Burgesses in Budapest

We are John, Brittany, Hallie, Ryan, and Brinkley Burgess and we serve at the International Christian School of Budapest in Budapest, Hungary. John is the 3rd Grade Teacher and Lead Teacher for the elementary and Brittany serves as the school’s Athletic Director. We have served in Budapest since 2018.

Our Calling

We felt a calling to go and serve the Lord nearly a decade ago, but had no idea how we would do that or where we were supposed to go. Most of our lives we thought a missionary was a pastor or a church planter going to a 3rd World Country to plant a church. John is not a pastor so we were just trusting that God would reveal His plan to us on His time.

In 2017, I (John) wanted to take Brittany on a trip for her birthday. I found a great deal on a trip to Budapest, Hungary and when I presented this idea to Brittany, she had no idea where that was. Once I showed her pictures of the architecture and food, she agreed to go.

On the Sunday morning we were in Budapest, we attended an English-speaking church service. After the service we spoke with some members of the congregation and found out that about half of the congregation were missionaries. These were not all pastors or church planters either, but were IT professionals, photographers, business savvy people, Occupational Therapists, and educators. These were simply people using the gifts that God had given them to serve Him where He most needed them. This really opened our eyes to the many ministry options that there were, and we decided to go back to Hungary later that year for a 2 month ministry vision trip.

John’s gift is in education. He had worked in a Texas public school as well as homeschooling our three daughters for 4 years. While we were on our vision trip, we toured the International Christian School of Budapest and knew, without a doubt, that this was where God wanted us!

ICSB

The International Christian School of Budapest was founded shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when missionaries came flooding into Central and Eastern Europe. Budapest became the largest missionary hub, and these missionaries needed a place for their children to be educated so that they could focus on ministry. ICSB started as a truly missionary school: missionaries teaching missionary kids.

Missionary children are still a major focus of our school’s ministry, but the school has since opened enrollment to anyone looking for a quality English-speaking education. The school now has 240 students enrolled from K-12, and is roughly 50% missionary kids, and 50% comprised of native Hungarians, business children (typically from Asia), and Embassy children. These are kids whose parents have the “American Dream” for them, so they are not necessarily believers when they come to us. The fact that our school’s tuition is about half the cost of the other English-speaking schools in Budapest makes us a very attractive option.

This gives us an amazing opportunity! We are able to pray, worship, and share the love of Jesus openly with all of our students through everything that we do. We do not take this lightly either!

When we are not with our students, we are working on our curriculum to ensure that we have effective Biblical integration in all of our subjects. We want to show our students that God is every bit as relevant to Math and Science as he is to our Bible and devotion times. We do not want to put Jesus in a box that we only pull out during our chapel times, but want Him to permeate through all that we do.

Christian Education

School’s are perfect environments for discipleship. Every educator influences their students in one way or another. As a Christian Educator, we have the opportunity to have one of the most effective ministries.

We have roughy 36 hours per week with our students, and as the 3rd Grade Teacher, John has them at one of the most impressionable ages. The fact that parents are willing to give us all of this time to impact their children is a responsibility that we take seriously.

Our Ministry During COVID

2021 was a very trying year. Even in a year full of uncertainty, interruptions, lockdowns, loss, and distance learning, we could still very much see God at work. In just our Elementary, we’ve heard of at least 6 students that made decisions to follow Jesus, and many of these came from non-believing families!

Distance Learning, while awful at the Elementary level, was an amazing tool to speak God’s truth into non-believing homes. Parents are overhearing our worship, devotion, and prayer times, and hearing the Gospel spoken directly into their house, and for many this may be the first time to hear these truths.

Athletics as Ministry

Brittany accepted the role of Athletic Director in the Spring of 2020. She comes from a family of athletes and has a background managing her own oil and gas business for 14 years, so she felt ready for the challenge! Our school offers soccer, volleyball, basketball and track for all students in 6th to 12th grade. She manages all of the calendars and scheduling for our teams, recruits volunteer coaches from our community, organizes our annual international basketball tournament, and plans our Family Field Day.

ICSB is part of the Danube Valley Athletic Conference, with schools from Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. Only a couple of these are also christian schools, so we view the opportunity of competition as another way to shine for the Lord! In this same way, we invite teams from Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Romania, and Austria to our annual International Basketball Tournament. It is a weekend filled with basketball, community, food, and worship nights. In all that we do, our goal is to glorify the Lord!

Ultimately, we view our athletic program as an extension of our school’s vision: to have maturing students who will be Christ-followers, Active thinkers, Effective Communicators, Global Citizens, and Faithful Stewards. We hope to provide our student athletes with an atmosphere of hard work and discipline, as they explore their own unique God-given gifts.

How to Invest in our Ministry

Every faculty and staff member at ICSB is a missionary that is here to serve the Lord by serving our students and their families. We do not get paid by the school or by the parents of the students, and we are dependent upon financial investors like you to do God’s work here.

If you are interested in investing in what God is doing through our ministry in Hungary, you can click here to access our RCE-International giving page. If you have any questions about our ministry or would like to join our newsletter list, email us at jburgess@icsbudapest.org.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Exciting Changes!

God has been so kind and gracious to us. I look back at our journey to get here, and His goodness and love just shines through every step. We have been in Budapest, Hungary for 1-1/2 years now, and it has become home. John has served at the school since we arrived, and I have worked remotely from our home (my job is still in Texas). However, since being here and being a part of the missionary community here, opportunity after opportunity has presented itself for me to serve, and I haven’t had the freedom or time to say yes to any of these things. So, when my job went through a slow period in November, John and I took that time to pray and really reflect on what God has for us here. John had already committed to continue serving next year in the elementary, but there were so many holes and needs at the school. So, after conversations and meetings with the school, I’m happy to announce that I have committed to a role at the school next year as well. Due to the transitional nature of the school, the role could definitely change, but for right now I will start to learn the role of the Athletic Director, to either serve in that role next year, or to support whoever God places at our school in that role.

 

Since our school is a missionary school, all teachers and administration who serve at the school do not draw a salary. They have all raised support to come and serve in these roles. It is a unique and wonderful opportunity to be able to work among people who have a heart for God, and who have left the comforts of home to serve and love on these children, including missionary kids, third culture kids, and native Hungarian kids. We love having the opportunity to teach and support these families as they serve on the mission field. We are also so blessed to connect with the Hungarian families who trust us with the education of their children. What a beautiful thing to be able to provide an education and be free to share the message and love of Jesus Christ in all that we do.

 

I have so many amazing stories of how God has already started to provide for our family, and I would love to share those with each of you personally. Really, it’s just amazing to see Him move. He walks before us and behind us, He has hemmed us in. But this new opportunity does mean that our family will start the task of raising support (both financial and prayer partners), and we want to ask that you would prayerfully consider how you could partner with us. As it stands right now, we are at around 40% of our monthly support needed. I am hopeful to continue working part time through the transition, and maybe even next year, but I also want to make sure that I am still able to serve in my role as a wife and mother and maintain a healthy balance in both our home and professional lives. John and I would love a chance to talk with you more about our lives here, and specific ways we are seeing God move. Let us know if we can call, facetime, or email, and we also would love to see you when we are in Texas this summer!

 

If you would like to receive our quarterly updates directly in your email, please send your email address. If you would like to support us financially with a one time gift or monthly, you can visit: https://rceinternational.webconnex.com/50905

 

We are thankful and so blessed by your continued support, encouragement and prayers!

Counting Every Blessing

Well, it’s mid-November and we are in the full swing of things here in Budapest! Our lives are currently pretty busy, but just last night I took a quiet moment (in the car while driving to and from picking/dropping off kids. Really, when else is it ever quiet?) and I was reflecting on how good, kind and faithful God has been to our family these past few months. In the midst of total change and chaos, He has surrounded us with the most helpful and loving community of family and friends, near and far. We’ve had friends offer support and advice to get settled here, and they’ve stepped in to love on our kids when we’ve needed a break. John’s parents were able to come visit in mid-October, and my mom, stepdad and grandparents arrive next week to spend Thanksgiving break with us. And the prayers, oh the prayers!! It never fails, when we’re overwhelmed, discouraged, or just plain tired–out of nowhere we will receive a text, email, or call just to check in and offer words of encouragement. It is the most beautiful thing to know we’re not alone. To know we have people who love us and are interceding on our behalf. Truly you guys, you don’t realize how much we appreciate you all!

Here are a few specific updates and prayer requests we currently have:
John

• Last week John started his winter baseball bible study on Tuesday nights, and strength and conditioning practice on Wednesday nights. They are teenage boys, and majority native Hungarian speakers. Please be praying for good, open communication, and the development of strong relationships.
• They finished the first quarter of school, and everyone seems to be settled. Please continue to pray for the school, as all of the teachers strive to give these children the best education, and also instill in them a love for Christ and each other.

Brittany

• I have had the opportunity to help in an English Language Learning class on Thursday evenings at the school. It is mostly just having conversations with native Hungarian speaking adults, but please be praying for the development of relationships and good conversations.
• I am currently trying to start learning Hungarian. I really feel like God put us here for a reason, and I would like to be able to communicate as much as possible with local people here, whether or not they speak English. However, this is a very hard language. Please pray that I can absorb and learn as much as possible.
• Work is going great. My bosses are awesome, and I’ve been able to settle into a great routine while John and the kids are at school.

Hallie

• Hallie is thriving in school. She loves her classes, her friends, sports and the Middle School Musical (she’s a narrator in Beauty and the Beast, Jr., premiering this Friday!). This is a huge answered prayer for John and I, as we really worried about the transition to a new school and country at the age of 13. THANK YOU to all of you who faithfully surrounded her in prayer. Keep it up!

Ryan

• Out of our kids, Ryan has probably had the hardest time adjusting to school. She loves it, but she is also soft-hearted and a bit of a daydreamer. Transitioning from homeschooling with Dad, to being responsible in school has not been the easiest thing for her. John and I know that as long as she is learning and is happy, that’s what is most important!
• Her skin seems to be better. We are being careful about what she comes in contact with, and trying to stay moisturized, but overall another answered prayer!

Brinkley

• What do you say about Brinkley? She’s so smart and strong-willed, and more than a handful… But same as the others, she seems settled and happy! She loves her teacher and friends, and is still as talkative and opinionated as ever.
• Her anxiety of being back here, starting school and being separated from John and I, is basically gone. Another huge answered prayer!

Continue to pray for our marriage and our family, as we adjust to a busier lifestyle than we’ve been used to in the past. Also, as we enter the holiday season far away from home and our usual traditions.

We have started the process of looking for a second car, but with our budget it won’t be so easy. We know God has the right one for us out there, and it will work out.

Pray for the school, ICSB, as the teachers begin to decide whether they will continue to serve at the school next year, and as the school begins to recruit new teachers to fill these roles. Have you ever wondered about serving as a teacher abroad? Let us know, and we can put you in contact with the right people! It’s such a beautiful, rewarding role to serve in, changing the lives of local children, MKs (missionary kids), and TCKs (third culture kids).

How can we be praying for you today? Please let us know!

If you made it this far, thank you!!! We love you guys, and truly couldn’t do it without your love and support. Oh, and if you haven’t gotten our newsletter updates and would like to, send me your email address and I’ll get you added to that list. Thanks!

— Mrs. Burgo

We’re here!

After all of the months and months of planning and anticipation, it still seems surreal that we are here. We’ve been here for three weeks and while I would like to say that we’re settled, that just isn’t completely true.

Our house is wonderful, but it still doesn’t quite feel like home yet (as evidenced by one of our children who is still sleeping on the floor closest to our room, because her room “doesn’t feel safe”). For reasons out of our control, our car is parked until we complete residency, so we’re learning to rely on public transportation. We already had our first doctor visit because Ryan’s sensitive skin hasn’t adjusted to European bug bites, and the language barrier can be tricky. Grocery shopping is still different, as well as cooking. And we’re still adjusting to a slower pace of life, you just can’t get more than one errand done in a day!

All that being said, it has allowed us to reflect on all of God’s blessings. We’re thanking God that there is a reliable public transportation system and we’re not stranded. We’re thanking God that we have access to medical care. We’re thanking God that we have a beautiful home in a safe neighborhood that was completely furnished and ready for us to move in. I (Brittany), am thanking God that Tesco allows me to grocery shop online, in English, and they deliver directly to my house for $4!!

 

The girls in front of the Chain Bridge

Overall, I think we’re transitioning quite nicely. We’ve met so many awesome people in this community of believers that have been so helpful and welcoming. The girls have made a lot of new friends, which has been a huge answered prayer. We’re learning to extend to each other a lot of grace as we adjust and try to get it together. We are so grateful that we arrived 6 weeks before school starts so that we could adjust and be ready. Of course, just like that, John starts new teacher orientation next Monday, and our new season of life is officially underway!

A few prayer requests:

• That Brinkley would feel safe in our new home and eventually sleep in her own bed
• That we would all transition into the school year seamlessly, early mornings and all
• That the process of residency will be started soon and we will have our van to get to and from school
• That as we begin school, we remember that God put us here for a purpose, and that we would glorify Him in all we do.

Blessings from Budapest!

–Mrs. Burgo

P.S. Majority of my daily updates are on our stories on Instagram if you’d like to follow along: Adventuresoftheburgo5.

It’s not me.

Since we made the announcement that we are moving to Hungary and going into the mission field, the reaction that we have gotten the most is “Wow! There’s no way I could do that.” And every time I want to say, “You’re right, you couldn’t!”

But let me explain: I couldn’t either if it weren’t for Christ. I want to make it abundantly clear that it’s not me, it’s all God. I know me, I know my heart, I know my sin, I know my flaws, I know my past — Trust me, it is not my strength or power that is doing all of this. I am so thankful that God still uses broken people to accomplish His purposes. I don’t think it’s any mistake that this has been on our hearts for years, and that God has used those years to grow and mature us in ways we could never imagine. This time last year John and I were extremely discontent with where we were, and it was weighing heavy on our hearts that it was time for a change. Change is scary, especially big changes, but it can be so rewarding. After a lot of prayer and guidance, we took the plunge. Has it been easy? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Lately, it has been extremely hard. We moved out of what we thought would be our “forever home”, we’re selling 90% of our worldly possessions, and we’re 4 months from leaving the life we’re accustomed to and all those that we love. And the thing is, there’s a lot of unknowns in the immediate future. I say all this not for sympathy, but to clearly state- Christ is our strength and the only thing currently getting us through. We know He has plans and a purpose, and the “hard” we’re currently experiencing is nothing compared to what He endured in this world. And truly, our lives are just a drop before we will all be together in Heaven, so we should be spreading the gospel and living our lives fully for Him while we can. I want our story to be for His glory, not ours. We are not doing this through our own strength but His.

So let me leave you with this: what has God placed on your heart? What does He want from your life? He does not call everyone to go, or to preach, or to even do big scary things. But He calls us all to something that will bring Him glory and further His kingdom. Not knowing is okay, as long as you’re still seeking and serving Him, and you’re ready when He asks for your YES! But if there is something now, what are you waiting for? As John said to me the other day, “We could just stay where we are and live a comfortable life, but we asked God for clear direction and He has opened all of the doors. And I’m not going to be Jonah and run from God.”

— In Him,

Mrs. Burgo

He is Faithful

One thing that this experience has taught me over and over again, is that our God is so faithful! Every single need that we have had, has been provided for abundantly. There are so many small things that I can’t even put into words, or that only hold meaning to me and John, but the big things have been big!

1. We are currently under contract on our house. We live in a two bedroom house in a small community, so we anticipated that it would take awhile to sell or that we would end up renting it while we were gone. It was on the market for 2-1/2 weeks when we got an offer for exactly what we were needing.
2. We were fully accepted by TeachBeyond and John accepted a position at the International Christian School of Budapest for the 2018-19 year. Through these two organizations, we have learned that a large portion of our anticipated costs for training and moving will be significantly less! We still have a ways to go, but we are much closer to our goal!

I have been journaling throughout this process, and it doesn’t seem that a week has gone by that I haven’t been able to write “WOW GOD!!” Seeing His hand in every step of our journey has been truly AWEsome. Feeling His presence when we’ve been overwhelmed with the emotions of it all has given us true peace. And just when I think it may be too much, He places someone or something in my path (whether it’s at church, in His word, or through a text, call or email) that shows me that He’s got it all under control. When we started this journey we knew that God would have to show up big, and He has — Every single time.

We have prayer cards arriving any day now, so send me your address and I will get one out to you! I think that may be my favorite part of this journey — knowing that we have people lifting us up to Him on a regular basis.

— Mrs. Burgo

It’s all happening!

We haven’t posted here in 3 months. We’ve tried to be somewhat discreet about our future plans for various reasons. Most importantly, we wanted to tell our family our plans in person instead of over the phone or on the internet. We also wanted to come back home and enjoy the holidays while taking the time to process exactly what God has put in front of us. We started the application process of joining a mission organization, Teach Beyond, and we wanted to wait until we had real news to share…. so here goes:

We were provisionally accepted by Teach Beyond!!!

This means we have a few more things to complete, but we have essentially completed the application process and we are ready to go! Let me tell you, it has been an emotional few months around here. Praise God for His sustaining peace!

The Tentative Plan (because of course things could change):

While this was not what we were expecting, God opened doors while we were in Budapest for John to return to teaching and the girls to return to school. To top it off, there’s an opportunity for John to serve with a local baseball ministry. We prayed for clarity from our trip, and wow, did we get it! We felt that God made it so clear that we would be disobedient if we didn’t say YES! More details on the school to come soon, but we are excited and the girls are excited. We should be back in Budapest by July!

Would you be praying that the house will sell? Will you be praying for our hearts and for our families? This isn’t a decision that was made lightly, and it won’t be easy. Our families have been so loving and supportive, but we know that this is very difficult for them as well.

Thank you for your love and encouragement! The prayers have been so comforting to us, and we would love for you to continue on this journey with us. If you want to stay in touch and make sure you don’t miss anything, click the follow button and enter your email, and you’ll receive a message whenever we post.

“The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged!” Deuteronomy 31:8

— Mrs. Burgo

Thoughts from Hallie

These are some notes taken from Hallie’s journal (with permission, of course):

September 20th

While traveling to Budapest, we experienced some bumps along the way. The first bump was at the Newark Airport, where we had a ten hour layover! The second bump was the long flight to Europe because it lasted SEVEN HOURS! Other than those two bumps, the only other one was security at the Manchester Airport. We had to take everything out of our bags and put them into, like, twenty bins for security to scan them, then put all our stuff back into our bags again. One of the guards said that we were going to open an Apple Store here because of all of the devices we had. Our travel time was interesting.

Now that we’re in Budapest, my favorite thing so far is the sights. Everything is so beautiful! We have already gone to the Buda Castle, Chain Bridge, St. Stephen’s Basilica, the Parliament, The Matthias Church, Fisherman’s Bastion, the City Park, so many great playgrounds, and a lot of awesome restaurants. And in the past four days we’ve averaged about 14,000 steps per day. Our feet have been hurting a lot, but that’s why we sometimes take the metro. The subway is fast and gets us close to our destination before we have to walk. Another good thing that I like here is church. I’ve already made four friends! Their names are Hannah, Chrissa, Libby, and Phoebe. They are super nice!

Other than my feet hurting, the only thing I don’t like about Budapest is that everyone in the city center smokes and it smells horrible! [Note added by John: I would add that we’ve yet to find good toilet paper. Think of wiping with really cheap paper towels.]

I like it here in Budapest. Its cool, pretty, and our apartment is close to everything. Everything here is also close together, so you can see more in a short time. Now the only thing we have to do is find a cat cafe!

Hallie’s Comic Strip

September 25th

Some of my favorite things about Budapest so far:

Chimney Cake — A cylinder-shaped cake that you can smell from a long ways away! They are grilled and covered in whatever topping you like best. We love the cinnamon covered ones!

Bubble Tea — A cold tea with these gel-like bubbles that burst in your mouth and are filled with fruit flavor.

Sights — The views from Castle and Gellert Hills are awesome!

Playgrounds — They are all super nice, clean, and have stuff that the US would definitely not have like really tall and curvy slides, trampolines, hamster wheels, and rope jungle gyms.

Other Food — One word: Weiner schnitzel!

The People: We’ve met so many great people, from both Hungary and other parts of the world. The girls at church are a lot like me and like a lot of the same nerdy stuff that I do! 🙂 A lot of the Hungarian kids on the playgrounds that we meet all seem to know a little bit of English and always invite us to play with them.

Also, today we met a nice English guy on the street that gave us a Buddhist book. His name was Anunda and we were able to talk to him about Jesus. We also gave him a Bible and prayed over him.

October 1st

Saturday night, Daddy and I rode the Metro to our church because we thought there was a youth group gathering. When we got there we realized we were wrong, but we walked over to the park across the street because we heard weird, loud music. There was some type of bizarre festival going on with strobe lights, a poet (I think), dancers, and little kids toys spread around. We stayed for about 30 minutes and still have no idea what we witnessed.

Too busy…

….Having fun!  

Sorry we haven’t updated the blog recently. We have been in the beautiful city of Budapest a full two weeks now, and we haven’t stopped since we landed! This morning as I sit in bed with my coffee (from a French press which we now ❤️, see Instagram @adventuresoftheburgo5 for the story), with the windows open to a perfect 48* sunny morning, I have been reflecting on how busy we have stayed. It hasn’t been the kind of busy from back home where I never feel caught up, the house is a wreck, and I’ve hardly spent any time with the kids. It has been the best kind of busy, where we’ve actually slowed down and filled our days with our own schedule of work, homeschool and being outside! There is a different flow here. My work has been amazing- I can work for 4 hours in the morning, and then we get out and play all afternoon. When the work day starts in the US (15:00 here, yes I’m adjusting to the 24 hour clock) I can connect with my bosses, and do a little work after the kids are in bed. We don’t have a tv in the bedroom, and no cable connected to the tv in the living room. We don’t have a dryer, so there are clothes hanging throughout the apartment drying. There is no dishwasher, so John has been washing a lot of dishes…. haha! I guess what I’m realizing is that the conveniences

from home that I thought I would miss haven’t been bad at all. And some I can see actually serve to distract us, where here we are more intentional with our time and our children. We are fiercely loyal to our Astros and Cowboys, but when the games are in the middle of the night here, even the importance of those seem much less (to me at least, John might disagree). The city is incredibly family friendly, with parks every few streets. We walk everywhere, and if it’s too far they have an awesome public transit system. It’s one of the cleanest places we’ve ever been as well, no trash in the streets and the parks impeccably manicured. And did I mention how cheap everything is?

Not to say that it’s all been easy. We adjusted to jet lag fairly well, but the change of money (USD to HUF), language (English to Hungarian), measurement systems (kilograms, meters, Celsius), has been a challenge. I told John yesterday that I feel like I get pushed out of my comfort zone at least once a day. Reading a menu and ordering quickly because typically Hungarians do not like to wait in line, then ordering the wrong thing because you were rushed. Oh, and trying to pay with correct change while a line of impatient people stare at you at the grocery store, all while trying to move your items to get them into personal shopping bags to carry home. BUT, it gets easier every time. And I remind myself that being here and being uncomfortable is continuously forcing us to grow, and growth is never a bad thing. It’s the point of diving into a new place and culture!

Last and certainly not least, the church has been nothing short of amazing. And by the church I mean it’s people, because that’s what the church is, right? From the moment we arrived, we have been welcomed and loved on. The church was started as a group of missionaries that served in other places and came together on Sundays to worship together. It has since grown to reflect much more of the community, including many of the local colleges and schools. You can still clearly see the missional mindset that started it all, with an abundance of outreach opportunities, all aimed at reaching lost and hurting people and showing them God’s love.

The Burgo 5 are loving life in Budapest!

xoxo– Mrs. Burgo

 

 

 

 

 

Tired of Living the Laodicean Life

I wasn’t planning on writing anything until we were already in Budapest but Brittany nagged me enough that I decided to go ahead and write what was on my mind about our upcoming trip. Also, I’m almost positive this is the first time I’ve written about something other than baseball since college!

Being born and raised in Small Town East Texas, the dream was always to get a degree, start a career, and somewhere in there you had to find a beautiful woman you could settle down with. And by settle down, of course I mean settle down in Small Town East Texas.

Let me start by saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with this path. For generations and generations, happy, healthy families have followed this plan and flourished. East Texas is a great place to settle down and raise a family. It’s safe and it’s located close to a few awesome, major cities (though the summers are nearly unbearable thanks to the heat, humidity, and mosquitos). Brittany and I were so sure that this is what we wanted that we bought a house on 20 acres less than two years ago, smack-dab in the middle of Small Town East Texas and called it our “forever home.” I’m sure everyone that knows us was probably laughing behind our backs at that because they know we tend to be wanderers.

As Brittany mentioned in her post, after we came back from Italy a few years ago, we truly thought that Europe was where we were supposed to be. We travel quite a bit but have never experienced a stirring in our hearts like we did when we came back. We did research on what it would take to be there for an extended time and finally decided that it just wasn’t the responsible thing to do since we had three young kids. We excused it to be a pipe dream–just a fantasy. I mean, we were only there for four days. If you live somewhere, it wouldn’t be a vacation anymore. You’d have to do life there and Big City Europe is definitely NOT Small Town East Texas. Looking back now, it’s pretty clear that fire never really died. It seems like it was simply just God telling us, “wait.” Maybe He put it on our hearts to be there, but was wanting us to wait until we were wanting to be there for the right reasons? He needed us to mature before He could use us.

The Altar inside St Peter’s

When we came back from Rome, I do remember thinking about the church situation there. I never recall coming across a Protestant, evangelical church. Quite the difference from Small Town East Texas where you’ll find an evangelical church on every block. I’m sure there were some that we just overlooked or didn’t walk by, but the only churches I remember coming across were huge, historic, beautiful museums–full of famous art pieces, tourists with cameras, and wall-to-wall images of the most famous Catholic Saints. I just couldn’t imagine people coming into these gold-plated art galleries, full of distractions, to worship the Risen Savior. Instead, they seemed more like places to worship Zeus (or I guess it would be Jupiter since we were in Rome). I wondered what Saint Peter would think if he saw the Basilica named after him in Vatican City. I thought about all of these things, but I’m no missionary so what could I do about it?

Once we had moved into our “forever home” and new church home, our Sunday school class did a study on Francis Chan’s book “Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God” (if you haven’t read it, I highly suggest it). Brittany and I had actually already done a small group study over this book, but this time it really struck a chord with us. We realized that what we were doing was basically the same thing that a lot of the folks in those Roman museums were doing. We were just playing church.

We made sure to:

• Dress up nice.
• Sing the hymns during service.
• Take notes during the sermon (That should get us brownie points with God, right?).
• Fellowship after the service.
• Bring a dish for the potluck lunch afterwards.

Sure corporate worship is important for believers, but how were we reaching people for Christ? How were we being the hands and feet of Jesus? We weren’t. We were what Jesus described in Revelation 3:15-16 as “lukewarm.” In His message to the church in Laodicea He says,

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm . . . I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.”

Wow! He’s telling us that lukewarm Christianity isn’t Christianity. Being lukewarm in our faith is hypocritical and this hypocrisy is sickening to God. We were hypocrites. How could we sing “Amazing Grace” and not share God’s amazing grace with our community? Or belt out “In Christ Alone” when He is in fact not our cornerstone, but just another brick in the wall? Or how about sing “I Surrender All” when we’re only willing to surrender a few hours a week to Jesus? We were sickening the Creator!

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Finally, that brings us to where we are now. We felt called to Budapest, and we’re hoping that God will give us clear direction. It could be as simple as giving our kids the opportunity to experience another culture and show them that the earth doesn’t actually revolve around Texas (I cannot believe I just said that). It’s possible that God shows us a need that we can help with and He calls us to be missionaries. If He does, who am I to tell God no? Regardless of why He put this on our hearts, we will take full advantage of it by serving Him, showing love to everyone we come across, making memories, and doing our part in telling everyone the Good News!

–Burgo