Bila Tserkva, Ukraine

We returned on Saturday from our outreach trip to Bila Tserkva, Ukraine. We were blessed to be able to work with Nita Hanson, the founder of God's Hidden Treasures. She gave us an opportunity to experience several different areas of her ministry there. We were so busy that the time flew by faster than we wanted it to. Over the next few days I'm going to try and share about some of the amazing experiences we had. We met so many wonderful people eager to hear about Christ and share their culture with us, but it was on Friday that our hearts were really burdened for the people of Ukraine.



On Friday we were invited to help teach two groups of children at the Voloshka orphanage about Jesus. The first group of children we met were between the ages of 3 and 5 years old. When we walked into the room and saw their faces light up, Edna and I both felt our hearts break for these little treasures. We couldn't believe how happy they were just to sit with us and hear about how much Jesus loves them.



When it was time to go, we didn't want to leave. The children didn't want us to leave either. One little girl in particular gave Edna a big hug and kept touching her hair and telling Edna how pretty she was. This same girl, named Veronika, threw her arms around my neck and kept kissing my cheeks. Veronika had been watching me and Edna the entire time we were there, smiling at us and trying to get our attention. It really broke our hearts to leave. I was at least able to tell her in Ukrainian that Jesus loves her. Being with those children gave us a big incentive to learn Ukrainian since they don't speak Russian like most adults do. We feel that learning Ukrainian is vital to the ministry there.

Me and 5 year old Veronika.

Edna with Slava and Veeka. The second group of children were between 5 and 7 years old and were excited to meet us and tell us their names.

The children are singing a song about how Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday and as He will be tomorrow.

We were invited to come back every Friday so please keep these children and the open door there in your prayers.

-Greg

Random Pictures

Random Pictures

Today is turning out to be another warm Spring day and I really can't think of anything to write about. Next week we will be in Ukraine so I'm just trying to get all my homework finished up and figure out what we need to pack. I was looking over some of the pictures we have taken and I thought it would be fun to share some of the more interesting ones.



Judah and Joshua up in a deer stand.



Dominic with a new friend.



"My what big eyes you have Grandma!"



"Does this mean we can't go camping here?"



Joshua and Grandma making fish soup (Yes, Joshua is using a hammer to help loosen up one of the fins).



"Watch your step!"

Just For Fun

Just For Fun

We all know that things are always more fun when you don't use them the way they were intended, especially swings. The fact that two adults were encouraging (maybe instigating is a better word) this behavior makes it all the more fun. You don't have to worry about getting in trouble for misusing playground equipment when your dad and your friend's dad are both trying to see who can spin their kid the fastest. These pictures are dedicated to my First Grade teacher Mrs. Sergeant who always benched me for spinning on the swings.




Joshua and Judah spinning out of control.



Judah's dad, Phil, putting a spin on Joshua.

Spring

Spring

This weekend was beautiful and it finally seems like Spring is here to stay. All sorts of creatures were out today. Joshua and I went for a long walk and saw everything from butterflies to deer. We decided to explore some deer stands along the edge of the woods. Aside from hunting deer, they make great spots to just sit and take in the view. Joshua thinks they make cool forts too. We weren't even in the first deer stand 30 seconds before a deer ran right by us. We ended up seeing quite a few deer before we made it back home. The best part was that neither one of us picked up any ticks. (Just in case you were wondering, Mom.)


Yesterday, we spent some time visiting the kids at the orphanage (Their ages range from 13 to 16). We try to go every Saturday and spend a few hours playing games, doing our best to communicate, and basically just witnessing to them by how we live our lives. We always leave feeling blessed and looking forward to the next week. We took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent our time there playing on the swings and kicking around a soccer ball. The kids there don't speak English and we go armed with only a few Hungarian words, but somehow we always manage to have a good time. We are constantly amazed at how we all seem to understand each other. Language is never a barrier when it comes to God's Love.

We learned the hard way that Hungarians play the card game Uno a little differently and more aggressively than we're use to. They really get into it. We still aren't exactly sure what the rules are but they let us know if we put the wrong cards down and we always end up laughing til our sides hurt.





(From left to right) Monika, Jordan (from the college), Sylvi, Allison (from the college), Cheela, and Edna.

A Darker Side

A Darker Side

While we were visiting Edna's grandmother in Osijek, it was hard not to notice the scars of war that still remained. We were told that at one point the Serbians were launching mortars and artillery rounds into the city on average of about 5,000 rounds a day. Edna's grandmother told us how she had to live on the floor of her apartment as she cared for her dying husband. As she did her best to describe the fear of the explosions that blew out all her windows, we could still see the marks where shrapnel had skipped off her ceiling and embedded in the wall. She told us stories about how people would be killed just trying to run across to the store to get food.


There wasn't a building around that didn't show signs of the battle that took place during the War for Croatian Independence. Even some of the playground equipment still has holes from shrapnel flying through it. Zlatko, Grandma's neighbor, told us that they try to forget about the blood and the fear, but the reminders are all around.


Zlatko shows Joshua where a round exploded just outside Grandma's window.


The red bricks mark where high-explosive tank rounds tore into the building only two floors above Grandma.

Osijek, Hrvatska (Croatia)

Osijek, Hrvatska (Croatia)

Last night we got back from Osijek (Oh-see-ack), Croatia where we spent the weekend with Edna's grandmother who lives there. It was only about a two hour drive so we were able to spend a lot of time with her learning Croatian. Croatian is very close to Russian and Ukrainian, so with the help of her wonderful neighbor Zlatko who spoke perfect English, we were able to communicate. Joshua had never seen his great grandmother before and Dominic had only seen her once when he was three years old. It was such a blessing to spend time with her. We thought that we would never see her again, never dreaming we would one day be living so close to her.




Edna even got to meet two of her cousins that she had never met before. Zlatko, his wife, and daughter were an amazing help to all of us and were so good to us. They were always so willing to go out of their way to make sure we were comfortable and had a chance to see the beautiful city of Osijek. They were an incredible blessing to all of us. They even took us to church on Sunday and had us sit next to someone who interpreted the entire service for us. The kids had a great time in Sunday school and discovered that a lot of Croatian children speak English (Engliski).



Joshua and a boy named Phillip that he met on the playground who spoke English.




Grandma or Baka as we called her, was always making us something in the kitchen. She was constantly worried that we weren't getting enough to eat.




Dominic in front of the towering brick cathedral downtown.




Osijek just after sunset from the foot bridge on the Drava River.




The foot bridge over the Drava.

Budapest

Budapest

On Sunday we traveled to Budapest to attend the Calvary Chapel church there. Before the service we had enough time to visit The Great Synagogue in Dohany Street, the largest synagogue in Europe, the second largest in the world. The inside of the synagogue was beautiful, but the Holocaust Museum was a sober reminder of the ugliness that had occurred there during World War II. When it was time to leave, we realized that they had locked us in and we were surrounded by two bus loads of Israeli soldiers who were getting a private tour. We had to track down the security guy to let us out.








In the court yard of the synagogue there was a weeping willow tree made out of steel. Each leaf had the name of a person who had died in the ghetto that surrounded the synagogue during the war. Over 2,000 victims who starved to death or died of disease are buried near the memorial in the court yard. Many people had left small stones in memory of the victims and survivors.





Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

Joshua 4:21-24

We were thinking of you the whole time Uncle John.

Eggs

Eggs

Well we've been in Hungary about a month now and things have begun to feel normal. We've gotten use to people saying "see ya" when they meet us, "hallo" when they leave, and a few other things unique to Hungary. So what does that have to do with eggs? Well, normal people can go to the store and buy eggs, so we decided that's exactly what we needed to do.

Yesterday, after morning classes, we walked into the village armed with our limited Hungarian vocabulary determined to come back with eggs (tojast). What makes this difficult is that they keep them in the back and you have to ask for them and tell the storekeeper how many you want. The first two stores were out, but the third and final store in the village had eggs. I asked for ten because that was about what I thought we needed (and I didn't know how to say twelve). That worked out because a full carton holds ten. The best part was the fact that they had just been gathered from the chickens they keep behind the store.

Edna and I walked home with our eggs feeling a sense of normalcy and accomplishment. This morning we had fried egg sandwiches. Life is good.

Hungarian Butterfly

Hungarian Butterfly

While cleaning out the barn today, I came across a butterfly that at first didn't seem very interesting. With its wings together, it just looked like a plain moth with black and brown wings. It wasn't until it spread its wings that it revealed the beautiful colors that had been hidden.



It occurred to me that sometimes that's exactly how God works in us. We may seem plain and ordinary, but it's when God presses us through trials that we show our true colors. It's during these times that we are prompted to spread our wings and expose to others the love that is an overflow of the Joy we find in Christ.

No Photos

No Photos

There was a car accident on the road near where we live on Sunday. It was just a minor accident with little damage, but everyone from the village seemed to be coming to look at the two cars. The police were there for about an hour so I decided to walk over and see what the big deal was. I took a few pictures because it struck me as odd that so many people were just standing around looking at a smashed bumper. before I knew it one of the police officers came running across the road yelling at me. He was yelling "No photo! No photo!" I showed him the pictures I had taken and while I didn't understand much of what he was saying, I understood, "Delete! Delete!" So he watched as I deleted each one of the pictures I had innocently taken. I thought they were pretty good, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

I still haven't gotten use to the fact that we at the Castle here are like our own little community. In the morning, I often eat breakfast with not only my teachers, but Joshua's teachers as well. In the afternoon, I have a class with one of Joshua's teachers and we have group discussions together. In the evening, I sometimes sit around with my teachers and Joshua's teachers and have coffee while we discuss the days events and our children all play together nearby. Even stranger is that while there are people here from 15 different countries, some people are from San Luis Obispo and Visalia. It really is a small world.




Here's a picture of me cleaning out the barn. Yes Dad, they have a John Deere too and it's bigger.

Walk in the Woods

Walk in the Woods

This morning Joshua and I decided to take a walk in the woods and do some exploring. The trees are either oaks or pines planted in large plots to later be harvested for firewood. It was a beautiful morning and Joshua and I enjoyed walking the pathways across the gentle rolling hills. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by the quiet country side of Vajta. As I write this I can hear the sounds of dogs, sheep, chickens, geese, and turkeys coming from next door. It helps to break up the monotony of homework and studying.







We even discovered an abandoned farm house.

Subotica, Srbije (Serbia)

Subotica, Srbije (Serbia)

Today we went to Subotica, Serbia to get our visas for Hungary. It sounds strange, but we had to leave Hungary and go to the Hungarian embassy in Serbia because visas needed to be applied for outside of the country. Anyway, it was a long day but we saw a lot of beautiful and interesting things. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant, that served Mexican pizza, with French paintings on the walls, while an American Christian song played on the radio, in Serbia. That was a strange moment.





The boys made a new friend on the streets of Subotica.



Lost in translation?



While Dominic and Joshua were amazed at all the new sights around them, they were quickly made aware of the harsh reality of life outside the United States. As they went into a store, they came across a little boy who was sitting by the door begging. They each decided that the colorful dinara (Serbian money) that I had given them as souvenirs was better off in the hands of that boy. They asked if they could give their dinara to him. What could I say? It’s not where that money would end up, but the intentions of their hearts to give.