....And the Good News

The previous blog gave you the bad news about the Ukraine outreach to
boarding school kids. But that was not the whole story.  Although we
helped facilitate the trip, Russell and I did not travel
over the border with the team.  However, our good friend
Susil Isaac, an American medical student studying in Hungary,
participated in the event and had this to say:

The missions trip to the Ukraine was, well just amazing.
From the beginning, we were just seeing blessings upon blessings.
We didn’t know what would happen, but we just saw the Lord
leading in every single aspect.  From what the topics of the
lessons would be to just our ability to interact with the kids,
is seemed like it flowed like water.

Everything was to show that it’s not so much a religion of rules and
regulations but a relationship.  The first night was fun, ending off
with Chris and Timmy(I think) beating their best kids in foosball.
It set the stage.  For the pastor to chill with them, play against them, and even
beat their best, it got their attention.
There were 3 official teaching times given to us to teach on Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday. Topics that were very pertinent to their lives
and everyone’s lives seemed to be picked so quickly.  We were all praying
throughout the car ride that we would go through what they need to
hear, and it ended with Suffering, Bitterness, and Christian living.  The change
in the kids was clear through the teaching.  Chris’s zeal and heart for
the kids mirrored throughout the weekend and the kids latched on to it.

He told them not to trust him because he’s a pastor, but to check it in
the Word to see if it’s true.  By the second night when more kids brought
their bibles, I was really blessed.  When teaching on bitterness, the lesson
moved like a mystery novel almost forcing them to look up the verses to check
if it’s true.  I was sitting next to a couple kids just showing where
Chris was talking from it was cool to see their faces.  They were more astonished
than anything else as if to say, “Wow it’s actually in there.” I could read
the nonverbal signs from several kids across the room, and it was finally
clicking for them.  When you can see kids looking through the bible and
it stops being just words or stories, but it starts to mean something in
their life, it’s a blessing to even be there.

The kids themselves were awesome.  Many of them really tried to talk to
us. Granted, it was difficult when most of the team knew German and
English while they knew Hungarian, but if we were willing to spend time with
them, they were willing to try to talk to us.  In my case, the Lord really
showered blessings upon me, because those that know me know that I do
not speak Hungarian.  I couldn’t, but I became blessed over and over as I
had conversations with them.  The things I had learned before all were
brought back to remembrance.  While my speaking and vocabulary were definitely
not perfect, it was enough to get points across and really connect with the
kids.  The funny thing is, I had to go to the Ukraine to learn
Hungarian.

The kids felt connected with us too.  I only learned this a week later,
but the connection was so strong that they went out to look out for our
things as well.  When soccer balls were stolen from us, the kids from the
school actually went door to door throughout Peterfalva to ask for the soccer
balls back, actually getting most of them back.  We had given our time, our
weekend to spend and minister in the Ukraine, but I never expected
those we worked with would do the same for us.  They sacrificed part of their
free time for us because they cared for us and what belonged to us.  They
were willing to open up their hearts and care for us.
One of the highlights was the gift giving.  Some prizes were brought
just for those kids that were really open and helpful.  Some helped in
translating, some where just good team players and helped the game move along.
By far, there were not enough prizes, but they were given out,
and the faces of the kids were priceless.  They didn’t expect to get
anything, but were so overjoyed to get anything at all, let alone something so
cool.
The thing is, the gifts weren’t just given, but they were explained
with grace, which was just awesome.  Examples and analogies like this
throughout the weekend hit home, and the kids understood what the bible was
talking about.
As long as this letter is, it still doesn’t cover all the blessings
from this trip.  It doesn’t mean that everything in the trip went perfectly
either.  We had injuries, sicknesses, and cars dying along way, but
whatever the Lord brought us to, He brought us through as well.
--Susil Isaac

Anything But Glamourous

If anybody has the misguided idea that missionary life is glamorous, this week's events would disspell those misconceptions. It was another outreach weekend as a group from Calvary Chapel Heidelberg Germany flew in to Budapest and then traveled to the Ukraine to work with kids at a boarding school there. Through guitar lessons, language practice, sports and games the group of young adults connected with the Ukrainian/Hungarian youth enabling them to share their faith in very genuine ways.
After arriving back at our home late Sunday night, Russell loaded them in the van very early Monday morning and headed to Budapest where he planned to drop them off at the airport before attending a series of meetings with different missionaries. Ahh, but the best laid plans of mice and men ....
About an hour or so down the road, the van died. After calling the auto club, they waited for hours. Even the very mechanically-gifted Germans could not get the van to start. By the time they got towed to the nearby town of Eger, the Germans raced to catch a train, but not all of them managed to catch their flight. They were trapped in Budapest with no way home.
The van was in the shop and Russell, being the able-minded problem solver he is alerted the church community in Debrecen and found a solution. Our pastor would let Russ drive his car, and he could take the group to Germany -- a 12-14 hour drive one way.
They drove all night Monday night. At 4am I received an SMS on my cell phone -- the pastor's car broke down as they crossed into Germany -- with four more hours of driving yet to do. The five large guys slept in the tiny car outside a repair shop and waited for dawn. By 8:30 am the car was fixed and they were back on the road and the sleepy crew made it back the fatherland in one piece.
Russ is making the most of the trip as he is seizing the opportunity to meet with the groups coming for our big Thanksgiving at the Miskolc Orphanage. He still must make the long trip home though, so please keep him in your prayers.

Happy Birthday Niki!

Niki has now been a part of our family for about 10 months and on the 20th we celebrated her 7th birthday with all her friends at the Hungarian kindergarten. It was party fit for a princess as Niki wore a crown and sat beside her princess cake while her whole class sang to her. The event was punctuated by balloon games and balloon animals and every child went home with his own bottle of bubbles. Niki now looks forward to her family birthday party tonight where she will enjoy all her princess themed gifts. She has become our little princess!

Back in the Swing of Things

The Chuns took a vacation the first week in September and it was greatly needed. We enjoyed some solitude on the Hungarian/ Slovenian border and the girls got to have a horse experience. We even got to ride the old logging train between villages although we were deluged with rain much of the trip. We sandwiched the vacation with visits to the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Vajta, Hungary where we got to catch up with Andi's God mother and namesake who recently became a mother herself.
Now we are home and back into the swing of things with the girls active in Ovoda (Hungarian Kindergarten) in the mornings. I homeschool them with some basic first grade material in the afternoons. The plan is that they will learn to read and write English this year and Hungarian next year when they enter Hungarian first grade.
Ministry has not slowed down one iota. Even while we were on vacation, GoodSports was still active as Luca coordinated a team from Calvary Chapels in Germany, taking them into the Ukraine for ministry and outreach at a youth center there. This week Russ resumed his weekly trek to Miskolc to lead a bible study with the orphanage kids. And even as I type this, our garage is full of Mikepercsi baseball boys working with Russ to put together a pingpong table. Next week another team from Germany arrives to minister in a boarding school in Ukraine and things at home will not be slow either as Niki celebrates her 7th Birthday on Thursday 20 September.
Meanwhile things are rolling ahead for the Thanksgiving program in Miskolc -- where we are celebrating our 10th anniversary of doing Thanksgiving at the orphanage. Never a dull moment at the Chun house.

A Sinister Plot

Things have slowed down a bit, but that does not mean life is dull. Even simple everyday activities turn into an outright adventure when you are a foreigner living in a Hungarian village. For example, last week we took our dogs to the vet, realizing that having a male and a female dog could only lead to trouble. We wanted them both fixed, but the doc convinced us that a simple birth control shot would due for Blackie (the female) and he could "fix" Extra (the male) right then -- no appointment necessary! Extra had no idea what hit him, unfortunately Russ knew all too well as he assisted in the operation. Keep in mind, the vet speaks no English and while Russ' Hungarian is improving, his vocabulary is largely limited to baseball words.
I cannot testify as to what exactly transpired in that basement room of the vet's home, but when I stuck my head in to see how things were going, I saw Russell grimacing as he held two canine testicles up and the doggy doc did the clip job.
After completing the operation, the vet took us to his garden in the back and sent us home with bag full of home-grown Hungarian peaches -- which I promptly used to make Texas peach cobbler with little concern or regard for the trauma that both Extra and Russell had sustained.
Now, a week later, I can assure you that Extra seems to have suffered no long-term emotional damage. Russell, on the other hand, may never be the same after participating in such a sinister plot to evade canine multiplication.

Moving Forward

The summer has now largely wound down to a close after we hosted seven orphanage boys and David and Csilla hosted three orphanage girls for our first retreat last week. It was a time of comfort and spiritual support for kids who now struggle to figure out how to live out the Christian life in very trying situations.
For example, one boy, who fled his home several years ago after his father tried to murder him, suffered the loss of both his mother and brother the week previous to the retreat. He who was an orphan of situation, became a true orphan that week. Yet there he was with us for the retreat – trying to sort out how to live out his new found faith in the face of such a horrible loss.
A girl – the oldest of ten – struggled with the heavy responsibility she feels for her siblings, as her parents’ failing health make family reconciliation seem like a pipe dream. That’s more than any 16-17 year old should have to handle.
And so they came with all their heavy burdens – each with a different tragic story. And they picnicked by the lake and did the paddle boats and go karts, but the fun was punctuated by disciple-building bible studies designed to put them on the right track. The Calvary Chapel Debrecen Youth Group played an integral part in the event and many desire to serve a role in the discipleship of these kids. The church’s youth leader took out time to spend one night with the boys at our house.
Russ continues his weekly pilgrimage to Miskolc in an effort to disciple and support these kids and youth group college students have volunteered to help translate. We pray that local churches will rise up and begin the mentorship process with these kids, but until then Russ is determined to answer the call, despite distance, language, and cultural barriers.

A Kutya Fajat!

“A Kutya Fajat!” That’s Hungarian slang which roughly translates “bummer!” Literally, however, it translates “the dog’s tree,” which clearly offers more colorful imagery for that sentiment – a sentiment we recently experienced when a local stray dog decided to call us his own.
We call him “Extra,” and he is ugly. Of course, so is our other dog, which we got at five weeks old by choice – at that time she was cute. Puppies are truly false advertising, but that is a different story.
With Blackie, we may have been deceived, but with Extra, we knew he was ugly from the outset. He was the thorn in the side of the entire neighborhood. Everyone (including us) threw rocks at him to get him out of their yard and garden. He killed a neighbor’s pigeon and generally made the kid of trouble a stray dog makes when he is trying to survive in the cruel world. One day, he simple decided we were his family – even though we continually chased him out of the yard. He would greet us when we arrived home. If I walked to the village center he would be right at my side.
“You are NOT my dog!” Russ would yell at him and spray him with some water as he watered the lawn. Extra just happily played in the water’s spray and wagged his oldly formed tail.
One day during English camp I came home to find that someone had tried to steal a giant flower pot from our front porch. As they tried to climb through the fence, something had made them drop it and it broke in half. I could not help but wonder if Extra had something to do with foiling the theft.
The next night the car alarm went off, but just before it did, Extra who had perched himself on our front doorstep broke out in a barking frenzy. And that was when Extra became our “extra” dog. We did not need or want another dog, so he is the extra dog, rightfully named “Extra.”
But an extra dog is not the only thing we can say, “A kutya fajat!” about. The Degus I wrote of in a previous blog – the gift that keeps on giving – has done just that. Three baby Degus were spotted in the cage last week. Lately, we have only seen one up and running around, but whatever has happenedto them, we now have more Degu than we started with. And we started with more Degu than we ever wanted.