Hungary: March 22

Saturday, March 22

Today we took the tram and the bus to the church and then helped set up for a children’s Easter egg coloring time. First we had breakfast; nothing out of the ordinary this time.

Church children and their parents arrived for the Easter activity, plus several of the children we had met at the school. That’s a positive sign for the church. We’ve also been invited to the school every year we have a team here. It’s worth noticing that it’s been difficult to get into the school for years. Christina told the Easter story using Resurrection Eggs that contain something inside that illustrates something about Easter.

It’s raining today so we’re staying inside until we go to the train station later this afternoon. Around 11am we got a call that we had to vacate our rooms at the Pension immediately. Previously we were told that we wouldn’t have until we had to go to the station. We were quickly driven back and when I got to my room, it had already been occupied. So I got my suitcase out and turned in my key. Pastor Miklos comment was that it was a very unprofessional operation. I have to agree. We’re now waiting for the time to go to the train station.

The 2 ½ hour train ride to Budapest was uneventful as we already knew what to expect. Some napped others worked on their diaries, others visited. We were met at the train station by the Donnie Johnson (he, his wife Shelley and daughter Karri are the Nazarene missionaries in Hungary), plus Imre and Maria Gusztin who work at the District center in Budapest.

Although night had fallen, we could clearly see that Budapest is a beautiful ancient city, divided by the Danube River which splits the cities of Buda and Pest, and dotted with castles and cathedrals. The Nazarene District center is in a downtown building. We had sloppy joe’s and chips at the District center / church for supper and then headed off to our hosts. Six of us stayed at the Johnsons, others stayed at the Gusztins and yet others stayed at other church members’ homes.