10 Day Outreach... Sort of

     Well as you may know, we are required to lead a ten day outreach as interns. What you don't know is that we had planned to go to Romania again. We had such a great time last year, and the ministry and missionaries are awesome there.
     So there we were all set to go. All monies paid, bags packed, when I got the call. "Your Grandma is dying, come home now." Bam! Life can change that fast.
     So I left for America for my "ten day outreach" to see my grandma one last time. Jono still planned to lead the outreach for Romania. Not going to lie, I wished everything was normal and I could go to Romania. On the other hand, who wants to deal with this stuff alone? Who wouldn't travel across the world to see their grandma one last time?
     I hopped on a plane the next day, which was Thursday. My grandpa graciously paid my way. I arrived in San Diego about 7pm on Thrusday, greeted by my beautful sister Rebekah.
I was very happy to see her and she asked where I wanted to go for dinner. I said, "I'd like to see Grandy (my grandma) first."
     Rebekah-"Sarah, she just passed a few hours ago, didn't you know?"
     Bam! My worst fears hit me. Not knowing where my grandma was at with the Lord I started crying. My mom had talked to her about Jesus, and she said she responded. But being the Bible College student that I am, I think I thought I was going to save her. Like it was my job somehow to save her. I was still crushed. It was only a few months ago my grandma and I were going out for mexican and getting pedicures together.
     So my ten day outreach has been to America, to spend time with friends and family, tie up all the loose ends here and to be an encouragement. Its still hard, I loved my grandma dearly. She was probably one of the sweetest ladies you would ever have met. Everyone would always say so. And I am trusting that the Lord needs sweet little old ladies in heaven like my grandma. Please pray for our family if you have the time or think of it. We are dearly missing my grandma. Pray for Jono leading an outreach all alone in Romania, I'm sure he is doing great! Thanks for reading-
Love,
Sarah and Jono

Back to Vajta...

Sorry friends and family,

          It has been a long time since we updated our blog. As some of you might have known we were home in the States for the break. It was very nice and relaxing to get back after eleven months and see some of you. Unfortunately we never made it up to Boise, so we were very sad that we did not get to see our Boise peeps Rest assured, we think of you often and would love to hear from you anytime!
         Our break was definitely challenging at times. My own dear grandmother suffered a stroke in December and my siblings and I had to take her to the emergency room. I stayed with her in the emergency room for about 16 hours overnight, which was hard for us grand kids  She was transferred to a different hospital the next day unannounced to us, and we had to track her down. My grandfather also figured out he has had two strokes, but his were fortunately not as serious as my grandmother's. She has now stabilized but has lost most of her memory, which is a sad thing for all of us. We had to move them into an assisted living facility. My sister in law, Kendra, was also hospitalized and my father in law had a stint put in. To top it all off, my great aunt Nancy died over the Christmas break. It was a really hard break, and we almost didn't return to finish our internship. But the school let us come back a little late which greatly helped. Please keep our family's health in prayer!
         We are back into our internship now, this semester brings new challenges and new adventure. Jono is in charge of the grounds and maintenance department, and I am in charge of the Laundry and Conference Center rooms, which we call the "U-shape." It is very different than the Coffee Shop, and I really miss being around people. But it is still a great area and definitely nice to have a new area of service in the school. We hope you all had a great holiday season and we will try to update again soon!

Love you all,
Sarah and Jono

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!