Day 12: Here Comes the Sun

Today we had sunshine. Real honest to goodness sunshine that lasted more than 20 minutes. In fact, Katie and I sat outside today for about an hour during our break. It was AMAZING. It's always really cold in the church, so getting to sit outside in the sun was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Attila and Katie have an UNO tournament going on - I don't really understand the rules but they are intense about it. All I know is that the loser has to buy the winner a small gift. I think they decided on ice cream. :) I'm pretty sure Attila is winning right now, but they play every break that they have - I'm sure Katie will give him a run for his money.

Today I taught the Intermediate class some Prepositions and was caught completely off guard at just how confusing they are. I'm trying to find a slightly easier way to teach them tomorrow - possibly some visual aids would be helpful. Throughout this teaching process, Katie and I both have been finding out things about our language that we never knew before - or realizing that the way we say things doesn't always have a rational answer. That is incredibly confusing to someone trying to learn our language. However, the Hungarians really can't complain that much about English. Speaking as a student of the Hungarian language, I can safely say that this statement once made by a native is more than true, " Do you know why Hungarian is the language of heaven? Because it takes an eternity to learn!"

Funny story: Attila came over last night to use our internet because apparently he lost a bet with his fiancee Adele, and he has to write her a love letter every day for a month! He claims that she picked this for him to do if he lost because he hates writing people, which I know is true, but I think he's kind of tickled about having to compose love letters. Maybe a little clueless(he tried to get Katie and I to help him, but we adamantly refused haha) but as much as he pretends not to want to, I think he is enjoying it.

At almost every church service that we have been to while we're here, everybody has asked us if we would sing a song, and Attila is making us prepare a new song every week. This has really been a struggle for me, because everywhere that we go if they have an organ I HAVE to play the organ, and Katie and I HAVE to sing. There have been times when I felt like a traveling performer, and I have really been wrestling with it. I have come to the conclusion that as much as I want to tend to feel guilty about seeing it as a performance and being afraid of showing off, it really is a blessing to these people. And if I can have my heart in the right place, and see that all I need to be doing is glorifying God and blessing the people around me, then it no longer becomes a performance but a ministry. Although I have thought about this many times while we've been here, tonight I finally felt okay because I could finally see that it really has nothing to do with me. My main goal here was for the people to see God, not me. And standing in front of people and singing is actually one of the best ways that I can do that. Katie and I both had a...well we're going to call it a "moment" tonight where we literally didn't see or look at anything but just sang for God, and I think that's when I finally felt a peace about standing in front of the church and singing. If God has given me a voice, then I should use it for His glory and not be ashamed of what I have been given.
"For to whom much has been given, much will be required."