St. Stephen's Day!

St. Stephen's Day was great! Beautiful city, spectacular fireworks, great food, and confusing adventures. Again, this is gonna be short and sweet.

Parliament...free to tour today, but bearing the heat and long line was not worth it...so...

We went to this SUPER COOL museum! No clue what it's called.

St. Stephen's Cathedral...he's the guy the holiday is for! His hand is apparently kept inside.

So we celebrated with GELATO :D

And went to the Hummus Bar for dinner, which was DELICIOUS.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
[John 15:5]

First Day in Hungary

So today was my first full day in Hungary. It was fantastic. To keep it short and sweet, we went to the grocery store, took the tram downtown (which we'll do probably everyday--it was about a 20 minute ride), saw some great sights, and crashed a wedding.

St. Matthew's Cathedral...I think.

Parliament

Tomorrow is St. Stephen's Day, which is kinda like 4th of July...so it's gonna be crazy. We're going to an air show and fireworks by the Danube River tomorrow, and of course exploring Budapest more.

And now time for sleep again.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace."

[Number 6:24-26]

Mission: Budapest

So tomorrow I leave for Budapest, Hungary...for four months! I am so blessed to have this opportunity. Words cannot express how excited I am! On one hand I feel so ready to go, but at the same time I can't believe it's already here. I feel so unprepared, but in a weird way that kind of excites me. I have no clue what to expect, yet I know it will be marvelous. I know that I'll be stretched in ways I cannot imagine, but that I'll also come out of it having grown in unexpected and exciting ways.

I know God has a specific purpose for me and our group in Hungary and I'm so excited to figure out what it is! There are a couple of verses that I've been thinking about within the past couple of days, in regards to this new adventure.
"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."
[Galatians 5:16]
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
[Acts 1:8]
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"
[Matthew 25:40]

I pray that God would use me in unexpected, uncomfortable, and unbelievable ways, that He would open my eyes to see the ways in which He has, is, and will work in Budapest. I pray that I would not be able to contain the love and grace that God has shown me and that He would use me to continually pour out His love and grace to the people of Hungary. I pray that our group would be unwavering lights for the Kingdom, that we would truly live by the Spirit, being led by Him in everything we do. I pray that God would continually shape each of us into the men and women He has created us to be and that He would transform us from the inside out, becoming more and more Christ-like each day.