Old Updates: The one Where Things Get Really Busy

Winter 2022

Even as someone who loves the cold and winter, there is something about spring starting to show itself that brings new life—both literally and metaphorically! Budapest seems to start breathing, people come out of their flats, birds start showing their heads, and the flowers start to bloom. It always brings a certain amount of hope and I’m reflecting on that as I sit down to write this letter. It has me feeling introspective and thankful.

How is it that the shortest month of the year can end up being one of the busiest? Amanda traveled to another country for work and I helped put on a conference for Discipleship, on top of a lot of other ministry and life things. It is funny how busyness can creep in without you knowing it.

So what happened this past month? It started off at a bit of a sprint. Our team here in Hungary is still hosting members from Ukraine and helping to hold the tensions they are feeling now. Their necessarily speedy arrival in Hungary turned into a week that was mostly filled with planning all the normal life things that were supposed to happen over the month, like making sure we had places for them to stay, enough meals to help them settle, and time to get them acclimated to their new surroundings.

In the midst of this, there was the added last-minute planning of a trip to Ireland for the communications team. This happened the second week of February, so Amanda and I celebrated our anniversary a few days early before she left. Having the flat alone to myself for the week, I had grand plans, but unfortunately, the day after Amanda left, I got food poisoning and was knocked flat in my bed for most of the rest of the week. Amanda had a good week though, connecting with pastors and having a chance to meet in person and work through some plans for a national evangelism campaign that Amanda has been meeting with them about on Zoom.

 
For the last few months, myself and two Hungarian pastors have been working on a discipleship conference which was finally able to take place on the 19^th. Part of that was realizing this could be an opportunity for OMS people across the region to learn more about what we do here in Hungary and to encourage one another in active discipleship. The addition of missionaries from across the region traveling to Hungary and needing places to stay increased the amount of planning that was needed before and after the conference, but it was completely worth the extra logistics to join together in learning and growing.

The conference ended up being a culmination of many joys and months of work. While being able to host the conference itself was a big accomplishment and it was great to have close to 50 attendees from across Hungary it also signaled the success of months of work. We finished the updated translation of materials and worked out logistics for a delivery of 500 books and 500 journals (the international mail in Hungary can be a bit tricky at times!). In the end, I’m glad we ordered so many because we ended up going through 100 in the first day!
While this month has been the finishing of many things, it has also allowed for new doors to open and next steps to present themselves. Please be praying for these things:

• Follow-up from the conference, both with OMS members, but even more so with Hungarians who came. Specifically for perseverance for the discipleship groups that are starting.
• The communications team is looking at other trips soon, please be praying over the planning process for them as they seek to encourage the fields and relay what God is doing creatively and accurately.

Outside of work, we enjoyed a nice night out to celebrate our 3^rd anniversary. It feels crazy to already be at three years, but we are still incredibly thankful for each other, and Amanda still puts up with my dumb jokes. Accidently, but still very us, we also saw a super motorcross show with some friends the weekend befor

e she left for Ireland. I think Amanda will always be in a happy place with the smell of rubber and gas around a race track.