Home again, but not quite.

Well as you may have imagined, we are back from our adventures in Transylvania and before you ask, no, we did not stumble upon any vampires!  We certainly did have a wonderful time and experienced things we are not likely soon to forget.

Traveling to Romania was largely uneventful, at least until we arrived at our stop.  At which point, bumbling Americans that we are, we forgot to get off! This small oversight cost us an extra hour on the train, three hours waiting in a train station in the middle of nowhere, and a bumpy two hour van ride! In our defense, the train stopped for what was probably a grand total of 25 seconds… which is a difficult thing for a team of nine with baggage for ten days to prepare for.  In the end it’s a great memory for a good laugh and it didn’t dampen the tone of our trip!

As this is a blog, and not a book, I won’t delve a great deal into the details of all that we saw and did, but I will color in the basics! Probably the most consistent part of our trip was our work in the after school program that the church plant has established there.  About ten gypsy children of all different ages go to this place for about 5 hours after school each day.  Here they are fed, helped with their homework, and taught the bible.  Each of these children come from heavily abusive homes.  Abuse is more common than not in the gypsy cultures of Eastern Europe.  One child we knew had been tossed out of a two story window by his father only two weeks before we arrived.  So we spent time with these kids and built relationships with them, loving them unconditionally and preaching the gospel to them. 

                Of all that we saw and did, probably the most impactful, especially for Sarah, was visiting one of the orphanages in Bistritia.  Because most orphans are adopted or put in foster homes in Romania, the orphanages are filled primarily with children of various handicaps. These are the children no one wants.  They suffer terrible treatment, the worst of which could simply be summarized by a lack of love.  Diapers are left unchanged through the night, and well on past the morning.  If it weren’t for the missionaries and members of the local church that go regularly, infants would go un-held for days.  Many of the children have Cerebral Palsy and are barely touched except for the administering of medication.  All in all it was very difficult to see, especially for Sarah I think, who has not seen children in these conditions before, and didn’t know what to expect. For me it was a real joy just to hold some of these children and whisper in their ears that Jesus loves them in Romanian.  They don’t understand much and will probably forget us soon, but perhaps they will remember the name of Jesus with warmth and kindness in an environment devoid of any affection or love.

                It was good to arrive home in Vajta but I think the trip away just had Sarah and I missing all of you, our friends and family in American even more.  At this point we have only two more weeks here in Hungary and then we’ll be off to spend the holiday season in Arizona with my parents for five weeks.  

              

                For Sarah and me, the end of the school year means lots of grading papers and administration.  We will be keeping busy these last two weeks and so the time should fly!  Sarah continues to be a great steward of the coffee shop and last night organized a coffee shop decorating party to which almost the entire school came to.  It was a smashing success complete with hot cocoa, sugar cookies, and obnoxious amounts of laughter.  We capped the end of the night with a showing of Home Alone, during which there was even more obnoxious laughter :)  

Well there was much more I could write about it but I would be unwise not to save some stories for when we come back!  We miss you all very much and hope this reading finds you enjoying life and the holidays, and I hope none of you were injured during your Black Friday ventures!

Towards Transylvania

Friends and Family,

Backpacking around Europe for five weeks had its’ challenges to be sure.  After sleeping in train stations, hostels, and ferries with the same two people 24/7, one would think my wife and I have had quite enough of the peregrinators life to last us a good while.  One would be wrong…

            This new adventure upon which we will embark tomorrow, brings new challenges and new hopeful expectations.  It will be challenging because it will not be only our own bellies and bodies we will be responsible for, but also for seven other young and foolish (for following us into the unknown) students. Hopeful expectation comes from the knowledge that this time, we travel not for own amusement and wanderlust, but for the purpose of spreading His good news!

            It is to a small city in the country of Romania where we are headed, in the region of famed Transylvania, where the stories of Vlad the Impaler’s cruelty (aka Dracula) are birthed.  These ancient cruelties however are distant in mind compared to the more recent regimes that have plagued the populace.  When I think of Romania I think of two things; vampires and orphans.  I don’t know of any vampires in need of the gospel, so it is to the orphans that we will go!

            In all seriousness we are very excited to have this opportunity.  With this team of ours made of CCBCE students from Vajta, Hungary, we will be spending time in an abandoned baby hospital where infants die from lack of physical touch and love.  Also we will be visiting an orphanage every morning while in the afternoons we will be working with local gypsy children.  These things I’m sure will impact us in ways we are not yet prepared for, but we are excited knowing Whom we are going for.

            If you have a memory better than mine, please don’t neglect to pray for us that our God will fill us up with His Spirit so that we can love these children and each other in the way that He loves, without any conditions whatsoever! Pray also for our safety as we travel, and for the hearts of the children we will minister to. 

Part 3- Last of the adventures!

        Last of the backpacking details; we left Amsterdam and went straight to Berlin early as Jono was getting sick. As we had not realized it is cold pretty much all the time in the Netherlands! We had originally decided to go to the south of Germany first, but as we were low on funds we decided to skip the south of Germany. We got to Berlin fairly late, and were unable to find accommodation so we had to sleep in a train station. Super humbling when you know you're poor and its cold! We woke up early the next morning, as its really hard to sleep on a bench/ground. 

       We went to the travel office, and they told us about a hostel nearby. We walked to the hostel,and there was no room there so they sent us to another one about 100 feet away. I now know how Mary and Joseph felt, although a barn would have been better than a train station :) The hostel was great, super clean and for an amazing price. It was also a Christian hostel! We slept most of the day since Jono was still sick, and now worse after spending the night in a cold train station. 

     The next day Chaney and I set out to explore Berlin! Jonathan spent he day resting, as he was not up to walking still. We went to all the big monuments, the Brandenburg gate, the Reich stag, and my favorite the Berlin wall. It still exists in 4 places, and we went to the biggest section and just walked the length of it. It was so crazy walking there, and seeing the murals of freedom on something that once represented division and communism. It made me think of all the people that fought and died for our freedoms, and how lucky we are to live in the places we do. We don't think about it often, but let us consider how blessed we really are. 

      Its so cool to live beyond the Iron Curtain too, because two decades ago it would have been impossible to be here. 

      After Berlin we went to the much anticipated city of Prague. It was a beautiful city as everyone had told us it would be. It is actually considered one of the oldest places in Europe, as it was virtually untouched by WW2. Hitler loved Prague in fact, and hoped to make it his HQ after the war. In fact he never destroyed the Jewish temples because he wanted to make them a place to showcase his defeat of the Jews, and one day set up a museum. Even though its great he never did, its also means that they have some of the oldest Jewish temples everywhere. Awesome for me because I love the Jews. Needless to say the Jewish district was our favorite. 

         Everywhere you look there are amazing buildings and old castle-like structures. Another highlight was the world famous astronomical clock in Prague built in 1410. It was made by an amazing scientist who was so brilliant, that the king at the time had hot coals poured over his eyes so he could never make another clock like it for any other city! It goes off about 9 times a day, and these 4 figures come out while the 12 apostles circle through the top. Its pretty cool to watch if you want to check it out on Facebook. The castle was cool there too, and the river through the city made it even more beautiful. Seriously recommend Prague.

      After Prague we went to our last destination, Salzburg Austria! Such a beautiful city, and not super big. It had the cobblestone streets, and amazing sights everywhere. We saw all the sights from the sound of music, the gardens where they sing Do Re Mi, the gazebo where they sing I am 16 going on 17, and the steps from the old cathedral where they flee from the Nazis at the very end. We saw the gravestones and graveyard where they also hid form the Nazis, the abbey where Maria was from, and the beautiful castle overlooking the entire city. It is one of the best preserved castles in all of Europe, and definitely worth seeing. Everyone should go to Salzburg at some time in their life. 

     We took the train home to Budapest and stopped to see the Wallace's before coming back to Vajta. We were so glad to come home! Just hearing Hungarian again and not striving to figure out what people are saying all the time was even a relief. After 5 weeks of travel, through stress and fatigue and sickness, we were so glad to have a few days to rest. Even though we came home a few days early it was worth it. Chaney left on the 19th, ready to go back home and start teaching. It was overall a great trip, and totally worth it. However we will probably never do it again, well, at least for five weeks at a time!

Part 2 of our Europe travels...

             Sooooooo to catch you all up.. the internet has been spotty, so finally we are back in Vajta where I hope I can fill you in on some of our travels. We'll keep it short and sweet so its not too boring, and if you have any questions you can ask us anytime!
            After Paris we sepnt 5 whole days in London area with my great friend from Bible College, Emma Rees! It is so great to have a local show you around, always the best experience. When we toured through London we didnt have to do a thing, Emma knew how to get everywhere like it was the back of her hand. She took us to all the great places, like Big Ben, London Bridge and Westminster and so on. I have been to London a couple other times, but this time we decided to go to see the Tower of London. It was the original Castle in the middle of London, where the kings of old lived long ago. Inside we were able to see the crown jewels! They are probably worth millions of dollars, and they date back to the 1600's! Such a cool change of pace in London.
           I also got a little Beatles pilgrimage in. As some of you may know, I am an avid Beatles fan, an influence of my mom. I went to Abbey road first, and after saying good bye to Emma, we headed up to Liverpool which is where the Beatles grew up and got thier start as a band. We did a Beatles taxi tour there, and I was in Beatle heaven! I was telling Chaney and Jono that I could die as of that moment, since the dream of my childhood had been fufilled. (Since  my other childhood dream was to marry one of them, this is the closest alternative!) The city of Liverpool was amazing, and all of the history and the places that are mentioned in many Beatles songs are there, like strawberry fields, Penny lane and Elenor Rigby and so on. Probably my favorite experience!
        After Liverpool we took a ferry to Belfast, and then toured through Ireland. Probably our favorite country as a whole so far. They are the nicest people, and the country is probably the most beautiful since it rains almost 24/7! We stayed at Clay Worrels' church in Waterford, which is where they make that expensive crystal you probably walk by in department stores. We went to the castle in Cork and kissed the nasty blarney stone (which they do sanitize amazingly), so hopefully we will get the gift of gab and not a cold. Such a Beautiful place and I would recommend Ireland to anyone really, we were so sad to go.
       We flew to Brussels from Dublin, and we tried some waffles, fries and chocolate. The Belgians are supposed to be the creators of the French Fry, and while they were some of the best who knows if they actually did. They have great waffles, but no syrup like America. Smurfs come from there as well, but we didn't see them. That evening we went up to Holland, and stayed with a family outside Amsterdam/Harlaam area. Their daughter goes to school here in Vajta and they have been pastoring a church in Holland for over 10 years. They were so great to us, and so hospitable. We were so blessed by them and pray that God blesses them immensely as well.
        We went to Harlaam for a day and saw Corrie Ten Bloom's house, and toured around a bit. We also did a day in Amsterdam of course, and went to Anne Franks house which was Brilliant! I remember reading her diary as a girl, and its amazing to be there and see it. But... they don't let you take pictures which I was sad about. We didn't go to the "coffee shops" which was okay with us. It would have probably just been depressing to see all those poor girls in the windows. It was a beautiful city besides that.
           You will have to check out all of our pictures on Facebook as they are posted. I will stop here for now and fill you in on the last portion of our trip, as most of you have probably not even read this far and are bored out of your minds...
            If you ever get to England, you need to go to one of thier carvery dinners. As its about 5 pounds, and you get a ton of amazing food. Any 3 meats of your choice, potates, vegetables, yorkshire pudding and cranberry sauce- Yum!

Hello friends and Family!  

  As we continue on our Journey through Europe we have finally come into France, one of my most anticipated spots because I took French for so many years. It has definitely come in handy. Not that I am good at speaking French by any means, but I can get by.
    Our first stop in France was Monaco, just to add another country to the list. Then we headed to Marseille. It is a beautiful city on the French Riviera. Its popular but not quite so as its near neighbor the city of Nice (Hence the name ha ha!). Marseille is probably best known for the Chateau D'If, which was made famous by the book, the Counte of Monte Cristo. It is the oldest city in France, and it was amazing! It was first used as a defense in the 1600's or something like that, and then during the Napoleonic years they used it as a place to imprison those who opposed the emperor Napoleon. It was awesome and you will have to take a look at my Facebook photos!
     After Marseille we dipped down into Barcelona. We decided to camp out here, to save some money. But it wasn't so bad, the public transit is easy and we were right across from the beach! Barcelona is the capital of Gothic Architecture in Europe which makes for some very intriguing cathedrals!
     Next we headed to one of my favorite cities, Paris! I was so excited to see such an iconic city. The Louvre was awesome, seeing the Mona Lisa was definitely a highlight! The Eiffel tower of course, and climbing the 41 flights of stairs was a fun workout. Finally the Notre Dame, but we were sad but Quasimodo wasn't there! And just to clarify, from what I can tell,  some French like Americans, some don't. I used French everywhere I went. Not that it was perfect, not that my conjugations were always correct, but if I did a bad job people were nice about it. Paris was different. Not so many nice people, and some downright mean. So not my favorite people group, but they do have a great country.
       We met an English man in our travels that told us that God gave the French some of the best countryside in Europe, but then to make it fair, He put the french people there ;) We had a great time anyway! Miss you all!

     We are underway on our adventures!! Our package never arrived with our tickets, but we did happen to find passes at a good price in Budapest at the Eurail office. We missed out on most of Croatia, which is quite sad, so we will have to come back someday. We had a great time in Split, then took a ferry over to Ancona, Italy. Split was a great city to do in a day, and beautiful at that. There is this great bell tower that overlooks the whole city, and the view is beautiful!                                         Of course, Rome was amazing. You could be there for a week and not see everything. For sake of time, we went to the most important things. The Colosseum, of course. Then the Vatican city and Sistine chapel was awesome, we had a great time going up to the Capella of St. Peters Basilica. You actually walk up about 50 flights of extremely narrow stairs, and walk in a curved dome shape staircase around the actual dome, and then come out for a breathtaking panoramic view of the entire city. Its hard to explain, but lets just say, if you get claustrophobic at all, don't think about it!
   After Rome was Florence, and we stayed in a small town in the countryside of Tuscany. I think I enjoyed the small Town more than the crowded touristy city of Florence. I had the best pizza of my life there. The difference, garden ripened tasting vegetables and fresh flavorful ingredients. Basil of course helps anything. Who would have thought that freshness could affect quality so much? So much better than the methylene gas ripened vegetables we consume in the States.
  We took a side trip to Pisa, and saw the leaning tower. Pretty cool sight. It was 15 Euro to walk up it, so we decided not to. The next day was Venice. Super cool city just to get lost in. For all the winding streets and beautiful architecture and bridges, its hard to take a bad picture. I loved the masquerade masks, and I wish so badly I could take one home for my artistic actor in training sister! She would have loved to have one!
    Finally, we spent our last days in Italy in the Cinque Terre. Highly recommend by my friend Emmi Genovese and Rick Steve's (Author of Europe through the Back Door), we were not disappointed. If you have not had the opportunity to travel here, put it on your bucket list. It is a set of 5 small villages on the Italian river set right up into the mountains. We stayed in Vernazza, the 4th village, and it was the best by far. The smallest and the least touristy by night. In the evening the locals come down and join the few tourists smart enough to stay there. they have had some bad flooding, and the city has had to be remodeled. Despite this, it is still beautiful.
      Italy was overall amazing. The Italians are crazy, passionate, aggressive and amazing. Its been a great trip so far, and we are looking forward to many more countries.. That's three down, about 13 more to go! Pray for us! Miss you and love you all!

Hey Friends and Family!

        Here we are making our final preparations for backpacking! If any of you have been on facebook recently you might have heard of our adversity's regarding our train passes. We had to have our train passes sent to my mom, because they only ship to America. She sent them in a box about 4 weeks ago, and they have not arrived. They told us they would arrive in 6-10 business days, which usually doesn't happen, but they never take 4 weeks. They have not arrived yet, and we were set to leave yesterday. We are a day or two behind schedule as is, and so now we are trying to figure out what we want to do. If the passes arrive while we are gone, we can return them, but it will take takes four weeks to process. We will also loose 85% of the money we spent. We can them buy them here, but it will cost us 20% more. So we will end up spending a lot more than planned! So please pray for us that we will have wisdom in deciding what to do. Also pray our passes come on Monday as they could still possibly come!
       If all goes well, we will hit up 15 European countries! Starting from Hungary we will travel to Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, France, Monaco, Spain, England, Dublin, Brussels, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, Chech Republic, Austria again, Poland and back to Hungary. If anyone has any cities or places in mind that they would recommend, please post a comment!
      Chaney arrived on Saturday, and with the delay we have been packing and repacking, washing clothes and relaxing, So it has not been a huge loss of time in our vacation, just a loss of time in traveling all the places we wanted to see.  We will try to post often on our trip, and post pictures too! Stay tuned! And please pray that our tickets come, and that we are wise with how we travel. Also we need prayer for protection in our journey! Thank you so much for your prayers and support! We will keep you posted on all happenings!

Love, Jono and Sarah

End of the semester!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s that amazing time of year again. When school is passed and summer begins! Not that we are at all glad the semester is over, that means many friends and loved ones are to depart back to the states or other parts of the world. We are just excited for this next season of life.

                Jono and I will be here for the next three weeks approximately. We are going to be helping out here at the school with conferences and daily service needs until the Day of June 9^th, when we will meet Chaney in Budapest! We will be travelling with my best friend Chaney this summer via Planes, trains and automobiles all over Europe.

                Your next Question is probably “Where in Europe are you going?” I know this is the next question you would ask because 99% of the time people ask that after I tell them we are backpacking for the summer, which is great that people actually want to know! However, I always respond “Everywhere”! as we are indeed, going everywhere. We are starting in Budapest, going down to Croatia, and from there, everywhere else. We plan to do 15 countries in 5 weeks, overambitious yes? Fun, definitely Yes! We are very excited, nervous, happy, and every other emotion one could feel in these moments.

                We have been praying and asking the Lord, Jesus for direction for our lives after this. We have had a few offers in ministry, but we feel that the Lord is leading us to stay here, in Vajta. We decided to step out in faith despite the lack of funds, and now here we are, some of the next interns for the fall semester! We have been accepted into the internship program. From this we will receive the last remaining credits we need to get our bachelors, and will also be serving the students and staff as well.

                The only problem, which is really not a problem, is we are waiting on the Lord to provide the necessary funds. We feel that the Lord is leading us here and if He really is, He will provide the money. We know that He can and He will, but please pray for us as we move in this direction that the Lord would provide for us to be here and that we would have faith in him and his past faithfulness to us.

                The internship program is a 13 month commitment, and if we started in the fall we would not be finished until Next September, 2013. This is a big commitment, and truly quite sad for us and many of our family and friends. Our deepest regrets to all or family and friends that we will not be with you for a while longer, we dearly love each and every one of you! I am reminded of a verse my teacher shared with us. “Though I am absent from you in the flesh, I am with you in Spirit rejoicing to see your good order and steadfastness in Christ!”(Colossians 2:5).

                We will try to keep you updated until our departure! Please let us know if there is any way we can be praying for you all, we are with you in Spirit!

Love,

Sarah and Jono

Life as we know it...

Its been so long since we have written, I am slightly embarassed.

        We have been on our annual ten day outreach. Every semester all the students are required to go on a ten day outreach. Jono and I went to Budapest. We did many activities there such as homless ministry, street evangelism, street dramas, working the church cofee shop, and decorating the Baby room. We were super busy as a result, but at the same time we had a wonderful time.
       The plans for the baby room was to redecorate, but the church as well as the baby room is in a historicla building. So even though there were these great plans to redecorate, the city has to be ok with any updates they do. we started working cutting out shapes and sewing them on to banners, as well as making these flags that would hang from the ceiling. We worked on this every day, and we didnt even finish which is extremely vexing. It was so much work!
       A group of us each day would go to the homless shelter and serve making and serving meals. My experience there was awesome. The homeless people there are very well take care of, as this is one of 40 homless shelters there. Even though I can get by in Hungarian with a few words and phrases, it was difficult to understand the homless people. They would often start talking to me in German haha, apparently I look German. Jonathan was able to share Jesus with one of the ex convicts that was doing community service there too. Such a sweet time!
         We also had this really cool band come and stay with us in Budapest in Travis and Autumns tiny flat. There were 14 of us in total! This band, called the New Divide, travel around Europe doing free shows and telling people about Jesus. Its a super cool minsitry, one that I would love myself. And its cool beacuse they really just had the same heart we had on our ten day, to point people to Jesus.
        They did a show in Tatbanya, a small town about a half hour outside Budapest. There was a big event that day, and therefore there were many kids at the park. They did thier set a couple times, and it was amazing how well the kids responded to them. They loved them so much they got thier autographs. Then to my suprise they wanted the other Americans autographs too. I guess in Europe even the roadies are cool! It really opened up a lot of doors for us to talk to the youth there. So all in all even though I had cold showers for a week, it was a blessing to have them there with us!
      One of my most memorable moments was when the band did thier set in Budapest at the Calvary Chapel. They had an evangelistic message, and afterwards there was a frenchman who wanted to talk to someone about what was going on that night. The pastor remembered that I spoke a little French, and as a result he came and asked me to talk to him. I was scared but I was able to share the gospel with him, in French! I am not sure how well I did, but I know that the Lord can use it. I am continuing to pray for Phillipe, and if you think of it please do too. It was an amazing experience, as it was one of the first times in my life I was extremely comfortable sharing my faith, even though it should have been uncomfortable becuase my French is soooo bad!
      All in all, it was an awesome ten day outreach. I have been blessed hearing all the stories from my fellow students about how God has been working in thier lives through ten day outreach. Since we have been back, it has been nothing but homework homework homework... As there are only two weeks left in the semester! How amazing is it that it went by so increadibly fast!
      I am also organizing the Talent show this year. I have bever done anything like this, but it is really fun and I am really excited for it! Jono and one of the pastors here are going to be the M.C.'s. I hope I can post a video too for all of you to see.
    Lastly, Jonathan and I along with my best friend Chaney are working on making arrangements for this summer. As some of you might know we are backpacking all over Europe! I am so excited as this is one of my life long dreams. If you can, please respond by posting on this blog your favorite place to visit in Europe, or any reccomendations you might have. We are totally open to suggestions!

Thank you all for your love and prayer! hope to talk to you soon!
Sarah and Jono

Easter weekend......

Like I always say, been super crazy, no time to write. So here goes.....I'll try to catch you up.
     We had a wonderful action packed weekend in Slovenia with the Fitzgerald family. The missionary's in Slovenia are some of the most gracious, loving and hospitable people I have ever met. They totally opened there home up to us, and if you think of it, pray for Ales and Whitney serving in Celje, Slovenia. They are so very busy with the work of the Lord, but the Lord is blessing them immensely.
    The very next weekend my best friend Chaney came to Hungary to visit over her Easter break. We went with Martinah, Autumn and Travis to Budapest for the weekend, as where we live in Vajta is very far from the airport. We stayed with Travis  who is a missionary in Budapest. It is soon to be Autumns apartment too, as Travis and Autumn are engaged to be married on June 9th. We will be attending their wedding as well., and are very blessed to have them as friends. They were very gracious hosts as well, pray for their wedding and marriage as they are in full time minsitry as soon as they are married. We picked up Chaney from the airport on Saturday at 12:15, and for the rest of the weekend we explored Budapest. Our photos were posted on Facebook, and in case you don't have a Facebook, here is a link that should allow you to see them. (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.690569661224.2115080.52304402&type=3&l=140fcc04aa)
     Chaney was very welcomed here at the campus by all the students, they were very sad to see her go. For her last weekend here, we all decided to go back to Slovenia, as the part we saw wasn't even the "good part." We rented a car and took off to Ljubljana first, the capital of Slovenia. It was a very beautiful, very clean city with a castle overlooking the city. We thoroughly enjoyed it here. Definitely the type of city I could live in.
      That night we left and went straight to the Mediterranean coast, or technically the Adriatic sea. Even though it was overcast it was beautiful. We ate breakfast the next day by the sea and proceeded to walk around in Koper. We wanted to go drive on the coast for awhile but we had a little trouble getting around as they only drive manual in Europe, and none of us have ever learned how to properly. I thought I knew, but when I stalled turning onto the freeway right in front of oncoming traffic, I realized I had no idea what I was doing.
      The worst incident happened in Koper when Chaney was driving. We knew that hills were hard for us, and upon seeing a hill in the near distance I directed Chaney to turn into a little parking lot to turn around. When we turned back onto the street she turned right back into the direction of the hill, the very direction I was trying to avoid. About a third of the way up, she stalled, and we had to literally reverse down the hill backwards with our emergency lights on. This took a long time, as we would stop anytime a car would approach us. The when she got to the bottom of the hill, instead of turn around, she went right back up the hill again! It was so awful, and I think I aged a few years from the stress...
       Short story long, parents please teach your children stick shift! we went to Bled, Slovenia next. This is my new favorite place in Slovenia. It was breathtakingly beautiful. A very clean  city again, with a small lake and an island in the middle. You could rent boats to row to the island with an old Catholic church in the middle, however it was snowing and raining and we were unable to.  It rained the night we got there, so we went to the amazing castle overlooking Bled on Easter Sunday. We found ourselves watching traditional Slovenian dances in the castle, followed by an Easter egg hunt in the castle! The best egg hunt ever! We all three found an egg, (well we found one for Jonathan), which we redeemed for amazing prizes. It started to snow again so we were on our way again.
      After Bled, we went to Vienna, Austria. This was beautiful drive through the Austrian countryside. (We sang the sound of music songs a few times!) We arrived in Vienna, and it was even colder and windier than Bled. We saw St. Stephens cathedral in Vienna, and made it in time for their big Easter mass. Cool to see, but extremely vexing as they charge 8USD to go to the service. So we stood in the back, which was free, but we had a nice time anyways. We saw a few more churches and cathedrals, but all in all, Not much to see in Vienna. Just a big cool European city like any other.
      We ended up going back to Budapest early, but most everything was closed as Europeans take the Monday after Easter off too. I was sad to see Chaney go, but we had a great time. She will be back soon too, as we are still backpacking this summer.
.....Sorry this was such a long post, I just had so much to say!
...........and for the new European food of the week, we tried the Wiener Schnitzel in Vienna. We thought it was a hot dog sausage-like food, considering the word "wiener," but really it was just a breaded chicken breast. Not as cool as we though, but still good. The strudel made up for it...
Love you all!!

and for the pics of our Easter weekend trip...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.692564942664.2115484.52304402&type=3&l=477ed58955

Another week flys by...

                .....and again we have so much to tell! Jono and I had an amazing time at the marriage conference last weekend. Overall great experience, but its funny how you can think you understand marriage so well... You think, I am going to be the best wife or husband. I am really pretty humble, pretty nice, and I like to serve people. But then two weeks into your marriage and reality sets in, and as time goes on you realize how awful you are at marriage. Its definitely not what it is portrayed sometimes. Like the fact that the Pastor speaking at the retreat, Ken Ortiz, still gets in arguments with his wife that lasts hours is definitely an encouraging thing to hear. The Lord is working mightily in our lives and our marriage as a result. It was such a blessing to have the other students serve the retreat as their weekend outreach. It was so busy during the day but great to be able to relax at the meals, be served like at a restaurant, and not have to rush off to homework! We met some amazing people too, Hungarians, Canadians and Americans that all live in Hungary. Who knew it was so diverse?
               In addition we have just finished speakers week which ran Monday through Friday. A week long of amazing Pastors with a specific message from the Lord to each of our hearts. The Lord has been doing a great work here among the students. There is a real spirit of unity and love here. But it is amazing how tired I am after two long weeks. We had two classes every morning, and one at night. All about lectures in ministry and theology. The topics ranged anywhere from the need for a great prayer life, suffering and trials, to a need for wisdom in our lives. I know I learned so much this week and I am looking forward to some rest.
             This weekend right after Saturday brunch we are heading down to Slovenia! Seriously one of the prettiest countries in Easter Europe, definitely at least top 3! We have been asked by one of the Teachers/Pastors here, Kevin Fitzgerald and family, to accompany them while Kevin is speaking at the church in Celje, Slovenia. We are so excited to accompany them, we have already met one of the deacons of church, Allish (phonetic spelling as I have no idea how to spell it). He is Slovenian by descent, but is married to a girl from our home church in Boise, Idaho. We are very excited to meet her and spend time not only with their family's but in the beautiful country of Slovenia. It will also be such a blessing to be around the Fitzgerald's, as Kevin has been serving as the pastor of Calvary Chapel Dublin for the last ten years. We are excited to see how their family dynamic is, and to be discipled by them in a way.
           Thank you all for following us on our blog, if you would like to get in contact with us get on Skype or sign up! We would love to hear from you in any way really. Ishten Aldom! (God Bless You!)

and Sarah's new favorite dessert, traditional a cake that has a layer of burnt sugar on top. Its called, "Dobos cake" I seriously need the recipe. And its not super sweet like American cake, its like the best cake you have ever had good!

Sziastok baratom!

Hey friends,

        Another week is whizzing by, and I was thinking of you all, so time to update! Another day in Bible College, another day of the Lord showing us how amazing He is! I had a truly amazing John class the other day. We were talking about John chapter 8, where the pharisees bring the woman to Jesus who was caught in adultery, and they wanted to stone her to death for her sin. Jesus says to them, "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone," basically saying that He does not condemn her. Shaun Havelaar, our teacher, related to it as the "sound of grace," or the sound of the rocks falling to the ground, and the Pharisees walking away. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound," I now know what that means to me, the sound of grace. Its the sound of Jesus telling us that when we come to him, his grace covers all our sin! That is a sweet thing to hear!
       Besides amazing classes, I have had the privilege of seeing the Lord beginning to answer some prayers in my life. He is so good to us. Jonathan and I are also attending the marriage conference they are having this weekend here at the school. It is hosted by the Calvary Chapel in Budapest, and the teachers are of course Phil Metzger and a few other pastors from the states. We are definitly looking forward to the Lord working in our marriage. In addition I am taking beginning guitar, and it tis such a blessing. I am so excited to be learning a new instrument, especially one that is more mobile than piano and drums. Jonathan is moving up to the advanced Hungarian class. The teacher approached him and asked him to move up, what an honor! I of course am still in the intro class, and probably will be this whole semester haha.
   Today I am heading to Budapest for a class assignment. We re observing the church service there. Very excited to see the church, as it was planted by one of my favorite bible college teachers/pastors, Greg Opean! It will be my first day exploring Budapest, as I arrived late at night and traveled straight to Vajta. we will also be visiting parliament, and hopefully a Starbucks. I never thought I would miss Starbucks, but I can admit I do... So sad. I miss big coffees. In Hungary the coffees are more like a large espresso, not like a sixteen ounce cup of hot coffee that is not so strong as espresso. You have to drink it faster, you can't sit and enjoy it over an hours' coffee date. So I will be at Starbucks today. And maybe enjoy some suti (pronounced shootie), it's basically Hungarian cookies. And they are so good. Miss you all and we are praying for you all! Please let us know if there is anything we can lift up for you in prayer, no matter how small!!

Missing you!!

To all family and friends we miss you very much!!

Sorry it has been more than a week since our last post. We are now going into our third week of school and it feels like we have only been here a few days! For now we are already getting closer to our midterms and papers due, its been a bit hectic! I have been leading worship for morning devos and it has been such a blessing. I have had to stretch myself as a musician and learn HUNGARIAN!!! The worship songs are usually all the ones we play in Boise, only in Hungarian. I play a few in English as most people can also speak English, whether its a first or second language. To help augment my abilities, I have joined the beginner Hungarian language class. Its pretty fun as I do enjoy languages and learning about different cultures.  Jonathan is in the intermediate class as he has already spent 3 semesters here prior. His accent and knowledge of vocabulary have really helped him, and he is well on his way to learning the second most difficult language in the world. We are currently praying about where to spend our 10 day outreach, as we have opportunities to go to Scotland, Ireland, Romania, Kyrgyzstan, and obviously Hungary. We are leaning towards Hungary as it would be the most cost effective. But pray for us that we would be wise and the Lord would lead us. As for my new favorite food here, Milka chocolate bars! The carmel and chocolate dessert are my favorite. They are sold in many places in Europe. Also the boci brand, (pronounced Bo-scee) has an amazing chocolate bar with pieces of pear in it. Who knew pears and chocolate could taste so good? Anyways miss you all! Over and Out!!
          -Sarah and Jono

Finally here!!

We have finally made it to Vajta Hungary! We left from Phoenix, Arizona at 9:15 pm and arrived in Budapest at 9:35 at night the next day. Our flights had no delays and for once I was not searched at every stop by TSA! We were greeted by one of the interns and then drove another 2 hours to get to the very small town of vajta. The campus is gorgeous, an old renovated castle in the hungarian countryside. So far we have not been up to much. Just going through orientation and meeting the other students. This semester in Hungary there are 18 countries represented! Anywhere from Pakistan, India and China to the Artic Circle, Rwanda and all four corners of Europe. This is probably one of the most diverse campuses and possibly even semesters there has been in a long time. Praise the Lord that there is unity in diversity! I have had the privelage of walking into town and visiting the Local bakery on my second day... I of course went for all the bread and chocolate treats they had, including a very interesting chochechige... or chocolate snail. Its really just a cinamon roll but instead of cinnamon and frosting it had just chocolate on the inside! So amazingly delicious. And whats even more amazing is it cost less than a dollar! I will post some pictures to facebook very soon of the campus and photos of our recent snowfall! Thanks for following, We love and miss you all!

Sarah and Jono

Adios, Au Revoir, Good-bye, SZI JA!!

Well family and friends,

We are officially heading out to Europe. A dream of both of ours for many years. We are finishing our bachelors at the newly accredited Calvary Chapel Bible College In Vajta, Hungary. We want to keep you all updated as much as possible, and instead of writing a hundred emails every week we will try to keep up with you all on our blog. We want to try to post photos and update at least once or twice a month. More hopefully when we backpack for the summer. If you think of us from time to time, please feel free to still email or Skype. We will miss you all and look forward to seeing you all again very soon!

Sarah and Jono