In the last three months...
We've hosted a lot. Teams, individuals. We have gotten to share the blessing of ministry with a lot of people. I sometimes forget how unusual my life is, and then I bring someone along, and they are agape at the simple details I leave unseen. Sometimes I am caught in my own moment of wonder, wide-eyed at the beauty and life around me. It happens most often when I consider leaving the mission field. I think about leaving, and I see the hills in the distance, the faces becoming familiar to me, and the grime which is no surprise to a local. I see Romanian words that I now understand, and even Hungarian words that are not gibberish.
I think that every missionary thinks about leaving, and some of them end up making the choice to do it, sometimes for the right reasons, and sometimes for understandable reasons. The mission field can be challenging. If you are a missionary, chances are that you've missed home so much that you've cried on the bathroom floor, found a podcast or show that takes you back for a few minutes, and hopefully found friends who feel like home to you. You may miss not thinking about speaking or reading. You may miss grocery stores being predictable. If you're American like me, you might smell fresh American money when you get the chance-- it smells distinctly different than the rest of the world's plastic money. In any case, I would bet that you miss home to some degree, and for some reason.
And if you're a missionary, if you've lived in your new spot for more than a year, it has probably started to become familiar-- homey, almost. Don't give up, you'll learn the language. You'll start getting jokes in your target language sooner than you think. You'll learn the streets of your town. You'll find a community. It happens. Keep hope.
Here are some actual updates from my life:
My friend Rosalinda had her sweet little boy, Elemér! He is growing, and learning to smile just like his aunties and uncles. There is also another fresh "kicsi" (little one in Hungarian, sounds like "kichi") in the village, but I don't know his or her name yet, and another due any day now.
I have been apartment- and cat-sitting for my friend Sarah while she visits America. I have realized how little I like fur on my clothes.
There was a bit where I went to Germany for the first time! It was mostly a seminar on prayer, worship, and intercession, but I also got to do some refugee ministry through art, and had some time off to wander through the old section of the city. It was a sweet time of connecting with the Lord and enjoying historic Germany.
I also got to visit the city of Cluj-Napoca in Romania, about an hour and a half away, to do some ministry with blind audio Bible distributors that our base has been networking with. They supplied us with a Bible for each family in Corbești, which is a HUGE blessing. Many of our friends in the village are illiterate, but many of them are also hungry for spiritual formation. While I was in Cluj, I got to go to a village outside it where they take special pride in maintaining their Hungarian culture. The ladies still wear traditional bodices, petticoats, and kerchiefs on their heads, as everyday clothes. I wish I could have taken a picture, but it would have been too awkward, believe me.
I also got to see Lilly Hooley! We grew up going to church together, and met up for coffee with her big sister Kadie, who had already gone into the mission field in Ireland, when Lilly and I were about to go into our Discipleship Training Schools. That was the last time we saw each other. It was a memorable milestone in our missions journey for both of us, and it was pretty surreal to see her after three years as we were both on the mission field, passing through Cluj on the same weekend. We sat down and stared at each other, and just laughed. Then we got to tell stories and catch up... Lilly has gone through so many challenges in her missions journey; it was inspiring to hear her testimony of God's faithfulness.
Here's a testimony: We've been praying for a fence for the elementary schoolyard in Corbești. There's trash and an abandoned building very close to the school, and it would be nice to be able to let the kids out for recess, and not have to worry about them wandering off, or cutting their feet. But the fence has to be very well built, and very sturdy, so that people can't sneak pieces of it to sell (or burn, if it were made of wood). That gives it a big price tag. Melissa, my "partner-in-crime" in Corbești ministry, sensed that the money would come from an unexpected source, and had a confirmation from someone else to the same effect. Lo and behold, we invited someone to help with translation a few weeks ago, and he is inspired to raise money for this fence, not knowing that he is certainly an unexpected source, and that we have had this word. Money for the fence is slowly and surely coming in, praise God. He is faithful to His word.
We've been connecting more with a part of the village that has a particular kind of Gypsy that is common to our area, distinctive in dress (and often, smell. Sorry, Gypsies.). We hope that we can build more and more relationship with them, and continue to share with them about Jesus to the best of our ability, as we have already done.
In the next week, we will be taking seven children from Corbești and Gruișor (the next village over), about ages eleven to fourteen, to a VBS in another village about an hour away. They will stay at our base at night. We don't think that any of them have done something like this before, so we're really excited! The VBS is in Hungarian, so the kids will be exposed to good teaching for a whole week in their own language, without translators. I'm excited about that, because it can be awkward and challenging to share Christian teachings with the kids for a few minutes through a translator. Now we have the chance to take them for a week, to have fun and hear about Jesus! Please be praying for wisdom on our part, to handle any rowdiness or homesickness; and for the kids, that they would seek God and find Him.
Anyway, that's some of what's going on in my life lately! Sorry it's not more polished. It's been pretty busy and I realized it was today or never for this update!
Warmly,
Ruthie Jo