Ippistle 38

Ippistle 38

March 12, 2012

Dear friends and family,

Thanks for your prayers, especially in the last three weeks. We have had a real change in outlook and “inlook” since our last Ippistle. We are in good health again and the weather has begun to warm up. We are enjoying life and seeing evidence of God's provision even during our more discouraging times.

God continues to provide opportunities for us here and it seems obvious that this is where we need to be for another year. So we have officially told TeachOverseas as well as the ministries where Cindy is volunteering that we are coming back in the fall of 2012. We are excited and at peace about this decision and look forward to another year of serving in Hungary.

Since our last Ippistle, Cindy has begun to volunteer one day a week at the Hungarian Baptist Aid. A friend from our Tuesday night Bible study works in the communications department there and asked for help with the English part of their website. So Cindy is now editing (not translating!) the English version to make it more easily readable for its international readers. You can go to http://baptistasegely.hu/ and click on English to see the results of her writing and to learn more about this organization. It is the largest aid organization in Hungary. It has been very rewarding for Cindy to hear the appreciation of the staff at the HBAid.

Cindy's other worksite, EDYN, has now moved its office up a floor at the Hungarian Reformed Church office building. Within a 24-hour time period all the offices packed up and switched places. It was crazy but seemed like a common practice. In the midst of this the EDYN staff needed to complete its 2011 report to the EU, and Cindy did all of the final editing for that, since everything submitted to the EU must be in English. Cindy plans to continue her volunteer work at EDYN several days a week again next year. (Here's a little “joke” that is playing out in the EDYN office: Last year in the EU it was the “Year of the Volunter” and Cindy's colleagues were joking that she was their “poster child” for volunteerism. For 2012 in the EU, it is the “Year for Active Ageing”--you know where they are going with this one!)

Teaching at Trefort Agoston school is going well for Jack. For the past two weeks his beginning 9^th graders have been preparing a powerpoint presentation that must be done in English. So for most of the classes, the normal books have been put aside, and the students are putting the final touches on their work. Jack's primary responsibility with these students has been to read their work, correct errors, and simplify some rather unconventional sentence structures. Problems like this often arise when students have tried to use “Google translate”, which they are discouraged from doing. The presentations will be given on Monday, March 19.

Last week Thursday and Friday, and today through Wednesday, Trefort is celebrating its birthday, and a lot of extra-curricular activities have been planned. After school on Friday, many students were involved in a large-scale computer game called “Counter Strike”. Today after school Jack helped monitor a poker tournament involving 40 students, and tomorrow after school students will be participating in a contest that tests their English skills and knowledge of English-speaking countries. Then on Wednesday, which is a national holiday, only the first three periods will meet, followed by an assembly to remember the holiday. All students and teachers will gather in the school courtyard to hear speeches and poems. Then school is dismissed until the following Monday.

Wednesday's national holiday is a remembrance of March 15, 1848, when the youth of Pest rebelled against the Hapsburg occupation of Hungary. They were led by the poet Sandor Petöfi. With school closed for the long weekend, we hope to relax, do some hiking, and on Friday travel to Bratislava, Slovakia's capital, to spend a weekend with our TeachOverseas colleagues. This is the first school break since Christmas, so everyone at Trefort is quite eager for the vacation.

We love knowing that you are praying with us through the end of our school year here. There will be many more occasions of meeting with students and colleagues as well as others that God has put into our lives. Pray that we will be salt and light every day. Thank you for your continued support.

Blessings!

Jack and Cindy