Monthly Archives: April 2013

Since I’ll be down in DelPest tomorrow night, I offer the last pic this evening… now to pack.

Just updated the trip plan which is more a report of God’s faithfulness than anything else now. In 48 hours I will be in the air over the northern Atlantic headed home!

Here’s the final prayer letter:

Greetings from Budapest.

This will be my last update on this trip. I am grateful for your prayers. God has answered. He has shown himself faithful as always.

This faithfulness has been seen in the way he has met us along this journey. On numerous occasions he has worked through his people, through the Scripture and in the inexplicable.

When I had the flu in Zagreb, the timing was such that Anna was with me and we found a doctor, thanks to our Croatian partners, who spoke English and gave us peace of mind that it was just the flu. Though the hotel was full, we were able to keep our room for the extra day we needed. I’m always thankful for God’s excellent sense of timing.

Your prayers for the March Gathering of our ministry partners were answered, as these dear friends who serve so faithfully had a weekend of rest and encouragement.

Your prayers for the pastors retreat were answered as these brothers came away with a sense of rest and the reminder of God’s grace. One of these brothers and I have begun a disciple relationship using Gospel Centered Life. He and I are planning my visit to his city in Serbia in July.

This week we were blessed that Ruslan, who is one of CEO’s ministry partners from Ukraine, who is an expert in developing ministry partnerships to benefit orphans, came to speak to Hungarians who are interested in orphan ministry last night. It was a positive first step in a conversation geared toward developing further collaboration in Hungary.

Faithfulness in provision, faithfulness in open ministry doors, that is our God. Of course there have been lots of good conversations and a fair amount of preaching! I am grateful for the opportunities He gives us.

Thank you for your prayers to our faithful God!

I head home in two days. Please keep up the prayer support as the last days are always packed with last minute meetings, packing, teaching and preparing.

Peace from Grace,

Tom

Across the planet people view and react to the orphan problem differently. Some care, others don’t. Some ignore it, others get involved.

On Tuesday, a leader in a movement to end the orphan problem on the planet will speak to leaders here in Budapest.

My good friend Ruslan, from Ukraine Without Orphans, will speak to, and hopefully, facilitate the beginning of a Hungarian conversation among leaders about the collaboration of efforts for orphans. Ruslan literally travels the world advocating for orphans through helping develop “country movements” as he did in Ukraine.

I’m pretty excited that he could come to Budapest. I’m pretty excited that some Hungarian leaders will gather Tuesday at 6pm to hear and dialogue with Ruslan.

GET INVOLVED

– Wherever you are, please pray for this meeting to be a good beginning.

– If you’re in Bp or nearby, Fb msg or direct tweet me for info on location and join in the conversation.

– Give to support this cause at http://www.ceokids.org (preferance Abandoned Children’s Fund)

I’ve not posted in a while. If you follow this blog, you may have said,when you were notified, “Whoa, he hasn’t posted for a while.”

Like many things during busy times, blogging has been set aside. Not that I don’t value our communication, I do. But, on this trip, using the Internet is not as easy, nor as pressing, as in past.

There have been few new places that made me stop and take a picture… wait, here’s one…

These are my fellow travelers as we leave the train to board a bus for part of our journey. This is the third time on this trip that track work has caused the train to be replaced by a bus for a segment of the journey. Here’s a view from our train-bus waiting for a train, (ironic?)…

Anyway…

So, I kinda shifted into minimalist Internet mode due to availability. One important update is my acquisition of a new phone in Hungary that has a data plan. I got it a couple of weeks ago. However, working in a limited plan takes getting used to, so again, blogging got put in the back seat (trunk?).

There is another reason that I’ve not blogged much, I’ve been writing and rewriting. You see, I have a story that I’ve been working on for a decade, its about sandwiches. The first draft…

Due to urgings and circumstances, I have new motivation. So creative energy that would go here has gone there.

I guess the final reason that I’ve not posted is that it seems winter here in Central Europe just will not give up! Will spring ever come? Even as I write, I look out the window and lo and behold, a-yet-to-melt snow drift!!! Which urges me to post a snow pic…

That was the view behind our building from the steps. It was the view for a good while since it gets no sun. Sun? What’s that?

A Budapest newspaper ran a warning article last Sunday. They were warning people that when they looked in the sky on Monday there would be a bright light, “Do not fear! It is the sun.” You remember the sun? The sky was a different color too: blue. Amazing. I noticed an improvement in my attitude.

Speaking of attitude, what a lame, whining, excuse ridden post this has been, huh? If I were you, I’d unsubscribe or unfriend or something. Who needs it?

It should improve when spring finally comes. Which begs the question, will spring ever come?

Written from a bumpy, swaying bus, this one…

Until we got back on a train…

in Hungary…

posted?…  well… I’m not sure when or where this will hit the web.

So, for the travel rule… (is there a rule about wearing layers instead of a heavy coat? There should be… someone should talk to me about that. ) Anyway, here’s the new travel rule:

If you are on a train that stops and they tell you to get off and get on one of those busses, GO to the front bus in the line. These days this happens a fair bit due to the need to refurbish the tracks. There will be several busses to accommodate all the passengers. The front bus will get to the train station first and give you the best choice of seat on the next train. Also, since many people will jump on the first bus they come to, you can get a better seat on the front bus than those closest to the station.

This rule is yet to be numbered.