Sta-choo?

Most people know I love a good statue. So imagine my delight in discovering that Kaposvar's Old Town is full of them! ps, this is a break from our regular programming, so as to indulge me in my love of statues. I'll continue with the trip update, I promise!

I loved this one!

A one-horned Hungarian reindeer?

Barb was awesome to indulge my childishness of running from one statue to the other. :-D

Look, I found a bike!

Pps. Just to warn you of more statues to come, I also went to Statue Park in Budapest- an awesome park dedicated to mementos of the communist era. Loved it!

Orbottyan

Staff Conf. was over Sunday night, April 6th,  and most everyone headed out after breakfast Mon. morning. I stayed for a meeting and then headed to Orbottyan, Hungary, with Bence and Abby. They're one of our youngest couples on staff and you might remember me spending a night with them this past summer. It was so fantastic to make this second, longer trip to them. The first time to a staff member is always a guessing game. How long do you stay so that you can leave with it being a blessing, and not a huge imposition? What if you only know one spouse? What if one spouse isn't completely comfortable speaking in English? What if one spouse does the ministry and the other works or studies? And, of course, if I go to a couple(which I don't very often), is the spouse that doesn't know me as well comfortable with having me there? So back in the summer, I only stayed one night with them, which enabled me to spend time with Abby, as well as get to know Bence. This time around felt totally different; very relaxed. We all knew each other, and just enjoyed the time that we had together. Bence had work and classes my second day, so I got to spend the whole day with Abby and go to two of her craft classes in a school in the next village over. That in itself was a really neat experience. It's a public school but she's got complete freedom to share her faith with the kids there. The topic of Easter came up and also what  the word "missionary" means. So I was able to tie those two together and explain how Christ had come to die for all of us, to pay the debt we can't possibly pay, and to give us eternal life if we believe in Him alone- and how the Bible says that people are supposed to take that great news into all the world, so that's what missionaries do. Kids are so matter of fact. One girl looked up and said, "Oh, now I know. I always wondered what that meant." It really was a fantastic time of encouragement and fellowship, and I'm hoping to get some more time with these two(and little one due in June) when they're here in the States in the Fall.

Bence & Abby with delicious Hungarian ice-cream. This is the 2nd time we've gone to this place in their town, and I've decided this is a fabulous tradition to have. :-D

The younger Craft Class. There are lots of Roma Gypsies in this area.

Good times. I have no idea what we were laughing at, but I like this one

Saying goodbyes

Kaposvar

One of my visits was to our oldest staff member, Barb, who serves in Kaposvar, Hungary. Barb is an incredible woman, full of energy and enthusiasm, and a real pleasure to be around. She was widowed thirty- some years ago, and at the age of 62, moved by herself to Hungary. Like I said, an incredible woman. I spent four days with Barb, and a day before I got there, found out that she was leaving for the States just two days after I would depart. When I asked why she hadn't told me, her reply was, "Because I wanted you to come, and I figured if I told you, you wouldn't!" :-)

My time with Barb really was delightful. It was good for me to get to see some of her ministry, to hear her passion for the people she serves, and to hear her heart for a ministry partner to come alongside of her to continue the ministry when she retires. She serves alone in Kaposvar and knows that due to her age and health, her time there is limited. She longs for someone to join her, so that the ministries that she has planted will continue on after her departure. As I keep saying, she's an amazing woman. Her primary ministries are: English lessons, serving international students that come in to volunteer with a humanitarian group called, "Compass," and bi-weekly English classes serving 30-50 men at the......men's jail. Yeah, amazing woman. Even cooler, b/c of her age and how elders are respected in that culture, she has an amazing opportunity to share Christ with these men, and they actually listen. A cool and crazy thing that happened: after Barb wrote about the jail ministry in one of our big IM newsletters, one of those newsletters somehow found its way into Alcatraz and into the hands of a man convicted of murder, but saved in prison years ago. He then began writing to Barb in Hungary and continues to do so, encouraging her to keep on persevering in serving the men in the prisons there. Amazing, right??

My heart really went out to Barb during my time there, as I observed her serving so faithfully, but all by herself. Please pray for her for the following:

-for her health
-for her encouragement
-for more friends or other English speaking missionaries to come serve there
-for someone to come alongside of her to serve with her and eventually continue her ministries

Gorgeous Hungarian countryside covered in these amazing fields of rape seed.

Holy Moly, I loved this tasty treat. Chimey Cake, or 

Kürtőskalács.

 

 

 

Check out this link telling more about this delicious pastry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCrt%C5%91skal%C3%A1cs

English Class with one of her students. This boy was just delightful, and beat both of us at Scrabble. :-) Barb has been teaching him and his sister for years now, and it was fun to see their relationship.

Why can't we have signs like this in America??

The Compass students hosted a poetry event for all of the middle and high schools on Hungarian National Poetry day, and we went to offer support. I understood nothing, but it was fun to meet more of the Compass students she serves.

Barb and I spent an evening walking, talking, and enjoying tea with one of the German Compass students. This girl seems to be extremely open to the gospel, and we had a really nice evening together.

One of the beautiful streets in Old Town. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to run through Kaposvar in the mornings.

Eggstravaganza

Ok, we're going backwards now, which is not the most logical way to do this, but stick with me. At the end of the trip, after Staff conf. and Staff visits, I had planned to spend a few days in Baden, Austria, with our family friends, the Buchholz family. But due to some health issues, they ended up going to a health spa during the time that I would have been there. Thankfully, I had also been invited to stay with the Elwoods in Budapest, who serve with SHARE, a ministry partner of IM, so I went there. Those who've been reading this for a while might remember that I made a visa trip to Budapest back in 2011, and spent a week with Mike & Nancy, after meeting them not through IM, but through them visiting my home church in Charlotte the exact Sunday that I was home visiting and spoke in the service. Ah, coincidences. :-) You've also seen other pictures with Mike & Nancy here in Charlotte, b/c every time they come through now, we meet up. They're genuinely lovely people and I really enjoy spending time with them. They come to all of our IM Staff Conferences, so they were at this year's conference in Slovakia, also, but I'll talk about that later. Anywho, after going to Budapest from spending time with IM staff, I went to church with Mike and Nancy, relaxed Sunday evening, and then took a quick 24 hr. trip over to Vienna. It's only 2 1/2 hrs. away by train, so off I went to see something I've always wanted to see: the famous Easter Markets of Vienna. Well, really the Christmas Markets are the most famous, but beggars can't be choosy. If you remember my Christmas Tree from this past year(decorated with marbles and Ukrainian and Polish eggs), you know that I like eggs. So I was quite excited to go to the Easter Market, where I had heard there were tons of absolutely beautiful eggs. It pretty much rained the entire time I was there(with just a couple of short reprieves), and being the super packer that I am, I hadn't brought clothes to change into(other than my running clothes), so I was rather wet and cold, but it was worth it! I found two of the three main Easter Markets and the eggs far surpassed my eggspectations(sorry, couldn't resist). Here are some of my favorites!

I love this photo, but it doesn't do the mass of eggs justice. There were far, far more than this and the artwork was just amazing!

These were probably my favorites, but they were also some of the most expensive. I wasn't quite willing to spend $40 on an egg that might break on the return trip home. I got to watch one of the artists doing this type of egg, and I understand why they cost so much.

Old world maps on eggs

Modern Japanese art

And here are the ones I ended up with. The red one is glass from Hungary. The back left is more traditional Romanian style and the jade one is shallaced. All but the red one are real eggs, though, and I was happy that they made it safely home.

 

Eggs: another small thing that makes me happy. :-)

Easter

Well, folks, I've been extremely delinquent in updating the blog over the last three weeks. I've got lots of lovely pictures and stories to share, so I think I'll start at Easter and work back to April 1st, when I "left" for Europe.

I returned from Hungary Thursday, and it was a blessing to be with my family on Easter Sunday. Having missed all Easters since 2008, it was a pleasure to worship with my Charlotte church family and spend the afternoon with family and friends. I don't regret a single Easter spent overseas, and have many wonderful memories that go along with those, but I also am thankful to have had this one here. And my poor, poor mother had to do without my blue cheese biscuits all those years(b/c she's positive that she herself can't possibly make biscuits), so I know she was glad to have me back. :-D

Here are a few photos from Easter afternoon:

My beautiful naturally dyed eggs. It took a while to do them this way, but I love how they turned out!

Family & friends sharing Easter lunch

Evelyn and Ethan were having fun taking pictures of each other...and me

The whole kit and caboodle

Daring Greatly- book review

"Daring Greatly- How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead." Brene Brown, Ph. D., LMSW

So, after being introduced to Brene Brown in Jan. when I was in MN for some counseling training, I came home, listened to her TED talks, and tried to get my hands on as much of her materials as I could find on the internet. I was super excited when my Amazon package arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago, with "Daring Greatly," and "I Thought It Was Just Me(but it isn't)."

I already wrote a good bit about my thoughts and excitement on Dr. Brown's teaching regarding Shame vs. Guilt here: http://www.annahunsucker.blogspot.com/2014_01_01_archive.html and on Vulnerability here: http://www.annahunsucker.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-power-of-vulnerability.html, but here's my personal review on the book...

This book is a thought provoking read that will challenge and convict you and leave you examining what you think and say, and the effects that come from those thoughts and words. Written by a Christian, but minus any Christianese, Dr. Brown's writing is easy to take in and comprehend, which is quite a feat coming from a woman who conducts research trials for her living. She writes powerfully about her journey to discover the difference between those who live Whole-Heartedly, and those who live in Shame, and how along the way, she came to the incredible realization that we become strong by embracing vulnerability, and we dare more greatly when we acknowledge our fear. Through her research and seminars, she herself was greatly challenged to think beyond what her initial theories had been, and to accept the realities that she was hearing from people about how Shame is so pervasive in our society. She made some startling discoveries in the differences in how men and women respond to Shame, and how we use shame in all aspects of our lives, from birth all the way to death. In particular, I highly recommend this book to parents, married couples, and anyone in a leadership position. Well researched, well thought out, well written- it's guaranteed to leave your brain scrambling around, and you doing a lot of self-examination.

Azalea Triathlon..

..over and done with! I'm behind on updating on the Chicago trip and the Triathlon, having gotten home late last Wed., and then heading to Wilmington Friday and driving back on Sunday. I caught a cold(which turned into a sinus infection) from the teens on the Chicago trip, so have been feeling pretty crummy. I wasn't feeling great the morning of the triathlon, but other than feeling nauseous during the run, it didn't effect me too much. Even after all of those months of preparing for it, it still was quite a learning experience for me. I was much slower in the transitions than I thought I would be. My bike time was my best segment(no surprises there), but still slower than I had thought it would be, and with feeling nauseous, I ran quite slow. So, overall, I was slightly disappointed in myself, but I also know that it was my first and I shouldn't be too hard on myself. It was definitely a good learning experience, and now I know what to work on for the longer one coming up here in Charlotte in June!

Before the swim

Finishing up- the end of the run

With Kristie and Jesse- two others from my church who did the triathlon

**Ministry update: I was supposed to be leaving for 2 1/2 weeks in Ukraine this Thursday, Mar. 14th, but due to everything that is going on in Crimea at the moment, that portion of the trip has been cancelled. I've been watching everything for weeks, and staying in touch with in-country staff. I was just getting to the point where I was going to begin planning out my daily time with staff, when I was asked to cancel the trip. All of our IM missionaries have emergency plans set in place(though only part of one family has currently left the country), and IM doesn't want to add another person to the total number of personnel that would potentially need to be evacuated were things to get worse. So, as of right now, I've cancelled my Ukraine tickets and am looking at spending a week or so in Hungary following Staff Conference in Slovakia. I've been working on these new details yesterday and today, and am hoping to purchase new tickets tomorrow, either in and out of Vienna or Budapest. Would sure appreciate prayers for all of these last minute changes, and for the peace of Ukraine!