Szenna

We haven't told you about an interesting weekend we had in November. We went to Szenna, which is a village in south-west Hungary. Szenna has a nice guest house we stayed in, a village museum, and several paths for hiking in the neighboring hills (yes, these crazy Hungarians like to hike even in November weather!)

The people we went with were the home fellowship group we hosted in our apartment before we left for the States. It has been lead by our good friends Zoli and Emo Horvath. Zoli and Emo used to be in the small group of believers Matthew was part of when he first came to Hungary (just like Arpi - see Thanksgiving entry). Many from that group of 15 became the first members of our home church in Budapest, which now has more than 600 attending.

The picture shows a tourist farm we visited. You can see Emo, Melinda, Oliver, and - no, it's not Matthew! - a type of pig called the mangalica. The interesting thing we were told is that its meat is actually good for you - it contains the good kind of cholesterol or something like that. :)

Please visit the photo album Farm life in Hungary illustrating other interesting species of Hungarian farm life. We actually know several people (especially folks in Indiana - go Hoosiers!) who would enjoy such a presentation. :)

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

Washing the dog

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!

So what are you guys doing "over there"?

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

Six Years

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

Baseball?

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

New Focus

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

Protection

Hi there!

Just to add somehing new, some of you may have heard how the Lord protected our team last week. Six of our team members were in a car accident on Saturday and the Lord miraculously saved them. An update on this is that Alma (Germany), who was driving the car had some pain in her neck (no pun intended!) and numbness in her fingers. She is still undergoing tests (MRI and the like) but for now she has to wear a neck support, which can be pretty uncomfortable at times, considering that she is the lady who takes care of all the administration around MTS and does a fabulous job! Her attitude is great though even wearing the neck support thing! :)

Then on the same day Victoria (Northern Ireland) was reading in her bed and she fell asleep. The book she was reading fell on her lamp and almost caught fire. She did not wake up and the room was starting to fill up with smoke!!! Her roommate (who happens to be Alma - what a day for her!) came into the room just before the book would have caught on flames!!! Victoria (who is affectionately called "Doria" by the children, including Oliver, whom she watches during the sessions) shared her testimony at Moszkva Square yesterday and did a great job! :)

The outreach (where Victoria shared) was at a square in Budapest, and it went quite well. Matt played his guitar and I translated (surprise!! :) and we sang, shared testimonies, did a drama, handed out books, etc. We invited people to a Christian coffee shop which is on tonight (Matt and the team are there so no updates yet on how this went).

Melinda

MTS

Dear all,

Our apologies for not updating this site for such a long time (well, except the pictures...). Sorry especially to the faithful "web surfer" friends who check out our site regularly!

We are doing well. We are living in our apartment in Erd, Hungary and are attending MTS. Oh, and what is MTS? It stands for Missionary Training School. It is a four-week training for people who will be serving in various countries of Central Europe. The topics range from discussing cultural and language issues to ministering to children. Our group consists of 12 people and they are from all over the globe, from Canada to South Korea. They are people on fire for the Lord and doing His work, and they are a lot a lot of fun to be around!!! :)

Oliver is doing great. He turned 2 on September 8 and celebrated his big day with a series of parties! He enjoys his new home and his new little and big friends at the training. He is a cute little boy (except for the moments when his 2-year-old defiance "shines through") and loves to talk (mostly to people but dogs and cats too!) and sing. His number one hit these days is Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so...I have sung this song about a million times in the last few days...but hey, nothing is too big a price to pay for instilling these Biblical truths in his heart at such an early age...

We are sending out regular e-mail updates. If you would like to sign up, please e-mail us. We would love to hear from you! :)

Love to you all!

Melinda and the boys