HUNGARY

My time in Hawaii has come to an end. I flew back with Jaime today and on August 8th I'll be flying back to California. I'll spend 3 weeks in California with the fam and then fly to Hungary. In the past couple weeks I have had a few friends call me an adventurer, but I'm not. As I recently told a friend of mine, I love home. I love being close to my family. I don't necessarily enjoy vacations, unless they're with my family or visiting good friends. I don't enjoy moving. I would rather live close to my family, pick berries in the summer, sew in the winter, spend the mornings and evenings drinking coffee while we talk about life. But that is not what God has for me. I don't think He wants me to live the comfortable life that I sometimes desire. He continues to take me out of my comfort zone for His purposes. And it's almost as if He has to work quick before I realize what has happened. I wish I had written a blog about how He got me to Hawaii. Basically, He had to get me over here on vacation before He showed me that this is where He wanted me to be. I got a job a week later and didn't go back to California till October. I never would have come to Hawaii even for a vacation had I known what He was up to. Not saying I haven't loved every minute, I just never would have made the move.

How God worked this time:


A couple months ago Jaime found an ad in a magazine at our church that said a missionary teacher was needed in Hungary. She showed me and said, "You should call them." Just to preface this, I have not been talking about teaching overseas at all this year. Last year I looked into it but had no interest at the end of this school year. In fact, I was toying with the idea of taking a year off of teaching. Back to the camp.... I called the number. I then went through a month or so of playing phone tag with the lady that heads up the school, Ana. In the meanwhile I had decided to take a year off of teaching and was planning to talk to the woman and gracefully decline. Finally, the day before flying back to California for the summer, Ana called and we ended up talking. I fell in love with the school in Hungary. It's a Bible College where they are focused on missions... I would teach the pastors' and teachers' kindergarteners but at the same time have the opportunities to go on missions. After we got off the phone, Jaime and I cried. We both knew that our time together was about to end.

Although she was sad, Jaime encouraged me to go. My parents were a different story. They were hesitant for many reasons. I needed their blessing to know that this was from the Lord. But they were dead set against it. I was really confused, a part of me knew that God was calling me to this but I also knew how upset my parents were about it. A couple days after being home my mom came to me and told me that God had softened her heart about me going and that they were even going to support me financially. Then the next day she found an article in our local newspaper titled, Bush Praises Hungary For Strong Democracy. My dad's biggest hangup was safety. We didn't know much about Hungary and he asked me numerous times about their form of government. In this article, President Bush praised Hungary and said that they were an example to other countries. Not only has God given my parents a peace about me moving to Hungary but they are excited for me.

I guess I should go back again. I talked to Ana the day before we flew back to California. She was going to a conference the next week. She asked me to spend the week praying about it and if I heard anything from God, I was to call her. In that week God softened my parents heart, provided the money for a plane ticket (that deserves a blog entry of it's own. God has provided SOOOO much for me- it's amazing), but I still hadn't heard anything from the Lord. In the meanwhile, I flew to Long Beach to visit Lindsey and her family. One day I got messages from my principal in Hawaii and Ana. Ana said that they needed to know one way or the other. My principal just wanted me to call her. At the end of the school year my principal was trying to get me the librarian position, which I REALLY wanted. I felt like the time had come to make a decision but I didn't know what to do. I talked to Jaime and she said, "The only thing holding you back is fear and selfishness." (Fear because I didn't want to live so far away from my parents and selfishness because I wanted to spend another year with Jaime in Hawaii). So, I called my principal. She told me that she got me the librarian position. In the next breath I resigned and told her I was moving to Hungary. Then I called Ana and accepted the position.

That's the gist of it. I know... that's a long gist.

I'm moving to Hungary!!! I can't believe it!! I'm a little nervous but very excited. But mostly, I'm stoked about how God has provided for me. But that's another blog.

-Jeni