Hamburger Party

Last year it was discovered that seven of my 9D boys and I have August birthdays. So I told them we would have a hamburger party when Cindy and I returned for the new school year.

Yesterday, Saturday, was a beautiful day for our gathering. I had invited the boys to come between twelve and two, and most of them came with an appetite. Twelve boys were able to attend--half of the class.

It is difficult to perfectly replicate the American grilling tradition here in Hungary, but we did our best. Even finding tasty ground beef is not possible, so we used a mix of half ground pork and half ground beef. The local zsemle are good substitutes for the "Sheboygan-style" hard rolls. Last spring I bought a grill at the local hardware supermarket. Finally, our good friends Dénes and Petra let us use their yard, as there seem to be no public areas in Kispest where grilling is permissible. Fortunately, their home is a five-minute walk away, so not too many walking trips were necessary.

This is our ministry! It is in developing and strengthening relationships with students that they can see the hope we have. These boys are responding differently to me now that we are in our second year of knowing each other. Another added advantage is that I am not their teacher this year; we don't have the "classroom" atmosphere getting in the way of our conversation.

I will be offering an opportunity to these boys to start a conversation "club" that meets after school. That's the next step. In the meantime, pray for my love to be obvious to these guys.

Oh, and Cindy made a delicious chocolate birthday cake!