Elet Szava:Home Sweet Home

In all honesty I can't believe how fast time has gone since I arrived in Hungary. In some ways it has not been at all what I expected, in some ways it was. If I'm honest I'd have to say that it's really better than I ever imagined. I've only been here for two weeks now, but I already feel at home. There is something special about this place, and I'm so excited to see the ways that God will work not only in my life but in the lives of my classmates and all those around me. Here's a little peak at my new home and my first couple weeks here.

This is the side walk leading from the Castle to all the dorm rooms and the main meeting room. Lots of time we call the dorms the barracks because they were originally built here when the Soviet Union took over the castle grounds.

This is the path on the opposite side of the castle that leads to the lake, soccer field, volley ball courts, and basketball slab. If you keep walking there is also a very nice trail through the woods.

The Castle! as you can see there are currently renovating it. This is where some of the staff lives and works, where guests stay, where we eat, sometimes work, and do laundry. =)

This tire swing is along side one of the trails through the woods on a little island in the middle of the little creek that runs into the lake.

A good friend of mine from the states surprised us by showing up and announcing he was staying for the school year, and one day he took my dad and I out to see Budapest =) This is St. Stephen's basilica, a church that you can go up in to see the whole city from.

Hungarian Parliament on the Danube River =)

Hero's Square in Budapest.

Dad and I on our second to last day together in Hero's Square.

Back at Elet Szava, int he days before all the students got there just hanging out with some of the prospective RAs playing games. Girls from left to right: Yana, Gina, Fanni, Hanna, and me!

Costa Rica girls! (our dorm room name is Costa Rica) before the opening weekend banquet.From left to right: Yana (the RA from Ukraine and the USA, Me, Marianna (Quebec), Miriam (Germany), Marie Pier (Quebec), and Stephanie (Quebec).

Our first class as first year students was Personal Evangelism, fro the second years it was Street Evangelism, after four days of classes we headed out onto the street of Budapest on thursday afternoon and friday to put what we learned into practise during OAE (open air evangelism). This picture is one of the second year students using the sketch board to illustrate salvation.

Marie Pier (one of my room mates), me, and Lili (one of the interns and a great friend) talking to a girl from Sweden in the market place.

Hanna explaining the gospel during OAE. Over the course of the the two days we spent on the streets over two hundred people heard the gospel, even more received tracts, and 9 people made professions of faith!

~The End for now!~

The City of Lights

Oh what to say about Paris! Dad and I arrived there the evening of the 5th of September and were promptly picked up by a staff member of Word of Life France. I can easily say that we had our best accommodations in Paris, a whole three bedroom apartment all to our selves! It was nice to relax and get some much needed laundry done. The next morning we made our way into the actually city by way of train, some how managing to get to the right places and the right times despite all our failed attempts to understand french. We only had one day touring around Paris, and surprisingly this was all we needed considering we were so tired. I will say it was a day very well spent and it was worth every moment! The Arch of triumph! this was interesting, this arch lines up exactly with the Great Arch and a smaller arch in front of the Louvre, and all the main streets at some point lead to here.

The architecture is amazing!

There were so many pretty street, right around here is where we spoted the eiffel tower!

Look what we found! =) not to in any way reduce how awesome this tower is, but i did wonder why exactly it was there...it doesn't really serve any apparent purpose other than a hot tourist spot...

Can't believe thats me and my daddy in Paris! The Eiffel Tower is great because it's surrounded by parks and these massive green lawns, just a perfect place to sit around, relax, and enjoys the scenery.

Louvre!! once again incredible architecture!

The cieling of one of the rooms in Louvre, at some point on this trip I decided that in most old buildings that are worth visiting the cieling is almost always the most impressive aspect of it...in a church it's usually the windows.

There she is folks...The Mona Lisa...preatty much the only reason Dad and i even visited Louvre..well that and just to say we'd been there. =)
And this is why we decided not to stay for longer...incase you can't tell by this crowd all looking at the Mona Lisa it was really crowded there...free on the first sunday of the month...it was craziness!!!!
Notre Dame!!! almost the whole time we were standing outside the bells were ringing and I kept thinking of the Hunchback of Notre Dame movie...imagining him up there hard at work. yes I know I'm a little strange =)
while we were waitng around outside for our turn to go into Notre Dame this lady gave me some rice in my hand and on my head! I think the pidgeons like it...hehe.

Like i said in churches it's the windows that are impressive =)
While we were there there was actually a service going on...see the priests??

Did I mention that this church is AMAZING!

Guess what, I bought a red bare, guess what else, I wore it to a very picturesque sidewalk cafe
The tower when I first started lighting up, and the last picture i could take before my camera died, but all in all Paris was amazing...we did have an extra half day in Paris but we chose to stay in the apartment and catch up on some sleep before we headed of to my new home sweet home in Hungary!!

Good 'ole England

Early in the morning dad and I once again took to flight, making our way back one hour and crossing the English channel. After running across the runway through much chillier wind than I was used to and making our way through England's tighter security we were met by none other than the Nash family. For those of you who don't know the Nashes used to be missionaries in Belem as well. I was pretty excited to be able to hang out with Chloe again and see where they live in Luton. After a spending a lovely time with them in Bedford we headed into London where we met up with the Smalls, old friends of my parents from college, and took up residence on their living room floor. It was wonderful to have some one who knew their way around to give us tips on where to go and how to get there.

Chloe and I in a lovely little park in Bedford (which happens to be the home town of John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress)

Anna, Chloe and I in John Bunyan's pulpit.

Buckingham Palace in all it's splendor, wish I had pictures of the inside though, it was even better!...no guards on the outside though =(

Oh, you know, while in England you can't pass up the chance to take a picture with a red phone booth!

Big Ben!!!! sorry guys there's no drug store inside or anything....haha!

Parliament, easily the most impressive building we saw there =)

The British museum. This places houses THE Rosetta stone, lost of mummies, the oldest known picture of Christ, Easter Island heads and soooooooo much more that we didn't even get to see. You could spend days in there and still not see it all!

The tower of London, which is really more like a bunch of castles surrounded by a very thick walls and several towers. This was the home of the Royal family for around 500 years.

Inside the Tower of London this is also where the Crown Jewels are kept, and several be-headed royals are buried.

"London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down,...my fair lady! Take the key and lock her up"...interesting how after i learned this history of this place a little better that song makes sense, and it's rather depressing =(

British Library =) This library has the oldest New testament in the world I think is was, Dad was very excited about that. I was excited about the original manuscripts from Jane Austen.

Over all I think London was my favorite place. I wish we would have had a few more days there, there were so many things to do and so little time it seemed! the Transportation there was great as well, very clear and simple. It also made a world of difference to be able to stay with a family instead of in some hotel room, even if it did mean sleeping on air mattresses. I was sad when it was time leave, but then again how could I possibly complain about taking off for the next destination, the city of lights: Paris!!

~Whirl Wind Tour~

Most of you that are reading this will know that I recently moved from my beloved home in Brasil to a new home in Word of Life Hungary. Of course getting here was no small task. My dad and I said a very tearful, on my part, goodbye to Belem and friends and family on August 30th and set off on a trip that most people only dream of taking. I will say that leaving is never easy for anyone, and I am no exception to that rule. Even though that day was one of the hardest days of my life it was also one of the most exciting.
After landing in Sao Paulo my dad and I entertained ourselves in the airport for 6 hours before taking off on the longest flight of my life. Here’s a little tip for all you dreaming of one day coming to Europe, reserve your plane seats way ahead of time. You do not want to be stuck with the middle seats in the middle row. After 12 greuling hours of flying at last life long dream came true, and we touched down in Europe.

~Amsterdam~
Of all the cities I visited with my Dad Amsterdam was by far the most picturesque. The canals, quaint homes, and cobble stone streets make it a very nice city to walk around. Although if we had been able to figure out the tram system I’m sure our feet would have been very grateful. Amsterdam is jam packed with museums and history, so we were never at a loss for something to do.

Typical street/canal in Amsterdam
All around Amsterdam there were these painted elephants from the 2009 elephant parade. This was dad's favorite one. =)

I had to try on some wooden shoes in Holland! I don't think the shop keeper appreciated me taking pictures very much though...oops.

The flower market, it goes all along a street with lots of tourist shops.

This is a statuette of Anne Frank just before the house that she hid out in for around two years during the holocaust, which now serves as the Anne Frank Museum.

The Hiding Place in Corrie Ten Boom's room. The Ten Boom house in in a small town called Haarlem just outside of Amsterdam. It was beautiful, definitely the highlight of our Amsterdam excursion.

This is The Great Church, formerly a catholic church, it became protestant during the reformation. It was also the church where Corrie Ten Boom attended. The organ in this church was played by both Handel and Mozart!

Dad and I were very impressed with the bike traffic in and around Amsterdam...lots and lots of bikes, everywhere! they had their own roads and traffic lights even!

Yay for Holland!!! Other than jet lag and sore feet I have great memories of Amsterdam and Haarlem. The history is simply astounding. We were there for two and a half wonderful days, before heading off to our next destination: good 'ole England =)