Hungary

Alright, I know I haven't posted any pictures and it's probably really annoying, but read anyways because we had an amazing weekend and God did some amazing things! I went with 8 others to Miskolcs, Hungary to work with and encourage the church there. I was originally suppose to go to Warsaw Poland, then to Heidelsheim Germany and then a camp in Austria, but all three fell though on wednesday afternoon and we were suppose to leave thurday! it's weird how God works! It is a small congregation of about 8-10 members who focus all of their outreach and energy towards children and the orphanage there. the minister, Ati, is a local hungarian who married a Pepperdine alumni, Ruth. they have 2 year old girl and 7 month old boy and are in love with Christ and the people in Hungary. They were so encouraged by our visit. we got there thursday night and were split up between our accomadations. the girls stayed with Sylvi, a ladie member of the church and us guys slept at the the apartment where the church meets. on friday, we planned a small "vbs" event for the children at the orphanage who we hung out with all afternoon singing songs, doing skits and making crafts.... oh, and providing afternoon snacks of pop, candy and chips! we then all went to Sylvi's apartment where she prepared a home-cooked hungarian pasta meal with bacon and cottage cheese in it. it was awesome! on saturday, we did a little site0seeing in the morning of a 13th century castle in the city. we then participated in the churches coffe-house ministry where the invite a lot of the orphans and anyone else to the apartment for dessert and fellowship. we celebrated a few birthdays and played games with the kids. we then went out to dinner and and bowling as a group which was a lot of fun. the girls then left and us guys played pool til about midnight before we headed back to the apartment. this morning, we gathered for services and were really encouraged by the church members. Ati had asked me earlier in the weekend to lead communion. i talked about what a blessing it is even though we don't speak the same language and had to use translators and didn't understand each others cultures, that we are still brothers and sisters in christ and brought together as a family under one common love and bond through Jesus Christ. I felt honored to lead the thoughts. we then shared one last meal together of hungarian soup and cake and pizza and were then on our way back to Buddapest and then Vienna. we luckily learned from our mistake and reserved seats on the train back becasue we were stuck on the smoking car on the way from buddapest to Miskolcs. it was awful! i met a guy in the church named JD. he is turning 23 three on tuesday so we helped him celebrate his birthday this weekend. he speaks perfect english with a southern accent becasue he played basketball at Lubbock Christian University for one year. I want everyone to pray for him as he travels this next month to the states to tryout at ACU and Oc for thier basketball teams. he and i becasme very close and are already trying to arrange a time to visit again. i will explain to you more later in person if you want to ask me about it, but God did some amazing things this weekend and i feel really blessed to have gone to Hungary. I was "suppose" to be, by my plans, in 3 others places this weekend, but God took me to Hungary. it really helped me realize how much my plans don't mean and how i can only trust in God becasue He's the one who really knows what's going on. I would love to hear from you all and talk to you soon. God bless
MARK!!!!!!!!