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| The first goodbye Aug. 2011 |
On August 20, 2011 I arrived in Budapest, Hungary. I was jet-lagged and overwhelmed from the previous weeks of support raising. I was thankful to be here knowing that school was starting in just 4 days. August 20th is a special day not just to me but it is Hungary's birthday and most widely celebrated national holiday know as St. Istvan's Nap or St. Steven's Day. St. Istvan was the first king of Hungary. The day is celebrate with a birthday cake, food, street festivals, and handcraft festival. Of course no national birthday would quite be the same without fireworks. My first year, I was too exhausted to think about celebrating and I did not understand either. My lovely neighbors had me over as we talked around the fire pit trying to prop my eyes open until at least 9 pm.
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| Outside the parliament building. |
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| Watching the parade of the Holy Right Hand of St. Steven that is kept in the basilica. |
The past three years I have heartily participated in the celebration of St. Istvan's day and in God's plan for bringing me to Hungary. This year a friend and I went downtown a in the middle of the afternoon in hopes of gaining entrance into the Hungarian Parliament building. It's free and open to the public on national holidays. Sadly the line was too line and they were not taking any more visitors for the day. Instead we visited a memorial and museum to the 1956 revolution and mass murder that took place at parliament. It was sobering but a good reminder of this countries history.
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| The underground memorial and museum. |
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| Tomb and memorial wall to remember those who died. |
The day ended with celebratory fireworks over the Danube River. We stood right next to one of the two bridges where fireworks were shot from and had a great view of the ones being shot off from the hill. It was a great day celebrating God's faithfulness and kindness to me.
In all, I am overwhelmed at his faithfulness as he continues to show me care and provisions. Sometimes its in the little things that really are huge like my Hungarian neighbors offering me a ride home from the store after bumping into them or a missionary family including me in a family outing to go swimming at Lake Velence. Sometimes its in the charming smile and hugs of the now 6th grade boy who was in my first class here. Or in the sweet note that comes in the mail from a friend in America. Also it comes in the joyful news that a 7th grader became a Christian and a 4th grader was baptized this summer. It comes as I look over the list of names of people who are faithfully obeying the Lord in giving sacrificing a portion of money to provide for my daily needs. These are not just names of people but partners in the gospel, brothers and sisters in Christ, and friends from many areas of my life. (If you are one of these people reading this- a deep, sincere, humble thank you for sharing and participating in God's faithfulness.)
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| Saying good-bye to my parents at the airport Aug. 2015 |
I remember God impressing upon me just before leaving in August 2011 the familiar verses of Psalm 23. "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pasture and leads me beside still waters. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name sake." These verses have once again surfaced as a reminder to me to look back and see how the faithful shepherd has lead me. It gives me hope and confidence in future grace that he the ways he will continue to lead me are good. There might me a dark valley to walk through but I will not be alone. My shepherd is with me and in the end he wins, no matter what.
PS- The goodbyes don't get any easier.
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