On Ezra
Hi,
Last time I wrote, I was reading Lamentations and as I had mentioned it was quite discouraging and then I moved on to Ezra. Whew!! There is the hope. The exile reaches its end and the Israelites are allowed to return home and rebuild the temple!! I think it's also amazing that the Israelites at this point are repentant and humbled, fasting and praying about each step along their return. Cool! The path back to God begins with repentence.
I've started to settle into more of a routine now. I'm glad about that. Monday to Wednesday during the day I work at the synod office becoming familiar with missions in the region. It's a slow process but in order to be able to write about it, I must first become familiar with it. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I help teach Hungarian to refugees we have only between 3 and 5 who come but hopefully we will get more. These are adults who have been given refugee status or are awaiting a decision on their status. On Thursdays and Fridays I help with the high school programme. This is the actual programme that is supported by the church. They choose kids who want to go to school and help them do this. Hungarian language lessons are provided, tutoring is provided and the kids are also given school supplies, bus fare, lunch money etc. etc. Some of the kids are in boarding facilities and some travel home to the refugee camps at the end of the school day. I have been helping with tutoring so far. There is a couple who are very actively involved with this ministry and they will be going home for a few months, so I will be taking over many of their tasks while they are away. I really like it so far, the kids are great. But there are also problems. I was supposed to tutor two boys today and they didn't show up. They aren't going to school mainly because they are quite behind and they are frustrated that they can't keep up with the rest of the class. So they don't go to school. Some of the young people are Muslim, some are Christian. They are all lovely though.
This past Tuesday, I met with another women's committee in preparation for World Day of Prayer in March of 2007. I was pleased to hear that there is great interest about it. On this day, churches who are participating (it is an ecumenical event) talk about and pray for a particular country. This one coming up will focus on Paraguay. I am translating a little booklet from English into Hungarian. No, my hungarian is not that good yet. It will be a rough translation edited by a colleague. It's slow going because the vocabulary is a little difficult.
I'm anxious to see how this weekend will unfold. There will be remembrances for the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising. There is controversy after the troubles over the Prime Minister's participation in the events (he being a very left wing socialist). There are still groups demonstrating in front of the parliament calling for his resignation. The authorities would like these people to leave the square free so remembrances could be held there, but they have a legal permit to demonstrate there. I hope it will be peaceful. I will be taking part in whatever I can. I'll send photos if I see anything of interest.
Well I guess that's it for this week. Hope all of you are well.
Please pray for:
Last time I wrote, I was reading Lamentations and as I had mentioned it was quite discouraging and then I moved on to Ezra. Whew!! There is the hope. The exile reaches its end and the Israelites are allowed to return home and rebuild the temple!! I think it's also amazing that the Israelites at this point are repentant and humbled, fasting and praying about each step along their return. Cool! The path back to God begins with repentence.
I've started to settle into more of a routine now. I'm glad about that. Monday to Wednesday during the day I work at the synod office becoming familiar with missions in the region. It's a slow process but in order to be able to write about it, I must first become familiar with it. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I help teach Hungarian to refugees we have only between 3 and 5 who come but hopefully we will get more. These are adults who have been given refugee status or are awaiting a decision on their status. On Thursdays and Fridays I help with the high school programme. This is the actual programme that is supported by the church. They choose kids who want to go to school and help them do this. Hungarian language lessons are provided, tutoring is provided and the kids are also given school supplies, bus fare, lunch money etc. etc. Some of the kids are in boarding facilities and some travel home to the refugee camps at the end of the school day. I have been helping with tutoring so far. There is a couple who are very actively involved with this ministry and they will be going home for a few months, so I will be taking over many of their tasks while they are away. I really like it so far, the kids are great. But there are also problems. I was supposed to tutor two boys today and they didn't show up. They aren't going to school mainly because they are quite behind and they are frustrated that they can't keep up with the rest of the class. So they don't go to school. Some of the young people are Muslim, some are Christian. They are all lovely though.
This past Tuesday, I met with another women's committee in preparation for World Day of Prayer in March of 2007. I was pleased to hear that there is great interest about it. On this day, churches who are participating (it is an ecumenical event) talk about and pray for a particular country. This one coming up will focus on Paraguay. I am translating a little booklet from English into Hungarian. No, my hungarian is not that good yet. It will be a rough translation edited by a colleague. It's slow going because the vocabulary is a little difficult.
I'm anxious to see how this weekend will unfold. There will be remembrances for the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising. There is controversy after the troubles over the Prime Minister's participation in the events (he being a very left wing socialist). There are still groups demonstrating in front of the parliament calling for his resignation. The authorities would like these people to leave the square free so remembrances could be held there, but they have a legal permit to demonstrate there. I hope it will be peaceful. I will be taking part in whatever I can. I'll send photos if I see anything of interest.
Well I guess that's it for this week. Hope all of you are well.
Please pray for:
- Peaceful rememberances of the revolution of 1956
- The two boys who are not going to school
- Another young man Chris from Somalia who is in hospital for observation. He just picked up a bug or something.
posted by MaryG | 2:05 PM
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