Tuesday, Wednesday and beyond

On Tuesday we returned to Vac for more ministry with the Coppages. On the way up on the train we talked about our own spiritual selves and the fact that each of us as followers of Jesus need to get our strength from Him. We need to be as disciplined as an athlete in developing our spiritual life through regular reading of Scripture and prayer. It is hard to serve when our tank is running on empty because we have neglected the LORD. We had three objectives for the day: to once again invest time with the children at the Deaf school, learn about and get coaching on prayer walking and then do some prayer walking in Vac, then invest the evening in lessons plans for next week. All of these were accomplished. I'm especially glad about the emphasis on prayer walking. We will be using that in the weeks to come. It was a good day. This is an important reminder for us all.

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...