all things FALL

No matter where I am in the world. I love fall. Growing up, we would always go to the Mountains in the fall. We would see the leaves changing colors. It is just a beautiful time of year. Well, it has been fall for a few weeks already in Hungary. The wind is cold and crisp and the leaves have changed colors and have begun falling off the branches. I can't get over how beautiful it is, so today Yana and I went and took some pictures. Hopefully you like them.

Yana's ARTWORK :] 

The Castle in the Fall

This is my favorite tree on the Word of Life Property. This is because 

the leaves make flower shapes. I love it.

Someone took a break from raking leaves. I feel so bad for the maintenance

guys. They rake and rake, only for a gust of wind to blow their pile away.

Yana and I on the balcony of the Castle.

This might be one of my favorite pictures of us, even though Yana's chin got cut off. :]

This is Yana's ARTWORK again. I am facing the pond/river, with the Castle behind me. 

Things here in Hungary continue to be going well. I am enjoying my time here so much. This past week, classes for students ended on Wednesday and Fall Break began Thursday morning. Campus was very quiet. I had a great time of fellowship with the few students still around, and had the office mostly to myself. I played my music and worked hard on the task that were left for me. With things being quiet around here for the last few days I had time alone. Time to think, rest, spend in God's word. I loved it. As much as I love being around others, I am finding out how much I actually love my space. :]

In my last post I mentioned the RA fellowship. Well, below is some of the pictures from it. We had a blast carving squash, roasting marshmallows, and sitting around the fire telling stories. It was such a great time of fellowship with everyone.

Josiah[MK to the Philippines], Me, Yana, and Gabriel[Brazilian] sitting around the fire.

A group hard at work carving their squash. 

As  days and weeks go by I find myself missing home more and more. Most of the time, I like to think that I am okay with being so far away, but deep down I find myself homesick. Don't get me wrong. I love it here, I love the ministry, the people, the fellowship and so much more. But there is part of me where I long to be near my family. So many new things are happening and I hate not being there. Not only am I missing out on new things, but the normal everyday things. I miss eating home cooked meals, shopping with my mom and sisters, going out to eat with the sunday crowd, walking over to my Mema's and chatting for a bit. I miss taking my niece and nephew out for fun days, eating dinner at my sisters house- she is an amazing cook.  My church family, my pastors preaching,  playing with my dog, eating bojangles, sunni skies, driving the silver bullet, babysitting all of my favorite little kiddos... and the list goes on an on of all the things I miss. 

Sometimes I wonder if I were to become a full time missionary, could I handle it? Would being so far away and missing out on all the things I love ever get easier? Will the mindset of Fuquay Varina, NC being my home ever change? Home will have to be where the Lord takes me... whatever mission field I am on; that has to be home. Am I willing to let that happen? Or have I just not found where home is yet? And when I finally do, then things will be easier ??? Maybe then I will know that I am HOME. [does that make sense? haha... it does in my mind, but we all know that doesn't mean much]

For reasons that you will read about below... My new total of  support for this year is 8, 818.00.  As most of you know, I have raised 6,190. The total amount left to raise is  2,628.00. Thank you all so much for how you have been supporting me through your gifts and prayers. They mean so much to me. 

Now millions are asking... "why did your budget change???" The latest decision concerning my future has been made. I have decided that my main goal is to pay off my school loans before I commit to a mission field. With that being said, I have no idea what the next school year [Aug 2011] holds. The Lord could work in great ways, but I do know that coming home after the students graduate here [end of may, beginning of June] and start paying off school loans would be best. Therefore I have spoken with the WOL Launch Director and we have changed my budget. I want to stress something here.... The fact that I am going home doesn't mean I will be home for a year or so, although that is a possibility depending on the amount of school loans left to pay off, and the amount of time it takes me to do so. But there are other options as well, such as coming back to Hungary for another year, or maybe going to another country... who knows my options are endless- and at this point it is too early for me to know what I need to do. I am spending a lot of time in prayer, because my future plans is a heavy burden on my heart. So if you would please be praying with me that the Lord would give me clarity and guidance in my future. 

Until next time...

life goes on...

So many times I want to write a post, but I feel like I don't know what to write about. I never want my post to be boring for the readers. You know those people who are just great writers? Their blogs are so interesting and exciting to read. They're writing just flows. I wish I could write. I love to write, I'm just not good at it. Oh well life goes on. huh?

Things here in Hungary are finally becoming the norm and very routined.  I am very thankful for this! I have a daily schedule and most days it goes as planned. I still count it such a privilege for my job to be so involved with the Word of God and ministering to others using what I have learned. Here is an idea of what my day looks like: most mornings I spend my time answering emails, doing different office task, checking the girls dorms, and prepping for devotions, mentorship or other meetings. In the afternoons I have staff, intern and mentorship meetings, language classes, and then I get to fellowship with the girls. 

As far as student life goes: the students are doing well. Classes, work assignments, and ministry continue to keep them busy. Language classes for everyone are still very difficult. Hungarian is a very hard language to learn, and well if were honest most English speakers are not perfect at their own language to begin with. So learning with English principles being the bases, can be overwhelming.

One of my responsibilities as the Assistant Dean of Women is to plan different activities/fellowships for the Resident Assistants [RA]. We plan a fellowship for once a month. This months will be taking place on Friday. I am very excited! Pumpkins are very rare and expensive in Hungary, and the idea of carving pumpkins is not heard of. So being that I am an American and the host family for this fellowship is as well we have planned and adapted the fellowship accordingly. We will be making smores [which is also very uncommon here], roasting hotdogs and carving squash [yes we had to improvise because of the lack of pumpkins]. I am sure this fellowship will be full of laughs as we introduce the Hungarians to these new concepts. 

Well, I need to go, but I wanted to mention that my wonderful mother has bought my plane ticket for me to come home for Christmas. For those of you viewing this on my actual blogger sight, please look to your left and notice my new count down :]


PS: sorry I didn't have time to post any new pictures.