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| Exhibit graph A: Change in Activities in Hungary, courtesy of Jessica’s doodles |
Saturday marked six months since we flew out of Louisville for Hungary. In that time, we’ve learned a lot – about how people live in other parts of the world, about God’s heart for humanity, about His ways with us, about how pointing at things can get you further in communication than you think, and so on. You know this, you’ve been reading our stuff. Still, six months away blows our minds a bit, and we’ve got to reflect on progress made and lessons learned. Here, I think, are six lessons God seems to have been teaching us over the last six months — split into two parts because I (Jessica) got long-winded. (Here’s part two!)
1. Anything can be done in worship.
When we first moved to Hungary, the baseball season was still busy, and Patrick was gone a lot helping with games and practices and learning how the sports ministry works. I was trying to figure out how to run a household without a car or knowing how to get groceries or how to light the oven. But another thing I did a lot was wash dishes. We didn’t have a dishwasher in our little space, which was not a problem, but goodness, how can two people make so many dirty dishes? And so I spent a seemingly disproportionate amount of time washing dishes. I thought, “Oh yeah, this is what I moved across the ocean for.”
It took me a while to fully realize one of the Bible’s freeing messages: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. – Colossians 3:23-24
Jesus said He came to give life, and because of Him, no service is worthless. Because of Him, there can be purpose in every task. If we approach with an attitude of worship and thankfulness, we can find joy and purpose in washing dishes, doing laundry, cooking dinner. For me, I realized that the dishwashing fell under ministering to my husband and maintaining the home God had given us. It could be worship. It could be ministry. Jesus sees our service and says, “You are serving Me. You are worshiping Me and honoring Me. There is value in what you are doing, and you are being a blessing to others whether they recognize it or not. This is your daily act of faithfulness right now, and I am pleased by it.”
That’s still not to say I love doing dishes, but I learned how God redeems even our menial tasks for greater glory.
2. Culture is huge.
I didn’t really realize what American culture was until I was out of it. Since we’ve moved, we have heard how the rest of the world notices that Americans smile a lot and give a lot of compliments. We like things big and comfortable. What was not so obvious to me was that not everyone views broader things like time, road rules, or sarcasm the same way. You see, Hungarians tend to value relationships over time. They might keep you waiting for 45 minutes, but when they ask how you’re doing, they want to hear a real answer. Also, they will park anywhere – anywhere – in the road.
The nuances of American English are magnified, too. We realize this when our British coworker offers us biscuits (cookies) or when our German teammate asks us what we mean by the word “holler.” And these are the English-speakers. You really don’t realize how much of language is figurative until you stump one of your sweet Hungarian softball players who’s trying to translate for you.
These cultural differences tend to frustrate us because before, we never had anything to compare how we do things to. Suddenly, you are in a situation where even the most basic thing is done a different way, and you must re-learn. It’s tough but eye-opening.
3. Our discomfort doesn’t mean God doesn’t care.
At the risk of sounding like spoiled little American millennials here, we’ve admittedly had our frustrations with different cultural things, and that caused us to really feel like helpless babies in the beginning because we couldn’t do anything for ourselves. We no longer had some material luxuries we were used to. Everything was a challenge and required mental energy spent. Homesickness? I’ve had mornings when I didn’t feel like I could even get out of bed with the weight of it. And then, about two months in, several of you know that our house was broken into.
Have we been uncomfortable? Yeah.
Is our comfort God’s main concern? No.
One thing I’ve had to remind myself of is that my discomfort does not equate to a lack of care or faithfulness on God’s part. The Bible is obviously full of people who were much, much more uncomfortable than we are, Jesus being a primary example. Yet God works in our distress to pull our minds away from earthly comforts. The truth is that we were completely comfortable in our nice apartment back in Louisville. And were we really depending on God for anything there, or making any sacrifices for Him? Not really.
In our times of discomfort and discouragement, God has continually proved His faithfulness and reminded us of His truth.
Continuing in part two… as always, we want to thank you all for reading, praying, supporting us financially, sending us messages, and being an amazing blessing in our lives. You make a great difference! Sending all our love – Jessica and Patrick
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