January 2019

Imagine standing in front of 15 or 20 young teenagers every day who have no interest whatsoever in what you have to say, don’t want to be there, and if they have to be, would rather talk to their friends.

Imagine, even though you are sick or tired, you feel an inner compulsion to come to work, knowing that it is more work to miss a day than to just push through it.

Imagine, in your free time, outside of the previous two circumstances, you find your mind wandering to lesson plans and how to make your class better in someway so that those students will actually want to be there.

This is pretty much the day to day life of a teacher.

You might wonder why anyone would put themselves through this.

Now think about this- the joy on one of those faces as they finally “get it”. The note you receive saying “Thank you, I’ve learned so much in your class.” The realization that even though they seemingly refused to learn at every step, your students are now making huge strides.

That’s why teachers do what they do. That’s why I do what I do. All of those things have happened, and most recently one happened on New Year’s Eve.

I was invited to go out to eat with a Christian Egyptian family, whose two children I have taught in my time here in Budapest. Admittedly I don’t know them so well and felt very uncomfortable at first (I was also severely underdressed in a sweatshirt and jeans while everyone else looked like they were going to attend a banquet).

Whenever I am invited to join families for anything, I always gravitate toward the teenagers. Luckily, as I said, I had taught both of them so I quickly shrugged off my initial discomfort as I chatted with the two kids.

As the night wore on the older of the two mentioned how much she has enjoyed being in my class the last two years, how my encouragement helped her realize how much she enjoyed writing (by the way, she is the best natural writer I’ve ever taught). Shortly after this I was taken by surprise as she turned the conversation toward Christianity and her faith. I haven’t ever spoken to her about this topic, though I know she is a Christian, and the faith that poured out of her as she spoke was palpable.

She spoke about how she will be looking for a community of Christians in her college next year, how she has grown in her faith more and more each year, and how she longs to learn more.

After all I have mentioned, I suppose it may seem like I am bragging, but in reality, I have never considered myself a great teacher, and rarely do I think that I am even any good at teaching. The one thing I have always tried to do, however, is form a bond somehow with my students. It could be around anything, for instance, I started watching Korean Dramas because I constantly heard the Asian community in school talking about them. I don’t actually like watching them… ok, maybe I do a little… but I’ve come to realize that that connection is vital. That love and desire to connect with them is vital.

This is the same in ministry. A connection based on love is vital. You may not feel like a good or even great evangelist, but when it comes down to it, you don’t need to be. All that you really need is a love for the people.

I hope you all have a great new year.

December 2018 (Goodbye)

Hi Everybody,

In Ecclesiastes 3:1, the Bible tells us “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” I don’t know who or how many people read this newsletter, so this might be old news to those of you who do read it, but my time living in Hungary is ending. I have resigned from GGIS and will be moving back to Baltimore in June, 2019.

I remember when I first met with Pastor Schaller about coming to Hungary back in 2012. God was moving in mighty ways in my life at that time. I was just starting my third year of Bible College at MBC&S and all summer I had been going to the week night outreaches. I remember praying for hours on end about what God wanted me to do in my future. I knew I wanted to go somewhere, I had gone to Eurocon to visit Hungary and loved it.

I moved here the following January to do my practicum. That was supposed to be for six months.

Here I am six years later, and now this chapter of my life is coming to a close.

The first part of the Ecclesiastes 3:1 is what I have always thought about; however, recently I have been thinking about that second part more and more- “A time for every purpose under heaven.”

It’s amazing that an eternal God uses time to accomplish His purpose in our finite physical lives.

What was the purpose in my time in Hungary?

I have learned what my gifts are. I have learned what I love to do. I have learned who I am and who I am not. I have learned to lean on God and less on myself. I have learned patience and how to trust God when things don’t go how I want them to. I have learned how to apply the knowledge I acquire from the Word. I have learned that I have nothing to offer people except what God has given to me. I have learned that God’s unfailing love is the greatest motivator in people’s lives. I have learned that serving money leads nowhere. I have learned that I am a changed person.

I have learned that more than one-fifth of my life has now been spent on the mission field.

I have learned that I hope that someday when I am much older I can still say the same thing.

God has truly blessed me in my time here. It will be very difficult to leave when the time comes, but I know that just like God gives new seasons, He has a purpose in that season.

I look forward to seeing what God’s purpose is in this next season.

November 2018

Have you ever had one of those days that feels like three days? That’s how this month has felt for me, but in a good way. So much happened. Are you ready for a ton of pictures?

First there was a Harvest Party at GGIS. I made a costume. It was awesome. I was getting eaten by a shark. 

 

Next, the Korean youth group had fun day where we went to play laser tag and to a trampoline park. 

 

After that, it was my birthday week. I was overwhelmed by the love that I was shown from all of my “families” here. My ninth grade students decorated my room and brought and presents and my church had a cake. 

 

The next week the Korean church had a young people’s retreat. We went about an hour outside of the city for a weekend and prayed, worshipped, and of course ate amazing food. 

 
Looking back it was quite the crazy month. I realized a long time ago that with all of my activity it is vital that I find time to clear my head and get with God so I started walking every day. I listen to messages or pray as I do a multi-mile loop around my neighborhood every night. That private time is what fuels my public ministry. I highly recommend finding time to just be with the Lord one on one without thinking about the cares of this world.



My pedometer tells me I walked 300 miles in October. 300 miles with God.

October 2018

I always feel a little funny when I write these because my life mainly revolves around school and education, but this is a missionary blog. I struggle with the idea that while I am a teacher, I am actually a missionary. I mean, I know it. Every day I am sharing the Christ with students, but it's not like I am planting a church or something. Maybe you understand what I mean.
With all of that in mind, I would like to share something I wrote after a recent Bible Study I led at GGIS.

"Usually my week of preparation for a message is doing a little reading, thinking, and praying each morning of the week. Last week I thought the theme "Give Me Your Heart" from Proverbs 23 would be a good topic; however the more I prepared, the more I fully expected it to just suck. Fall flat. I kinda just wanted it to be over with so we could all go play frisbee.
"As we sat and began talking (usually the message is me presenting some small ideas which the students talk about for a minute, then I ask questions that I want them to answer, and we repeat that several times) but tonight I couldn't believe what the students were saying. Incredible. Doctrine was pouring out of each and every one of them.
"Reka mentioned how making decisions for God can be so difficult but in the end you see a great result. (Hugi, keep her coming out!)
When we talked about how sometimes hearts can become hard, Seung Hee compared it to ice. Ice takes a long time to freeze, it doesn't happen instantly, but when it is heated up it melts quickly. That can be like us, our hearts can become cold, but when the warmth of the love of God is again realized in my life, I can have instant restoration.

"I wish I could go through what everyone said, it was so amazing. What I expected to be 15 minutes tops turned into 45 in the blink of an eye."

I think it can be hard for us to see the impact we have in our ministry at times. I have been here for six years and I am just now realizing the fruit of investment. I have been able to watch these students grow from crazy third and fourth graders into mature, God-seeking teenagers.

It is missions. Everything we do is missions. Remember, you and I are not at home here, every ministry we have is a mission, no matter where we are or what it is. A cup of cold water is a ministry if it's given from the Spirit of God.

The last thing is that in ministry, you can make connections that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. I walked into my classroom the other day and found the following list that various students have been adding to the past few days:


Thank God that he has and continues to use us!

September 2018

Hi Everybody!

I just returned from the annual GGIS High School Retreat. This is a time when we take all the students from grades 7-12 out into the country side in Hungary and spend three days playing sports, getting to know each other, having competitions, and of course praising God.

It is always so much fun to watch the new students during this event. While school has already been in session for two weeks, we had three new students start school on the morning of the Retreat. Their jaws all collectively seemed to hit the floor as they saw what incredible life there was.

I pretty much run the show, but I base almost everything off of what I learned from Camp Life growing up. It’s my job to make the schedule, make sure events run smoothly, kids are supervised, and that equipment is brought. Besides that, I also ran most of the events, did the announcing, made sure that things happened on time, and I also lead the barn dancing, campfire songs, and I preach one night.

Wow, writing that out it’s a lot.

I remember something my good friend, Pastor Barry, once said to me. Some people are excellent receivers, they are like sponges and soak up everything, but I am more of a producer. I have found that when I am active and busy in ministry, I have the most to keep pouring out.

My message was Friday night during the campfire. Last year I spoke about how to keep the fire in our hearts burning, and how we can’t just leave incredible times with God and forget that they happened. This year, I spoke about what to do now that the fire in us is burning.

In Exodus 3, the Bible says that Moses stopped what he was doing, turned aside, and drew near to see a great site. This was the burning bush in the wilderness. Out of the fire came the Word of God. This is just like us. People stop, turn aside, and draw near to the fire of God in us. We have words for them, we can encourage and edify, we can share God’s will with them.

A final point I made was that we can sometimes be shy about the fire of God burning in us. Sometimes there is a temptation to hide it. Maybe our reputations are at stake, maybe we are afraid that if people know we are on fire for God, they will think we are weird.

We can’t let that hinder us.

Remember in Judges 7 when Israel broke the clay pots and let the light from their torches shine, there was a miracle that took place and their enemy was defeated. That’s the exact same thing that can happen with us. When I am broken, that’s when my light will truly shine.

Lastly, if you could, I would like you to pray for a young man. He was in our school for three years, but just returned to his home country. He came from a bit of a rough background, but really became part of the GGIS family in his time here. Not only that, but he prayed with me to accept Christ last year however, his family are all practicing Muslims, which is why I am omitting his name.

In his final days with us, I asked him if there is anything that I could pray for and the one thing he wanted was to find other believers with whom he could fellowship in his new school.

July-August 2018

I just returned to Budapest from a great summer spent mostly in Baltimore. It was great to be with friends and family, this was actually the first time I’ve spent a prolonged period of time in Maryland since I moved in 2013.

I left a little early, though, this year to come back for Camp Life Europe.

Wow.

It was amazing.

There were a few students from GGIS who came as well as about 80-90 other people. There were sports, and games, but also times of worship, prayer, and time in the Word.

There was one Korean boy who came who was not a Christian but by the end of the week accepted Christ as his Savior. Incredible!

Here is the group who came from Hungary.



This is a picture of Dasha, a student at GGIS, and Rae, a camper from America.



This is Boti, he is from Miskolc, in the countryside of Hungary. I was glad to get to know him as I have seen him and his family over the years, but never really made a connection with them.



Overall, while my time in America was short this year, I am so glad I was able to go to Camp Life. I remember the times I spent as a camper were life changing and I know that this event is still changing lives today.

Thank you so much to all who had a part in putting this together, P. Love, P. Pete, the Romanians who hosted this year, and all those who laid down their lives to make this thing possible.

I am looking forward to another great year in GGIS as I return to work next week.

If you think of it, please keep me in your prayers.

June 2018

This will be my last newsletter before I come back to America for the summer.

So much has happened this month, we had a spring high school retreat which I already told you about, I went to two graduations and two banquets, and now we are wrapping up the end of the school year with final exams this week.

Last Saturday was the GGIS graduation. It was probably the best one I have been to. This was also the first year I wasn't the photographer for the day since I taught a senior class and was sitting on the stage. Traditionally we have our graduates each give speeches (we have small classes). It was fascinating hearing the impact that this school has on the lives of its students. I think I still don't comprehend it fully, but this week I saw more and more how vital this type of ministry is. The other graduation I attended was much different. There seemed to be no connection between the teachers and students. I caught myself wondering if this was how school should be and that I am just too personable as a teacher, but then I realized how different GGIS is. I think of Acts 3:6 when Peter told the lame man that he had nothing physically to give but he had something far better. GGIS can't offer the extracurricular activities, honors programs, or campus that the other school has but we have something far greater, we have a ministry, a connection with students that goes beyond the human level. It's spiritual. Lives are changed, not just temporally, but eternally.

I must say that my life has also been changed being here.

There are quite a few staff members who have or who are leaving this year. As I think back on all the memories I've had with them, it's amazing that we have had the opportunity to be here as a team, doing this for this long. (I'm not leaving, but others are.)

One fantastic event we had this past month was a Middle School boat trip. This is a three hour cruise along the river with dinner and games. It happened a couple weeks after our High School Banquet so naturally the Middle Schoolers all called it their "banquet". It wasn't meant to be but it was kind of cute to see them all get dressed up and try to bashfully ask each other "out" (we all rode a bus together to the boat then sat at communal tables for the food).

On the boat trip there was a seventh grade girl who has been in our school for six months, she is not returning next year and is instead going to that other school I mentioned earlier. She is so depressed! She loves it here, but there is a perception based on outward appearances that the other one is a better school so her parents will send her there next year.

Outward appearances are deceptive. More and more I see it. When I look at certain students I often times see no outward change. Maybe their grades are bad, their attitude is bad, or they just seem lazy, but then all of a sudden they will tell you that they accepted Christ months, or even years ago, and they have been going to church, and want to grow as a Christian. It's incredible. This actually happened with a student this year. I didn't want to speak to him, I went to his study hall three times before I finally pulled him out to speak to him, and right away he told me he has been waiting for the opportunity to accept Christ. My how that young man's life has been changed in the months since then! Amazing.

Thank you all for your continued prayer and support. I look forward to being in Baltimore all summer before returning to Hungary for Camp Life in July.