Ippistle 13

Ippistle 13
June 20, 2009
Jack and Cindy Ippel


Dear Friends,

We are nearly finished with our first year in Hungary. The time has certainly gone quickly. God has blessed the entire experience, and we even now look forward to being back here in August for Jack to start teaching another group of 9th graders and for Cindy to continue her work at the Mission Institute. Besides the school relationships with students and staff, we have also developed friendships with people that God put into our lives in many different ways. These wonderful friends will be here welcoming us at the end of August, and that makes us glad.

The last two weeks of school were quite a unique experience for Jack. The 9th graders finished their exams around June 3, but all students were required to be in school through June 11. So the teachers “supervise” while the students play poker games, or other card games. Jack presented some learning opportunities through word games and puzzles that a few of the students took time to do.

The end of the school year also brought some staff get-togethers that were great relationship building experiences. On June 6 we enjoyed a “gulyas” (goulash) party at the home of a colleague who lives in a small village outside of Budapest. The beef stew was cooked all day over an open fire in the back yard. That gathering was made up of the English teachers, plus a few other teachers that frequent the English department staff room. The train ride was a unique experience, especially the ninety-minute delay on the way home when the train struck a car. No one was hurt, and we found ourselves in the midst of another cultural experience.

A week later Jack joined the rest of the Trefort staff, about 60 people in all, on a bus trip to the city of Szekszard. Two buses brought them to a national park nature area, the birth-home of the famous Hungarian poet Mihaly Babits, a gingerbread museum, and dinner at a restaurant. The last stop of the trip was a vineyard for a wine tasting; that was also a new and unique experience.

We were privileged to be invited to the home of the student who Jack tutored this semester. Jozsef (Coci) and his mother prepared a beef perkolt in the back yard of their home, and then served us a wonderful Sunday dinner. It was a great way to get to know Coci better and to strengthen that relationship. Even though Coci graduates this month, we trust that God will still use this relationship for His purposes.

Now for a bit of a family report: Our daughter Jodi and husband Ben were here for the past ten days (they’re in the air as I’m typing this). We enjoyed being tour guides once again, showing them the Budapest sites and then traveling through Hungary into Austria for four days. Highlights included an overnight visit with Balazs and Dori Kovacs and their parents near Lake Balaton; breakfast with Cindy’s work colleague Moni and her family, also in the coutryside of Balaton; a hike and ice cave exploration in Hallstatt, Austria; and two days in Salzburg, where The Sound of Music tour and the Marionette Theater’s production of The Sound of Music got us singing “The Lonely Goat-herd” for the next few days! We also squeezed in a stop in Vienna to see the Schonnbrun Castle and the Hundertwasserhaus. It was a fabulous vacation for the four of us.

Today Cindy has begun packing for our trip home; we leave next Tuesday. It is so exciting to think about being together with our family again. We are so blessed to have this privilege of going home for the summer. We ask again for your prayers for our visa renewal. We started this process three weeks ago and have hit a few snags along the way. On Monday morning we will make our third trip to the immigration office to hopefully show all the documents necessary for our residence here next year. If we run into problems, we will have to get temporary status and finish the paper work next September. So your prayers are greatly appreciated for that, and for our trip home next week.

Thank you again for being a part of the work that we are doing here.

Áldás és békesség! Blessing and peace!

Serving for TeachOverseas.org and Christian Reformed World Missions,

Jack and Cindy