September Boumans by the Danube update

Dear friends, On a recent retreat to Hungary’s inland sea, Lake Balaton, we focused for a few days on the following words from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.” (I. Corinthians 12: 12-14) Our small group of about 35 included people from Hungary, the UK, Kenya, Russia, the US, Israel, Ireland, and the Netherlands. We were different in many ways, but united in a shared weekend of learning, worship, and play. Our time together culminated in the baptism of a new friend who was born in Russia but raised in Israel, who is now working in Hungary, as well as a sharing in the body and blood of Christ in Communion together. Since we last wrote back in July, Julie and I have spent a couple of weeks in the US, visiting with family in Pennsylvania, camping with our kids, and attempting to “do all the things” and “see all the people” that we miss Stateside. We were quite successful, and very glad for the opportunities. Thank you so much to those of you who took time to see us in one way or another, especially the many of you who came out to the Hendriksens’ backyard on August 16 – it was a beautiful evening together. We arrived back in Hungary on August 19, just in time for the August 20th national celebration of Hungary’s first Christian king, St. Stephen. We also welcomed two new young colleagues, Michal Rubingh and Abby Voskuil. Both are 2022 graduates of Calvin University, and together they are bravely pioneering a new Resonate effort I am leading to develop a Cohort Europe program for young people to spend a year volunteering in ministry in various parts of Europe. The last two weeks have been quite full of time spent finding them a place to live, walking alongside them as they adjust to a new culture, a new set of expectations, and some of the uncertainty that is involved in cross-cultural work and ministry. On August 26 Julie and I and Abby and Michal were all invited to spend a day helping to accompany a group of about 50 Ukrainian refugees as they took a train outside Budapest for a 3-hour ferry ride on the Danube just north of the city – it was beautiful, and a good chance to begin interacting with some of our new colleagues at the Hungarian Reformed Church - Refugee Ministry. And just yesterday, September 5th, we spent several hours with colleagues unpacking and assembling new office furniture in a newly rented programming space. Strong support from churches and other non-government organizations since the war broke out has enabled the Refugee Ministry to hire about 25 new staff, and plans are underway to begin a “complex integration program” with several hundred refugees in and around Budapest. Abby and Michal will do all the things interns typically do, and each will also hopefully find ways to put their unique academic preparation into service as well – they have each studied abroad in different places, and they have good experience with refugees, refugee law and policy, and cross-cultural life and work. Julie and I have enjoyed having them around, and we were glad to find an apartment for them just a short walk from our place. We are grateful for several new donors to our work, including Ann Arbor CRC, as well as several new individuals. We could not do this without those of you who make monthly financial sacrifices on our behalf – thank you. A special shout-out of thanks to our other church partners as well – our sending congregation Neland Avenue CRC; and Boston Square CRC, First CRC in Grand Rapids, LaGrave Avenue CRC, and Cascade Fellowship CRC. The support of individuals and congregations is a blessing we don’t take for granted. We re-start our student ministry this week, after meeting last week with five students we have identified as potential leaders in the group. We’ll meet most Thursday evenings in our apartment for fellowship, food, and prayer together. We had about 8 of our international students join us for the church retreat, which was a great chance to get to know many of them better. I will also be teaching a course at Károli Gáspár University again, an intermediate English course that begins next week. As always, you can find the on-line giving site here. Our annual fund-raising goal has gone up in the light of the new Cohort program efforts, as well as standard cost of living adjustments. We would love to hear from you – a short reply with news from your life, any prayer requests or just a hello! We would ask you to be in prayer for us in the following ways: - as we juggle our on-going language learning - the oversight of the new Cohort intern program and Michal and Abby’s experience in Hungary - movement toward peace in the region, and a way home for those who are displaced by war and for other reasons - for our colleagues with the Refugee Ministry, especially our colleague who is the Director, Laszló áldás és békesség neked és a tiednek (blessings and peace to you and yours) Jeff and Julie Bouman

July 2022 Boumans by the Danube update

Kedves barátaink! (Dear friends) Nyári üdvözlet Budapestről. (summer greetings from Budapest)... I hope that got your attention – just a friendly Hungarian greeting from our Budapest summertime. We have news that some of you may not have heard yet – in early June both Julie and I took the B-1 level Hungarian language exam. We waited a full month before getting our results last Friday, and we learned the joyful news that Julie has passed both the written and the spoken parts of the test, hurrah! Jeff has some work to do, but was surprised to do well enough to pass the written part, and also score well on half of the spoken part. The further we get into the language, the more we see our differences as language learners. Julie is a detail-oriented student of the grammatical tables and charts, and Jeff is a gregarious, and often bumbling social butterfly. You can understand him, but it isn’t very comfortable. We are thankful to our vast network of support here in Hungary who help us to deepen our understanding of one of the world’s most difficult languages. Nagyon nehéz, de a tanulás öröm! Our fiscal year ended on June 30, and we are pleased to report that our incredible network of friends and partners helped us to meet our annual goal. This is encouraging on a level that is impossible to explain, but we want you all to know how deeply thankful we are for your partnership. Thank you. We would still love to find a few more churches looking for partner missionaries in case any of you find yourselves on a mission committee at your church – contact us for more information. And as always, our giving page is found here. Our ministry this summer has been focused more heavily on language learning, and we are also providing support as needed to the team at the refugee ministry. Our colleagues are undertaking an enormous project to distribute a very large sum of direct cash payment assistance to about 5000 refugee families from Ukraine, and in the distribution process, to gather data in the form of a 20-minute needs assessment survey. From this data, we plan to narrow our efforts toward a group of about 400 refugees who plan to stay in Budapest more long-term. The plan is to provide assistance with housing, children’s transition to Hungarian schools, employment assistance, and other psycho-social needs as they arise. We are still getting to know many new colleagues who have been hired in recent months, and look forward to the fall, when we will hopefully enjoy a more stable staff and program landscape. Simultaneously, our local church congregation continues to offer food assistance on a weekly basis to about 100 individuals. Please keep in mind and pray for the transition of our two interns, Michal Rubingh and Abby Voskuil, as they spend the summer raising support and preparing for their arrival in Budapest in late August for a year of ministry alongside us. Anyone interested in supporting Abby or Michal as well, please contact us. They are each attempting to raise about $12,000 for their year in Budapest working with the refugee ministry. We also invite you to two upcoming opportunities to learn more about our ministry. Next week Monday, July 18, at 12pm noon Eastern time (US), we will be participating in an on-line event hosted by Resonate, Ministry Amplified: Ukraine Conflict. Team members from the Resonate Europe team will each have about 10 minutes to provide updates on the relevant work happening in their context (Germany, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Romania) – the event will be just one hour long. You can find more information and register for the call here – please feel free to join! The second opportunity is in-person. Julie and I are excited to be coming to the US at the end of July to attend the wedding of our niece in Holland, Michigan. We will be in the US with family from July 28 until August 18, with a visit to family in Pennsylvania and a camping trip up north interspersed. Those of you in Grand Rapids or West Michigan are invited to join us on the evening of Tuesday August 16, from 6-9pm, in the backyard of Tim and Dawn Hendriksen – 2243 Jefferson Dr SE 49507, near Garfield Park. We would love to see as many of you as possible during that time. (RSVP here) One of the difficulties of our incredible support network is its breadth. It’s a wonderful problem to have, but it does weigh on us how hard it is to communicate directly with the many of you who have been so faithful with monthly, quarterly, and annual gifts. Thank you! We hope to see you while we are in Michigan. In the peace of Christ, Jeff and Julie Bouman

A visit in Budapest with David Kromminga and Mary Buteyn, dear friends from Berlin.

A newly commissioned Budapest mural of a Ukrainian mother with her children coming across the border into Hungary.

On a recent train trip to Lake Balaton, we passed fields and fields with millions of these glorious sunflowers.