Answered Prayers

It's amazing to me how fast God answers prayers sometimes. Just last night I was doing my bible study on Colossians and read the verse "Conduct yourselves with wisdom towards outsiders, making the most of the opportunities." (4:5) and that was my prayer. I had been struggling with my fear of witnessing lately and last night I focused the most on that. I wanted to be a witness for my students and not be scared to share.

So today, I had TWO girls (in two different class periods) have emotional breakdowns and they came to me for comfort. I prayed the whole time I was with them and to be honest, I was silent most of the time and just let them do the talking. I gave one of the girls the option of staying out in the hallway for a few more minutes to get herself together and said she could sit by herself or I could say with her. Now, you have to understand that I thought this girl wasn't really a fan of me, so I was utterly shocked when she looked at me and said "I'd like you to stay with me, please". One of the other girls, I was able to give her the verse 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says:

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

It was absolutely awesome to be there for those girls today. I didn't exactly get to "witness" but I pray that my actions and my willingness to listen will open doors in the future. It also made me pretty sure about what I'd like to get my masters in now- school counseling. It was between that and school administration and I just feel that my heart is closer to the counseling side and will help me more in situations like this to come.

Busy Weekend

This weekend was super busy, but extremely fulfilling. On Saturday, I went bowling with 7 of my students and we had a blast. Some of them are really competitive, so it was great to get to watch them interact with one another. It was also a lot of fun to watch Marci (an EXTREMELY competitive guy in my class) get beat by Kristi (an extremely reserved girl) who has only been bowling one other time in her life.

I also got to go to dinner with some of my 12th grade girls all the way in Szendentre. One of the girls lives out there (it's about 30 minutes by railway) so we went to meet her and had drinks and shared a really good time. They asked me to go to coffeehouse with them this weekend, so I'm looking forward to spending more time with them then too. They really are a GREAT group of girls and I absolutely love spending time with them.

Sunday night was a birthday party for my roommate, Jo, and another girl from our Bible study, Hope. We went to an extremely popular restaurant and had a great time there too.

I'm so excited to be here for another year and grow these relationships, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I'm not 100% sure why, but I think it has something to do with the full realization hitting me that I'm finally growing up and I have to support myself and be independent now. Yikes! But, that's just something that I'm going to have to work through for now and keep praying about it.

Decision

It's official, people: I have decided to stay in Budapest for another year. :-) YAY BUDAPEST!

I know that some people are not exactly enthralled with this decision (i.e. my father who misses me like whoa), but I'm definitely at peace with this choice. I will get to spend 2 months in the States this summer from mid-June to mid-August when I get to hang out with everyone and catch up with them before heading back. I'm really looking forward to making my rounds and visiting people though... not to mention loading up on a ton of American goodies to bring back with me. I'm already praying for all of my needs for next year; finances, more CEO partners, furnishings for my new flat, etc. So I'd ask that you'd start praying with me because there can never be too many prayers.

I miss everyone and can NOT wait until I get to see everyone's lovely faces in good ole' USofA. YAY AMERICA!

It's a Cold One

This winter has been brutal, I must say. The past three days have been a HUGE (and I really mean HUGE) blessing from God because we have had sunshine for 3 days now. I know this may not seem like a big deal, but we literally haven't had a weeks worth of sun since Thanksgiving time. It was also glorious because it was also the first time since December that I've been able to wear anything except a parka. The temperatures have gotten up to a steamy 40s and we're loving it.

Unfortunately, the temperatures are expected to drop again this week and at some point, the sunshine shall disappear again soon. Luckily, we only have a little over a month more to endure before spring finally rolls into Budapest. The reason for this post though is to call attention to the post that has been added to my company's website. Bills have been higher than ever due to heating and everything, making it a pretty expensive winter. A Hungarian pastor that is with our company here had a heating bill for his family of over $300!!! That's really tough on a pastor's budget.

So, this blog isn't really for us. Our budgets are a little tighter because of bills, but I really wanted to draw attention to this moreso for the other families and partners that are suffering. Please prayerfully consider this. I know that budgets are tight all around, so if you're not able to actually donate, please pray that God will provide the funds needed for these families/partners. Thank you!!!

http://www.ceokids.org/funding-needs-in-winter-of-2011/

Chocolate Fast = Death

So I've decided to go on a fast from chocolate for the entire month of February and it's only 5 days. Surprisingly, it's going better than I thought, but I'm still craving it still. I decided that it would be best for me for several reasons:

1. I need to practice some self- discipline
2. I need to lose some weight dang it... I'm not playing year-round sports like I used to
3. I think I may have a literal addiction to that stuff.

So because of all of this, I've decided that it might be the best idea to say goodbye to chocolate for a while. I'm saying at LEAST for February, but I'm going to see if I can hold out longer than that and break the addiction altogether. Wish me luck.

Goodbye my dear, sweet friends: