Jul 22, 2024 4 min read Old updates

Old Updates: The One Where we Introduced Amanda

Summer 2018

Deep into summer here in Budapest and the heat isn’t the only thing rising! The last few months have been crazy. Between the church building project, which you read about in my last letter, and English camp, which is just around the corner, it has been a busy time. At the end of May I took a few days off to visit my then girlfriend and her friend as they travelled around Ireland, and much to her surprise I asked her if she would marry me and she said yes!! This was then followed by visits from a college friend and my parents. It was an incredibly fun time and refreshing as I got to show them the excitement of the field and share the beauty of Budapest.

On the ministry side, we celebrated the end of the school year with an English Klub party where we had fun making play dough scenes and hanging out. Everyone left excited to see each other at the upcoming English camp or school next year. English camp will start soon which means June has been busy with lots of planning as we make final preparations. On the church discipleship side, a lot of pastors are getting excited as we introduce how we can help in their churches.

Who is Amanda?

Amanda sharing her passions in her own words:

Her passion is to share the only source of true hope and love with the people of Hungary in the most tangible way she knows ... through meeting physical needs through business as missions.

After spending the last 10 years of her life creating and growing her family’s ministry, a for-benefit coffeehouse focused on building stronger marriages and families, she is excited to step out further in faith to apply her gifts and passions in Hungary. From the moment she heard about the unique way the field in Hungary is transforming lives in dynamic communities and how God shaped her to fit into that tapestry, she has been excited to take part in God’s bigger plan for the kingdom around the globe.

Amanda describes our story from her side and some of what God was doing in her heart as we dated:

I never wanted to hire Daniel Buck. When my parents proposed hiring him at our For-Benefit Coffeehouse I thought it was a bad idea since he was in the process of raising support to move to Hungary and I didn’t want to “waste time” on an employee with an expiration date. Admittedly, I also made the mistake of viewing him as a kind of “good Christian guy” stereotype rather than a complex human being.

Now I’m incredibly thankful God’s plans are so much better than my own.

I remember the day God started to change my heart quite clearly. I was busy baking up a storm at Coffeehouse Five while Daniel washed dishes. To make conversation I asked him about himself and why he was leaving his life and family here for Hungary. His response immediately forced me to reconsider all of my presuppositions about him and his future career path. He launched into an animated explanation of the first time he saw the show “Cheers”, explaining that’s how he imagines the church and how he hoped to share the amazing love of God with Hungarians. Somehow, this guy I had just met was able to articulate exactly what I had always wanted to do, a strange sensation for an English Major to be bested in language! After breaking down that barrier the conversation flowed and as I asked more questions and we began to share all the strange things that make us tick and get us excited, like The Mountain Goats, high fives, and sharing any kind of food.

From our first “date” (of which I was largely unaware) where he drove well under the speed limit to continue our conversation, to him feigning forgetting his keys at my house one evening so he could come back and tell me he loved me for the first time, to him moving to Hungary and us both setting strange hours for video “dates”, Daniel and I have shared everything and grown together, even while separated. It may sound strange, but one of our favorite things to do together is simply share things; whether that be a delicious dessert, a new podcast, a funny story from the day, or just each other’s company, sharing is at the core of our relationship. So when I made the trip across the pond with a friend to visit Ireland for the first time, I was ecstatic that Daniel was able to take a few days to share the country with me. And then when he proposed I share the rest of my life with him (on the edge of a cliff, no less!) I was and still am beyond thrilled to say “yes”.

Summer 2018

Who is Amanda?

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