Happy Sunday!

Ahhh, another lazy Sunday afternoon. Hah! Seems like there aren't many of those anymore! I am finally sitting down for the first time today. I have had one full day of studying, cleaning, weeding, and grocery shopping. After I update ya'll on this blog, I will make dinner and study some more!

Actually, language school is not as intense as I thought it would be. We go for a little over three hours every weekday, and homework takes a couple more hours after that. BUT... I really really really want to know this language. It's not just another "class" to complete for my degree. This is my life. Therefore, I am forcing myself to study as much as possible. I'm trying to learn fifty new words a day. If I see a word I don't know on a sign, I'll write it down. If I want to know how to say "washing machine," I'll look it up. I've heard that the Hungarian vocabulary is not as large as most languages, so that is definitely a plus. There are only so many words they have to use as a description, verb, or noun. In fact, many times when an English speaker is being translated into Hungarian, the Hungarian phrasing will be much longer than the English because it takes a lot more explanation due to their limited vocabulary. Pretty interesting!

After this week, Paul and I will have completed the first section of language school. They are split into three-week semesters. We are taking two more after this one. Hopefully all of our classmates will continue as well, but I am not so sure. I think a couple are getting pretty overwhelmed. Please pray for us, that we are good examples to them as we try to live Christ-like lives in a secular world. Sometimes it is easy to forget that the world is going to hell, when you spend most of your time on a Christian campus. Being in the city this summer has reminded me of the importance to reach our own

communities for Christ.

Hope you have a great week! Thanks for checking in!

Magyarul Tanulok! (I am learning Hungarian)

Phew! What a week! Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but it seems like I have had ZERO free time this whole week! Paul and I finally started language school this past Monday. What an experience! I cannot believe how much we have learned in just five days of school! Already I feel like my eyes and ears have been opened to the Hungarian language. I understand a lot more about what is going on around me. It is truly any encouragement. Praise the Lord!

During the week, Paul and I are staying in Budapest, about thirty minutes from our language school. Of course, it is only thirty minutes by car, but when you factor in morning traffic and the crazy Hungarian drivers, it is more like and hour and a half. So, we decided to take the public transportation route, which gets us there a little faster and is less expensive than paying for gas. After a couple days of experimentation, and a lot of walking, we discovered the best route is to 1) drive by car to a nearby grocery store 2) hop on the #3 bus, which takes us to the tram 3) walk from the bus stop to the tram and hop on 4) walk from the tram stop to another bus stop and hop on 5) walk from the last bus stop to our school. All in all, the trip is about an hour and ten minutes, but it allows for some quality study time!

Our teacher is young, cute, and perky. She has taught at the school for four years now. We have a total of six people in our class, three Germans and three Americans, including us. Everyone is very nice and eager to learn Hungarian. However, Paul and I are the only ones who are intending on staying in Hungary indefinitely. The rest are students in Budapest for the next 2-3 years or they are here temporarily on a job assignment. We definitely have major motivation! In fact, Paul is expected to teach in Hungarian by September of 2009! I'm glad I am only expected to do the grocery shopping and talk to the neighbors!

This past week in school, we learned different ways of describing ourselves and other people, familiar sayings we may need (like "I only speak a little Hungarian"), and how to say where we are from. Just yesterday we started learning vocabulary for different foods and occupations.

We are currently back in Toalmas for the weekend. It is so nice to be in our home and to sleep in our own bed. Being gone for a whole week has made me realize how much God has blessed us - not only with a beautiful home and village, but with friends and colleagues who are supportive and such an encouragement.

We would greatly appreciate your prayers as we learn, grow, and study like crazy these next nine weeks. Pray that Paul and I learn as much as possible this summer and that we grow even closer to each other through this experience. Hopefully, next week I will have some pictures to show you of our home in Budapest and our school. That is, of course, if we survive another week of Nyelv Iskola!

"No more pencils, no more books..."

Well, it was another beautiful and busy week here in Toalmas. Last week was officially the final week of Bible School, so naturally, Paul was busy as a bee, rushing to grade final papers, calculate GPA's, and teach the remainder of New Testament Survey. There were a couple of late nights for him as he read student papers on the topic of "Who is Melchizedek?"(I think he is a manifestation of Christ. What say you? P.S. My paper received an "A"). By the end of the week Paul was one pooped puppy, but he was still able to stand proud on stage at graduation as students received their diplomas. The Bible School now has a one-year program as well as a two-year program, so there were many more students graduating than in previous years. It was a wonderful ceremony, filled with much encouragement and praise for the Lord's blessing. Bellow are a few pictures taken from this past Saturday's Word of Life Hungary Bible School graduation 2008.

Around the House

I know in the last blog I said that I was through with cherry pickin', but the baking machine inside of me took over, and I decided that it would be fun to make a cherry pie from scratch. I have never really been a fan of canned cherry pie filling and I am not sure that I have ever had a real cherry pie before. So, on Monday I went out once again and picked more cherries to bake a pie, but I ended up picking another bucket full. This led me to the realization that we need a freezer. Our current refrigerator has a small freezer at the bottom that is the size of two crisper drawers. One entire drawer is now filled with bags of cherries and the other drawer has everything else. Unfortunately, freezers cost money, and all I have is cherries. So... if you are interested in buying some authentic Hungarian cherries, I think I can give you a deal :) All proceeds will go to the "Jill Weaver Needs a Bigger Freezer Fund." Seriously, I don't know what I'm going to do when all these veggies in the garden come up. Hopefully, by that time, canning supplies will be available in the stores so I can at least preserve the tomatoes!

I had my first harvest of peas this week. Sooooooo exciting! Normally I don't even like peas, but these were really sweet and tasty. This gardening thing is paying off!

Today Paul is working hard on writing our current newsletter and updating our website (http://www.weaverwebpage.org/). I have been working away on sewing drapes for our bedroom. Our home is fashioned in such a way that the shutters over the windows must be opened from the outside. So unless you are willing to open and shut every shutter every morning and evening, you have no privacy. Now that I have these drapes sewn, we can permanently leave the shutters open and just close the drapes at night. I will be sure to post a picture once I'm done.

Looking Ahead

Next Monday will be the very first day of language school! Part of me is so ready and the other part of me is terrified. It is supposed to be pretty intense and overwhelming. We will attend a school in Budapest for about four hours every morning, five days a week. Supposedly they give about four hours of homework as well. To save time and money, Paul and I are going to live in the city for the summer and come back home to Toalmas on the weekends. God has been so good. He supplied us with a home from a missionary couple who are going on furlow this summer. We will be house sitting for them, while experiencing city life! I think it will be a fun summer, but definitely a challenging one. Please pray for us as we experience this adventure together.