September 24th

September 24^th today and we've now been here two full weeks. During this past week we had several English clubs begin. These take place right here in our home with the pub now in use for extra space too. We're so glad that this former pub, a rather dark and dismal place, is finally repainted and ready for use as we share the Light of the Word with others. The following photos will show some of the children gathering here....

Children gathering for the first Kid's Club of this year

Visiting the home of one of our students....Joseph has a beautiful yard and garden and shared some of the fruit from his orchard with us last week.

  At the right you'll see us with another eager ESL student and her daughter, Gina.  Yesterday they took us to another town to enjoy a castle tour and some more Hungarian history there.


We're so thankful for each of these new contacts God has given us here in this lovely place.  So thankful for beautiful weather too!

A few photos from our first weekend in Tapolca

Exploring the famous underground caves by boat........

 

 

lunch out with friend Magdolna 

Our First Weekend in Tapolca

Here it is already Monday, Sept. 17th and we've had our first weekend in Tapolca.  As we continue to get a feel for our new community we went exploring a bit more.  For some of our outings we had a local believer and English teacher as our guide.  Magdolna has a good grasp of English and thus we found ourselves with a very able Hungarian tour guide, eager to practice her English with us.

What are we up to these days?

Ron preparing to paint in the pub

September 12^th today and we've been doing more walking around our little town. Tonight Ron is busy again, painting the pub next door here. This place was a pub but now will be used for English classes which begin tomorrow evening...we may have as many as 30 students, but we wait and see. If the pub painting isn't finished yet we'll have everyone cramming into our place here and spilling out onto the terrace. It could be an interesting evening!

But for now let's go back to yesterday and our trip to Lake Balaton. The following photos will give you a little look at this popular Hungarian tourist spot. But by now the tourists are mostly gone and we could enjoy the peace and beauty of this place without so many people all around. Still the temperatures are in the 30's so we've received a very warm welcome here by the weather and by Shaun and Sondi too.

Scenes around Lake Balaton...Sept. 11th

Our New Home in Hungary

We're here in Tapolca and learning our way around this lovely little town filled with history and many old buildings and scenic sights. Our home here is one of the newer buildings but still has old world charm and character with the wrought iron gate, large tiled terrace, high ceilings and huge windows. We are thankful for all the modern conveniences here even though the kitchen is small. Apparently a larger stove is on the way to replace the two burner hot plate and mini oven that we have right now.

The weather has been warm...36 degrees yesterday! So we are glad to be on the lower floor of this two story building. Yesterday we did a bit of grocery shopping in a large supermarket type store called TESCO and stocked up on a few basic supplies for our little fridge. We also toured around the town a bit and walked around the lovely lake here. We'll let the pictures tell more of the story.....

Home Sweet Home

September 7th! 'Tis our last full day here at home before we leave tomorrow afternoon. Leaving home.....Yes, after four years here on the farm in Aldergrove we are feeling like our roots are down and we are at home in this new place on the mainland after nearly 20 years of island living. Four years ago we were truly making a new beginning as we began work on cultivating a garden and developing this derelict old acreage into a place of beauty and productivity once more. At the same time we dreamed of someday having this as our home base as we set out to volunteer in other parts of the world.

Now that time has come and tomorrow we leave the familiar behind to launch out to places unknown to us. Only yesterday we received word that the small apartment that we were to move into in Tapolca is now suddenly not available for us to use as a residence and place for English classes. So the search is on for a new place for us to dwell. This news makes the adventure all a bit more real and exciting. We are expectant to see what God will provide for us in His time. And in the meantime we carry on here.

This morning I'm washing floors. That means time on my knees to scrub and clean, ponder the days ahead, and pray about a new home in Hungary!! Whatever, wherever we trust it will be a little nest where others will come to feel welcome, learn English and be introduced to the love of God. So back to my floors now and the final details of packing too.

early morning on the farm

 

  harvest time in the garden

Preparing to go....

Our first blog entry! Where to begin? What do we tell? Why are we even doing this?

For sure we want to give you a little peak into our lives as we embark on our trip to Hungary. Now only "two more sleeps" and we'll be on our way, hoping to arrive in Budapest by Sunday evening, Sept. 9th. As we write we also desire to glorify our heavenly Father and tell about His work in and through our lives, past and present.

Looking back just a little bit we stand amazed at some of the special contacts God has given us as we've been preparing for this trip. One outstanding memory was our visit with a young Hungarian family who came to us on Sunday, Aug. 26th. It was so special to meet this couple who recently arrived in Canada along with their parents, a teenage brother and baby Loretta. See their photo below.

 

 

There have also been lots of people right here in our own circle of friends who have come to say farewell and wish us God's blessing as we go.  How good to know that so many stand with us in prayer as we pack our suitcases and prepare for these three months far from home and things familiar.  We are so grateful for the support team God has given us as we begin this new adventure with Him.