Had a great flight from Budapest to Amsterdam! Waiting at our gate to begin boarding at 430 local time. Flight to NYC is on time.
We will call as soon as we land in The Big Apple. Pray that our luggage meets us there. Can’t wait to see everyone!
Jasmine sifting through pics as we wait. And she scrounge an extra cheese sandwich from someone on our flight.
We said our goodbyes at Word of Life and have gone through security at the Budapest airport. Our flight is on time for a 1250 departure local time.
One. Today is our final full day here in Hungary, so we have one final night here in Toalmas. We still have some packing to do and a team meeting, so the blog portion will be brief, but full of pictures.
One. The team has been unified in purpose this week. Each task, each conversation, each new relationship built. They have been one.
One. Our God is One and He has called us to one purpose – to make disciples. Our team was able to experience many different approaches to making disciples this week and it has been awesome to watch.
One. Enjoy our last day in photos.
Missed breakfast on Friday morning, so… we walked to the local szupermarket in Toalmas!
Traveled to Budapest for some Open Air Evangelism at the main train station.
Word of Life staff setting up at the train station. Hungarians are a very “say what you’re thinking kind of people”, so they don’t mind people speaking out. They just move on if not interested.
Some WOL staff and students talking with some listeners.
We grabbed some dinner in Budapest at the oldest McDonald’s in Europe. I have to admit,, the McD’s coffee here is REALLY good. And about half the price as the U.S.
Some WOL students run an open soccer ministry in two locations on Friday nights. They pick up and play and then share a short testimony afterwards. Most of these children are gypsies. It was cool getting to know their culture. The Americans held their own on the pitch. We were tired though!
On Saturday, we visited a local church in a neighboring town. The baptismal is just behind the pulpit. This church has about 40 members and is considered a medium sized church in Hungary.
From Right: Tomas (Assoc. pastor of this church), Ross, Kati (Atilla’s wonderful wife) and Hannah (one of Atilla’s daughters).
We left Tomas’ church and divided into two teams to help two local churches. Kati, Mrs. Urquhart and I went to a tiny church with one member. I’ll explain in a moment!
Kaylynn and Lyndsay cleaning windows. We did some cleaning inside and out.
This is Tomas’ talking to the one member of the church. There are about 25 others who attend, but she is the only one officially registered as a member. The do have a interim pastor. She was thankful for our help!
Local fruit and vegetable shop.
Came back from cleaning to do some zip-lining back at WOL. Atilla gave us some training before we took off over the four different lines on the course.
Yes. The first zip line was high in the tree!
We went over the pond.
Lava Stone Grill – We took Atilla and his family out to dinner tonight as a thank you for all of their help in organizing our trip. The restaurant gave us our own raw slab of pork, chicken and steak on an inch thick sizzling lava stone and we cooked it ourselves! It was amazing!
And Kierstan was super happy with her lava stone feast.
Outside Lava Stone Grill
Random pics from the Gold Room in the WOL Castle
Pics from Gold Room
Gold Room pillars
Gold Room looking through to the main entrance. I know the carpets aren’t straight Mr. Bernhardt. 🙂
Yesterday, we wrapped up our on-campus work projects. Laundry is done (and we all smell as sweet as a summer meadow). Mailing labels are afixed. And the dorm is cleaned and sparkling. (It had better be. We mopped the floor 4 times!)
Before . . .
Another before . . .
And AFTER!
While it is clear that a strong comradarie has developed amongst the group, and that everyone is working hard and having fun, it is also clear that energy is starting to wane. So what does one do to boost morale? Throw a party!
This week is mid-terms week for all the Bible Institute students. The panic and anxiety over these exams is palpable. So we announced that we would host a study-break shindig for all the students (and anyone else on campus wishing to attend). We wanted to give them a break, but also give ourselves the opportunity to hang out with them and get to know them better. Well, we nearly got a standing ovation from the students when we announced the party at breakfast. Such eagerness!
We loaded up on sodas (caffeinated, of course) and snacks and headed to their student center.
Conveniently (and all part of the master plan) we also used this festive occasion to celebrate Eric Lewis’s birthday. We surprised him with a small gift and a large amount of enthusiasm. He even received a rousing round of “Happy Birthday”, sung by 80+ people from 17 different countries, in several different languages at the same time. It would have been even more amazing if we could have heard any of the other languages above the Brazilians. But no one can deny the Brazilians’ zeal for singing (and celebrating in general). It was heaps of fun to celebrate Mr. Lewis in such a unique setting with such wonderful people.
We ate food, we drank soda, we talked, we played music, we played games. It was a smashing success! (Our ears are still ringing.) Here’s just a peek at some of the evening’s festivities. (We do have a video, but the blog won’t allow us to post the multi-lingual rendition of “Happy Birthday”. We may try to post later or on Facebook, so stay tuned.)
Today, after the excitement of the party, we were delighted to be able to sleep in just a little. We walked in to town and overwhelmed the teeny grocery store in Toalmas (that was not built to accommodate 14 sleepy Americans at once) for some breakfast items. We are now preparing for the rest of the day. We will be:
There is never a dull moment on the campus of WOL Hungary, and it is such an honor to be a small part of it.
Good morning, from lovely Toalmas!
Today is work day #2. Just to recap the results of yesterday’s projects, the boys finished up their gravel-spreading (assisted by Hungarian Richie and Elliot from Michigan) . . .
. . . And the girls moved from cleaning inside to cleaning outside. The trees are quite messy and make for slippery conditions on walkways . . . And on top of railings, evidently (nice work, Nicole).
As you can imagine, a 100+ year old castle requires almost constant maintenance – especially one filled with students. Looking around, there’s always evidence of work in progress or more projects that need done.
Our jobs today are:
Here’s a few shots of this morning’s work getting underway.
While we have no problem having fun while working, some of our favorite moments have been our evening “debrief” sessions. We talk about the day, last night Mr. Ross gave his testimony, and we look ahead to the next day’s schedule. But instead of everyone heading to bed (despite being exhausted. Oh, so very exhausted) no one seems to want to leave. We keep sitting around, passing a bag of hard, Hungarian cookies (that aren’t even that tasty, but are the only consumable object available), and chatting and laughing and recounting the days of yore (aka: middle school, from which everyone seems to have at least 1 super awkward story.)
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Today, in between loads of laundry, Richard is going to offer his experience of Hungary so far (and is clearly still mourning the loss of his airport pizza):
Have you ever been looking forward to something for so long, and when it finally gets there it feels unreal? Well, welcome to Hungary Senior Trip 2016. We all started out saying our goodbyes and moved onto a van ride that involved more falsetto singing of “Hey Soul Sister” than you could ever wish for (or want), and which eventually got us to the airport.
Not having eaten lunch, Keegan and I decided to partake in the finest of Airport pizzas and ordered ourself some Italian cuisine. Little did we know when the lady rang us up and told us 7 minutes for our pizza, that JFK must have no working clocks. After 30 minutes of waiting, and panicked looks from our classmates as I stared this pizza lady down, we finally got our pizza just in time to board our plane with a large untouched pepperoni pizza in hand, and the laughter of airport stewards and stewardesses following behind. To my surprise my ticket had a completely different row from everyone else, and worse, it was then that the realization that I would be completely separated from those I knew for 7 hours finally set in’ crammed between those who spoke perfect Dutch, yet were lacking in their English skills, to the point of me having to try and use hand motions to explain why I needed to get up to go to the bathroom, because apparently “PLEASE EXCUSE ME I REALLY GOTTA GO” must be easy to understand in Dutch. At this point I largely accepted the fact that if I pulled this pizza out in the middle of a pressure locked plane, that you can’t open the windows to, I would either be mauled for a slice by those around me, or stared at for 7 hours while I tried to eat something. I decided to stuff the pizza under the chair, and do my darnedest to forget about it. Needless to say, I never got to eat the pizza that nearly cost me my flight to Hungary.
So far in Hungary, we’ve gone from schools to youth centers to buffets and even to Budapest. A couple highlights would have to be the terrifying tale of the four ghost horseman that Ross decided to tell us when Keegan and I were nestled up in our twin beds. (This involved Keegan and I not sleeping for quite a bit.) Other highlights are the breathtaking view of the city from Castle Hill, laying rocks down for two parking areas (my body still hurts), and having morning and evening conversations with the class, which (to even our own surprise) are some of our favorite parts of trip. The meetings are always filled with laughter, compliments, and genuine interest in what we are doing, and these have been unforgettable for me. This trip seems to be flying by, especially when I realize I have less than 3 days left at this place. Also, if you’re in Hungary, bring your own ice, or else you’ll be stuck sipping drinks that are consistently room temperature.
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For those who are concerned, Richard finally did get some pizza – Hungarian pizza – for dinner last night. And now we’re now headed back to the basement to retrieve our clean laundry. Horray for clean clothes!
halfway done!
Today we have Kaitlyn Long and Erika Echternach blogging with us – not only because they have some fabulous insights on yesterday’s experience, but also because they have been a part of my (Mrs. U’s) Food & Travel Writing club this year, and we saw this as a great opportunity for them to practice some of the skills they’ve been learning. (See how we even incorporate curriculum while overseas? Talk about multi-tasking! Anyway….)
The Crew – rearing to go!
a quick stop to interact with a piece of artwork, such interesting and aesthetic pieces can be found all over the city.
. . . Heroes Square . . . 
. . . and finally the Parliament House.
At Parliament, we had a guided tour (in English, yay!) and were reminded often that this building as decorated with gold. Pure gold. Lots of gold. There were even gold cigar stands for members of parliament to set their cigars on while they went into the meeting room to vote or hear a speech.
They’re even numbered so the parliament members didn’t mix up their cigars. How thoughtful!
The building is, of course, stunning. And with all – or nearly all – the remnants of Communisism essentially gone. Disappeared. Except for a display downstairs, exhibiting the communist star that once presided at the peak of the Parliament. Now, this lone token rests in the basement.
Other bits and pieces, small reminders, of this dark period in Hungary’s history have been cropping up here and there. There’s even a mark on an exterior wall of the WOL Castle where the red star of communism once stood. Now what Hungarian churches and believers are finding is that people, schools, communities, even the government, is open to Bible teaching and Christianity. Such an incredible and exciting time for Hungarian believers!
Here’s a few other parliamentary shots from yesterday.
From Parliament we went to do a little shopping at a Hungarian market. There was heaps of bartering (which usually ended with us shrugging and handing over money because “yes” and “thank you” and “hello” and “mushroom” severely limit you when trying to negotate prices). We did have Atilla (WOL staff) and Danny (WOL intern) with us who are Hungarian and made sure no one was taken advantage of. But that really was not a concern. Most shop keepers spoke English and were quite welcoming and hospitable and eager to share with us insights into traditional Hungarian culture.
Of course, shopping makes everyone Hungary – oops, I mean hungry. So dinner was up next. So I’ll hand the mic over to Erika.
TROFEA GRILL
Warning: when you first walk into Trophea Grill you’re going to think you’re in Heaven. Spoiler alert: you’re not, which is unfortunate because you’ll want to spend an eternity there. This is the buffet to end all buffets. Not only vast quantities of food but insane quality. We walked by the buffet just to tantalize our senses before our loud and large group (which included a Richard) was seated in the wayyyyy back. Coincidence? You decide.
Anyway, our first encounter was with beverages. Spread out intermittently across the table were giant spray bottles containing carbonated water. Beside them were small pitchers holding what looked like olive oil. Our waiter explained that it was honeysuckle nectar that we poured just a touch of into our glass before filling the rest up with the sparkling water. One by one we each sampled this curious liquid which ultimately left us with 2 questions: Is this honeysuckle nectar or nectar of the gods themselves? And how can America get in on this action!? Europe has really been holding out on us. Needless to say everything was hunky dory, that is until the spray seltzer proved to be a problem for some group members (Nicole) who got a little spritz happy and subsequently ended up slightly drenched. However, nothing could put a damper on this evening when there was still a buffet to be explored!
A substantial part of the reasoning for bringing us to such an astonishing establishment was to give us the chance to try some authentic Hungarian dining. This took on a variety of forms from fruit soup to salmon and ricotta cakes. If there’s one thing to take away from the night, it’s that Hungarians know how to spice things up! When it comes to balancing acidity, these people are second to none. They are the masters of seasoning, tempering spices with mellower herbs and savory with sweet. And they marinate like CHAMPS. The rest of the world best take notes, because class is in session.
These skills were especially evident at the hibachi-like grill where customers selected their pre-seasoned meats (think dill, lemon, sesame, etc.) and any add ons ranging from cheese to quail eggs, then handed their plate of delicacies to the nice Hungarian man who grilled it up to perfection. Here’s the catch, you don’t fill your plate to overflowing like a fat American (Keegan). That’s a rookie mistake. The trick is to just take a little, but go up 17 times until you’re on a first name basis with the grill master.
Once you’ve finally received your plate of yumminess, you are bombarded by flavor from every angle. You’re going to be overwhelmed. The best thing you can do at this point is to simply close your eyes and let the flavors dance across your tongue in a perfectly orchestrated poultry polka. Other Hungarian dishes included venison, polenta, beef tortilla, and a savory pancake/crepe thing that nobody could determine what exactly was inside, but each bite of it resulted in a party in your mouth so it was all good. Also, Hungarians will eat potatoes in every form imaginable, including puffed into delightful little pillows of fluff!
What’s that? You’re not into traditional Hungarian cuisine? Well allow me to introduce you to my pal the sushi bar! Or perhaps you’d get along better with the good old pizza bar. Worst comes to worst, there always an extensive bread bar at which there is a gigantic knife that the restaurant staff has no qualms about leaving out for patrons to help themselves from any loaf. It’s a beautiful thing.
Just when you think you cannot possibly stuff yourself with any more deliciousness, it’s time for dessert! Hopefully, you’re not allergic to dairy or there could be some issues. However, if you can hold down your lactose, there is cheesecake galore! Other desserts include peach sour cream squares, giant custard filled cream puffs, chocolate mousse stuff, brownies (for our traditional folk), and more cheesecake. There are also these dispensers of a mysterious scrumptiousness that leaves one thinking, “Is it a slushie? Is it ice cream? I DON’T KNOW BUT IT’S WONDERFUL.”
Finally, as we were all blissfully slipping into a food coma, the waiter brought a dozen flowers for all the females as part of International Women’s Day. What!? Why is this not a thing in the states!? Dear Hungary, please write a book on chivalry. Thanks.
Anyway, in short, it was the most fantastic experience of my life. To top it all off, it turns out Trofea translates to “trophy”, which makes SO MUCH SENSE. Because seriously, someone please get this place an award.
CASTLE HILL
After dinner, for dessert (a feast for the eyes, if you will), we traveled over to Castle Hill. Kaitlyn is going to share her experience:
“My house in Budapest, my hidden treasure chest” were lyrics that most likely floated through everyone’s mind yesterday. Yesterday we spent the day sightseeing in Budapest. After spending the day visiting Hero Square, the parliament building (which is breathtaking), the market, and having dinner together, we made our way to Castle Hill. Castle Hill, is exactly what is sounds like, a castle upon a hill. Actually, it’s more like a city upon a hill. There’s gothic arches, cobblestone streets, old churches, all of which were beautiful. The evening was cold, and the air was crisp, but that didn’t stop us from making our way through the Hill, and we are glad we did. Once we saw the view from the top, the fact that we were all freezing no longer mattered. The view was worth it. From the top of the Hill, you can see the Parliament building, and the Danube River which runs right thought the heart of Budapest. Not to mention all the bridges. We took a moment to take pictures, and talk about the view. Then, we all stood silent, spellbound, looking out over the city, taking in the view. After a moment of silence to embrace the view, we all huddled together, and prayed for the City. We prayed that God would be found within this beautiful city. We prayed that the people of Budapest, and all of Hungary would allow God into their lives, and that God would become visible. I think everyone would agree that Castle Hill was a highlight of the night. It was a wonderful moment of fellowship, a chance to pray for a beautiful city, and a beautiful group of people. It was a chance to be together as a big family.
” Then I saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having an everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth- to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people- saying in a loud voice ” fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of His judgement has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the spring of water.” Revelations 14:6-7
Our prayer is that the people of Budapest will see God, and accept him as their Savior, and that they will fear Him.
TODAY:
So that was our day of sightseeing – a long post, I know. But we actually saw and experienced far more than we can describe here. Your students will be bursting at the seams to fill you in. Today (Wednesday) we began our work projects on the WOL grounds. Girls are working on cleaning, guys are working on graveling a new parking area – and they have plenty more for us to do once that’s done. Lots of dirt under the fingernails tonight. Can’t wait! Talk to you all soon!
We spent the day in Budapest and, quite honestly, we are wiped out. There is so much to talk about that we are going to wait to elaborate until tomorrow when we can do this amazing experience justice. Good night!
We are learning quickly that the Hungarian language is VERY difficult and that it is NOT similar to English. Ever. Seeya is Hello. Alo is Goodbye. And I’ve noticed that I use Spanish as my default foreign language when not speaking American, which REALLY confuses everyone.
Yet, despite the obvious language barrier, our team has fully embraced the Hungarian experience and people. As chaperones, we are amazed at the ease in which our seniors have jumped All In with every opportunity and are trying to use the Hungarian words we learn in our daily tutorial with Ross.
Today was another example. Back in the fall, a Word of Life student, who has a gypsy heritage, saw a huge need in his local town that was struggling with racism. You see, Hungarians, in general, regard Gypsies as outsiders, and sometimes as almost untouchable. This student, Micky, has a huge heart for this town and for his gypsy friends, so he and several other WOL students drive over an hour on Mondays to his hometown to do after school English language training with the students, who are both gypsy and Hungarian. They use Bible verses to teach from and reward Bible memorization in Hungarian and English with candy. We had the privilege of helping them today and it was a blast! To see both Gypsies and Hungarians memorize God’s Word and break down barriers in relationships was inspiring. Some wonderful seeds are being planted in hearts.
We then traveled to a tiny community center run by a young couple who have a heart for the local youth. And I mean, T-I-N-Y. Like the entire building is the size of Ross and my classroom. So, we spent some time there, playing soccer with the kids and then hearing Ross share his testimony through a translator. We love seeing seeds of God’s love and the Gospel being planted.
Again, your kids are amazing! Tomorrow, we are doing our tourist day in Budapest and contemplating how many things in Mario Brothers is rooted in Hungarian. We’ve found two examples- goomba is mushroom, and that’s Hungarian. We will keep you posted.
Thanks for your prayers! Seeya. No, Alo. Ugh. Adios!
Nicole representing Inner Mongolian soccer with the Hungarians.
New friends!
Teaching English using Scripture in an after school program led by Word of Life Bible Institute students.
Had some fun touring the castle grounds. Played some Nerf Wars with the Bible Institute students. And, yes Mrs. Winters, your water slide is still working great!
LC Senior Go! 