Ippistle 9 January 16, 2009

Ippistle 9
Jack and Cindy Ippel
January 16, 2009

Dear Friends,

We wish you all a blessed 2009! Our long-awaited two-week trip to the states is over, but we have wonderful memories of our time with family and friends. We enjoyed large family celebrations, breakfasts with friends, a New Year’s Eve party, “providential” encounters at Walmart, and a four-day retreat with our children and grandchildren in Indianapolis. How we value the blessings of international travel and financial resources to make such a trip!

Winter is still snow-less here in Budapest. There have been light, sugary dustings and some freezing rain to make walking interesting, but looking out the window gives no indication that it is winter. It does feel bitterly cold at times, and this cold seems to creep into our flat. So sweatshirts and slippers do come in handy. We just came back from a much-needed walk. After numerous gray days (you’d think our Michigan bodies would be used to this) the sun is shining, the sky is blue, the air is clear and above freezing, and the walk was profitable mentally as well as physically.

If you have a habit of checking our blog, you have seen our pictures and description of the szalagavato. The students who will graduate in the spring, half of them twelfth grade and half thirteenth, were honored in a somber pinning ceremony. This was followed with professionally choreographed dances (ballroom waltzes and pop style) that were performed by each of the four classes. It was an impressive display of talent and hard work on the part of the students. The program ended with all of the students assembling on stage and in the aisles, most of them singing the “class song”.

We had an interesting conversation with a colleague at a teachers’ dinner following the szalagavato. He observed that Jack and Scott (fellow ESI teacher at Trefort) have a different moral compass, as shown in faculty room conversations, attitudes toward their job and other colleagues, and even that they don’t cuss and swear or get drunk. This is what we have been praying for! Now we pray for real opportunities to go deeper, and offer this colleague what we have: the salvation that comes only with knowing Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Please continue to pray for our relationships with our students and colleagues, particularly the one mentioned here.

Tonight we will take a train to Bratislava, a two-and-a-half hour trip into Slovakia, to visit other TeachOverseas friends and relax for the weekend. Ordinarily we would be able to catch an earlier train, but Jack and Scott have semester-end meetings that run into the afternoon today. We plan to hang out, sleep in, do a walking tour of the city, eat together at a pub, and worship with our friends on Sunday. We’ll be back home Sunday night.

Thank you all for your prayers, your support, and your love. We serve Him together.

Jack and Cindy