YWAM Budapest
We don’t often write about our involvement with YWAM Budapest because of the strong focus we have right now on YWAM Kyiv and also the Bible teaching we are doing around Europe. However, we do want to highlight the work happening here in this beautiful city.
YWAM Budapest is a team of staff from many backgrounds, and they are involved in a lot of different types of work. Steve and his wife Barbara are the base leaders and have been here working for 30 years! They have seen tremendous changes over the years here in central Europe and have raised their children all here at the same school our kids are attending (International Christian School of Budapest). They are really wonderful people that love the Lord and love Hungary. The rest of the staff are very diverse, from Serbia, Macedonia, Poland, America, Canada and Germany and of course Hungary (I’m probably missing some).
Some of the good work they do here: They own and run a fantastic cafe called Selah that employs Hungarians and others and functions as a meeting space for churches, organizations and just every day people. Every Tuesday is what they call the ‘Sandwich run’ where they make sandwiches and bring them around the city to the homeless people. This ministry has been going on for over 10 years and Rosie who leads it knows almost every person living on the streets by name. Of course, there is the DTS that runs here, there are art workshops and there is much more work that the staff do, but that is just a little picture of YWAM Budapest.
They have really welcomed Ben and I to be a part of the community here while we are living in Budapest, and while we don’t have much time to contribute to all of the work they do, they are quick to let us be a part of whatever we can be, and for that we are grateful!
A Quick Overview of the Hats we wear
1 Year of War
Yesterday we couldn’t help but reflect on the past year. It was a year like nothing we have ever experienced before. As Canadians, we don’t have nearly the same experience our Ukrainian friends have had, but at the same time, as someone reminded us, ‘Your family, too, has been displaced from your home and work.’ True. We are quick to remember that there is always someone that has had it harder (like our close friends who have been separated from their husband and father since February 24, 2022) but it is also important to let ourselves grieve and see the difficult year this has been for our family as well.
We really miss Ukraine, our teammates, and our friends. The work we had been doing there was starting to really build momentum. Our Bible teaching team had reached 18 people and we were really beginning to multiply (not to mention that our entire YWAM team had grown to just under 50 people and all of our ministries were growing and being really effective)!
Now many of our staff have moved on, our team of 18 Bible teachers has shrunk to 13, others on our staff have left, and the 20 students who were going to study the Bible with us last March may never do that (because we were the only Russian option for an inductive study through the whole Bible). If we are able to run the course in 2024, hopefully some students will still be able to, but life changes, and people move on. This brings a particular sadness for us.
But, thankfully that is not all we see. We also see the tremendous faithfulness of God. He has provided for us in every way. We found new ways to serve as Bible teachers in Europe, made new friends, found a new school for the kids, Ben has a new part time job, we have a new house to live in for now. And not only that, but we still have our friends from Ukraine staying with us from time to time. We even have friends from Ukraine living here in Budapest. Plus, we are still VERY involved with all of the humanitarian work going on in Kyiv and surrounding regions.
And so, this was a passage of scripture from Habakkuk 3:17-19 that was very meaningful for us at the beginning of this year and still encourages us today:
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
He has enabled our feet to tread on the heights, and no matter how hard it has been, we will continue to rejoice in the Lord, and be joyful in God our Saviour.
Ready to help
One of our family values is, “We offer to help.” This is one of the ways that Cassie shines! Yesterday I was not feeling very well, but Cassie made sure to come in after school and see if she could help me with dinner or anything else. She really shows empathy and love so easily.
Another example is this photo taken on New Year’s Eve. We do a chocolate fondue every new years eve, and Cassie always helps to cut everything up, get the chocolate ready, and make it all look beautiful! Our family just wouldn’t have that special touch without her!
What is going on with that hair?
If you saw Jay a few years ago, he had straight hair. Now, with that crazy introduction of being a teenager with new hormones, his hair has gone curly, and his biceps are growing, and he even has a little mustache!
He has been playing basketball for the past few months and it is always fun to watch him take the ball down the court, go in for a lay-up, or shoot from the top of the key. He is really growing up in so many ways, but especially in his maturity. He is learning to love those who are more challenging to get along with, and he is finding ways to be himself (silly and fun!) while still showing respect to teachers and classmates.
We are so proud!
Coffee Mom?
Every morning Kai makes me a cup of coffee with my Aeropress. He wakes up at 6:00am to begin his morning routine. He started this about a month ago, and I didn’t think it would last, but this kid has a strong sense of disciple and scheduling.
It is so kind of him to make everyone oatmeal and my coffee, and he does it with joy. Such a blessing to have Kai as our son!
A Trip to Kyiv, Ukraine
| Thank you for praying for us, our leadership team meetings and our safety.The whole week we were in Kyiv, for the first time in a long time, there was not a single air-raid siren. |
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| We decided to take a train from Budapest to Mukachevo, and transfer to a different train from there to Kyiv. The train trip was uneventful, just the way we wanted! |
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| We arrived to the YWAM base in Kyiv on Sunday morning. It was definitely a wonderful feeling of coming home. Our house is still just fine, along with the rest of the campus. We immediately began cleaning. We went through each room emptying drawers and shelves so that our home will be even nicer for teams and volunteers to use throughout this coming year. It was very emotional. The children’s calendars were still set to February. Cassie had a sign up on her shelf that said BRB (be right back). When we left on February 13, we had told the kids we thought we would be back in just a couple weeks. We were going to help with an outreach team in the Western part of Ukraine and so each of us just took a small backpack with a few things. As you know, we remained in the west of Ukraine (Ternopil) and left the day the war began on February 24. We hadn’t been back to Kyiv since. |
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| Because electricity is constantly turning off, the plants were starting to die from cold and the freezer had meat that was spoiled. Each room needed a lot of cleaning and we moved the plants to a friend’s apartment! It took us three days, but we made it through each room. |
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| From Wednesday to Friday we met together as the leadership team of YWAM Kyiv. We had really wonderful times of worship and prayer. We also took a lot of time to read through the thoughts and perspectives of our staff team (from a survey we had sent them). By the end of the three days we had come to a place where we decided to re-open YWAM Kyiv as a fully functioning YWAM campus. Since the war began, we pressed ‘pause’ on our base as a YWAM campus, and we had been functioning as a volunteer movement with a mix of staff, volunteers, and a lot of movement of people. We have now created a new structure for our staff, with different types of teams created especially for this time. We also set up some different ways that our off-site staff (who are displaced around the world) can remain involved. Overall, we felt that our time together was extremely valuable and will really provide the framework for a successful year of 2023 even if the war continues. |
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| We took the train home and arrived back safe and sound. You may have heard about the horrible disaster that took place when a missile struck a large apartment block in Dnipro (a city in central Ukraine). That missile struck the day we left. We were grateful to arrive back in Budapest and give our sweet kids a kiss as they slept in their beds. We were also so grateful to our YWAM Budapest friends Ahleah and Misha who stayed with them while were gone. Thank you to each one of you for your love and support as we begin 2023. |
Ice Skating at City Park
Every year on boxing day many families from ICSB (the school the kids are attending here in Hungary) go ice skating at City Park. It is a beautiful park here in Hungary where there is an old castle that you can explore. Angela’s sweet Grandma (who turns 100 this coming year!) sent us a gift of some money to spend and we thought this would be a great way to spend it. The weather turned out to be perfect and we had a blast! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our friends and family this year!
Newsletter- End of the year 2023
If you would like to read about Ben, Angela and the kids. Here is a link to our latest newsletter “On The Move…”
https://mailchi.mp/70ffdbebe2a8/on-the-move
1 Year Without My Mom
