Asbury to Hungary

2007-07-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks for praying for us! Your Asbury representatives to Hungary.

We're Home!

2007-07-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

After nearly 28 hours of travel (which included some delays due to weather and lost luggage), we arrived at the student center in Wilmore nearly at 12:45AM. We enjoyed a late breakfast this morning and said our last round of goodbye's (everyone but Lawrence and Meredith spent the night). After all the preparation and planning, it's all over! We're already planning a get together when school resumes in the fall.

Thanks for your prayers! Souls were saved and lives were changed. To God be the glory! We'll post more pictures soon.

Yet another post...

2007-07-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

Hey there, this is David typing. We're going around and making individual posts today, I guess. We're at the Searls house right now (I hear Katy Beth splashing someone outside). This trip to Hungary has been one of the most inspiring trips of my life, and I am so glad that I came. From learning that I am a fabulous dancer (i.e. La Tooshie La Too), to learning that I can teach fairly well (workshops and world tour), I have grown so much during this trip. I came on this trip as a missions major, and not knowing for certain whether or not that was the right major for me. Now, however, I am sure that it is the right major for me, and I am looking into what sort of missions God is calling me to. I have another trip to Germany soon, so we'll see (smiles). God has given me a real burden for the Hungarian people, and I do want to come back some day, if not for camp next year. To all of those who supported me who read this, thank you so much. Wow, this is a really personal blog. Oh well, you know...

2007-07-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hey! This is Alex typing from the Searls house in lovely Erd. This is our last day in Hungary- we leave bright and early tommorow morning (yay 3:30am wake-up call!). A possible dance-partaaay may be taking place in the Chicago airport. Watch out, y'all!

Yesterday (after a massive clean-up at the school) a group of us went into Budapest, including a visit to Castle Hill (can you say GORGEOUS?!).

Las night we handed out awards (I am the winner of the Next Crocodile Dundee Award...heck yes!) and said our teary goodbye's last night at Fastal's Restaurant.

Right now we are all hanging out; swimming (with a crazy water fight) and watching oh-so classic but oh-so cheesy 90's movies have all been a part of this last fantastic day. Pizza should be arriving soon. (yay!)

We cherish your prayers for safe traveling....see you soon!

Camp is over!

2007-07-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

Camper Laura signs Shane's souvinir shoe

Here is a good number of staff and campers (not including the adults who came after work) -- as usual, we couldn't get quite everyone in the gym for the photo, but this gives you an idea

Lawrence and a couple of his new friends

Seby, Jeff, Max, and Matt

Alex and Jeff enjoy "Friday" bread in the staff room (we called it Friday bread because this amazing sweet bread could only be bought from a traveling vendor who set up a trailer in the center of Diosd on Fridays).

Thank you for praying for us and for the campers this week! 5 teens accepted Christ, as did a number of kids! This is HUGE here! Praise the Lord! Pray for our missionary hosts as they will follow up with these kids and try to get them plugged into ministries here. Tonight we had a staff celebration dinner to share testimonies with each other and hear how God worked in our individual lives this week through camp. It was a special time to reflect on answered prayer and be challenged to commit to pray for those individual campers whom God had laid on our hearts these past several days. Thank you for the part you played whether through your prayers and/or your financial support of one of our team members. May you share in the joy of this week's success.

Tomorrow we attend church, debrief, and pack! Our ride to the airport leaves bright and early Monday morning (like 4 AM)!

Thursday Recap/Spirit Day

2007-07-06T02:18:00.000-07:00

Last night's listening exercise was Lee Ann Womack's "Stubborn"

Lizzy and friends

Fun at Alex's last tie-dying workshop

Pillow cases pre-dye

Friday morning aerobics

If you're happy and you know it, shout "Hooray!"

Father Abraham Had Many [Crazy] Sons

I don't know what song this was...

morning snack

It's spirit day Friday -- our camp directors, Katy Beth & Dan showing their team spirit for the Black Pirates and Team Orange Juice

I think she's a pirate

Think he might be a crocodile?

Yesterday we laid our message out and asked our campers the question, "If Jesus came up to you right now and asked you to follow him, what would you do?" Some of the staff had meaningful one-on-one conversations, but no one said they were quite yet ready. Some are so close! Please pray! Today is our last day with them!

Photos from July 4

2007-07-05T02:07:00.000-07:00

Many of these kids are holding and reading Bibles for the first time!

This week the children are studying Moses (left)

Katy Beth shares the morning less (the 10 Commandments, and the Golden Calf)

Rec time went MUCH better today, in spite of having to come up with comletely new games for the day when rain and cold prevented us from doing the water games originally planned.

The three-legged race was fun to watch

Read Duane's blog (see link in right-hand margin) for photos from the Game of Life's silly activity. Some of the campers seem to really be responding to the issues we're discussing each day -- pray that we will have opportunities to go deeper with them before camp concludes.

Hump Day

2007-07-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Aaron second-guesses his willingness to serve as Nathan's assistant during his magic tricks workshop. Here they're preparing to demonstrate the finger chop guillotine.
You can see the suspense!

Meredith sweetly watches Ellie in the teacher's room

Glove check! (Tie-Dying)

The cucumber sculpting contest

David shares his testimony during the "Stop" moment in the Game of Life. Today's issues surrounded friends and relationship decisions.

One of the cars landed on a silly square which meant that all of the cars (teams) had to complete a silly task. In this case, they had to make a recognizeable landmark involving all members of the car/team. Above, Alex's car makes the pyramids.

Can you tell what Aidan's group is mimicking? (hint: think 'presidential' and 'S. Dakota')

The crocs show their team pride during rec time.

Making friends during free time over Uno.

Yes, this is "hump day" for our 7 day camp. During debrief tonight, the team expressed that they feel like they're starting to connect with our campers in meaningful ways. Conversation groups are going well, and we're hearing that everyone is having a good time. There is so much to say, but as usual, it's late and we're wiped out and have another day beginning in just a few hours. We're glad to say that God is answering prayer. Thank you for your continued interest and concern!

Meredith's Workshop

2007-07-02T13:10:00.001-07:00

Monday's here and gone

2007-07-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a random assortment of photos from the last couple of days of camp. We're still working out the kinks of dealing with a new facility, double the number of campers as last year (and probably 4 times the number of children under age 10), and a different schedule. The Game of Life seems to be going much more smoothly as the youth are understanding the way the game works, and then today we added listening exercises. We hope to post some video to give you another slice of our lives here! We're still getting to know everyone and the content of our sessions will soon be getting deeper. Thanks for your prayers!

Ricky and Aidan with Balint (translator) and his cute little sister

David, at supper with some of the youth

Jodi and Beth distribute dessert at supper tonight

Shane and a camper friend

Meredith gave cooking lessons in her workshop this morning! It smelled so yummy!

A team landed on a "silly" square which meant every other team had to send a rep to participate in a silly competition. Yesterday it was a TP fashion show, today it was a bubble gum blowing contest.

Yesterday's game time involved a race between teams to find one's own shoe out of a pile of about 150 shoes!

Alex supervises her tie-dying workshop

Sewing a Union Jack from scratch deserved a blog photo posting (from yesterday's world tour)

The school has a great gym for game time!

World Tour Day

2007-07-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Ricky and Aidan led a tour of the emerald isle

Lawrence took his guests to France, including the culinary experience of Nutella

David served green tea and taught his guests how to count to "10" in Japanese

Jeff shared about his home state of North Carolina

Alex took her guests on a site-by-site tour of London

Camp Day 1 -- Caution! Contains 'Graphic' Images

2007-06-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

Aaron paints singe marks on our camper burn victim

Edit poses seriously as our car accident victim

We even had a compound fracture...

Everyone felt better after a trip to our candy pharmacy

Games during rec time concentrated on learning the plethora of names (about 80 between campers and staff)

The teens began the big Game of Life today, divided into cars, they rolled die, answered questions, and faced consequences for decisions made earlier in life. At the "Stop" moment, Dan shared a message, followed by Katie's testimony. Today's theme was peer pressure. As you can tell, our missionary staff is not short on creativity!

The evening program. This year we have triple or quadruple the number of children (under 12) as compared to last year! This is a great surprise, but one that is causing us to re-think a few logistics in our planning. Tomorrow we will hold an optional church service prior to the start of camp. Join us in praying that many of our camper friends come! Don't forget to check the prayer request section in the right-hand margin.

Hospital Role Play -- Stroke Patient and Burn Victim

2007-06-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

This sweet camper was good natured about our 'enthusiastic' trauma team.

Listen to our burn victim ask for water -- she did a good job of getting into the spirit of the activity on really short notice!

English Camp Starts Tomorrow!

2007-06-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of cleaning, planning, and preparation - English Camp starts tomorrow! Here's some pictures:

Testing out the giant "Game of Life"

The room where we'll have the main meetings and eat

Ricky, getting "X-Rayed" by Jon (we're having a Hospital Scenario)

Shane shows off the 10 Commandments

Lawrence putting the finishing touches on his workshop

The school we're using

Moving furniture for workshops

David with his Workshop sign

Katy-Beth gives instructions

The view from the school (suburbs of Budapest)

Anne, Lizzy, and Max getting a classroom ready

Aiden preparing registration signs

Ricky, not listening to the sign!

Alex resting on the "Game of Life" board

Meredith advertising for her workshop

Matt, Jeff, and Ricky playing a newly invented game, "Chairlyball" (a line of chairs is the "net)

Please remember to pray for our team tomorrow as we start the weeklong camp! We'll be doing workshops, starting the Game of Life, a Hospital Scenario (complete with broken bones, burn victims, and head injuries), and more. That's all for now!

-Matt (for the team)

Day of Training/Camp Preparation

2007-06-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest places here in Hungary is what has been called "The Man House" - this is the name of the house in which the guys are all staying - hence the name. After busy days of training, they come back and crash in this room:

The Guys playing Nintendo

These past few days have been busy with training, from morning until evening - today was our first day at the school where we'll actually be holding our camp, and we went over the lessons, scenarios, and the huge Game of Life game we'll be playing.

English Camp Training

Tomorrow is our last day of training and final preparations, and then we begin English Camp on Saturday!

The Attentive Trainees

We're expecting anywhere from 60+ kids at this years' camp, and we've got lots of cool games, skits, and lessons planned out, and we're almost completely ready to go!

In the evenings, we gather at Dan and Katy-Beth's house for dinner/fellowship together as a team, as well as a devotion and pointers/instructions for the next day.

An evening time of fellowship (that means food!)

Speaking of food, today the guys made a run to the local grocery store, known as Interspar, to pick up some needed food and drinks for the Man House - they found it quite interesting...

Alex and Meredith are doing fine, even though we don't have any pictures of them today (they say hi!)

That's about it for now - pray that the rest of the planning tomorrow goes well, and that we'll be fully prepared for the camp to begin on Saturday!

-Matt, for the team

A Picnic in the Park

2007-06-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today we continued orientation at an estate-turned-park in Martonvasar. It provided a relaxed atmosphere to get to know our Hungarian translators and greater camp staff team which has swelled to 46! Tomorrow orientation moves to the school which will host camp. We'll learn where everything will be taking place and set up the class rooms to suit our purposes.

Tryin' to beat jetlag...

2007-06-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

They say the best way to acclimate to a new time zone is to stay awake while the sun shines and get good and tired through physical exhertion to sleep well at night. We honored that advice and learned a little bit about Hungary while we split up and saw as much of Budapest as we could in a day! Camp Orientation begins tomorrow and this could very well be the only chance we had for some siteseeing and souvinir shopping so we pounded the streets and did our part to help the local economy. I'll let the photos tell the story...

Alex and Meredith on a city bus tour
David enjoyed the view from the Citadel

Lawrence got this lovely photo of the Szecheny bath house before being soundly scolded by a staff member for bringing a camera

Aidan and Ricky pose in front of their lunch restaurant choice.

Jeff, Matt, Shane and Lawrence wait for their food

Elisabeth and missionary/camp director, Dan, on the tram ride home

Eatin' supper on the Searls' patio

We've Arrived!

2007-06-25T05:28:00.000-07:00

Everything just fit in the van!
We're here!

(above) Waiting to board the flight to Budapest (in Frankfurt)

This is a quick note to let you know we arrived! The trip was pretty uneventful. All of our luggage made it and fit in the two vans that picked us up at the airport. We went straight to the Searls' home for lunch and are now settling into our respective accomodations where we'll be sleeping for the duration of our stay (spread out between 3 missionary homes).

The Bags are Checked Through...

2007-06-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

Here we are this morning waiting to board the flight to Chicago

And we're off!

2007-06-23T19:26:00.001-07:00

For the first time since the last week of classes, we met up together again and covered final details regarding tomorrow's schedule! Some of our group are ready to sleep for the night, the others are making a last-minute Wal Mart run. We covet your prayers as we embark on an action-packed 16 days!

Waiting for a table before dinner tonight...

Here we are, ready to go!

One Last Session

2007-05-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night marked our last formal meeting as a team before we re-join in June prior to our flight out. We began the meeting with a speaker-phone call to Hungary to chat with Dan Searls, WGM missionary and Camp Director. It was a great chance to ask questions straight from the man in charge and hear his vision for camp and our role there. After another challenging problem to solve (saving the world from toxic poison by pouring 'neutralizer' into the can of 'really bad stuff'), we brainstormed a variety of skits we'll use during our morning and evening program to keep things entertaining and humorous. Good thing this group doesn't appear too shy! If technology works as planned, you will get a chance to see these skits on this blog shortly after they're performed.

Dodging Landmines

2007-04-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

Having started out as a group of strangers, we're working to get to know each other better, build trust, and have some fun preparing for our time of future ministry through exercises like these. Rain eventually chased us indoors where we continued the rest of our training by hearing Shane and Alex share their testimonies, followed by a discussion of what to pack (and fit in one suitcase).

Team Bonding

2007-04-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Only 2 more team meetings remaining!

2007-04-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Alex gives Ricky instructions (no gestures allowed!)

Jeff's interpretation of Lawrence's description for the proper block arrangement (it couldn't have been that simple, could it?)

Our meeting this week got bumped back to Thursday because of on-campus housing sign-ups being on Tuesday (our usual meeting night). As a result, Matt wasn't able to make it so we missed him, but still had a fun time. And just in case you've been to the center and don't recognize where these photos were shot, the center was previously booked by other groups so we met in the Waggoner's apartment.

Our first activity was an exercise in giving and receiving instructions. Paired in teams of two, one member viewed a sample arrangement of blocks set up in the kitchen and had to instruct their partner in the other room how to set up their blocks in an identical pattern. The partners then swapped roles and practiced giving (or receiving instruction). Afterwards we discussed the fact that often times we will be in a postion to receive instructions, for example, in facilitating an aspect of camp and we have no idea what it is "supposed" to look like. Other times we may find ourselves in the position giving instructions to someone for whom we're not speaking their language and we have to find a variety of different ways to express the same point.

The bulk of this evening's session revolved around the issue of culture shock: it's causes, symptoms, and cures. It was a time to discuss similarities and differences between American and Hungarian cultures and prepare ourselves for the possibility of encountering confusion, frustration, and embarrassment over a lack of understanding why certain aspects of life in Hungary are different (not necessarily wrong) as compared to our home culture here in America.

It's hard to believe there are only two more weeks remaining in the semester! We planned a night of team bonding which will take place Sunday evening at DQ. Check back on Monday for photos of that event!

Meet the Team

2007-04-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the team (Aidan & Elisabeth not included)! We've been meeting together for a month now and getting to know each other better. Each member is working on developing their support team, selected their workshop subjects, and considering their destinations for the international travel day of camp. Please check back to this site which we will try to update on a weekly basis until we leave for Hungary in June. Then we'll use this as our chief delivery method for updates once we arrive in Diosd for camp!