Sunday, July 8, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
more pics from Vukovar
The team watched Harrison's Flowers yesterday afternoon... a hard, hard story... not recommended for casual viewing.
Today the team saw more of the town... here is a shot David took earlier today... a sight that is slowly becoming less and less the norm here...
here is a pic of me (again by David) on Keri and Laci's porch catching up on email...
Sunday, June 24, 2007
We're in Croatia and man its getting HOT!!
We are doing well, had a great lunch...
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Thursday - Friday of week two
tonight we will meet up with a bunch of these kids, share with them a bit of why we come to serve the Lord...
Tomorrow we head out on our third and final leg. At 0821 we will depart from Szaged train station for Subotica, Serbia and take a look around the city center and have lunch. At 2pm-ish we will catch a train to Sombor, Serbia where we will be met and driven by car to Vukovar, Croatia where we will serve the Agape church in Vukovar in word and song. Then Monday through Thursday we will teach an English camp for the church as an outreach and then on Friday morning next week we will head back to Hungary for debriefing and then the team leaves Hungary.
IMPORTANT NOTICE to families. The availability of internet may be quite limited for the next six days. If you do not hear from your student until next Friday afternoon, please DO NOT be alarmed. I hope to post here every couple of days, but who knows...
until next time... Grace from Peace
Thursday, June 21, 2007
a busy 24 hours
then back across the Tisza river for ice cream and then to the river side for singing... when Arden led us in Amazing Grace I told the kids about the writer of the hymn and the change God did in him. It's not what we do to change, its our willingness to let God change us... we are seeking opportunities to plant seeds...
then at 10pm, the old man went to catch his bus... the late night was met by an early morning session with the guys on Galatians at the best breakfast place in Syeged... Z Nagy cake and pastry shop... (yes Laci, I have been there EVEY morning since they opened on Tuesday!!!!!!)
Then to school for another day of teaching English lessons and connecting with kids. This afternoon everyone should be having a rest before we attend Arden's University Bible Study this evening...
Tomorrow should be a rather full day, with teaching, playing sports, gathering downtown with kids for ice cream and singing... may that time be a time of further seed planting!!!!! May the Lord of the harvest be glorified.
The weather is hot and a bit more humid than usual... we keep hearing about this cold front from western Europe that is supposed to cool things down, but not yet... the forecast is for cooler weather on Saturday! That will be great as we are headed for Croatia via Serbia on a couple of slow moving trains... more about that later...
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
busy times in Szeged: the half way mark
Tomorrow evening, we will attend a Bible study with our host Arden Campbell's university Bible study. Another evening singing time is planned by the river for Friday night and then our work in Szeged is done. We catch the 0821 train to Serbia on Saturday morning. We will then connect to another train that will take us close to Croatia where our friends from Vukovar, Laci and Keri Nemeth will pick up up. We will serve in their church on Sunday and teach a four day English camp at their church, but more on all that later.
Today is the half-way mark of our trip. I must say that for the amount of travelling and different things we have done, I am very proud of this team. They are great travellers and have proved themselves to be good servants. Oh, yeah, there are the usual issues that come up in ANY group that have to be worked through, but there are really good overall attitudes and correctable spirits. When I arrived in our teacher's room yesterday morning at 810 all six members of the team were sitting quietly reading their Bibles. A great group to work with indeed! At the half way mark, we are surely blessed. Ok, that's it for today... please keep pray for Melanie, Tom, Caroline, Laura, Ginny, David and me!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Budapest to Szeged via Krakow
Yesterday was a day of seeking the LORD and worshipping. We met and travelled out to Calvary Chapel of Szeged and were encouraged and challenged in church. Then a traditional Hungarian lunch of Guyas soup we went to the Synagogue of Szeged. We prayer walked the Synagogue after talking a bit about the Szeged ghetto. I was reminded that there were more Hungarian Jews killed at Auschwitz than any other group. I need to post about prayer walking... but not now. Then to learn about Szeged buses and ice cream. Pallank RULES!!!!! Next, to Deak where we prayer walked and sang and asked God to bless our week of camp with the kids. Then everyone was encouraged to get some rest and get ready for the big day today.
This morning we began early (0755) with more prayer and preparation of rooms. Then we began our day of meeting, evaluating the English of, and teaching the kids... It was REALLY hectic with this small team, but they did an amazing job. This team is really awesome. We had a debriefing session at lunch afterward and made some plans which I will save for the next post... thanks for praying... please keep it up!!!
back on line after some hectic days...
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Tuesday, Wednesday and beyond
Today we began with a team breakfast of crepes and a devotion about the greatest commandment and its application to the work of missions. We talked about how the greatest commandment tells us to follow God with our heart soul and mind. From this, we emphasized the imperative of reaching the heart of a people before using apologetics to speak to their brain. After breakfast, we headed to see a couple of places in Budapest. At Hero's Square we learned about the many invasions that have happened here in Hungary and the impact that has had on the mind set of the Hungarian. Then we went to St. Istvan's Basilica and did some prayer walking. After our prayer walk in the cathedral, we had a good discussion of our prayers for the people who frequent the masses, the tourist spots and that they would know the reality of that which is emblazoned on the front of the building: "I am the way the truth and the life." From there we had an interesting tour of Parliament and had a conversation there with a friend who talked with us about the Hungarian. In our conversation, he made a statement which really struck me, he said "they are lost in the rush of the day." This was profound. Tonight the team is up at Mark and Laura's having dinner and baby sitting the boys! I'm getting some needed work done here on the computer. So, the day is drawing to a close.
Tomorrow we will invest some time on lesson plans, take care of some last minute details for the next leg of the trip, and have lunch with Mark and converse with him about ministry here in Budapest, then to support his and Laura's ministry by hanging out at a music recital at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Tomorrow night we train north to Krakow. We will visit Auschwitz on Friday morning and spend Friday afternoon on Krakow, catching another overnight train back arriving in Budapest on Saturday. After some cleaning up and a cookout with Mark, Laura and the boys we will head to Szeged to prepare for a week of English camp and connecting with students there. I expect this will be my last post for a couple of days whilst travelin...
Monday, June 11, 2007
serving in Vac
After a walk around the town for ice cream, Karen took the team down to a park next to the Danube and hung out for a while while Doug and I ran a couple of errands. The we all headed to the Calvary Chapel they attend to have pizza with and connect with their youth. That was a great deal of fun, we got to know one another, sang a few songs (a couple of the members of this team want to sing all the time) and ate some GREAT pizza... the best of our many choices being the Magyaros pizza (HUngarian style with HU sausage paprika and onions)... then the youth told us 14 or 15 things they think we must do while in Hungary, it was a fun time which ended too soon but we had to rush to catch the 8:22 back to Budapest, we sang songs all the way back!
The final highlight of the day was that the hot water heater had been fixed, sort of, and there was warm water for the first warm shower for me of the trip! They guys got kinda warm showers in the AM since they were still here when the repair man came. Now, it we could just find that thermostat... hmmmmm... our prayer should be that our spiritual thermostat would be turned up on this trip to awaken us to a deeper understanding of God and desire to worship Him with our lives... lukewarm is not what the Lord wants from us!!!
wow, that was a long post, I need to get to work!!!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
first "full" day of serving
we're headed to Vac to learn about ministry to the Deaf. We will "play" baseball with kids from a deaf school and then have a pizza dinner with some Hungarian kids from a church in Vac... pray for our travels and our relationships! Thank God for his provisions.
As soon as I get a photo software that will reduce pix, I'll be posting some pics for you. Any suggestions out there?
the first theme of the trip: baggage
Please pray for our interactions with Hungarians to be fruitful and please pray for our hearts as we serve.
Please note that posting times are eastern standard time.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
tomorrow the adventure begins
until today, we were STILL short of funds for our "bare bones budget"... BUT today, thanks be to God working through His people, we have met our "bare bones" budget! We will go to Krakow and the concentration camp... Today I got a great plan from Lea for our first two or three days days of ministry... Hey team, bring rain gear, we may play baseball in the rain!!!! Mark's stuff came, I got a toy for the boys, got my guitar tuned up so I can drive people CRAZY - YEAH!!!!! worship books printed, now I gotta pack Jo's and my stuff... tomorrow will match the week... final errands around town, at Covenant in the AM, then lunch with Anna and on the raod to DC, dinner with Becca, then to Dulles... I sure hope the kids eat on the way like I asked and then sleep on the plane... Well, this is the first real trip post... it may be apparant that I'm pretty excited about this journey with a great team, pray for us will ya???
Melanie, Tom Caroline, Laura, Ginny, and David... oh, me too - Tomislav
keep checkin the blog for updates... oh, I wouldn't not expect to have time to post again until Sunday, but, who knows????
Sunday, June 3, 2007
financial percentage update
With the Aouscwitz trip we are at 79.74% of our need.
If we drop the Aouscwitz trip we are at 85.72% of our need.
We simply need to pray and have faith in our God.
I believe our God of justice is going to provide because He knows how much our hearts can be impacted on the Krakow portion of this trip.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Permission Forms
Please have the permission form filled out and PLEASE BE SURE IT GETS NOTARIZED!!!!!
TEAM GATHERING IS BEING PLANNED!!!! PLEASE BE AVAILABLE!!!!
TEAM COVENANT IS BEING EMAILED, please read sign and give to RevTom at TEAM GATHERING!
passport picture needed!!!
FUNDS RAISED
To date we have raised 80% of our minimum need to travel and do ministry.
To include the trip to Krakow will cost us more. If we add that to the total trip cost we have received 72% of our trip need.
Please pray for the Lord to meet our needs by the time we leave next Friday.
A step that we are taking is to buy monthly passes for transportation in Budapest. EACH TEAM MEMBER should bring an EXTRA passport photo.
Monday, May 28, 2007
TRAVEL RULES
2. Remember, it’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different.
3. Follow the leader
4. No hard or semi hard case bag can be larger than 16"x11"x25." Further, this bag can not weigh more than 50 pounds.
5. Acquire and sign your passporta. pack a copy of it away from your personb. give a copy to your leaderc. have a copy where a responsible person can fax it to youd. Fill out the contact page of your passport in pencil
6. Eat yogurt daily
7. Learn about the culture that you are traveling to
8. Take three extra passport photos
9. Keep those things which are valuable to you in your carry on, if you can’t do without it, don’t check it… this is true for equipment as well as sentimental stuff
10. Never lose track of your passport and plane ticket
11. Keep prescription medicines in their original container
12. Never cut it close time-wise at the airport13. Wear comfortable shoes that support your feet
14. Pack a clean shirt and undergarments and toiletries in your carry on so that you are prepared when they lose your luggage
15. Never leave behind a clean napkin, you never know when it might be helpful16. When you find a clean rest room, use it, you can’t be sure when you will see another one and tell your team mates where it is.
17. A packet of hand wipes or a container of anti-bacterial hand cleaner is prudent.
18. American noisiness and abrupt behavior is annoying to Europeans, keep your voice and laughter as quiet and civil as possible
19. NEVER USE TRAVELLERS CHECKS, take an atm card and be very careful with it, don’t be careless at the atm machine (which are called “banc-o-mats”).
20. Learning some simple phrases and striving to learn more from your friends abroad will do much to win their hearts
21. Bring earplugs... because of living in a city, you may not be used to all the sounds of busses, trolleys, people and such at 4:30 in the morning!
22. Always be ready to try food that your host offers, remember rule number one
23. Frequently review rules one and two
24. Leaders - use plastic whenever possible to lessen trips to ATMS for cash.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
JUNE 2007
June 8th - depart IAD on British Air at 1000 PM (thats 2200 - at night) via London (4 hour layover)
9th - arrive Budapest at 535 pm , girls move in to the Newell family home and guys move in to the office in Budapest (Bp), climb castle hill and see the lights of Pest?
10th - worship in Bp (church t.b.d. Calvary Chapel???) begin training, brief tour of spots missed last year, training will include a conversation with the Newells about ministry to young people here.
11th - 12th (13th?) train back and forth to Vac, serving with Coppages: school, with youth of church, prayer walking, further training...
14th - some more training in Bp, [Krakow trip is a "funds-permitting" trip] PM train to Krakow (sleeper car)
15th - arrive at 0530, coffee & pastries, walk around Krakow, bus trip to Auschwitz, hanging out in Krakow until the overnight train (sleeping car) takes us back to Bp.
[Krakow trip is a "funds-permitting trip]
16th - train to Szeged, settle in Szeged, training, team worship...
17th - have an orientation tour of Szeged, travel out to Deak, final training, worship at Zion church in afternoon, team worship at Dosza flat!
18th - - 22nd English camp at DFG, hanging out with students,
23rd take trains to Vukovar via Serbia.
24th Worship at Agape Church in Vukovar.
25 - 28th English camp to support Agape Evangelical Church in Vukovar, Croatia.
29th back to Bp via Serbia and Szeged
30th - team flies home on British air leaving Bp at 1235 (via London 3 hr. layover) and lands at Dulles at 810pm
Friday, May 18, 2007
Lesson Sample #1
1. Vocabulary:
· Say vocab slowly and have student repeat it back to you twice
. Pay attention for trouble with specific sounds
A. Breakfast:
Cereal
Eggs
Toast
Waffles
Bacon
B. Lunch:
Sandwich
Fruit
Chips (crisps)
Fries (crisps)
Cookie
C. Dinner:
Salad
Meat
Pasta
Vegetable
Cake
D. Make sure that students know what each food is.
2. Have students write down what they would want to eat for each meal. Then have students read exactly what they wrote back to you. Catch mistakes and help student to correct them.
3. Go around the class and have everyone say what there favorite food to eat is.
4. Ask student where there favorite restaurant is and what they eat there.5. Review vocab with students and check to make sure no one is confused about anything.6. If you have extra time, let your students teach you some of the Hungarian words for the foods that you were teaching in English.
Lesson Sample #2
At A Hotel:
1. Vocabulary:
• Say vocab very slowly and have small groups of 2 or 3 students each repeat it back to you, so that you can make sure that they understand the pronunciation.
• Have them repeat each word several times
• Make sure that the students know what each word is as you go through the list with them.
o Luggage
o Room/Room Number
o Lobby
o Reservation
o Suite
o Guest
o Elevator
o Hall
Lesson Sample #3
At a Restaurant
1. Vocabulary:
• Say vocabulary and have students repeat it back to you slowly
o Listen for trouble with specific sounds
Appetizer
Salad
Main Course
Desert
Chef
Hostess
Waiter
Silver wear
Glass
Plate
Customer
Napkin
Menu
Drink
Soup
2. Make sure that the students know what every word is.
Go around and ask students what things are.
3. Have students explain to you the order that things happen in the restaurant
4. Ask every student what their favorite restaurant is and get them to use the vocabulary in the process.
5. Have each student write down two sentences using the vocabulary words.
Have students read there sentences out loud and go over them
6. Have student repeat vocabulary and check for exact pronunciation.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Eastern Europe 2007 Mission Trip
Team is selected!
Itinerary is in the works!
Prayer letters are distrbuted!