#3 in the nation....... not bad for a team made up of 75% first year players.


although we had a disappointing day yesterday (with a loss of the first game) ,the boys were able to get things together and pull off a huge win today. after going down 8-1 in the third inning they were able to manage the improbable comeback in the last inning to tie the game. and then in the first extra inning were able to open things up to score 12 runs. we've decided they just enjoy watching us coaches go crazy while they cooly wait until just the opportune time to win the game. we had a great time with the boys spending the night bunking in little wood cabins, and enjoying a good swim together..... odd note i quit competitive swimming at 13 due to the fact that i refused to wear a speedo..... the team of boys on the other hand had no problem what so ever swimming and running through the campsite in their ginches, and no one in the campsite had a second thought about it.... cultural lesson number one.

this shot above is of the boys proudly chowing down on their hand picked watermelon. while us coaches ate Chinese food the boys disappeared and came back 10 minutes later displaying their find. with huge smiles on their faces, we on the other hand thought "great, watermelon, one problem we're staying at a campsite, no knife." where upon one of the boys pulled out a knife big enough to gut a moose with that was newly bought at tesco also. nothing would phase these boys on their endeavour.... cultural lesson number two, when i was 13 and given money to buy stuff for a weekend my bag would be filled with chocolate, chips and root beer and not a water melon ...let alone any fruit or vegetable. and if it did i would never have thought to get the knife also!

look what i won mom! for most of these kids it was the first championship of any kind and with a national anthem, announcer and posters all over the city nerves played a big part in our first loss. but in the end the boys were able to pull throw and end the season with a win for 3rd place .

on another note....we leave tomorrow afternoon for our outreach in Boly. please pray with us that it will go well and that our energy will be restored after spending the weekend with 12 boys! we will be leading some english conversation groups, baseball camp, selling some books, and hanging out with the local teens and kids there. we dont have too many details for this next week but we pray that we will be prepared for whatever comes our way!

why is it that when you are in hot weather you would rather it be cool and when it cool you are waiting for the hot weather to arrive?!? we are now enjoying +30C weather but here i sit wondering how it will be possible to sleep. i mean seriously for a vancouverite the only time you get this weather is when we head off to go on vacation to osysoos but then you don't think about it because you can always go for a swim in the lake. coaching baseball and packing boxes from the bazaar is not such a relaxing experience as you melt from the heat. anyways i won't complain about the weather anymore because i am actually enjoying it. but i'm also hoping for the evening thunderstorm to cool everything off.

mom and dad dyck flew off the morning and i guess they would probably be in the air somewhere over the Atlantic by now maybe greenland, maybe they have one of those UPS GPS tracking clips on them and i could find them? or maybe not. we had a great two weeks with them although one week was spent by me and dad watching our wives get sick, but we both tried our best to enjoy ourselves with many BBQ's (this meant for more food for us). and we even fit in a round of golf which was a first for me overseas. hungary only has 7 courses in the country so along with our south african teammate we headed out for a round, honestly it was quite strange for me since i felt like i could be walking the hole back in vancouver but it was a great time together although we got taught a lesson or two by Pranesh. we were also able to show mom and dad much of our lives here and enjoyed trips into the city and to vienna. but what we really enjoyed most were the evenings together sitting on our patio and chatting and laughing. it's really rare that we would be able to spend so much time like this with our parents and we really valued each day, hopefully we weren't too much for you guys!

in other news this weekend we head out for baseball finals, we have qualified for the top 4 in the country and even had a short article in the local newspaper. we play in the semi finals on saturday then either in the finals on sunday or for 3rd place. so we will stay in deberceen as a team all together for the night which should be a good time with the boys. the team we play on sat. is the best in the country but we were able to beat them last game so it should be a close one! the boys are pumped to say the least. Then on monday we will leave for our first outreach of the summer to Boly a town around 2hours away for a week of english lessons and working with the local teens, we will be working together along with some former missionaries who are now leading a church in this town so we are looking forward to working alongside this church to connect and build relationships with those in the community!

we will update on how the finals went on the weekend hopefully before we leave for our outreach!

family visiting....mom and dad dyck arrived on wednesday evening after a long flight...weighed down with lots of goodies from home! the last couple of days we have enjoyed showing them around here and budapest today...here is a little glimpse of what we have been up to...

had some morning "mate"....(paraguayan tea for those who wonder)visited some neighbours friend of ours....picked some yummy cherries there too!of course there has to be some bbq-ing ...enjoying dinner together on the patio....

market in budapest....dad captivated by the hungarian sausages!looking over budapest from our favorite spot!we are so happy that mom and dad are here to visit!!!

tomorrow we are off to another baseball game...if we win we go to the finals next weekend!

A 65-year-old railwayman who fell into a coma (from an accident) in communist Poland regained consciousness 19 years later to find democracy and a market economy.... Polish media reported on Saturday.
Wheelchair-bound Jan Grzebski, whom doctors had given only two or three years to live following his 1988 accident, credited his caring wife Gertruda with his revival.
"It was Gertruda that saved me, and I'll never forget it" Grzebski told news channel TVN24.
"For 19 years Mrs Grzebska did the job of an experienced intensive care team, changing her comatose husband's position every hour to prevent bed-sore infections," Super Express reported Dr Boguslaw Poniatowski as saying.
"When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol queues were everywhere," Grzebski told TVN24, describing his recollections of the communist system's economic collapse.
"Now I see people on the streets with cell phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin."
Grzebski awoke to find his four children had all married and produced 11 grandchildren during his years in hospital.
He said he vaguely recalled the family gatherings he was taken to while in a coma and his wife and children trying to communicate with him.

I don't know if you caught this story but it really blew my mind reading it. Talk about a new world view. You want a accurate picture of the differences between communism and democracy this is the guy to go to. Being in eastern europe we hear all these stories about the first big box stores opening and people walking in turning around and walking back out because the option to choose is just too drastic, or how saturday was market day and everyone went to the main market and stood in lines all day just to get the essentials to get through the week. Times sure have changed and continue to change. Take Erd our city for example in the year that we have lived here we have gone from no large scale grocery stores to two huge mega big box retailers, is this a good thing well yes and no. Construction is booming, well ok sorta booming, highways and railways are being upgraded to meet the new EU regualtions but Erd continues to be a dirt road mega town and our new swimming complex which happenings to be right across the street from us well remains closed even though contruction is complete. Why? well there is no money, they spent millions building the thing but have realized they have been spending money they don't have and now can't pay for employees to run the place and this is kinda a picture of the country, money is being spent all over the place but at the same time the government has said they cooked the books and there is no money and so they tax the people, house gas prices alone have been raised 50-70% alone nevermind a slew of other things and schools/hospitals are being shut all over the country, so how is Hungary doing? thats a good question. Better than 15 years ago but the burden especially upon the poor in the country side is really over whelming and is driving many to wonder how they will survive if the country continues in it's path. So pray, that leaders would lead responsibly that they would look to take care of those that aren't making it and that people would see as we put our hope in man and government we will be let down and failed but rather people would see there is one who we can put hope in and we will never be let down.

This past weekend the OM team here in Hungary headed off for our once yearly team retreat. no complaints when it means spending the weekend with friends and staying in a castle! Vajta is a small town here in Hungary and in it is a Bible school which has completely renovated a old palace/castle. the story of the castle was that it was built in the early 1900's by the 5th richest family in hungary, they fled during the 2nd world war and the camp fell into the hands of the communist party and was used as a vacation home for leaders and their families, it was then converted into a camp for handicap children. but after the fall of the iron curtain the government could no longer afford to keep it up and it was abandoned. in 2000 the palace was bought and converted into a bible school complete with everything from a pool, to two i must say pretty cool coffee bars. we spent the weekend playing games, we had a guest speaker, and a trip to the pool which included what is needed for true team building... a giant pool wrestling match. we had a great weekend of catching up with team mates, getting beaten in a variety of card games and sipping good coffee. here's a shot of how we've been getting around hungary now a days, it's slow going what can i say. these are all the rage for kids here, there super funny to watch all the kids roaring around on them, i just had to give a try. apparently i'm a little to big though. but really north america should wake up and get their hands on these, we are actually thinking of starting a export buisness to introduce these to the american market! i think it will go. but in reality we do actually have wheels here right now, we are borrowing our english team mate's (jill) car, believe it or not we have had a car since october. first jill's then when she came back and our south african team mates (pranesh and heather) lent us their car and now that they got back jill once again lent us her car as she doesn't need it. and now we found out our brazilian team mates (carlos and rita) will go home for the summer and told us we can us their car......! what can we say but the Lord provides and we have great team mates! this last picture is of our team leader rodney and his wife kitty and their two boys mark and patrick. they are leaving the team to go back to the states. we have enjoyed getting to know them so much and will miss them greatly, we will especially miss their boys who refer to us as kyle basci and lynnette neni which is the formal way to great people but they are the only ones who do this for us and plus their really fun and funny guys to have around. rodney and kitty you will both be missed but we know the Lord had amazing plans in store for you in the states. this coming weekend will be filled with helping our team mates move out and in of various places and also on sunday we have baseball games, our boys team won both matches last weekend, even beating a un defeated team, which we had earlier lost 23-3, and we just found out that we have qualified for the hungarian finals which will be happening in two weeks time, so "hira" pirates! GO Pirates!

well, another week has flown by again....haven't been so great at updating our blog, guess that means we are busy! i have to think back about last week and try to remember what happened

...i will share about english classes...last monday we met with olga again. we are now teaching her how to ask for directions in english...apparently what i thought would be a one week lesson, is turning more into 3 weeks! but we had a great talk with her these last 2 weeks. she is opening up and asking lots of questions. we have talked a lot about assurance of salvation and just shared with her that there is hope of heaven in christ ...and of living eternally there...not here on earth as she thinks she might! but she shared with us that she really isn't even sure where she will go after she dies. today i showed her a power point that a team mate has made, its a presentation of the gospel in hungarian...we are praying that God really uses this to waken her heart to Him.…and that her stubborn heart would be softened! last week when she was talking quite fast (and i wasn't understanding anything she was saying)...i was just looking at her and it really saddened me because i see that she is totally lost. i saw a women who needs God and is so far from Him....and its hard to talk to her because she is old, and her heart and mind are set in their ways! but my prayer really is that God would work a miracle in her life and draw her to Himself. this morning i was reading in a book, just thought i would share something i found encouraging...

“I cry out to the God Most High, to God, He will perform the cause I hold in my hand.” Psalm 57:2

“The very thing that I hold in my hand- my work today, this concern that is beyond my control, this task which I have greatly overestimated my own abilities- THIS is what I may “cry out” for Him to do for me, with the calm assurance He will perform it.”
-streams in the desert

we also have a new student….she is actually the mom of the newest kid that comes on Fridays. I will meet with her on Friday for the first time for English lessons. I have spoken with her lots (in Hungarian mind you) at baseball because her daughter plays with the kids team. So I am excited to start meeting with her on a weekly basis and continue to build a relationship with her. (yes mom klassen, its Adrienne and Atilla’s mom!)
we also got to help with some of our team mates who are doing a church plant 45 mins from here. They are holding English clubs on Saturday nights for teenagers who want to practice speaking. Only 5 kids showed up but it was a good time, we look forward to helping more with it when it starts back up in September. we are also looking forward to seeing my parents in only 2 short weeks...yahoo!!! (-lynnette)

in other news we are enjoying 30'C weather and it should be holding round there for the next couple weeks, summer has defiantly come! sorry to rub it into you vancouverites! oh ya and Go GIANTS Go! (-kyle)

mothers day in hungary.....well not actually since here in hungary we celebrate a week earlier....ahead in time and in celebrations!
yesterday as we told you in our last post we had a outreach in ercsi, a community about a half hour drive from home. the swedish/finish team has been here all week meeting with different families and holding meetings. last evenings meeting went really good, some students from the local christian high school came also and lead worship. i briefly shared my testimony with translation of course! as much as i wished my hungarian was good enough to speak in front of people it just ain't. (my english is also on the quick road downhill!) then we had some special gyspy music from the swedish team and also they shared a message for the people and invited people to the front for prayer, with many people responding to this. this video is some little excerpts from the evening.

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photosthe two middle clips are a mothers day gift for my mom. while they were here they met little robbie and she especially asked for some video of him. robbie is such a special little guy, blind since birth but he has a glow and fire that really can't be described. you can't help but smile when around him, with his sporadic loud AMENS, and Hallelujahs. and he sings like no other kid i have ever heard, as we pull up to his street he always knows and comes running out of his house yelling CARLOS, CARLOS (our brazilian teammate). the other videos are of the swedish/finish team with some gyspy music and also a little three part translation which was quite funny to watch, from finish to roma (gyspy language common throughout europe), and then to hungarian since not all the gypsies speak roma. praise the Lord for the work he is doing in ercsi and pray for a continued openness in the people there!

april showers......

well this month has been quite a busy one as you can see from the lack of posts,..but we have had a great time hosting family. Catching up on old times and making lots of new memories, it was so great to be able to just "be" with family and also get to show them life and work here. we look forward to the coming months as other family will also be coming. but it has also made us really miss home and especially our new niece and nephews, some of who we have only seen over web cam. but we will be able to catch up in only a few short months which will fly by!

this shot of me was taken in vienna while there with my parents, we convinced lynnette to go and give this "statue" some money but as she walked up he lunged out and freaked her out, the rest of us had a great laugh and she refused to go back and give him the change.

we also had "take your family to work weeks", we had told our family that if you come, your joining us where ever we go and basically that's what happened, hope you guys didn't mind it! they joined us at English club, clothing bazaar, baseball, and many other things, mom even cooked team lunch on tuesday for over 20! thanks again mom! we also ran into a older couple in our neighbourhood, while on a walk back from ice cream. Their grandson plays baseball with us and lynnette has met the grandfather a couple times at the field and chatted with him. they invited us all back to their place for drinks and snacks, we had a great time. the picture is of lynnette, my mom and the lady, they broke out the family pictures and gave us a tour of their small farm (backyard). it was great since moving to our new place we were hoping to get to know our neighbours and now we have a great relationship with this family (good for practicing our hungarian too!), the grandma promises to stop by for tea every time she walks by with her grand daughter!

baseball continues to go well the boys teen team had games last weekend out of town so we had a good time heading out on the road last weekend, we can see them improving and they were quite excited to win their second game. we also have two kids from the team now coming to weekly English club so we are thankful that the relationships built at baseball are reaching further than just on the field. this is the teen team at our game last weekend.

we are really excited for this coming week since a team from sweden will be joining us to work in ofalu and erchi with the gypsies, they are also gypsies who speak roma (gypsy language) and have been here numerous times and have great response in these communities, on sunday we are hosting a special evening in erchi. we have rented out the community hall in erchi (the same one we used at christmas) for a outreach evening. it's always a good time with this group and we know they will be excited to see were there semi truck of donations went from christmas, although we have worked through a good chunk of the 1000 banana boxes they sent there is still plenty more clothes to be sold/distributed. please pray for this week of outreaches. we also took my parents and mark and bonnie to visit miklos and eva, carlos and rita (our team mates) have a weekly bible study at their place, they are both doing much better but continue to pray for them both.

more visitors....we are having a great time with mark & bonnie here...always good for laughs when marks around! we love having you two here!

week review in pictures...

kyle bbq'd some burgers baseball practices

drank some cappucinos

saw the city at night
...during the day!

took the tram
....and much more!!! we have had a great week. mom and dad klassen have helped out with so much....clothing bazaar, mom taught some english, baseball practices. its great having them here and showing them what our daily lives are like!