Back to school... except it’s all in Hungarian

Source: Fragile Minds

You went to school to learn girl
Things you never, never knew before
Like “I” before “E” except after “C”
And why 2 plus 2 makes 4
Now, now, now I’m gonna teach you
(Teach you, teach you)
All about love girl
(All about love)
Sit yourself down, take a seat
All you gotta do is repeat after me…


Well, it’s not quite that easy, Michael. But there’s a reason this song has been in my head: Our first couple weeks here in Hungary do feel like we’ve gone back to school. There’s so much to learn! Here are some of our recent lessons…

Missing

From Patrick, Sunday morning: So, we arrived safely in Hungary after three smooth flights and even managed to have all of our luggage arrive with us — what a blessing! We were grateful all of our bags came in at weight or underweight at the airport, but nothing over. The last bag on the scale even came in at a perfect 50.0 lbs.! A huge shout-out to Sherry Alyea and her magnificent packing skills.

We are currently staying in the ‘back house’ of two American mission workers here in Hungary. We are incredibly grateful for their hospitality and also to have our own space. In the little more than a day we’ve been here we’ve managed to get unpacked, make a couple of meals despite the ovens being different (hey, it’s the little victories), and take a brief walk around our new neighborhood.

Despite a very nice Saturday for Jessica and me getting settled in, I feel so unsettled. It’s 2 a.m. and I’m not able to sleep — probably some combination of the travel throwing things off and emotions. Emotions have been a bit all over the place for us the last few weeks, but especially since we took off on Thursday. We’re excited, scared, anxious, and just about any other term you can think of. Jessica has been amazing, helping me to focus when I’ve been down and being such a bright light. While I never want to see her struggle, I certainly hope I can repay the favor if and when it’s necessary.

The Quarry

First of all, we’re sorry! In our last blog post we promised another post in a week, and that week turned into a month (insert embarrassed emoji here). We underestimated just how much our move from Louisville would consume our lives during the last month. But…

Catching Up at the End of June

Wow! It’s been a busy month.

Since we last posted, we’ve celebrated Patrick’s birthday, attended a bridal shower and wedding, babysat for our adorable nephew, visited our two gorgeous nieces in Memphis, and attended a weeklong training conference just outside of Atlanta.

Why Baseball?

It’s hard to believe we are about three months away from leaving for Hungary! We’re excited and nervous and everything in between.

As you might be aware, my (Patrick’s) work will primarily revolve around the baseball ministry currently in place in Érd, Hungary.

Because it is not the most traditional form of mission work that you might think of, we thought we’d take the opportunity to share our thoughts on the simple question of: Why baseball?

Priorities

We took this photo of an ancient Roman road in Érd, Hungary, while on our vision trip. It reminds us that God goes before us on the unknown path ahead.

Busy.

This is the main way we typically describe our lives when people ask us. Bordering on chaotic at times, but we wouldn’t say we’re there yet. There’s a lot that goes into moving across the ocean (who knew?) and as we try to stay on top of some things, it’s important not to let others fall by the wayside.

Patrick recently came by a short blurb online (and for the life of him he can’t find it again), so here is the loose summary of it:

Time and transitions...

We’re at Starbucks right now, and we’ve just finished setting up our website! Well, the start of our website. We’ll be trying to post regularly to let you know what God is up to and how things are going as we get closer to going to Hungary. And, we’ll be adding more info and pages for your viewing pleasure. Goodness, August is coming so fast.



One change for us this week has been...