Spiritual Retreat

Over the weekend I went to Pilisszentkereszt with the church for their retreat weekend. It was such an amazing opportunity to bond with the church, not to mention a great blessing in my life. I got to spend some time with an old friend, Andi, and got acquainted with others.
Friday night the focus was our picture of God as Father. We talked about how our relationship with our earthly father influences our relationship with God the Father. We spent a lot of time in prayer, thinking about this, and asking God to heal our hurts that prevent a healthy relationship with him. It was very moving, but not the type of "spiritual high" that used to come at college retreats, or camp. This was authentic, real, solid healing. You could feel God's presence in the room. It was truly amazing. We also spent a lot of time in worship and that was also very healing to me, since I had not really had a chance to just stand and worship for a few weeks.
Saturday morning we had more time of prayer, worship and discussion about us as the Body and Bride of Christ. In the afternoon we just relaxed, played some cards, etc. That evening we did an activity with a ball of string. I have participated in something similar before, but this was just amazing. Usually this is just a compliment game. Someone passes you the ball of string, gives you a compliment, then you pass the ball to someone else and give them a compliment. At the end there is a web, etc. The thing that was very different this time was that we spent a few minutes praying beforehand for God to give us the right words to say to the right person, and the focus was what we see of the Father in that person. It is amazing what happens when you ask God to do something then listen for his reply. I was so moved by what people said, how they expressed it, and really felt that God was speaking straight to people's hearts throughout the whole exercise. I will willingly share more details about the retreat with people one on one in an email. The weekend was just absolutely amazing. I felt relaxed at the end, but in the way you feel relaxed after a work out. This was a weekend for working our spiritual muscles, and it was really great.
I can not even begin to express here in words how much it means to me that the church here as accepted me as one of there own so soon. I feel like God has been preparing me over the past four years to be at the same type of place spiritually as the church here. They are thirsting after God more and more each day, and I feel that thirst too. It is not that the thirst wasn't there before, it was, but now I recognize it and want to quench it. I have met people before, individuals, who were hungering and thirsting after God, but this is a whole church. And God hears their prayers, He responds and stretches them, and shows them love in a way that I have never really seen in any church before. I feel extremely blessed to be a part of that now. Thank you LORD.
Teaching... if you want to hear a story ask me about 10C sometime... I can't really write about that adventure in such a public forum. Other than that little adventure teaching has been going well. There have been some bumps (who keeps doing the speaking and writing with 9A1? That is supposed to be my job.... or... What? you are in Unit 4 already? We are still in units 1 and 2...) but generally speaking I enjoy going to school. I still have a lot to learn, but progress comes slowly. And there are so many different groups of students, and different colleagues to work with that it is confusing at times. Each of my classes is slowly figuring out that I at least understand way more Hungarian than they want me to. :) Little do they know...
This week I have finally been able to fit my social life in nicely with my teaching schedule. I figured out that naps are worthless because I don't sleep well at night if I nap. I have to lesson plan in the afternoon, then go out to meet people, then go to bed. Or get up at 5am to lesson plan. Either way. On Monday I met with my new friend, Gusztav. We ate some ice cream and took a walk in the Varosliget, sort of like the Central Park of Budapest. We took a bunch of photos with various statues (check out Facebook photos) and just talked about life. I have not really had much opportunity to meet new people because I have been so busy trying to track down old friends and learn how to teach. On Tuesday my friend Fenyo came over for dinner and got to meet my crazy American room mates (independent women...crazy). We made chicken courdonbleu and an amazing spinach/tomato/mandarin/paprika/feta salad. Fenyo was amazed at this salad combination... and I realized I need to make more salad more often. Hungarians eat a lot of meat and bread, and not many veggies (as one of my students wrote in an assignment where they had to describe Hungarian cuisine.) Fenyo was a little scared of the salad, but then he tried it and liked it.
On Wednesday I met with my good friend Eszti (see... I do have friends who are girls in Hungary too...) It was sooooooo good to see her. Unfortunately she is like me... and travels the world and is therefore not necessarily in Hungary very much. Hopefully I will get to see her regularly though.
Thursday it was time to take a break from seeing people. This afternoon I created a grade book in excel for all my classes, graded lots of papers, and was generally productive. I made some great lesson plans, and had dinner with Lauren. Now I am catching up on internet related things and enjoying my internet social life via skype. So much fun...
This weekend I am going to an English Bible Study, YWAM coffeehouse, a Hill Song concert (with Bogi, from church!) and catching up on all my APU work. Yay!

Prayers...
- Health
-Peace
-For my students to want to learn
-Open hearts
-New and old relationships
-Ministry niche (I feel like I need to find something soon... I have been praying so hard about this, and it is probably right in front of me... but I don't see it yet....)

Grace. Shalom.
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