May 1, 2021 

Dear friends,
Today is Saturday, May 1, in Hungarian “a munka ünnepe,” Worker’s Day. This morning the Jesuits who put together the daily devotional podcast that Julie and I try to listen to pointed us to the tradition in the church of remembering St. Joseph as “the worker.” This is the day when many European countries, including Hungary, remember and honor the work of everyday laborers, and many businesses close to allow some of those workers a day of rest and celebration. It’s a good day to remember the sacredness of work in each of our callings; and to ponder the question, “is there some aspect of your work that helps make the world more as God would want it to be?” 

Our work lately has been full of new things, people, places, and questions. Our main work for now is language learning, and we are busy with that each weekday from 10-11:30am, on-line with our teacher Panka, speaking our elementary Hungarian, developing our vocabulary, and moving through the required endless mistakes that early language learners must go through. We enjoy it, even if it does work the brain pretty hard, and the 90 minutes go very fast every day. Then we usually have lunch, and take a short break before we get to our homework for the next day, and the many other communication tasks we have. Our work also includes learning more about each of the facets of our ministry here – at Kalunba, at the university, and within the ecumenical office of the church – in campus ministry and other areas. This week I (Jeff) had two very interesting meetings of note, one with the University Pastor, and the other with a seasoned community organizer who works to equip Hungarian churches to better embody and live out the gospel in their response to the needs of their neighborhoods and communities. Both of these new colleagues provide opportunity for us to come alongside good work, and to help extend it. We also have been slowly getting to meet with various staff, volunteers, and clients of Kalunba, the refugee-serving organization in Budapest. There are a variety of changes taking place at Kalunba currently, some as a response to Covid, some due to staff moving on or taking maternity leave, and others as a part of a new cycle of elected leaders in the church. We are grateful for the chance to more slowly and surely integrate into the life and culture of this organization. We have been meeting and staying in touch with a young client family recently arrived from the Middle East, here in Budapest for less than two months so far with their two pre-teen boys, after spending three years in a Serbian refugee camp.
 
We have also found ourselves working on the establishment of our new home here in Budapest. We have located an apartment we will move into in late May – the one we are in now was meant to be temporary until June 1. We are excited to have found a place that has excellent potential for hospitality – it’s size and location make it close to ideal for our hoped-for opportunities to host others in our home for meals, conversation, and fellowship. Last weekend we were given the keys in advance, in order to move some things in that we had purchased on-line at a US Embassy auction. And Julie has been busy monitoring various websites that advertise used furniture and other home furnishings. This morning we felt very successful when we navigated our way to the home of a family having a kind of estate sale, and we were able to buy two chairs, a large rug, and a beautiful old Hungarian wicker market basket. The work and humility to conduct even very simple business like this when you don’t speak the language is notable – the older couple selling the items did not speak any English and our basic Hungarian was not terribly helpful, so we had their grown daughter on the phone being passed back and forth in order for us to make the purchase. Another recent adventure came when we picked up the furniture from the Embassy sale last weekend. After a failed attempt to pick it up with a too-small borrowed van, we then rented a manual transmission extended length van that was very challenging (but fun!) for Jeff to drive on narrow downtown Budapest streets. The most challenging feat was conducting a u-turn on a very busy, very narrow street in a long van with no clear sight lines. No damage was done, and the mission was successfully accomplished.
 
Another element of our work involves our role within Resonate – we are part of a team of six couples and families that live in various parts of Europe, from Berlin, Germany to Klaipeda, Lithuania. Each week we meet on-line for conversation, planning, prayer, and support. We also stay connected to Resonate’s many other programs and activities. I highly recommend you check out the upcoming Glocal mission summit opportunity, free to register, and coming up May 13-15.
 
We also take very seriously our responsibility (and need) to stay connected with family and friends, and with supporting churches and individuals all over the world. Our support network now includes over 180 individual or family financial supporters, and another 20-30 who have joined our support team as prayer partners. Five churches have taken us on as partner missionaries with regular support and communication. We have received support from people in several countries (including several Hungarian donors), and many states in the US. There are about 65 recurring donors who have pledged to give monthly or quarterly or annually, and another 115 or so who have given one-time gifts for now. Fifty of our donors have come from within our sending congregation, Neland Avenue CRC; over sixty of our donors are former students, and more than thirty are former colleagues, faculty and staff at Calvin. Nearly every day we receive an email update reminding us of new gifts, and we remain mindful, grateful, and committed to the partnership and trust that these regular gifts suggest. Thank you.
 
Finally, just a word about what we see when we walk, run, bike and take public transportation around Budapest. The built environment here, as everywhere, is a reflection of the culture, the history, memory, hope and disappointment of a society. Everywhere you turn in downtown Budapest you see a plaque, a bust, a statue, a memorial of some kind to some person or some group who someone wanted to remember. Many are reminders of painful parts of the country’s history, but there are also lots of reminders of Hungary’s commitment to beauty in the arts, in music, and in architecture and design. Many others are inside jokes, playful ways of remembering people and events in creative and beautiful ways. Poetry and public art seem to be hallmarks of Hungarian culture, reflecting a depth of seriousness and intellect that weaves beauty and humor into the public landscape. Last night we went for a walk up to the “Vár” or the castle district, with its perched view over the bridges of the Danube, and the dazzling lights of the Parliament and other Pest buildings and squares. It was a perfect spring night, still in the upper sixties, and a quintessential dusk descended like a blanket from light blue to rose to purple to dark blue and then black sky. As Hungary begins to open up with over forty percent of its citizens vaccinated, there are glimmers of hope – both here and (hopefully) where you find yourselves. As we continue to live into this calling to work, worship, play, and serve in a new place, we covet your friendship, your prayers, and your visits; and we hope the spring unfolds for you like the opening up of the manifold lilacs that are just now gracing every neighborhood in Budapest.
 
A Blessing for Longing. From “To Bless the Space Between Us,” by John O’Donohue
Blessed be the longing that got you here
and quickens your soul with wonder.
May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire
That disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.
May you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease
To discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.
May the forms of your belonging – dash in love, creativity, and friendship –
Be equal to the grandeur and call of your soul.
 May the one you long for long for you.
 May your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire.
 May secret Providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling.
 May your mind inhabit your life with the sureness with which your body inhabits the world.
 May your heart never be haunted by ghost-structures of old damage.
 May you come to accept your longing as divine urgency.
 May you know the urgency with which God longs for you.

 Points for prayer:
Please pray for our process of applying for residence permits, and then a speedy access to the vaccine once that process is complete (or sooner if possible!). We are glad that so many others have been able to receive the vaccine (including most of our friends in the US, and both of our kids), and we are not finding ourselves in a position of much concern in terms of our ability to stay out of harm’s way pretty easily. No indoor meetings or work yet, and very careful meetings at all.
Please pray for wisdom as we plan a brief return to the US in August to help our daughter Abigail pack up and move from her university home of Seattle back to Grand Rapids. We haven’t yet finalized the dates, but it looks like in the latter half of August we will be in west Michigan in addition to a cross-country drive from Washington to Michigan. We hope to see many of you then.
And we ask for continued prayers as we become more and more familiar with the Hungarian language. We are not young learners.
Finally, we would love for you to pray for clarity in the particulars of our ministry as it develops. We are grateful for many potential avenues of friendship and partnership, and eager to see how things develop in terms of specific opportunities.

In the blessed peace of Christ,
Jeff and Julie Bouman