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what does this term mean today? when someone says that is or they are apostolic, what do they mean?

what do YOU mean?

(Fb reader? click see original post) Sweet Anna is on the plane… they do ask a ton of questions when you fly straight to the U.S. It sure was good to have her here for the CEOOGPFME and to hang out with in Vac and Budapest for a few days. We even babysat the Nemeth girls last night. I was sad to see her go this morning.

This has been a really busy trip. Here are some ramblings.

When I was in Ukraine back in February, it was 12 degrees at night and 25 in the day and the snow and ice were the things to walk on. Bosnia was not much different, the snowscape from Sarajevo to Srebrenica were amazing. It stayed cold for a long time it seemed. Then last week when Sweet Anna arrived, it was like she brought the spring with her! Laci thinks it was his summer tires, I credit her highness. I look around and the coats are less and less visible and when you see them they are usually on someones arm not being worn. Spring began officially last Sat (?) and it sure is a beautiful day today.

I have seen a lot of cool stuff, have had a lot of great conversations with people. In those conversations, I have seen new ideas developed and vision for serving clarified. There is one main thing that is becoming clearer to me. The mission of CEO is getting bigger than these getting older bones can handle alone. This is clear because there is too much to do on this side of the Atlantic and there remains a lot to do on the other side of the Atlantic. A year ago, a wise mentor told me I need a USA partner. I fought the idea for a while. I slowly came to accept it. Now, with what I see needing to be tended over here, I know that is true.

Its not that I’m getting too old for this, that’s not so much the issue. its that I need some back-up in the US when I’m away and some help in the US when I’m there. Indeed, it is becoming really clear to me that if i wanted to stay over here, there would be way more networking and connecting for the sake of the mission than I could keep up with. But I am aware enough that I must keep working in both places. So, it seems the next big prayer for me is to ask God for that first officer for this ship I travelling on.

Another cool thing that I saw while I was here was the way the CEO network of partners and friends is working together in global ways to connect and develop alliances and partnerships for the sake of the Kingdom. People putting aside personal agenda for bigger things that are about the Kingdom not about ambition. That is an awesome thing to see.

I only have a few days left and have accomplished most f what I set out to do on this trip. I have a couple of more conversations that need to be had but they will happen naturally when I get a couple of more contacts. Mainly, I need to just dot some ‘i’s and cross some ‘t’s. I’m keeping Saturday quiet intentionally and am gonna hang out with an old friend in Munich for a few hours on the way home Sunday.

From the alarmist emails I am getting from the USA about health care, it seems I have been missing a renewed fight. So, I would guess my growing views about that are going to get expressed herein sooner than later…

I’m way overdue a post as I have been reminded by a few readers who are wondering. (If you’re a Fb reader, you have to click see original post or something.)

The rest of this trip has been and will remain in the greater Budapest area. For the next few days, I’ll be in a Panzio in Vac, which is a beautiful Baroque city on the Danube. This weekend friends and partners in following and serving Jesus will gather for mutual encouragement.

Sweet Anna arrives today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, the remainder of my trip will be invested in catching up with my sweetie, enjoying mutual encouragement with friends, and connecting with schools. One of my biggest objectives on this trip is to visit and establish relationships with schools in Budapest who depend on folks who speak English as their first language. I am depending on Him working through a network of friends here to connect me to these schools.

To keep up with some details, read my Tweets (on the right) which get updated WAY more than I have time to write a blog post.

Peace from Grace from McD in Obuda (McD free wifi is a blessing from God Himself!)

was an awesome time, which centered around good conversations and investing time in friends including the Uhrins, Azzolis, Cheesmans, and a flat full of folks for ICF at Erik and Sara’s for pizza, salad, cake and teaching (2Cor 2.14 on fragrance)… got to go to Z Nagy TWICE! and Cafe Stephania, and had the whole cottage cheese-esque, sour cream and bacon thing with palacintas at Boci (for 550HUF!!!!!) Gabor did an amazing lunch before I rode the train back (sleeping half way) to Budapest. All in all a great trip. There.

Here in snowy Szeged, I suddenly have a couple of minutes of quiet with the Internet so, at the half way mark of this trip, I thought I would reflect on this trip so far… what I’ve seen God do:

He has:

rescued a ton of kids and placed them in loving places in central Ukraine in the Vinnistya area in the Chance Shelters, it was awesome to visit them…

given a couple of Ukrainian folks a heart for missions, I hope I was able to encourage them to leae their comfort zone to serve in needy places (like Bosnia!)

began the healing of a relationship between two brothers

taught me more about prayer and fasting and faith

really shown Himself to me in fresh ways

given me some new friendships

helped me understand patience

healed a brother who had a tumor and blown the doctors minds

encouraged a bunch of Europeans on a mission trip to the Balkans

fought off the darts of the enemy on our behalf: these darts were in the form of: flat tires, broken car suspensions, and other things intended to delay and distract us from our mission, the enemy also sought to distract with discouragement and frustration which resulted in words not meant which were spoken in the heat of a moment… God prevailed through patience and love… How DO you disassemble an atomic bomb? Love, pure love.

God has given new, great connections with people who are making more good connections for us and our work to bring justice

He also gave me a blessing writing the first lesson in a GCL style study of Romans which was a blast to write!

as I write this the sun has just come out! God is good indeed…

These are two views I chose to illustrate my trip today…

the first is a view of the Bosna River which the train follows through from Sarajevo almost all the way to Croatia; the second is a view at the Croatian border just before Hungary…