February? Party Time!

What can you do
during those long, cold, boring winter days? Have some people over,
visit and party! February was dedicated to having guests in our home
and we loved it.

First we had some
of Laci’s students over, as we usually do a couple of times a year.
Eight students came on a Friday afternoon and we had dessert and
snacks. Of course, Fanni and Luca thought that “the kids” came
just to play with them. So they kept bringing out their toys to our
visitors.
The following week
we had the guest lecturer of the Bible School over at the house. Dr. Steven Bramer
has been a good friend of ours for many years. We had the chance to
take him for to see the great synagogue in Budapest. He brought back
so many nice memories from DTS.

The weekend after
that there was a summer volunteers reunion weekend at the camp. They
had a great time with fun games, fellowship and a three part series
of teaching about the will of God. We hope and pray that they will
grow in the Lord and continue to stay faithful in their walk and
ministry for Him. We also hope to see them this coming summer again.
Hopefully their friends will join them also.

We also had Laci's
parents come and visit us for a couple of days. I guess the main
reason of their visit was to see the the grand daughters. The girls, of
course, loved every minute of it. And so did I (Szandra) as I had
somebody to talk to (my mother-in-law) all day long!

Just this last
week we took the girls to a concert right here in our town. The
major’s office organized a Hungarian traditional folk music group
to come and entertain the little children. Fanni and Luca
had a great time singing, dancing and listening. We bought a CD for them and now they keep
partying at home all the time.

The very next day
Laci and our director Alex Konya traveled to Bratislava to meet a
missionary. They planned working together and doing street evangelism in
Slovakia’s capital. There are lot’s of Hungarian
speaking people living there, and it is also a great ministry
opportunity for Englsh speaking students, as younger Slovakians
usually speak some English. In the meantime the girls at home invited
Alex’s wife Pam over for lunch to join the lonely souls. The Lord
has blessed that day too.

This past Monday
we felt we should invite someone else over and so we had one of our
staff friends the Csikos family over for dinner and some fun
fellowship. They have two boys and so the four kids together enjoyed
themselves to the last minute. That gave us, parents the chance to
have a nice after-dinner talk time.

Finally, Szandra’s
mom had her birthday on February 28. We visited, and left Fanni
at her house for two days – the perfect birthday gift – and of
course had some cake as well with other gifts.

We hope you had just as fun February
as we did. Spring is in the air here as well. One day Fanni said:
Daddy, look! Spring is here! Where? Right there, daddy! Can’t you
see it?

December and January Chronicles

The month of December in our family was more than exciting. I know, you must be thinking: of course that’s what it is for all of us! In our case, on top of all the Christmas preparations we had two birthdays to celebrate and we took them seriouslyJ. Szandra just turned 30!!!!!! on December 2 and after a week of different surprises her birthday was finally over (Laci). Fanni turned 3!!! on the 25^th, yes, on Christmas day. That special day also needed a lot of special attention and a lot of preparation also. After Christmas we visited family and then we spent a couple of days on vacation near the lake Balaton. The lake was frozen of course and we had snow, the girls loved it. We also saw some swans and ducks looking for food, so we took them some and the girls fed them. We had the best time just watching our kids have all the fun and their glowing faces.

The major event for the first week of January was Fanni starting kindergarten. She had been talking about it all through the Fall months and she was so ready to go. The very first day we took her she said: “OK mommy, you can go home now, come pick me up later.” That was pretty sad in a way, though on the other hand I said to myself: YES!!!!!!! She still loves to go and to play with the kids. It is amazing to watch how much she learns and part of the reason is that she is in a mixed age group. They have 3 year olds 6 year olds and everything in between. They work together nicely, we have been told.

The second weekend Laci and I got to join a ministry team and go down to Serbia for a day. It was a looooooooong day, leaving our house at 7 a.m. and getting back around midnight. Yet, we were blessed beyond what words can tell. I will try though. The ministry took place in the small town of Moravica. Although the town is in Serbia, it is populated by Hungarians. We helped the team have a kid’s bible club in the early afternoon and then a youth bible club later in the evening. Both times we were impressed how well these kids and teens behaved and listened to whatever we had to say. There is not much going on in their little town so this once a month bible club is the place to go. Word of Life Hungary is sending down a team down every month to help the local pastor do youth work. There are several people who pray about doing this full time. Pray for them, they are very much needed down there.

The week after that Laci started to teach another course in the Bible Institute: “Introduction into Modern Missions,” followed by a Missions Conference this past weekend focusing on reaching the children with the Gospel. We really hope and pray that the students would keep their hearts warm for missions. This week Laci was busy teaching “New Testament Backgrounds,” while still working on his mission course. That meant that Tuesday through Friday he taught 4 hours every morning. I am sure he was having a wonderfully busy time since that’s the way he likes it.

Our newest family member at 19-20 weeks is growing and moving by now. Halftime!!!!!! This will be our first summer baby in the middle of camping ministry. Too bad there is no camp for 3 and a half and 1 and a half year olds … except grandma’s place. Now you know the grand plan. We would love to hear from you too. Drop us a note, we promise to read it. Answer? That’s Fanni’s job. She thinks she can read and write by now.
One last note: we are planning to build our home. The floor plans are approvedand we hope and pray to be able to start (and finish) this year.