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We have settled in and are getting to know our surroundings a bit. Paul Weaver, the academic dean, showed us around Budapest today. It is a beautiful city, but we saw a lot of culture today as well. We’ll probably wait until later in the week to give you the “tourist” rundown.

The village we are in, Toalmas, is about 45 minutes east of Budapest. I was surprised at how similar everything felt (Well, everything except basic communication ). Hungary is about the size of Indiana, and they grow a lot of corn. So you could say I felt right at home driving through the Hungarian countryside! We visited a Tesco (basically a Hungarian version of Wal-Mart), and we could see a McDonald’s and a Burger King from the jam packed multi acre parking lot. HA! Sorry Charis, no Starbucks (I guess they haven’t taken over the whole world … yet)

The campus is beautiful, and we are staying in the castle that is on the property. It was built in the 1800s and was owned by Count Androssy (the brother of Hungary’s first PM). It was one of about 4 residences for the count. Rough life, huh? The castle, during the communist rule, was used as a communist youth camp to indoctrinate the kids with communist propaganda. Isn’t that just like God? Taking a property that was once used to teach kids to worship a man is now being used for His glory!

We will be attending the Toalmas bible church tomorrow, the only church in the village. We’re excited to start to really experience the ministry here and get to know more of the Word of Life staff and students. I will begin teaching on Monday morning at 9am. That is 3am EST, and will continue on through 1pm (7am EST ). So be praying for us as you begin your morning devotions

Teah will be leading ladies devotionals in the dorms and I, as you know, will be teaching through Galatians. Please lift us up in our last brush ups with preparing. We so appreciate your partnership with us in prayer. We’re really excited to teach these excited students about God’s transforming Word!