Day 77, Budapest

Only two more days and our team splits into two. Its hard to describe the atmosphere here. A little tense...but calm at the same time. Worried, but confident. Its such a weird brew of emotions and feeling. Friends we have lived with for three months are about to leave on their outreach, and we wont see them for three months. I could write about the lectures we had this week, but I think I will use my time to share some other things.

Every Tuesday night after dinner, me and four of the girls take the 173 bus into the city and catch the metro to Daek Ter where the coffee house is located. We duck into the cellar where the cafe is located and begin brewing coffee and setting out the tea bags. After all the tables are fitted with baskets of cookies and treats and the lights are dimmed, we circle (coffee in hand) and pray. In a few minutes college student will trickle into the dimly lit cafe, place a name tag on, grab a coffee, and sit down. We spread out and sit among them, never more than 4 or 5 people at a table. These are Hungarian students who come to practice their English. We usually play a little ice-breaker game and then begin with the questions. Hungarians love deep questions, and we have a plethora of them. Since the beginning of the English club we have formed friendships with these people. They are alway filled with deep responses, and very receptive to new ideas. I find such a contrast to some of the students I know in the states who dont like to think....or think they have it all figured out and dont need to talk. I love these conversations. I decided to staff this class just to get to know some of the people in Hungary better, but these deep questions have afforded me with many opportunities to really talk to these students about their life, the way they think, and about the life I live in Christ. They have been very interested who Christ is, and what it means to have a relationship with Him. On more than one occasion I have found myself speaking for 45 min straight about having a relationship with Christ and how we were designed for this. These students pay to come and speak, to learn English, and I end up speaking and they listen for most of the class, but they eat it up....they love it. They know we are missionaries, and love to ask questions about why we are doing what we do...why we are there to speak to them. It is such a reward to watch them sit there for 45 minutes after class is over, continually asking us questions. This Tuesday was our last English club that we will be able to staff, and because of the Hungarian holidays, we decided to make the theme "Christmas", and not ask very deep questions but keep it light and fun. We opened up with teaching them some Christmas carols, and then read "Twas the Night Before Christmas". I sat down at my little table and looked at the set of questions that were prepared:

1. Have the Hungarians explain Mikulas Day and other Hungarian traditions for Christmas...tree, food, music, etc.

2. Have the American/British explain the legend of Santa Claus and other American traditions for Christmas

3. Are you someone who really "gets into" Christmas or are you not very interested and don't engage in the season's activities? Why or why not?

4. Do you have any childhood memories of Christmas or Hanuka that would be fun to share? Did your family do any special traditions for the holidays?

5. What traditions or values would you like to pass on to your own family one day?

The Hungarians have two holidays in December. Mikulas Day (Dec 6) and Christmas. The night before Mikulas Day the children sit their shoes on the windowsills and go to sleep, waiting for Saint Mikulas to come and put candy in them. If they have been good, they get lots of chocolate. If they have been bad, they get a stick in their shoes. haha. I suppose its as silly as putting coal in a stocking. Then they celebrate Christmas the same day we do. The Hungarians, however, do not link Santa Claus (Saint Mikulas) with Christmas at all. Angels bring their gifts, not Santa.

We were surprised this class. Before it was over, one of the students stood up and said that they had a surprise for us and needed a minute to get prepared. A little caught off-guard we stopped our discussion and waited for them to return. I held back tears as they returned with gifts in their hands. They said that since they would not see us on Saint Mikulas Day or Christmas, Saint Mikulas had contacted them and asked them to help him out a little bit with our gifts since we would be traveling around so much this month and would be hard to track down. One by one they handed us a beautiful handmade card, signed by them all, a special gingerbread star in a lace bag (A Hungarian custom), and a Mikulas bag filled with candy. They kissed our cheeks as they handed us our presents....I tried hard to remember a time where I felt as blessed as I did at that moment. My card read:

Nyk,

We are glad that we know you, and we hope you enjoyed English Club
as much as we did. We are sorry that you are going away, but we know
others will welcome you with the same joy! We would like to remind you
of the good atmosphere and pleasant conversations by our hand-made
gingerbread and card! You may know that Santa Claus, who we call Mikulas,
comes on the 6th of December. He asked us to help him by filling Mikulas
Bags for you and giving it to you two days earlier so that he would have more
time to go around the world in one night! May the wind take you to a
wonderful place where there is no harm or fight, just peace, joy, and delight!

We wish you all the best!
English Club 2007 Budapest.

I found it hard to continue with the conversation after that blessing. I asked the woman who has lead the club for the past 11 years if anything like this had ever happened before and she said "no". She was just as surprised as we were. Had we really impacted the lives of these students that much? After talking well past the end of class, we cleaned up everything, turned off most of the lights and got our coats on......but they were still there....they didnt want to leave. They just hung out while we wrapped up the class. For a few minutes we stood there by the door in our coats, gloves, hats, and scarves....just smiling and looking at each other. We walked outside and locked up the cafe. After kissing both our cheeks, another Hungarian custom, we said goodbye and went our ways. Needless to say, I didn't say much on the way home. I pray God will continue to place people in their lives who will reflect His love and friendship to them in the way we were allowed to.

Well, I'll leave you for now. I have some things to do on my side of the pond. I will write soon about some of the other events that have happened as we prepare to leave for Egypt. I want you all to know what we are setting off to do. You are here with me.