May was a crazy month that flew by much too fast. At the very end of April we celebrated the close of the spring semester in the Monday and Friday English club by sharing a meal together and invited everyone to join us for both the Bible study which will continue all summer and for a few fun summer events such as a 4th of July Party, a game night in the park and a movie night. This week is the last week of classes at the university and the Tuesday parent club has just a couple of weeks left before it winds up for the summer. It is a good feeling to be almost done for the semester and to have a much needed break from a full and busy class schedule, but also a little sad to not get to weekly see some ‘English Clubbers’ who have become near and dear to me. Hopefully I will get to see most of them at some of the summer events.
Since the May is a transition month, where most of the spring classes have ended and the summer camps haven’t started yet, I decided it would be a good month to take a little bit of vacation time and travel, and travel I did. At the beginning of the month I spend a few days in Madrid, Spain with a Spanish friend of mine from university. Madrid was wonderful, but I had my purse stolen which contained a couple of credit cards and unfortunately my passport and Hungarian residency card! Needless to say it made the rest of my weekend a little stressful, but thanks to my wonderful friend I made it back to Budapest just fine and thanks to God, the Embassy in Budapest was able to get me a new passport in less than a week! Part of the reason that losing my passport and needing to replace it was so stressful was that I also had plans to attend a four day planning retreat in western Hungary and then fly home to visit my family before the end of the month. The temporary passport they gave me in Spain got me back to Hungary, but since it was an ‘emergency passport’ it would be really hard for me to go to the USA and then return to Hungary with it. Anyhow God was good and my 10 year passport came really fast.
The planning retreat that I went to happens annually and is a time for our team to reflect on the past year, give thanks for all that we have seen God do and consider what God might be leading us toward in the coming year. We also use the week to set goals for our team. This was of course the first one of these annual planning retreats that I was lucky enough to be a part of and it was wonderful to see how God is working in all of the members of our team and I left feeling both really encouraged and excited, and also slightly overwhelmed by the size of the task set before us. One thing that our team stresses is that what we are doing and the goals that we are making are part of a God sized vision and that it is more than we could accomplish on our own. It was a good time for me to refocus and think about what I should be asking God for and not trying to do myself. I think the thing that stuck out to me the most over the retreat was the conversation we had about the churches currently in Budapest. For a city of about 3 million, there are only about 300 churches total in the city and of those less than half would preach a gospel based sermon on a weekly basis. Since then I have really been thinking and praying Matthew 9:37-38 ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’
My trip home was also very good and refreshing. Hungary feels like home now, but there are things I definitely miss about being in Minnesota and the UP. It was so good to see my family and friends. My dear sweet Grandma even made it up to Minnesota from Colorado so I was very glad to get to spend time with her. I also tried to breathe in as much fresh air and nature as I could with much hiking and swimming in the ice cold waters of Lake Superior. One other thing I miss about home, silly as it seems, is driving and so I drove a lot. I also miss worshiping together with others in English since I go to a church all in Hungarian here and I went to four worship services in the 10 days I was home! It was also fun for me to be able to share with others that I don’t talk to so often what life in Hungary is like and what I have seen God doing. Last night I made it back here to Budapest in one piece (plus a few pieces of very heavy luggage…) and this morning am fighting the feeling of jet lag.
Maybe one of the other benefits of being home and away from Hungary for a little bit was some perspective on what God has been doing in and through me since coming to Hungary in the fall. I feel like the two biggest lessons that God has been teaching me are humility and trust. I am daily humbled by not speaking the language, not understanding how things work here and by teaching English (I am an Engineer! Please don’t ask my to spell… or write in a straight line across a white board… or draw things for you!) I am also surrounded by teammates and leaders who choose not to focus on how they are better than others or tear others down, but that seek to build each other up. I am learning to trust God and give Him my all by living in a place that I would never choose for myself, doing a job that I would have never chosen for myself. I also still face the challenges of feeling isolated here and wondering what God has in store for me next. I am thankful for the lessons He is teaching me and pray that I continue to learn them and to grow.
The biggest thing that you can be in prayer for in the next couple of weeks is the start of summer camps, both for the Hungarian students to have open hearts, for clear words and safe travels for the Americans who will come to teach and help run the camps and for those working the exhausting job of translators. Another thing that you can pray for is safe travels and easy transitions for the two summer interns who will be joining us here this summer. Finally, please pray for continued community and relationship for all of the English Clubbers over the summer.
As always, thank you for your love and support. Please feel free to reach out to me, I love to hear from all of you!
Blessings, Liz