Crazy Days

As of today we only have 11 days of school left!

Last week was a bit crazy. On Wednesday I got an email from my friend Matt MacDonald saying that he and his friend Kris were going to be in Budapest the next day. I knew they were planning on visiting, but I did not know exact dates. Lauren's grandparents also came to visit in the same time slot, so we had four people staying here at the Bazis with us.

On Thursday Matt, Kris and I went into town and saw the sights: St. Stephens Basilica, the Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion, the Parliament (from a distance), the castle in the Varosliget, and of course Hero's Square. See pictures on Facebook.

On Friday Matt and Kris were kind enough to be Mr. Matt and Mr. Kris and help with my classes. They even subbed and entire class for me while I went to the immigration office with Joanna.
Praise the Lord for how well the immigration office visit went! Agi was so well prepared and so were we. For a few minutes we thought we would have to come back because of a scheduling mix up (there being two of us instead of one, but Agi only making the time reservation under her name indicating one person...sheesh.) I think the woman there realized that if they did our together it would be much faster than doing them separately and making us come back. Essentially we were there for about 20 minutes total: nice change from the three separate visits, with a combined total of at least 6 hours waiting in the fall. Every document that they asked for Agi had on hand. They said that we might even get our new visa for next year before we leave for the summer! We just have to run by and they will paste it in. Hallelujah!

Friday afternoon we had a graduation party for 13A. Tracey really wanted to see them one last time before they left so we had a BBQ, music, games and hang out time. It was really great to have them over. One guy, Barney, ate seven hamburgers and claimed he was still hungry!!!

That night I took Matt and Kris to Marcello's. They enjoyed it and it was fun to introduce them to one of our favorite places to eat. We stayed up late catching up on life over a bottle of Egri Bikaver (Bull's Blood, a famous Hungarian red wine.)

I was so glad that Matt and Kris were able to visit, I really miss friends from Pepperdine. It was unfortunate that they could not stay longer, but I enjoyed the short visit anyways.

This week at school we have just been working on speaking topics for the end of year exams. I am a bit tired of hearing about: hobbies, protecting the environment, sports, reading, entertainment, generation gap, London, etc. It seems like everyone has the exact same topics no matter what their skill level or grade level. Tomorrow Lauren and I are taking a break from practice for the end of year exams to watch Pirates of the Caribbean with all of 9A.

This weekend will be dedicated to writing a paper for APU. Fun. Please pray for me to have lots of motivation for that!

That's all folks!

ouch!

Last Saturday Lauren, Fenyo and I went bike riding. It had been awhile since I rode a bike, but it came back to me pretty quickly. We started out in Buda, where Fenyo lives, and went north along the Danube and then to an island. It was great fun and I was enjoying myself.
Then... we were turning off of a sidewalk into a driveway, the pavement was uneven, and my tire slid out from under me. uff. Lauren jumped off her bike to avoid running me over. Pain. ouch.
Luckily... it was just my elbow that was injured. I nice 2cm gash, now filled with rocks. We rinsed it off with some water, a nice guy gave us some bandages from his First Aid kit, we took a rest and then went on our way.
Later that day, when we arrived back at Fenyo's we proceeded to give my wound a thorough cleaning. Unfortunately there was still some gunk stuck in it. Lauren said it was deep enough that I might need some stitches... fun.
So we looked up the doctor's office closest to where Fenyo lives. We went there... but it was Saturday... and they said that they could not help. They did not have the supplies to clean out a wound. They directed us to Saint John's Hospital.
Saint John's is a very large hospital with many buildings. Hungarian hospitals do not operate the same way American ones do. There is not really an "Emergency Room." Instead, depending on what type of injury or illness you have, they send you to the specific building that takes care of those things. Then, once you are there they can treat only that type of ailment. So... we went to the trauma ward. Next confusing step... where do I sign in? I guess I have never been to the ER in the states, but I think someone signs you in ASAP. Instead I stood in front of a door for 30 minutes that only opened occasionally. Finally a nurse came out and took names and general injury information from those closest to the door. Then they called these people in, in order of severity of course. Since I only had a cut on my elbow I was not exactly priority. We sat down on a bench. I had a headache. We had spent so much time out in the sun, and I had not drank enough water, and then I was injured... I started to feel rather sick (in the British sense of the word.) The smell in the waiting area was rather bad as it was a hot day and there was no AC. Numerous people came in with dog bites, sprained ankles, and many other issues. Eventually I had to go to the restroom because I was so sick (in the very British sense of the word.) After that I fell asleep on Lauren's lap. When I woke up I was sick again... but only had water in me. That was pretty gross. At midnight, after five hours of waiting, they finally called me in. The doctor cleaned me up in about five minutes, then sent me to get an x-ray, then sent me one home. Five hour wait... 30 minutes tops of care. But... at least I did not pay a single forint! That is what government health care does for you!
Now my elbow is on the mend... hopefully it will close up soon... but I am sure that I will have a gnarly scar.

Old Friends, New Conversations

In the past week or so I have hung out with my friend Fenyo about four times... with plans to hang out again on Saturday. It's so funny because we have probably only done stuff together about five times before this past week in the entire year.
Last night Fenyo and I met with our friend Tamas who was visiting from out of town. We took a nice little walk up at Normafa, played some English word games, talked about life, then we to a little "Borozo" (wine cellar.) As we were drinking our wine and talking about things in the past Fenyo asked me something about why I was in Hungary and how long I planned on being here. So then I told him and Tamas the story.

In high school I loved my group of friends that I found in Hungary. Yes... they were crazy... no, they did not live the lifestyle that I wanted to live... but they accepted me for who I was, no questions asked. When I think back on high school, that half a year was the best semester. Of course it was completely different from any other semester and in no way comparable, but it was amazing and taught me a lot about who I am.
When I returned to the states I was disappointed because I had not shared my faith with these friends very well. I had tried a little bit, but I was too distracted by other things in life, like having everybody love me. (This is still a struggle for me... I want everyone to LOVE me and think that I am the coolest things since buttered toast. I might be a bit egotistical.)
As time passed I kept in touch with Tamas. I wrote many letters to him about God and life, and when we both got email we communicated that way.
In college I was able to go back. Tamas and I talked about God a lot, but he never really made any decision or commitment. After that I had no idea when I would be able to go back to Hungary again.
At that point in my life I had this longing to do mission work somewhere, so I got an internship in Cologne, Germany for the summer. Since I was already in Europe I decided to go visit Hungary. Tamas, Fenyo and our other old classmates planned a party by a lake in southern Hungary. This party was a huge turning point in my life. As the night when on everyone drank quite a bit. Then one of the guys decided that he wanted to drive home. A series of events ensued which ended in him breaking the window out of his car, then driving off by himself. At this point I was scared to death, memories of a high school tragedy involving drunk driving running through my head. I was so frustrated that I could not stop him. I was sad that he did not value his life more than that, and I was fearing the worst. I had to get away.
I walked to the end of the street to pray and cry out to God. I was all alone in the dark, tears streaming down my face. I wept and asked God to protect my friend. I asked Him what his plans were for Hungary. Who was he going to send to the youth of Hungary? Who will teach them about Him? Who will show them that there is more to life than drugs, sex, and money? And God spoke to me, there in the dark. In a loud voice He said: I am sending you.
In that moment, my life changed.

Last night, as I told Fenyo this story, I could see his face soften. He and Tamas know how much I love them. I love them with a love that can only come from the Lord. I want them to know whole heartedly that following God is a better way. God loves them. And I could not live in Hungry if I did not have a love for its people and culture that was deeply seeded in me. God put that seed of love for Hungary in me at a long age and he has caused it to grow over time.
Fenyo said that he wanted to talk about this with me more. He said that he needed to think about and process these things a bit more first though.
It was getting late, I had to leave so that I did not miss the last HEV.
The look on Fenyo's face was one that was open and soft. Hearing about how God has worked in my life did not turn him away from me, as I have feared for all these months.

Last week I read 1 & 2 Timothy, and we even discussed this particular verse at Bible study last week: For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (2 Tim. 1:7)
This verse hit me hard last week when I went to the Gospel concert with my colleagues and Fenyo. It hit me hard last night too. All this time I have been forgetting that I do not need to be timid if I am trusting in the Lord. He gives power, love and self-discipline. Without knowing how much I love these guys, they might not have responded the same. God strengthened me to be able to give this testimony about Him and how He works in my life. It took so much self control to keep telling the story and not worry about the reaction. When you trust in the Lord He makes a way and guides you in doing his will.
As I mentioned before... Fenyo and I are going biking on Saturday. I think Lauren is going to join us. Please pray for me to have the right words and for Fenyo's heart to be open.

Grace and peace
<><

Hopelessness

The other day I had a very unnerving conversation with one of my students. He was having a pretty rough day and telling me how his life just absolutely sucked. At some point he said:
Do you know what is good in life? Tobacco, alcohol and sex. That's it.

Unfortunately I think that many Hungarian teens feel this way. They do not see anything else out there to live their lives for. They just party. They look at their country and fail to see anything good. They hate the government, they hate where they live, they do not see any good job opportunities, no possibility to move up in the world, no reason to hope.

This has been weighing on my heart since that conversation. It breaks my heart to see my students get mixed up in drugs. They are all so intelligent, they have so much going for them, they all are learning English, and I see possibilities. They only see walls. It kills me to know that most of my students will have sex as soon as they get a boyfriend or girlfriend (or even before that...) I think back to how I felt about sex in high school... and I realize that there is no way I would have been ready then. I would not have been able to comprehend everything that goes along with that. In fact... I know that I will never be ready for sex until I am married, in the safety of a covenant relationship, with the blessing of the Father. It hurts to see the change on the girl's face when they start getting into sexual relationships. They change and the innocence that they showed before is gone forever. Drinking is a huge problem here. Legally you are not supposed to drink until age 18. Since I have been here I have been "carded" once. That consisted of the lady asking "Are you 18 yet?" And me saying "Yes." She didn't even ask to see my ID. Most stores will sell alcohol to anyone without question. If kids don't get it at the store then their parents will probably buy it for them. Parents accept it as something "they will do anyways... better to do it safe at home." Many of the boys who I teach proclaim that they are or will soon be an alcoholic. My heart goes out to them. I want something better for them.

I want them to know that there is more to life. I want them to know that the hole they are trying to fill with tobacco, alcohol and sex can only be filled with one thing. The hole can only be filled by God. The wounds can only be healed by Jesus' blood. The change that they desire in their lives can only come about through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I want to show them true love. But I cannot be Jesus for them. I can only point the way to Him. I want to show my students what real joy is. Not the happiness that comes from getting a new toy. The joy that flows out of your heart because you know the salvation you have in Jesus Christ. I pray that my students see that joy and that they will desire to have it too. And I pray that my students not think that it is because I am American. I want them to know that my joy comes from the Lord, it is my strength.

Heavy stuff. Please pray for Faith, Hope and Love to exist in my students lives.

Salvador

Last night Lauren and I went to another concert with Bogi and Ildiko from church... as well as David and David.
The first band up was called Revolution! They are from Holland, which was way cool because my friend Lian was also at the concert and she is from Holland. Apparently they are the most popular Christian band in Holland and also circulate in the secular music world there. Their songs were very uplifting and I really enjoyed them.
Then there was the "Lakatos Project." This is a Hungarian group that has some interesting Gypsy influence. They mixed some usual worship songs with Hungarian rap. I did not know that anyone in Hungary really did rap in Hungarian... not to mention Christian rap in Hungarian. It was very interesting and enjoyable.
The main event was Salvador. They are from the US, but have heavy Latin and South American influences. They sang some songs in Spanish (which Lauren really liked...) and also some great worship songs in English. This is the second time in one week that I have gotten to experience "Salsa for the Lord." The Gospel Choir had a Salsa number too!
Overall it was a great experience. As always it was fun to spend time with Bogi, Ildiko and David Squared. (I have decided that David is the single most used name in the world. We have four of them at our church, two of them on the ESI Hungary team, I knew at least ten in college, and without fail every time I meet new guys there is at least one named David. Lauren and I roll our eyes now when we meet new Davids...)

Other exciting things coming up in the Christian music circuit in Hungary: June 18-20 there is a big Gospel and Soul Fesztival at Westend, one of the biggest malls in Budapest. Hillsong London and Matt Redman are going to be there and I am so excited! I am purposefully going to buy my plane ticket back after this so that I can go. Yeah!

Golgota Gospel Korus

On Thursday night Lauren and I had a great opportunity to spend time with some of our Hungarian colleagues. Our office mates Eva and Eva, as well as a secretary from school Aniko, and my friend Fenyo all came to the Calvary Chapel Gospel Choir concert with us. When this choir says "Gospel Choir" they do not necessarily mean it in the way that we would in the States. This is not like your southern Gospel Choir that is all black, with the choir robes. They do sing a few songs that are like that, but they also sing a variety of other songs. Instead, by Gospel Choir, they mean something more like "Good News Choir." And they preach the Word hard core through their music. I really enjoyed it and to my surprise so did everyone else!!!
That night Aniko and Fenyo both sent me text messages saying that they really enjoyed the concert. The next day Anikor told me that she had the songs stuck in her head and that she told her boyfriend all about it.
My favorite parts of the concert: My friend Attis sings in the choir and they sang a song that had a country feel to it (although... if you live in Montana... this is not what you think of when you think Country music...) So my friend Attis and about 20 other people actually line danced on stage during the song! It was so funny and they did really well... and then when we thought it was over... they came down into the center aisle of the concert hall and danced there too! And Attis was right by us in the aisle! It was so fun to be able to point out our friend in the choir to our colleagues and friends. :) Good work Attis!!!
My next favorite part was a octet. The choir is very large, probably 200 people, and two thirds are women... at least. It was great to see a smaller group perform, with out the loud band, and actually be able to hear the different parts. The basses and the tenors just get overwhelmed by the soprano and alto majority.
The third thing that was amazing was when the choir walked down into the audience again and surrounded the whole concert hall. They sand a song completely acapella and it was gorgeous. That's the church of Christ coming out in me... still love and long to hear acapella music!
One more highlight of the concert was that they sang a song that I actually knew!

All praises be
To the King of Kings
And the Lord of Lords
He is Wonderful

Hallelujah.... He is Wonderful

Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory
Honor and Power
He is wonderful

The Lord our God is mighty
The Lord our God is omnipotent
Our God He is wonderful

It was so great to hear a familiar worship song in the midst of big choir variations of classic gospel music. I loved it.

So... I really enjoyed the concert, the singing and the dancing... it was great to see the choir praise the Lord and to join in with them on occasion.

Please pray, as Lauren and I did throughout the concert, for the hearts of Eva, Eva, Aniko and Fenyo to be open and to remember some of what they heard at the concert. It was the Gospel delivered through music quite simply. :-)

Grace and peace-
<><

Erdély

This past week has been pretty busy. Last Wednesday was Ballagás, or graduation at our school. As a result there was a lot of irregularity all week long. Monday and Wednesday we had short classes. It was just utterly useless to be there... oh well. The school was all decked out on Wednesday with lilacs (my favorite flower). It smelled heavenly. I was unable to actually attend the graduation ceremony because I left to go to Erdély.

Erdély is the Hungarian name for Transylvania. This trip was organized by Árpád, a friend of mine from the ICFB. Árpád grew up in a town near where we went to visit. There were about twenty of us, we stayed in a house that we rented up in the Carpathian Mountains. On Wednesday we drove 13 hours and arrived at four in the morning! Luckily it was a very relaxing trip, so we were able to sleep in the next day. We spent time out in "the nature," played lots of games, ate some amazing food, went to a museum in Kézdivásárhely, and spent a lot of time worshiping our Father.

Because of the international mix I somehow was asked to translate for our worship times. Árpád speaks English very well, but there were some people who only spoke Hungarian, so he wanted to give some devotional thoughts in Hungarian. We talked about communication with God, art, things that break down communication and things that build it up. It was really refreshing. We also spent a lot of time singing worship songs in English... which I really appreciated.

When we went to the museum they asked me to translate there too. It was such a good experience to try out translating. I have thought about this a lot and think that it would be good to practice more. Translating from Hungarian to English is not too hard and I can find the appropriate nuances. The museum was a little bit more difficult because there were words like "ceh" which is a guild. Or "asztalos" = carpenter. Things like that are more difficult to translate because I don't use those words every day. Church vocabulary I am pretty good at. I hope that there will be more opportunities for me to practice and that God will use this for his work.

This week has been really nice because we have seven days off from school. I got back from Erdély on Sunday and still had three days of freedom!

Yesterday we celebrated Cinco de Mayo. Lauren and I made a Pinata, tortillas, salsa, guacamole and margaritas from scratch. It was fun to have "authentic" Mexican food and hang out with some people.

Hopefully I will be able to steal some pictures from people of these great events to show you everything...

Prayer requests:
- Energy and Health to finish the school year with a bang! (Last day is June 13)
- Funding for a plane ticket home and other expenses (like grad school...)
- Harvest: we have been investing so much time, energy and love into our students this year and I just pray that they see God in it. I want them to know God so badly and I pray that they will know Him soon!
- SpeakOut: for students to have fun, enjoy and see God working at camp
- APU: I am still procrastinating... I have to do grad work... please pray for this to go well.
- Summer plans: I am still trying to work out specific dates for the summer. Please pray for the summer to be a time of rest and preparation for next year.

<><

Renaissance Night

Last night our school had a big production to celebrate the year of the Renaissance. There was singing, dancing and a few skits. I was privileged to sing with some of the girls I teach. If you want to check out the pictures you can see them here.

New Look

Since my students have found me out... I decided to remodel... hope you like it!

Discovered...

I knew it was inevitable... but it came about so unexpectedly that my jaw dropped.

Today, when I walked into one of my classes... before I even said "hello class... you may sit down..." my student Gyuri says: Miss Petty! I found your blog!

Rats. I've been found out. Yes... Miss Petty has a blog... and yes... she writes about you (her students) in it... and she posts pictures... and talks about how great her students are... and how much she loves Hungary... and she talks about God... and raising support...

So... students of Kossuth Lajos: Welcome! I love you all dearly and I hope that you enjoy reading my blog!

<3 Miss Petty