24.10.06



on a happier note we are very proud to introduce to you all the latest addition to our extended family, Charles Jacob Riley, born to chris and cheryl, (kyle's sister)
We were more than happy to be woken up by the phone early this morning to the news! As much as we would love to be there celebrating with the family we are celebrating here with a big pot of goulash! We love the pic of proud papa being eyed up by his new son! Congrats Cheryl and Chris and we look forward to stories pics and of course meeting Charles! over webcam for now!

23.10.06






50th aniversary of the 56 relevlotion




today hungary celebrated the 50th aniversary of the 56 revelotion against the occuping communists, it was a day for the people to celerate the people revlution, sadly the day was marred by every celebration being closed to the public and demonstraions which turned into riots, we headed into the city with friends thinking we would enjoy some hungarian festivites and see the celebrations, normally national holidays are filled with authentic hungarian food, music and many markets, but we came to realize tensions in the city would rule the day. We walked around the streets going from event to event only to realize they were for diplomats only and closed to the people, kinda ironic i must say, a day to celebrate the peoples revolution completely closed to the people. Close to the end of the day upon trying to get some coffee and a bathroom stop at a local Mcdonalds of all places we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the action. The girls were in Mcdonalds while I (kyle) and a friend were watching the crowds gather, when we saw them carrying large items towards the police line we said to ourselves something may be happening, the crowd seemed tense but not too unruly, but suddenly we saw the police water cannons spraying the crowds and the next thing we know the tear gas cans started to fly, for those of you who are now worried, don't be, because we quickly retreated away from the crowds. It was so amazing to us how quickly things changed, becuase when we first standing there we commented on the amount of people but it really didn't seem to be a very aggressive crowd. It was kinda like a bee hive that got poked by broom or something because once that first assualt was made by the police things turned ugly.
The picture below is off the square just before the tear gas started to fly and the tank you see in the first picture we looked at earlier in the day. We found out later that it was actually started up by the rioters and driven towards the police line, aparently all that was done to disarm it was take the battery out. It was stopped before doing any damage and the rest of the night was spent pushing the crowds back and attempting to disperse the people.

The tear gas we encountered was the first that day and I think it took many by suprise as many people were like us just standing around trying to see what was going on and not knowing the seriousness of it all.

It is now 11pm and the riots are still going, probably will go all night. We just wanted to give a update and let everyone now we are now home safe, since many of you know we were headed into the city today and we didn't want anyone to freak out. So there is a little update on hungary and reminder to keep hungary and the people of hungary in your prayers, that peace would prevail and tensions settle and that God would use this time to speak to the hearts of hungarians. Many of the rioters have no goal other than just to disturb the peace and in the meantime many innocent people are being hurt along with police who are being forced onto the front lines, it really has been a sad day for hungary and has proven nothing other than giving the country a black eye in the world press. The 56 revloution was about a nation forming together to create change but today seems like it has been about trying to look good to the world/international diplomats and on the other hand a excuse to cause trouble, all in all it can be described as a big mess.

19.10.06



What have we been up to lately??
well, since the summer has ended and our OVM outreaches have finished for this year...we have sort of changed our focus. there is a brazilian couple that im sure we have talked about already that work in Ofalu (the gypsy village near here) and we have joined them for the winter/spring months. so far it has been good, a change of pace...but its always interesting! OM has a ministry centre there (just a small part of a building) which is where we have all our meetings.so here is how a normal week goes for us in Ofalu ministry:
monday: english class (kyle & I are trying to start one)
tuesday: bible study
wednesday: clothing bazaar
thursday:nothing
friday: kids club
saturday:sometimes the boys play soccer at the local field
ya, so our week is quite busy, along with team prayer meeting day on tuesday, Hungarian lessons 2x a week in the evenings, and we attend an english bible study at our church in budapest on thursday nights! but if you remember to keep these items in your prayers, especially the english class the kyle and i are trying to start on monday nights. the first time nobody came, but we are going to advertise about it more and hopefully those who have already showed interest will attend. we will try to present the gospel to them in an easy way too, so please pray for us and this new ministry. this next week there is a team coming from England that will be doing a week program in Ofalu and Erchi, so we will be helping out there and joining with them. oh yes, the house in erchi that is being built for the gypsy family is having the roof put on this week and hopefully it will be sealed from the wind and cold soon, as the weather is getting quite cold here in the nights. thanks for all your prayers and support...have a great weekend!

16.10.06

on the train ride home from Esztergom (kyle's b-day trip)...what else better to do on a train than take some crazy pictures....i love my husband...we laugh and have fun all the time! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my amazing husband!
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"Lomtalanitas"ing it!
Birthdays in foreign countries are always filled with un-expected “special” events but I honestly can’t say I ever thought it would involve such a “cultural” experience. We were invited out to team mates of ours for a nice day to visit their church and the such, the other small detail involved was a little garage cleaning. They moved last spring into a new place and the back garage was formerly an upholstery shop, and was filled with well... a little bit of everything and a whole lotta old cushions. Lomtalantas is a time when residents can put anything out on their front drives and the city will take it away for you, so for a day the whole neighbourhood turns into something that resembles a mix between war and flood zone. Quite the sight to behold. This happens twice a year and so Matt and I thought we would take advantage of it and pile as much as possible infront of his place, as you can see we were very successful and now the next question is will they take it all! Of course with piles of garbage comes scanvengers and we had our fill of those throughout the day, we decided this should be a new addition to missionary manuals for networking as we had all sorts of vistors and neigbours coming throughout the day for metal, vacuums and just to stand and look in wonderment at our great wall! At one point we even had some old residents drop by to give us a little history lesson of the house and back gargages of the Edwards place, which was a one point the town butcher and auction barn, then turned into a uposltry shop which was quite easy to figure out given all the evidence we hauled out all day. We figure if this place was in north America we could have made a killing selling of all the relics we found, early 1900 photos, a birth and marriage certificate from that period also, hand crafted seats, sofa’s and tables and even a old combing wheel used to make the stuffing for cushions, oh and did I mention the cushions were filled with animal hair, ya I found this out upon throwing one in the fire, not such a good idea, the smell reminded me of burning my knuckle hair or something, the stench was terrible to say the least.

The day wasn’t all work we also went to their church plant in the morning for their Sunday service. This is a very new church and already has between 20-40 attending, it was a really special time to be involved in such a fresh and vibrant church. We really enjoyed the service and people you could really feel that God was going to do special things with them in that city, pray for the Tatabanya Calvary Chapel as they continue to grow and reach their community. Matt just last week started their first youth event! Thanks again guys for the great day and cake! Yes as you can see I got a birthday cake and for those of you who can remember Lynnettes birthday my candle even out does her giant matchstick! And mom yes it was really marzipan!

The weekend also included a trip to Esztergom with some friends from church, it was a cool town of course dominated by a huge cathedral, we climbed to the top of the bell tower which made for some cool views, the bell inside was huge. I think something like 6 tonnes As we were standing there we realized it was just about noon so we all prepared to make a sprint down the stairs at the first sign of movement of the bell. But we found out later that the big one is only used for special occasions and the smaller one is used daily. We also took advantage of the close proximity of the slovakian border and took a walk across the bridge for a stroll in slovakia, not everday you can say that! They had a big fair and market on the Slovak side so it made for some interesting sights.
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9.10.06

Moving and bogracs’:

Home sweet home, yesterday we finally had a chance to properly un-pack and set up our new pad. We had moved in earlier in the week but were too busy to do anything but eat and sleep here. Our place is only about a 10 minute drive from the old, closer to the town center but further from the team office, but we are really liking it. Plus a new pool will be opening right across the street from our place. And speaking of streets, ours will soon be paved, well apparently they will be, we will see. A big step up in the world of Erd for us! And we even have a proper flush toilet here….anyone who visited us knows what we had before, it was more of a trickle of water (plus the assist of a bucket full of water helped!) Yah for modern technologies! Thursday and Friday we spent helping in Ofalu and Erchi. The local Christian high school had their service days so we were flooded with 40 teens. Half the group painted and worked on the ministry center in Ofalu and the other half we took to Erchi to work on the house project,(which is now at roof stage!) Part of the team in Erchi (the girls) painted a different house down the road, the girls all came back covered in bubble gum pink paint, apparently a popular colour here! We also did kids programs and finished the days off with a bogracs in Ofalu. Now your probably saying “that sounds interesting what’s that?” Well let me fill you in on a Hungarian tradition handed down from ancestor to ancestor and now to us Canadians! Basically a bogracs is a Hungarian cook out, and also the name of what you cook your meal in. If you look at the picture you will see Lynnette stirring the meal (goulash soup), for 80 people you need one big pot! Goulash is filled with potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, meat, parsnip (or white carrot as they like to call it here), a whole lot of paprika, and a goulash paste. Well hopefully we got it right with the little Hungarian help we had, our team of Canadians, Brazilians and Americans did our best and it seemed to turn out, no complaints at least. We will have to try it out on you guys at home sometime when we get back!
Here are some pictures of our new pad, amazing how a new place can even make mopping exciting, hey Lynnette!?! And also a picture from outside… notice our wheels out front too, ok not our own wheels but a team mate, (Jill from England) has very generously lent us her car for the winter as she is going home on furlough. It will be so nice to have especially during the cold winter months. Thanks again so much Jill! We are having her over for Canadian thanksgiving on Tuesday so we will have so pictures to introduce her to u all! We will enjoy a Canadian tradition together, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes and even some “stove top” stuffing sent from home! (thanks mom!) We figured since Canada is a commonwealth country of England then who better to enjoy thanksgiving with!
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8.10.06

today i am officialy hating the computer and technology! Blogger is not letting me post any pics and is taking FOREVER!!! and i cant get our prayer letter sent out...so i dont like hotmail today either! so hopefully we can get things together and make friends with the internet again! sorry for the delay in updates...its been a little CRAZY busy lately, but we will tell about that later!

1.10.06


Weekend with the youth: october has found us so quickly and we are back from our last OVM outreach of the year, we spent the weekend with youth from a town not far out of budapest at a youth camp, we joined them for their annual camp. The camps focus was on rock music and what we fill our minds with, the youth were all from the Lutheran church and had all been confirmed this year so our focus was really on getting them to think about what that means and to realize that their faith is a choice not something inherited from their parents. The pastor of this church as a real passion to see the youth break from traditionalism and take their relationship seriously. Of course it was a teens camp so it was filled with all the extra excitement, arguments and of course annoyed caretakers, pool staff and the such. But what camp goes with out it little quirks. Last night we both had a chance to share our testimonies and do a couple skits. Yes thats right we do drama now, I know it makes me crack up to, never know what you may find yourself doing here! Lynnette is a master actress, I have a tough time keeping a straight face while in role! Well in other news the weather is still like a early september day in vancouver, we fear that winter hits it will take us completely by surprise but until then we will continue to enjoy days in shorts t-shirts and sandals. Well since we keep delaying packing for our big move this week I guess I better get on it, ah maybe not theres not so much to pack! We don't exactly have much in the way of possessions. Yet somehow things tend to pile up, when I read how Jesus told the disciples to take on the sandals on their feet and then I look at what we have it kinda hits me to think about what I really need and what is just extra, not that we can't have stuff but just what do I see as essentails as what do I see as extras. Coming here with only a small portion of what we own has really opened my eyes to how much we really have and don't really use, some of the stuff I have packed at my parents is things I use maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Maybe I should just tell my parents to just have a big garage sale, or maybe not. I guess that means I'm still attached. I would be lying if I told you I am completely disconnected with possesions but I am just a little less reliant I guess, take the microwave for example, I have come to realize I can survive without it. But I do miss popcorn, although I faintly remember it being made in some sorta spining thing. Posted by Picasa