Community living

I would like to focus today on what it is like living community style, the way that so many people around the world live today, and have lived for thousands of years. I find more and more everyday that I relate to Jesus and his disciples. He had 12 disciples and other followers who lived, slept, ate and traveled together. They lived in a community. Not only were the disciples friends of Jesus, they lived with him, they knew everything about him. When he taught, they understood his mannerisms, even if they didn’t necessarily understand what he was teaching. They were intimate with him. They knew him. Living in a house with others I am beginning to know them and love them too.

It is said that we don’t get to choose our family, we are born into it. We get to choose our friends, but or family is almost forced onto us, yet somehow we almost always end up being more intimate with our family that we had no choice in choosing. God knows what he was doing when he placed our families together, and he knew what he was doing when he placed my DTS house together. He knew that we would get along and learn to live together. He knew.

What is it like for those of you that have never experienced such a phenomenon? Well at first I viewed it as camp because of the bunk beds and schedule, then I saw it as more of a college dorm experience. Now? We are just a family. We have bedrooms that we share, we have a kitchen, we have chores. But we live here. We are comfortable. I find that I am no longer paranoid about going to breakfast in the morning without doing my hair or changing my pajamas. My roommates and I are comfortable to share shelves and intermix our things, she computers, scarves, we are one. We are family. At times it can be entertaining because we represent so many different cultures. For instance, the couple from new Zealand call dinner, tea. So we have breakfast, tea time, lunch, tea, then tea. But for the last tea we don’t have any tea, it is dinner. Or my friend from England calls pants trousers and underwear, pants. The cooking staff all have different tastes as to what should go into spaghetti and to us Americans, the floor just doesn’t look like it needs moped for the 3rd time today. There are always conversations, screaming and laughing, five different selections of music blasting, fingers flying over keyboards, toast burning in the toaster, too many shoes by the door, and a thousand other things going on - but that makes it entertaining.

But what is interesting is that we are united. We don’t live out our bedrooms, we live in the house, together, with the common goals. Together we choose to have nights of prayer. Together we have dinner dates and trips on the train. We pray together, we laugh together, we dream. I feel like I have a whole crude of siblings. We have leaders, but they are more like older sisters. The directors are like the parents, but they don’t live in the house with us. I was thinking on how living in a house without parents would immediately sound like a party scene - but I think it makes us more responsible, we look after each other. We go to sleep, we clean the kitchen, we lock the doors. I feel safe when I am here because I am surrounded by so many who care, we all joke about going home and how we will feel lonely without so many siblings around. I know this is an experience that will follow me forever. This part of the experience have nothing to do with being in another country, it has everything to do with simply changing my immediate surroundings - it is simply a plus that I get to experience it while in another country.

It's a twisted world in which we live

During this weeks outreach we were in a pretty hard, dark area. Well not in the literal sense, in the spiritual. We were underground at one of the largest metro stations and had a great set up with our stereo again. The set up is good and we all know the schedule. If you are not up front, you are in the crowd, making a crowd. You are praying, and passing out tracts and looking for opportunities to talk with people. It was a very distracting area this week though, there was just lots of movement and psyco people. There was a group of pimps fighting with a homeless man and the yelling with that went on and off for about and hour. There were prostitutes everywhere, our director got hit up three times. The pimps were out too, lots of them. They stood around, the whole time and approached 3 of our girls. We just learned to stand closer together. During the dance this mental woman joined in and tried to do ballet with our girls and some other lady interrupted one of the testimonies by coming up front and trying to talk to the translator.

So from that description it sounds like a terrible day. But it was really amazing. From it all 4 more people accepted Christ! I was able to give my testimony and had a blast, now I am ready for next week when I hope to preach. Most of the people in our group didn’t know that their was anything in the prostitution them even going on, most of it was just subtle, its not like people have signs that say “prostitute” on them, so if you aren’t looking you wont usually see them. I saw some of it going on but was really blown away by the stories we received later. I guess that Budapest is a center point in the prostitution world of eastern Europe. Supposedly it is legal here, so many different countries merge here in the underground hidden dark world. So we have just been really warned, we were not informed on this until now, the guys ears just perked when they heard, it was like something inside them just turned on that they were protectors, I know that they will really step up to watch over us, being that the majority of us are girls, it does make us feel good to know that our guys we be on top of it. So pretty much girls don’t go out alone after dark, well I mean I guess that is obvious at home to, but here you just have to be really safe because the pimps will get like 10,000 per girl for kidnapping. What a crazy, sick, twisted world we live in.

Yet I feel it a privilege to be here. God is moving in a dark place, despite the what seemed like terrible events that took place, 4 people still came to Christ. People here are hungry, they want the truth, that is why there is so much darkness, the more people look for truth, the darker they fall. That is where we come in, we are walking light to brighten their dark worlds. This may sound all scary but it is just life. We all walk around in either darkness or light whether you are in Budapest or Keizer there are still spiritual battles going on, still crazy people looming around. But I am safe. This is something that really happens everywhere, here we are just more aware of it because we are in prayer about it, so to us it is more than just something happening.

Train Station

On Saturday some of us student, nine to be exact, took a day trip to Vienna Austria. It was suppose to be a leisure day, and it was in many ways, but my mind could not stray away from one particular topic. One issue that seemed to itch my skin all day, a topic that wanted to make me sick, that tried to bring tears to my eyes. The Holocaust.

As we boarded our train in Budapest I looked around me at the old railroad station, over 10 different tracks headed in various directions. A voice over the intercom in multiple languages giving directions, a cold sharp wind, grey sky. I felt like I was one of the thousands of Jewish captives that was hoarded into train cars in quite possibly same station that my eyes looked upon. It was, to some, just a story that happened over five decades ago. To others it is a defining moment in history, a storyline of a movie, a glimpse of the past - but for me as I stood waiting for my train - it was real.

As I was lost in my thoughts one of the guys I was with spoke up and pointed to a train, “that was one of the trains used to transport the Jews during WWII.” He had been there before and had been informed by someone who knew their facts. I looked on with disgust. How could something so cruel happen? Here I was awaiting a day of entertainment and I stood in possibly the same place that shivering Jews stood awaiting death. I felt ashamed of my coat, hat and gloves - yet I also felt privileged that Christ created me for such a time as this. With every step I looked at the ground, my eyes scanned the tracks, what must it have been like? What must they have felt? Did they know the fate that awaited them?

On the train I had a hard time focusing my attention on the book I had brought, my eyes were locked on the beauty outside. I passed by hills and cottages and gardens. I wonder how many of those doors were knocked down, what houses had people hiding, from where were people taken? It was a gorgeous drive, but how could something so terrible have happened in such a beautiful place? It was like Gods glory was simply ignored. I wondered if the Jews looked upon the same hills as I, if they had the joy of the Lord or if they were clouded in fear. It made me pray, it made me seek the face of God that such a terrible travesty should never again happen. It made me appreciate who I am and why I am here, but it softened me.

The day in Vienna was amazing, it was nice to be in a new city outside of Budapest, see a different culture and hear another language. It was expensive. But I still couldn’t get my mind off of the events that took place over 60 years ago. It was bittersweet.

Home

It has been requested of me that I blog again, it is sometimes hard for me to remember that you don’t know what I am doing here unless I tell you . This week has begun to get a little busier, we have started 2 outreaches. On Tuesdays I gather with a small group of 2 or 3 others and we take sandwiches to the homeless, there are multiple small groups of us all over the city. We are slightly discouraged by the fact that we don’t speak the language but we can smile and pray, we pray that they would see something different in us. We hope to get some Hungarian tracts to put inside of the sandwiches for next week. It is cool because they don’t come to us, we go to them. In my group last week though I had a guy that spoke Hungarian with us, so he was able to communicate and translate for us. We got to pray with like 10 people. One man was in high spirits and just wanted to talk, so we sat on the ground on his corner with him for at least a half hour, we planted a seed. One woman was sitting with her head down, obviously crying or very sad, so we approached her at first she was apprehensive. I was able to pray with her, although I don’t know what was going on with her, she was smiling when we left. To me it was worth it. After that small trip I was excited and am now full of ideas for next time, how to make it better, how to reach more people.

On Thursdays we do big group outreach at a large city square. We set up sound and did music, preaching and testimonies. We had quite the crowd and wonderful results. 3 people accepted Christ and 1 Muslim showed a desire to know more about God and he was very excited when we gave him a Bible. We are learning how to work together as a group, what gifts we have to offer and will soon have a strong outreach which will be beneficial in training us for our large 3 month outreach which will begin in December. This weeks topic was evangelism, very fitting concerning the fact that we started doing some outreach type things this week as well.

I am very acclimated to being here, it is home. Well I mean I am use to the idea I will be here a long time. It is not home, home is really where my friends and family are, it is the place that has my bedroom, my bed, my books. So then again I guess this is becoming home, I have friends that are becoming family, I have a bedroom, a bed and books. But if you really want to get to the bottom of it, my home is not here, or in Oregon. My home resides in the heavens, beyond anything I can imagine or fathom. My home is with my Father in Heaven, so I cant get to acclimated to anything on this earth because soon I will truly go home and that will be all that matters.

Yes I miss home, but that is because it is all I know. God didnt tell some to go travel the world, he said "Go, ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel..." it was a command, some of the last words he spoke on this earth. He also said, "store up treasures in Heaven" That is what I want. I miss peanut butter and my cell phone and Ming Yang, and so many others. But, I want more than anything to be here with Jesus, my beautiful Jesus.

Harvest Time

I want to write on one specific topic today, Harvest. Many of you who know me well have heard me say “God is calling me to be a farmer, he is calling me to plant seeds.” I have spoken this way for some years now, knowing that God was just calling me to do His will, outside of seeing the rewards of that plant.

I learned this lesson when in Mexico. The missionaries told us that the week would be full of planting seeds, that we would probably not see salvation. I learned to live off of seeing the future, off of taking joy of what was to come. What got me through that trip without being discouraged was the fact that I could see our influence begin to work in some of the kids, one boy in particular we all know is called to be a pastor, so I feel blessed by the fact that I had a chance to plant a seed in him.

But especially this past year, I have worked and worked, doing the things God has asked, and at times I have wanted to be discouraged because I was seeing no fruits to my labors, I wanted to be discouraged, then God would remind me that I was just a farmer and that the harvest was coming.

When God called me to Budapest, I will admit I was slightly confused, I thought that it was time for the harvest and now he was sending me away? The answer is YES! Upon arriving here I learned that the focus and name of my DTS is “Preparing for the harvest” and during our first worship service together we sang a song about rain, let the rain fall and a prophecy was spoken. The prophecy talked about how you cant have a harvest without rain.

I am not a seed in the harvest, I am a field full of seeds. Every seed that has been planted in me over the years is going to be in this harvest. From Sunday school teachers, to my family, close friends and so many others. Every person who chose to spend time investing in my life will be included in this harvest. This is why I have spent so many years planting seeds in others - for the harvest.

My name means “a flower that often grows in rocky places.” I find it intriguing that so many seeds could grow in this rocky place. I also have spent my life in love with rain, I find that not a coincidence, but more of God preparing me. The past month God has asked me to focus on him, not others problems. If I would focus on him things in others lives would begin to be resolved. Now I understand. I needed to come here for the harvest. Once the harvest starts in me it will start in all my seeds, in all the planters of seeds in my life. I have been called to be a planter because I was full of seeds, now for such a time as this the Harvest will begin. I am preparing for it. Get ready because I am learning and growing. This is why I am here.