia. You can see Oliver with his favorite kind of transportation, with a Hungarian town (Esztergom) across the Danube (and the border) behind him.