It was a wonderful Easter here in Vajta. I am missing my family and church so much during the holidays, however God has been so good to me because He has given me such an amazing family here as well.
We had a really sweet Easter "service" (a.k.a. the remainder of us still here for the weekend gathering in the small Quiet Room and singing praises and reading scripture) and then Arpi and Andi let Suzana and me commandeer their house for the day while they were away. We got to fellowship, cook, watch movies. In the evening the Beller family had us all over for dessert and family games which led to absolute hilarity and uproarious laughter. It was a really nice, relaxing day. I'm so thankful to be in this place. God is marvelous.

Képek! Pictures!

A trip to Budapest

Budapest

My MTP Class

The love of my life!

My favorite Pécs kids.

Prayer while on outreach.

The village kids.

The unrelenting snow!

Alive in the Lord

Life has been crazy lately (in the best possible way).

This past week was Speaker's week here at school, and that is when pastors from all over come to our school to well...speak. We have three, 1.5 hour sessions a day for five days. It's actually pretty intense, but it's amazing. It's especially nice because guests come from so many different countries for this conference. The first night I felt so much joy looking out across the Coffee Shop after the opening session, seeing many different people from many different cultures speaking many different languages. All of us come from very diverse backgrounds, cultures, countries, economies, etc, and yet we all can come together to worship and learn about the same God who did the same things for all of us: dying on the Cross for our salvation.
It's like a little preview of Heaven.

Tuesday was an especially encouraging day. I had a lesson with Noemi that day and before she came over I saw on facebook that it was her birthday! I was surprised she would still want to come over on her birthday, but she did. She suggested we take a walk around the property together so we did our lesson outside and it was really quite lovely. I feel like our friendship is starting to develop and it is really nice. She even asked me what I wanted to do with my life and through that I got to tell her simply about God and how I want to serve Him. After our lesson, I took over to weekly Coffee Time at Andi and Arpi's apartment (I had told Andi beforehand that it was her birthday so she could save her a cookie). And there I introduced Noemi to some Hungarians so she could gain more healthy friendships. Noemi seemed really blessed by the cookie, tea, and conversation...and that's what I had hoped for. Just for her to feel loved<3

Then...At the end of the week I got an apparent open door to maybe move to Monterey Bay, CA by the end of the year to serve in a church plant. I don't really feel like I should disclose all the details at this point because I'm still praying about it and discussing details. But when something is decided I will update everyone after I give the first word to my family and my home church :)

But seriously, life is going so amazingly here. And I don't mean that my mood is constantly UP, but I just know that God is working so much in my life and in the lives of people around me and it is so encouraging. I feel like I'm finally breaking free from past hurts and habits, and starting a new chapter in my life. So thankful!



“Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” 
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Pécs [payche, not pex ;) ]

Just had a whirlwind weekend outreach in the city of Pécs. You see, I am in the Missions Training Program at my school and our class has 12 people in it. So we decided to be daring and do a weekend mission trip ALL together. And let me tell you, it was a roller coaster (for me, at least).
I love all my classmates and it was such a blessing to get to know them even more. You can say you really know someone once you have to share a pull out couch bed with them (don't worry, the dudes were in another flat).

Anyway, the weekend started out wildly. As we were travelling there (about a 2 hour drive) we realized about 20 minutes into it that we were headed in the opposite direction. And then one of our cars were about to break down because the engine fluid was out. So we pull off the highway into a seemingly vacant parking lot. Now, in Hungary, there isn't a McDonald's at every pull off, or even another exit for another 50 Km. But God is good and the parking lot we ended up in turned out to be a auto place and there 'just happened' to be an English speaking lady there, and they 'just happened' to give us a big jug full of fluid. So then we go on our merry way and get to the city in perfect time despite the detour (thanks Jesus!). So as soon as we got there we went right in to the mental hospital to do music with them and present the gospel to them in fun ways. They loved it! It was such a blessing. The rest of the weekend was full of taking care of missionary children, English club, church, street evangelism, etc...
It was really great. But it was also stretching because the church there is VERY small. And bringing so many people on a trip to such a small place became quite overwhelming for me. Only some of us could serve at one time, or else we were just in the way. SO that was definitely a challenge for me.
But the missionaries there are great and I can't wait to spend my 30-day with them.
The city is beautiful and international and full of people my age. I can't wait to make a bunch of new friends out of the university students so that I can invite them to the church there and share what God has done for me in my life!

In other news, I chose my ten-day outreach today! I and five others will be going to sLOVEnia!!! It was a hard decision between that and Sopron, Hungary, but I feel very at peace with this decision. Slovenia is one of the most beautiful places (see picture below) in the world, but completely dark spiritually. It's full of sex and deceit. 13 year olds get abortions like it's no big deal. People are left fatherless. It's heartbreaking and I can't wait to minister to the youth there.

These are the things I need prayer in:
Financial Provision for Slovenia ($400)
Boldness to tell the youth of Slovenia of Jesus
Continued prayer for my time with Noemi

THANKS :D