.splish.splash.

Little missy has realized the other day that she can splash water with her foot. Since then the evening bath is much more fun.

.crackin.up.

Balázs and Leah were visiting with us last night and we had a great time together. Balázs started to talk to Nina and she was mesmerized by him, she started to giggle which then turned into a full laugh. We could not resist recording it and sharing it with you.

.tricks.

I listened to Danny Bhoy, an Indian stand-up comedian the other day and he had an interesting observation. He said that in some cultures parents just love to show off with their kids, whenever guests show up they will have their children start the dog and pony show. With that in mind, here is a list of tricks Nina has learned these last four months:
  • She rolls to her side and rolls back.
  • She follows us with her eyes when we are in the room or speak.
  • She rubs off her socks, she hates socks - much like her daddy.
  • She loves to sleep - much like her daddy.
  • She "plays" with the toy she holds in her hand.
  • She "talks" to her toys, and to her parents often - all we need is an interpreter, got one? She says things like hugga, and hagoo.
  • She can outburp most grown men :)


.on.hold.

I had to call my bank's customer service department yesterday, to ask them to replace a card they sent me (it had my maiden name on it by mistake, and I need my married name to be displayed on the little piece of oh, so useful plastic). One would think that taking care of something like that wouldn't take too long. Especially over the phone, as the whole point of over-the-phone customer service was invented so you wouldn't have to stand in line at the bank itself for every little thing.
Although I love my bank, and they have always been great, and professional, yesterday was a different story.
It took three different phone-calls, and a FULL HOUR on the phone to take care of this. As you can imagine, I spent most of that hour actually ON HOLD. Only about 10-15 minutes of the hour was spent speaking with officials. As I was getting more and more impatient, I started paying attention to the "on-hold song" that was playing over, and over again. You know those songs that are supposed to make you calm while you wait to be listened to? Well, whoever chose this one, had a brilliant sense of humor, as the chorus playing again and again, said: "Please, listen to meeeeeeee....." No kidding. I wish I could post the music here, because the whole song had this droopy-eyed, begging tone to it, it was so ironic, I had to laugh.
So how do you pass time while waiting? Well, I looked through the latest junk-mail selection, and found out what's on sale at Tesco and Metro. Then I leafed through the CBD catalogue. Then I looked through the latest issue of a women's magazine. And THEN, as I was STILL on hold, I decided to sweep the living-room floor, as well as the stairwell, since I had the time. A great use of the otherwise seemingly useless on-hold time, indeed. I was very proud of myself. Much accomplished, in one short hour. Maybe I'll call the bank again today, and clean the bathroom while I wait? I'll let you know.

.ministry.update.

We apologize for the long silence during the last few months regarding ministry, but we have literally been trying to keep our heads on our respective shoulders, and between the busy moments, have been attempting to use every free moment for sleeping.


It is almost four months ago now that we moved from Pécs to Vajta (you can read more about that in our earlier blog posts), and our lives have changed so much since then! First of all, on the 24th of June, we became the proud, blessed parents of Nina!

When we left Pécs at the end of May, we knew that the Lord was at work and that He has a purpose in bringing us to serve at Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe. Now, four months later, we can honestly say that His purpose is manifold, and we are confident that we have just begun seeing the surface of all the various reasons for this move.

Teaching and Discipleship

After moving to Vajta, and while assuming his new duties as one of the pastors here, Árpi has continued traveling to the city of Dunaájváros, to teach at the home fellowship there, every Tuesday evening. Árpi has been teaching through the book of Hebrews. The group of believers there continues to be faithful in coming, and there have been a few new faces recently as well.

At Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe (the new semester started two weeks ago), Árpi is teaching the Epistle to the Romans and Inductive Bible Study this semester to the Hungarian students. There is an almost completely new Hungarian student body this semester, most of whom are very young. What a great opportunity to shape young lives and raise them up to serve the Lord!

Andi has been meeting the girls (Nina is a great conversation starter), and our heart is to be used of God to build up and encourage these young lives in His Word, and in serving Him.

The Office

Árpi spends most of his time with documents, numbers, financial reports and legal papers in the office. He loves doing it, he has a God given talent to organize and to make things happen. He loves it so much that on occasion he has a hard time leaving his tasks behind.

Translation

In our last newsletter, we mentioned the Hungarian translation of Under His Influence, a Lloyd Pulley book Andi worked on. Well, the translation is done, but the logistics of dealing with the printer and publisher got a bit sidetracked by Nina’s arrival. However, we are nearing finishing it, praise the Lord! We are excited to see how God is going to use this tool in the lives of Hungarian believers.

Also, Andi is translating one of the classes at Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe this semester. It is a class on Galatians and Ephesians, taught by pastor Mark Walsh, twice a week. It has provided a great opportunity for Andi to interact with the Hungarian student body, while Nina is blessed with really cool baby-sitters :)

Bosnia

You remember that when we left Pécs, we did so knowing that sometime in the future, Lord willing, we would be going to Bosnia to serve the people there. God had also showed us that Vajta would be – other than an interim place – a point of connection for us with others who are serving there or involved in ministry there in some way.

Well, God is certainly not wasting time! He has already brought our way a missionary family and a lovely young woman who are serving there. They visited us here in Vajta, and we had a wonderful time getting to know them, and continue to curiously watch God unfold His plan, in His time.

English teaching

A young woman from the village (her name is Vera) that Andi knew when she lived in Vajta years ago sought her out and asked if she would teach her English. With Nina being only three months at this point, Andi comitted to once a week for now – but is very excited about this opportunity to reach out to Vera.

Parenthood

As we mentioned above, Nina came on June 24th, so she is a bit more than three months old now. She is growing too fast, and never ceases to amaze us. She is too cute! Being parents is quite an adventure, and we love it, and are so excited to see Nina grow up into a woman of God – which is our prayer.

Prayer requests

  • For the Holy Spirit to minister through Árpi every time he teaches.
  • For the Lord to raise up a helper at the the Dunaújváros home fellowship.
  • For Árpi as he ministers to the guy students, especially András, who comes from a very difficult background.
  • For the girls: Edit, Petra, Mónika, Zsuzsi, Orsi, Vivien, Éva – for their lives to be transformed completely. For Andi to take every opportunity presented for discipling them.
  • Wisdom with office tasks and responsibilities.
  • For all the translation Andi is involved in: anointing, strength, and wisdom.
  • For the door to Bosnia to remain open, for the Lord’s guidance and equipping as we prepare to go there.

.hanging.out.

Every night after bathing, while mom gets things ready to dress her, Nina spends time in her daddy's lap, just hanging out. Last night was no exception. This usually constitutes of her making faces at Arpi while he "talks" to her. Last night was especially precious, and we managed to catch the moment via camera, so here it is: