May 2025 Ascension Day - Boumans by the Danube

Boumans by the Danube, May 2025 – Feast of the Ascension

Dear Friends,

 

Today is Ascension Day in the Christian calendar, and like the disciples on that day so long ago, I too find myself wondering about the mystery that unfolded in this strange event. Jesus blessed his friends, and then left them, and he promised that (at some point soon) they will be clothed with power from on high. And while the disciples were looking up after Jesus, two bright creatures tell them that Jesus will return the same way he left. We are still living in that waiting time, rightly wondering about the timing of the completion of the promise Jesus made. 

 

As we wait, we worship, pray, work, wonder, and rest. Our wonder, and our work here in Budapest and throughout Europe continues to energize us and occupy our time. Today’s note will cover a brief set of talking points related to recent events, and then for those of you eager for a longer-form narrative, below is where I’ll provide more detail.

 

·      Julie continues enjoying her work as the Intake Coordinator at Olive Tree Counseling Center

·      We welcomed twenty or so guests for Easter to our place for a potluck brunch.

·      The highlight of the subsequent season of Eastertide has been an extended celebration of my 60^th birthday, on May 19.

·      The first week of June will once again bring the Cohort Europe participants to Budapest once again for our closing time of reflection and farewells.

·      Julie and I anticipate a year of a few changes, some transitions, and probably slightly more travel than has been usual.

·      Our Young Adult Fellowship has continued to meet on Thursdays every week this year. In recent weeks we have been watching films together, both for entertainment, but also for meaningful discussion.

·      Some news about the coming end to the fiscal year.

As we approach the end of another fiscal year at the end of June, we remain grateful for the many faithful monthly, quarterly, and annual partners who donate on such a regular basis; as well as to those who give once in a while, and to those who pray faithfully and those who keep in touch with us through notes and visits. We would ask that you consider a generous year-end gift if you are able, to help us meet our annual goal. Our current shortfall for the remaining four weeks is about $20,000. And as always, if you have ideas for congregations who are interested in supporting our ministry, please point them our way. 

 

From Fr. Henri Nouwen, on the spirituality of fundraising, a reminder of our posture toward partnership:

 

‘We have a vision that is amazing and exciting. We are inviting you to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you—your energy, your prayers, and your money—in this work to which God has called us.’ Our invitation is clear and confident because we trust that our vision and mission are like ‘trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither’ (Ps. 1:3).” (The Spirituality of Fundraising, 2010)

 

Peace to you, friends,

 

Jeff and Julie Bouman

 

Julie continues enjoying her work as the Intake Coordinator at Olive Tree Counseling Center, going in to the office most days of the week, and managing the correspondence and the placement process for clients coming to Budapest for care and counseling. Her daily routine is vastly different from previously, and she has had to give up some of the volunteering she was doing in a Hungarian high school. Overall, though, the Olive Tree staff community has been a welcome new source of encouragement and social engagement for both of us. 

 

We welcomed twenty or so guests for Easter to our place for a potluck brunch. On Holy Saturday we spent a few hours at the Fine Arts museum here in Budapest, mostly taking in the work of Mihály Munkácsy, one of Hungary’s most famous painters. Many of his most famous works are large-scale paintings of Biblical scenes, most famous among them scenes of the trial and crucifixion of Christ. Seeing these well-known works helped keep us in pre-resurrection grief mystery on that last day of Lent. And then right on time, Easter arrived on Sunday, and we were able to celebrate the mystery and wonder of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

 

The highlight of the subsequent season of Eastertide has been an extended celebration of my 60^th birthday. Julie pulled a rare set of surprises on me, beginning with the surprise arrival of Bastian on May 8, and followed by a big celebratory birthday brunch on May 10, more than a week before my actual birthday. It was very fun to have people over for a blended American/Hungarian sampling of breakfast foods; and also to watch the video that had been put together with cameos from many of you who had sent in birthday greetings by video. Thank you. The actual birthday was also special, celebrated with our regular birthday club, friends Daniel and Elise, a Dutch-Hungarian couple we are very close to and with whom we typically celebrate birthdays with a shared breakfast. Being sixty has so far been uneventful – I am grateful for health, and for beloved friends all over the world. 

 

The first week of June will once again bring the Cohort Europe participants to Budapest once again for our closing time of reflection and farewells. It is hard to believe that another entire ministry year has already passed since these six remarkable individuals met for the first time in August last year. Since then we thank God for the opportunities for ministry and learning for Kevin, Anastasiya, and Alisha in Berlin; for Hanis and Rebekah in Budapest; and for Caroline in Klaipeda. Please join us in praying for a meaningful time of thoughtful and grateful closure to this year. At this point, we are still working on filling out our third Cohort Europe team – so far we have two participants, and there are others we are still finalizing – stay tuned for an update before the end of June on how this team takes shape. 

 

Julie and I anticipate a year of a few changes, some transitions, and probably slightly more travel than has been usual. The reasons for this are complex and many. Many of you already know that the denomination to which we have belonged since we got married thirty-six years ago (and Jeff his whole life) is experiencing some division. Our sending congregation, and where we are long-time members, Neland Avenue Church, recently completed a long process of disaffiliation from the CRC, and this means that we are no longer members of the denomination for which I am employed with Resonate. For the time being, my employment is not in jeopardy, but the landscape for this in future remains under review, and depends in part on the decisions made by future synods of this denomination. So we are grateful for each of you who continue to support us financially through gifts to Resonate, and we remain grateful to Resonate for their administrative support for our ministry as well. A second upcoming complication has to do with our residency in Hungary. The bi-lateral international trade agreement between the US and Hungary allows us to be here as foreigners not paid by a Hungarian employer for a period of five years. After this period ends (for us in March 2026), we have a choice – to either begin paying into the Hungarian retirement system, or to leave the country for a period of six months, in order to restart another five-year period. Sometime in November or December we will be leaving, and will not be able to return until May or June. Much of our time outside the country will likely be spent in West Michigan, and a portion will probably be spent in places where Cohort Europe partnerships exist in order to strengthen those partnerships. More on the details of this in future letters, but in the meanwhile please pray for clarity and for places to land in order to recharge, communicate well, and continue our ministry from a distance. 

 

Our Young Adult Fellowship has continued to meet on Thursdays every week this year. In recent weeks we have been watching films together, both for entertainment, but also for meaningful discussion. We have watched Sister Act (1992); Hacksaw Ridge (2016); and Babette’s Feast (1987). We have also been able to have three meetings in the lounge at a relatively newly built residence hall, which has been a pleasant change of venue for us. Other themes have included: “how to think about the resurrection of the body?” What does meaningful service look like? and a game called the “thirty-circle challenge.” 

 

Finally, I also had the chance last week to attend two very interesting lunch gatherings. The first was to host a lunch bringing together a former student from Calvin who is now a professor at Western Seminary – Travis West: with a young pastor from one of the more prominent Reformed Church pulpits in Budapest; and Hanis Kakaba, one of the two Cohort Europe volunteers this year, from Nigeria. We had a very rich discussion about post-Christian Hungary, church planting and evangelism – as well as some time comparing seminary training in the US and Hungary. And I was also happy to reunite with the Iranian couple that were baptized at St. Columba’s last October. They have recently moved to Vienna, Austria for a work opportunity, but they returned over a recent weekend, in part because while they have found a new church in Vienna, they still consider St. Columba’s their church “home.”

 

As we approach the end of another fiscal year at the end of June, we remain grateful for the many faithful monthly, quarterly, and annual partners who donate on such a regular basis; as well as to those who give once in a while, and to those who pray faithfully and those who keep in touch with us through notes and visits. We would ask that you consider a generous year-end gift if you are able, to help us meet our annual goal. Our current shortfall for the remaining four weeks is about $20,000. And as always, if you have ideas for congregations who are interested in supporting our ministry, please point them our way. 

 

From Fr. Henri Nouwen, on the spirituality of fundraising, a reminder of our approach

 

‘We have a vision that is amazing and exciting. We are inviting you to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you—your energy, your prayers, and your money—in this work to which God has called us.’ Our invitation is clear and confident because we trust that our vision and mission are like ‘trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither’ (Ps. 1:3).” (The Spirituality of Fundraising, 2010)

 

If you have been pondering a one-time or a monthly financial gift, we would welcome your partnership, and if your church is looking to add a ministry in Europe to those you support, we would welcome a few more churches as partners as well. Details for supporting us can be found on our Resonate webpage here. After you tap the yellow “donate” button, you will be asked if you would like to donate in USD or Canadian, and then you will land on a page where you choose an amount, and then on the drop-down menu below you will choose “Missionaries-Europe,” and below that a drop-down menu will be a list of names, and you select Jeff and Julie Bouman. Below that are instructions for entering payment information. 

 

Photos:

Bastian and Julie at a favorite café near the river.

With Bastian on the balcony outside our apartment.

 

With Bastian in front of Parliament.

With Bastian across the river from Parliament.

Another one in front of Parliament.

Bastian getting the tour of Olive Tree’s offices from Julie.

 

Our “birthday breakfast club” on Jeff’s birthday.

 

The big 6-0.

 

We caught this giraffe posing with the Budapest hot air balloon in the background. 

Easter 2025 Boumans by the Danube

Dear friends,

As Easter approaches, I (we) want to share some timely and insightful reflections on the celebration of Palm Sunday, as we make our way through the sixth week of Lent, Holy Week. It is all too easy to sidestep Palm Sunday’s incredible political significance, so I will share below the insights from my college friend, Rev. James Van Tholen, a Christian Reformed minister who died too young in 2001at age 36 of an aggressive cancer. Jim’s incisive sermons on the liturgical year have been collected in a published volume entitled, “Where All Hope Lies: Sermons for the Liturgical Year,” (Eerdman’s, 2003) and I have been doing my best to read them each Sunday over the past couple of years. We did not know each other well, but we did know each other at Calvin, and I resonate deeply with Jim’s depth of perspective - his references to Frederick Buechner, to Stanley Hauerwas, and his call to radical discipleship in the face of struggle and hardship. Jim’s reference to Palm Sunday as a “Junior Easter celebration” struck me as particularly insightful this week. Below are some quotes from his Palm Sunday sermon in that volume.
 
Where All Hope Lies: Sermons for the Liturgical Year, James R. Van Tholen
 
Excerpts from “Palm Sunday: An Alien King”
 
“How fitting that our Messiah should be welcomed into Jerusalem in a first-century version of a ticker-tape parade. But of course that’s the problem, because it doesn’t fit. It doesn’t really fit at all. Because this is Lent we’re in. For five weeks we’ve reflected upon the fact that we are a journeying people following in the footsteps of a suffering Savior. We’ve watched from a distance as he set his face to go to Jerusalem, and we know that he was setting his face not to go to a parade of palms but to go to a cross. All along we’ve known that the cross is where he’s been headed. And, now here we are on the brink of beginning Holy Week, at the entrance into Jerusalem, just a few days before the agony of being betrayed and tried and whipped and mocked and killed, and what do we find? We find a coronation. We find a royal welcome for the man who has come to the capital city to suffer many things. It doesn’t fit because the king has come to die in Jerusalem, not reign there. It doesn’t fit because the journey to suffering is still going on; his face is still set. It doesn’t fit because the next time he is labeled king of the Jews it’ll be part of some joke hanging over his bloody head. Maybe these Palm Sunday disciples caught onto anything. “Hosanna in the highest!” It just doesn’t fit. And so the timing here makes us a bit uncomfortable, doesn’t it? It’s a little strange singing, “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna” when we remember that it’s a tomb, not a palace, in which he’ll spend the weekend. There’s something wrong with making Palm Sunday a junior Easter celebration, honoring Christ the king, when we know that this coronation will be completed with a crown of thorns…” …
 
“That’s the mystery of Palm Sunday, not how it doesn’t fit into Holy Week, but how well it does. The mystery is that the king of glory could enter the city of his people to be put to death there. The mystery is that the same ones who yelled so loudly, “Hosanna!” could a few days later yell more loudly “Crucify him!” and not realize that they were yelling the same thing. Filled with love for his people, he was willing to die in their place. He was so moved by the human cry, “Hosanna – save us!” that he refused to ‘come down from the cross and save’ himself. That’s the kind of king he is – like no other, belonging to a different world, raising up a different kind of people.”…
 
“So we praise this king with “Hosanna!” and “All glory!” but, when we do, we do it as he receives it – looking straight at the cross and knowing that that changes everything The cross is a sign of what happens when you take God’s account of reality more seriously than Caesar’s. When you refuse to underwrite the status quo, and instead proclaim, “Jesus is Lord!” then you believe that to find your life you must lose it. We are a community of the cross, strangers in a world that thinks only suckers end up on crosses. And being marked by a cross has a lot to do with dying, dying to the ways of the world, dying to other kingdoms, dying to accomplishment and success and status. But when Jesus Christ is your king, you don’t stay dead for very long.”
 
“Blessed is the strange king who comes in the name of the Lord. And blessed are all those who belong to him.”
 
Blessed is the strange king, Jesus, indeed.
 
Julie and I wish each of you a blessed, and challenging Holy Week, Easter, and Eastertide. The world is as challenging now as it was for first century Israelites – oppression, violence, and confusion. I pray that we all have the courage to follow the voices of the prophets who call us to provide for the aliens, the strangers, the widows and orphans, and all those on the margins of society. The courage to wash one another's feet, and to stand up in the face of danger and claim our identity as friends of Jesus.
 
On Sunday we will welcome friends from our local Budapest community who are also far from home, and after our Easter potluck brunch, we will read, as is our custom, Walter Wangerin’s short story “Lily” from the book Ragman: and Other Cries of Faith. If you can find it, I highly recommend it to you. It is a story of “again,” of a faith that reminds us that even in times of death and sorrow, there is hope, and God is near.
 
Recent news from us includes Julie’s very positive beginning of her work as Intake Coordinator for the Counseling Center where she now works. Her colleagues are providing on-going, in-depth, intensive therapy for missionaries and global workers, and Julie is often a first contact for people as they make their way to Budapest for care and counseling. We are very grateful for this opportunity to serve.

And in early April Jeff had the privilege to spend a few days with the Cohort Europe team in Lithuania as we learned from Resonate colleagues and others about the creative and expansive vision of LCC International University in Klaipeda. 
 
Peace to you, friends, as you make your way to the cross, and as you take in the enormity of the reality of the resurrection.
 
In eternal hope,
 
Jeff and Julie
 
PS In case there is anyone out there who fits the description of a “young adult” who might be interested in ministry in Europe next year, I am happy to report that our applications for Cohort Europe are still open until the end of the month. Join young adults from Eastern Europe and North America in a meaningful opportunity to serve the people of God in Europe next year. If you are interested, please send a direct email and I can connect you to the application process.
 
PS2. If you have been pondering a one-time or a monthly financial gift, we would very much welcome your partnership, and if your church is looking to add a ministry in Europe to those you support, we would welcome a few more churches as partners as well. Details for supporting us can be found on our Resonate webpage here. After you tap the yellow “donate” button, you will be asked if you would like to donate in USD or Canadian, and then you will land on a page where you choose an amount, and then on the drop-down menu below you will choose “Missionaries-Europe,” and below that a drop-down menu will be a list of names, and you select Jeff and Julie Bouman. Below that are instructions for entering payment information. Please consider joining us in partnership!

March 2025 Boumans by the Danube

Dear friends,

Today is a banner day for us, with Julie out the door bright and early to start a new intensive volunteer position as the Intake Coordinator with Olive Tree Counseling Center. Olive Tree serves global and cross-cultural workers with intensive counseling services designed to help them experience God’s transformation, wholeness, and peace. Julie will work alongside a talented staff of counselors and therapists, helping with communication and placement of clients in the process. We are grateful for the arrival of Olive Tree to Budapest over the past year, as they recently moved their operation from Antalya, Turkey to Budapest.

In other news, we are mid-semester with our international young adult fellowship, a group that regularly includes prayer requests from Syria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Pakistan, and other places where families of our participants live. We pray for peace, for opportunities, for flourishing. I am also once again teaching my class on the American Civil Rights movement, and the influences of poetry, music, and activism in the Black church on the drive for justice – there are nine Hungarian students and one student from Syria.
 
In February I had the opportunity to join parts of my extended Michigan family for a wedding of my niece Annika in Phoenix – it was a wonderful time of family celebration, and it was really good to see siblings and nieces and a nephew, and especially my mom. My mom has remained independent, living alone and continuing to drive herself around. Last week she suffered a left-brain stroke event, and received excellent care, including now spending time at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation hospital in order to try to recover some speech, and movements that were compromised. Overall we are all very grateful for the excellent care she has received.
 
Julie’s mom continues to recover from her stroke now over a year ago, and she recently moved as well, into a skilled care unit in the complex where she lives in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Most days find Julie on video calls with either her sister, her mom, or both. Prayers for both of our moms are appreciated, as well as wisdom for us as we navigate this season far away from loved ones.
 
In early March our Resonate Europe team (about 35 people) met together for our annual spiritual retreat, in a retreat center near Rome. Julie and I were able to go a few days early to do some visiting in Rome proper, visiting the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Forum, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum – it’s an awe-inspiring city, and we barely scratched the surface of it, but wow, truly amazing. The retreat was the result of a year of hard work for a small committee which I had the privilege to chair, so it was nice to finally see it all come together – we had organized talks, member care listening sessions, game nights, delicious food, and time for small group discussion and solo silence, all on the edge of a lake in the Roman hills outside the city. It was also an opportunity for the current participants in the Cohort Europe program to be with each other, and to spend informal time with seasoned missionaries serving in other parts of Europe. And next week already will be our Cohort Europe Intensive visit to LCC International University in Lithuania, to learn about another cultural approach to ministry in a different part of Europe. We are still accepting applications for the 2025-26 Cohort Europe program if you know any young adults who might be interested! 

As the world continues to turn, and division seems to multiply, we find ourselves at a loss; grateful for the grounding rhythms of the Lenten liturgies, and the example of Jesus. But we also turn regularly to the artists – to poets and musicians for solace, for understanding, for wisdom. Julie introduced me to this song a few days ago, and it struck a chord deep down in both of us – Citizens, by Jon Guerra, an artist not previously known to me, except as someone occasionally featured on the devotional app we use for morning prayers, Pray-As-You-Go.  Written for an American Christian audience, it has valence here in Hungary as well. It begins with, “I have a heart full of questions, Quieting all my suggestions, What is the meaning of Christian, In this American life?... and concludes with, “Is there a way to love always? Living in enemy hallways - Don’t know my foes from my friends and Don’t know my friends anymore. Power has several prizes - Handcuffs can come in all sizes - Love has a million disguises - But winning is simply not one.

In the hope of Easter, and resurrection,

Jeff and Julie

PS. If you have been pondering a one-time or a monthly financial gift, we would very much welcome your partnership, and if your church is looking to add a ministry in Europe to those you support, we would welcome a few more churches as partners as well. Details for supporting us can be found on our Resonate webpage here. After you tap the yellow “donate” button, you will be asked if you would like to donate in USD or Canadian, and then you will land on a page where you choose an amount, and then on the drop-down menu below you will choose “Missionaries-Europe,” and below that a drop-down menu will be a list of names, and you select Jeff and Julie Bouman. Below that are instructions for entering payment information. Please consider joining us in partnership!

January 2025 Boumans by the Danube

Dear friends,

I was struck today by a line from a favorite book of blessings and reflections:

“From the evidence – why was I given this day?”
 
 The Irish poet John O’Donohue’s book of blessings (To Bless the Space Between Us, 2008) is full of deep wisdom, and this question, asking me to reflect on why I was given this day, comes as the final line in a blessing called, “At the end of the day: A mirror of questions.” (See below for full blessing.)
 
I think the reason this line probably caught my attention is the way it caused me to stop, and to ponder the wonder of life. The many opportunities, but also the many ways we take those opportunities for granted, we operate on auto-pilot, and we so often fail to live in mindfulness and gratitude for the gift that each day is.
 
With that in mind, we are privileged to report that in December as the fiscal year reached its halfway point, we reached fifty percent of our support-raising goal. December was our strongest month financially since we began with Resonate four years ago, and that timing for us was sincerely a blessing. We already sometimes struggle with the deep darkness, the short days, and the general busy-ness of December. And this year was an unusually strange December in that the day after Christmas Julie left Budapest to fly to Pennsylvania to spend two weeks there with her mom, and her sister’s family. Which meant that our little family of four was in four different places over much of the holiday season, and our family celebration consisted of a three-hour FaceTime call from those four locations. Sad and happy at the same time. And in addition to the financial support that came in during December, we were also reminded in many ways (cards, texts, some FaceTime and Zoom conversations, etc…), that our support network is among the very best. Thank you, friends, for the reminders of your prayers, your love, and your friendship.
 
Julie has now been back in Budapest for over three weeks, and she is busy with a variety of things, some new, some on-going. The Selah Women’s prayer group that meets monthly has restarted, and their January topic was “centering prayer.” She reports a healthy and meaningful time of fellowship, sharing, and time with God as part of these monthly gatherings.
 
Julie is also requesting your prayers as she has been presented with a significant potential opportunity with a ministry that is just moving to Budapest. We will have more information in a future letter, but for now please pray for clarity and discernment for us as she considers taking on a substantially larger role with this organization as a volunteer.
 
Our International Young Adult Fellowship has also restarted, and in many ways did not break for the holidays – some of our members gathered with us at our place on Christmas Eve for a potluck; and another group joined me for a New Year’s Eve celebration… Our other group leader, and the founder of the group, Rev. Szabina Pena-Sztojka, gave birth to a baby girl last week, so we are celebrating our group’s youngest member! International students from other parts of Europe often come to Budapest for a study abroad semester, so we anticipate meeting some of these over the next few weeks as they show up at church having searched on-line for “English speaking church in Budapest.” Just this past Sunday I had one of the most eye-opening, and slightly humorous conversations I’ve ever had with one such person, a young man from Italy. He approached me in the narthex of the church and was clearly unsure of how things worked, and so I approached him and welcomed him. He asked me, hesitantly, if it was ok for him to come in and join worship even if he hadn’t made a reservation in advance? He went on to tell me it was the very first time he had been in a church, and he wasn’t sure how things worked. It took me a minute, but I assured him he was welcome, and I found someone who comes regularly to sit with him and help with the unfamiliar parts of a church service for a newcomer. This was a somewhat extreme example, but it is not unusual at all to meet visitors every single week in our church who are way outside their comfort zone. And we believe that God has brought them – in fact, the way the Hungarian language works when you say “you are welcome, here” (Isten hozott) you are literally saying, “God has brought you.”
 
As I prepare to begin teaching my course once again in the spring term on the American Civil Rights movement, I am reading the newly published biography of civil rights icon, John Lewis. (John Lewis: A Life, by David Greenberg, 2024). Lewis’s life stands as a profound testament of faith, and courage in the face of injustice, which I am finding inspiring in this moment in time. So much remains to be done to move governments, and other elements of civil society more in line with the Biblical call to justice. In our ministry context, we are regularly faced with the realities faced in Syria, Ukraine, Russia, Lebanon, Gaza, Nigeria, and other places living with deep injustices, many challenges to flourishing, and also courageous Christians calling us to join them in the struggles everywhere. We are, of course, paying close attention as well to the developments in the United States, and grieving many of the ways that it seems that the most vulnerable are becoming even more vulnerable. We pray, and we work, for peace, with justice.
 
Finally, the Cohort Europe volunteers in Berlin, Klaipeda, and Budapest continue in their learning and ministries. We will see each other again in March, so for the time being we resort to Zoom check-ins and a WhatsApp group for communication. I would love your help also as we begin the process of recruiting for another season of Cohort Europe. We will have an informational meeting on Sunday, February 16 at 3pm EST. If you know a young adult who might be interested in a year of ministry, learning, and Christian community, please point them to me, or to the Resonate website where they can fill out a contact form to receive more information. Thanks in advance – this year’s current group were almost all initially made aware of the program through someone who read a letter like this one – we need your partnership on this – spread the word!
 
Please also let us know how you are doing, and may the following blessing make you think, and shape your day today.
 
Peace,
 
Jeff and Julie Bouman
 
“At the end of the day: A mirror of questions.”
John O’Donohue

What dreams did I create last night?
Where did my eyes linger today?
Where was I blind?
Where was I hurt without anyone noticing?
What did I learn today?
What did I read?
What new thoughts visited me?
What differences did I notice in those closest to me?
Whom did I neglect?
Where did I neglect myself?
What did I begin today that might endure?
How were my conversations?
What did I do today for the poor and the excluded?
Did I remember the dead today?
Where could I have exposed myself to the risk of something different?
Where did I allow myself to receive love?
With whom today did I feel most myself?
What reached me today? How deep did it imprint?
Who saw me today?
What visitations had I from the past and from the future?
What did I avoid today?
From the evidence – why was I given this day?
 
PS. If you have been pondering a one-time or a monthly financial gift, we would very much welcome your partnership, and if your church is looking to add a ministry in Europe to those you support, we would welcome a few more churches as partners as well. Details for supporting us can be found on our Resonate webpage here. After you tap the yellow “donate” button, you will be asked if you would like to donate in USD or Canadian, and then you will land on a page where you choose an amount, and then on the drop-down menu below you will choose “Missionaries-Europe,” and below that a drop-down menu will be a list of names, and you select Jeff and Julie Bouman. Below that are instructions for entering payment information. Please consider joining us in partnership!

Christmas 2024 Boumans by the Danube

Merry Christmas, friends!

Békés, boldog karácsonyt, kívánunk!
 
We are in Budapest for Christmas this year, and Julie will fly to Pennsylvania for a two-week visit on December 26. Bea is in Ohio with Moss’s family, and Bastian will celebrate with the Michigan family, then fly to spend time in PA with Julie and our Pennsylvania family.
 
Tonight we will welcome and celebrate with guests from Hungary, Angola, Nigeria, Tanzania, Syria, Russia, the US and maybe other places with a shared feast before our late evening Christmas Eve service at church.
 
As we look to the season of Christmas after a season of waiting in darkness, we are mindful that many will still be waiting, even tomorrow, for peace, for stability, for home, and for reasons to celebrate. We, and you, hold the Light for them.
 
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you;
May he guide you through the wilderness; protect you through the storm;
May he bring you home rejoicing, at the wonders he has shown you;
May he bring you home rejoicing, once again into our doors.
 
As ever, we are grateful to you, our care and support team, for your prayers, your financial support, and your friendship.
 
Joy to the World,
 
Jeff and Julie Bouman

December 2024 Boumans by the Danube

Boumans by the Danube

December 2024 prayer letter

Dear friends,
This past week we hosted our weekly Young Adult International Fellowship, as usual on Thursday evening, and we found ourselves discussing the meaning of Advent. It’s one of the more difficult seasons of the Christian year to fully uphold, we found, as it exists inside a cultural framework that always rushes to Christmas. The whole point of Advent, properly observed, is to hold off on celebrating Christmas, to fast and pray and sit in darkness waiting for the coming of the Light. And we humans have a very hard time with waiting. So we “cheat” on Advent with early decorating, early hanging of the lights, early baking and early Christmas parties. It would be impossible to actually wait for all of these things, so maybe it isn’t exactly cheating, but at the very least it complicates the season dedicated to waiting, hoping, longing, and watching.

We are in this waiting time alongside many of you. The days here in Budapest are very very short, with darkness fully settled in outside between 4-4:30 in the afternoon. Our fellowship here includes people directly affected by the war in Ukraine, by the conflict in Syria, by violence in Nigeria, and by other live conflicts. Part of our darkness is acknowledging the deep brokenness of the world, and our inability to fix it. We sit in darkness alongside those who suffer. Below are just a few short windows into our recent work; contributions in our local church; contributions at the university; and another Cohort Europe intensive weekend.

Witnessing God’s Word at work in Sunday School (Julie) 
Because I am a woman who has a teaching degree and much experience working with children, especially in the context of the church, it will not surprise you that here in Budapest I also find myself serving as a Sunday School teacher. If you yourself have any experience teaching Sunday School, I am guessing you will also not be surprised if I say that this is not always a service that I look forward to! I enjoy interacting with the children and getting to know them. But preparing to teach Sunday School always seems to take more time than I really want to give it, and I sometimes wonder what good really comes of it. 

At St. Columba’s Scottish Mission we use a Sunday School curriculum that is based on the Common Lectionary. In theory at least, this means that our Sunday School lessons focus on the same scripture that is the focus of the worship service. What this meant last week was that I was preparing a Sunday School lesson on Luke 21:25-36, part of a passage titled “The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times” in the NIV. Fun stuff for sharing with children, no? The curriculum guide was fairly helpful, but I was still trying to find my own way to make this passage seem hopeful and not scary. No doubt it was God’s Spirit that reminded me that the world is already a scary place for children, just as it is for us adults. So the things that are scary to us and to them can be signs of hope when the Bible tells us that these things mean that our redemption is near. After hearing the Bible passage, we crouched down and thought of things we are afraid of, and had time to tell them to Jesus. Then we stood up with our heads held high, like superheroes, as we remembered Jesus’ promise to return, part of our Advent hope. We also made paper ornaments shaped like anchors to remind us that Jesus is our anchor in the scary times and holds us fast. 

I felt fine about how Sunday School went, and very thankful for my friend Dia who did the hard lifting in Hungarian, but mostly I was glad that it was over. The next day in our Sunday School teachers’ group chat I was somewhat amazed to read this message from one of the other teachers: 
   "Thanks for the Sunday session! V. [her stepson] went to school this morning with an anchor around his neck, like a superhero who can always count on Jesus to help him. And he showed his friends what it's all about! The message got through!"

God’s Word is at work, even when I don’t feel it, when I’m not sure sharing it makes a difference. “…so is my word that goes out from mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55. 11
 
Witnessing God at work in the University (Jeff)
This week will mark the completion of four consecutive semesters teaching an elective course in American History to undergraduate English majors at Károli Gáspar University. There are 18 Hungarian students enrolled, and their final essays on the leaders and heroes of the American Civil Rights movement are coming in over the next few days. One that has already come in and been graded had the following encouraging conclusion:

“I think it is pretty clear that I have become a major fan of Aretha Franklin. I am so grateful for this course as I got to “meet” with so many amazing activists, singers, performers, spiritual leaders and advocates. At the end of everyone’s presentation you asked us “Hope or despair.” I would like to answer for myself as well as I did for Aretha. Just like Aretha, I am hopeful. Although I have never really experienced racism first hand, because of this course I am now so much more educated about many topics regarding Civil Rights and social justices. Many of the topics made me so sad, as I realized that many people are filled with so much hatred and resentment towards each other, based on very small things like the color of your skin. I think of myself as a deeply spiritual person, and this course made me feel even more spiritual and connected with myself. I learned about different world views, aspects, teaching, but it all had the same conclusion, we need to love and respect each other. I wish that every single person who is filled with hatred towards people could just sit into one of your classes and educate themselves! I am hopeful that someday more people will realize that love and respect is the most important. Thank you so much for this amazing course!”

Witnessing God at Work in and through Cohort Europe in Berlin, Germany
From November 28-December 1, the six young adult volunteers in Cohort Europe met for our second weekend intensive of the year, visiting our participants in Berlin to see how they are engaged in learning, ministry, and cross-cultural growth. We had an amazing set of tours around Berlin, a highlight of which was a behind-the-scenes of the Reichstag, the complex of buildings that houses the German federal government. We also gave significant time to our observations of the way Germany has chosen to publicly remember its complicated history, including its place in both world wars, as well as the four decades of division into East and West Germany after World War II concluded, followed later by reunification. And we participated in the very successful “Language Café” that provides welcoming space for new arrivals, immigrants, refugees, and others who are learning the language. I sat at a table with three women who are currently displaced from Ukraine, and one gentleman from Turkey. Their enthusiasm for learning was amazing, and I came away able to say in flawless baby German, “I have one wife, one son, and one daughter.” Not bad for only one hour of conversation. And on Sunday we celebrated the beginning of Advent worshiping with the “Welcoming Church,” a recently planted church where our colleagues David Kromminga and Mary Buteyn spend most of their time; as well as the main volunteer partner for our three (Berlin) Cohort Europe volunteers this year. It was a reminder that hospitality and kindness are tried and tested ministry strategies, and “welcome” might be one of the most important concepts in ministry.

Julie and I will remain in Hungary for the Christmas holiday, and we plan to welcome many of our international young adults who cannot go home to family into our home for a celebration of Christ’s birth. But meanwhile, we wait in darkness, with longing, and in deep hope for the world.

Peace to you this season of waiting and hope.

Jeff and Julie Bouman

PS. If you have been pondering a one-time or a monthly financial gift, we would very much welcome your partnership, and if your church is looking to add a ministry in Europe to those you support, we would welcome a few more churches as partners as well. Details for supporting us can be found on our Resonate webpage here. After you tap the yellow “donate” button, you will be asked if you would like to donate in USD or Canadian, and then you will land on a page where you choose an amount, and then on the drop-down menu below you will choose “Missionaries-Europe,” and below that a drop-down menu will be a list of names, and you select Jeff and Julie Bouman. Below that are instructions for entering payment information. Please consider joining us in partnership!

October 2024 Boumans by the Danube

 Dear friends,

It’s been almost three months since we returned to Hungary after an extended visit to Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ontario last summer. On the day I arrived back, I received a message from our pastor here, asking if I might have time to meet with a young Iranian couple that had reached out to the church email address asking for information about Christianity. I said yes, and we met at a local café to see how I could help in their quest. “Can you tell us who Jesus is, according to the Bible?” they asked me. I did my best to introduce them to Jesus - we had a wonderful two-hour conversation about the Bible, and Jesus, the Trinity, and about how they had been feeling prompted to learn more about Christianity during the two years they have spent in Hungary as students. Both come from Muslim backgrounds, though their families have quite different types of commitments to Islam – one of their families is mostly secular Muslim, and the other more practicing Muslim. Since this meeting, they have come to church, identified as Christians, and found Persian-speaking Christian communities on-line to help in their growth as believers. Last Sunday they were baptized in our church here in Budapest, alongside another former Muslim who also came to Hungary to study. Because of a job opportunity, this couple is moving soon to a different European country, but we are grateful for this clear demonstration that the Holy Spirit is so often at work quietly in peoples’ hearts. We appreciate our on-going opportunities to serve and worship at St. Columba’s, which also included a very restful summer’s end retreat on Lake Balaton with the theme of Psalm 121.
 
Also in early August, we welcomed our six new Cohort Europe volunteers in Budapest for orientation to the Cohort program, and we spent a fruitful and meaningful week together learning about each other, our ministry contexts, and exploring Budapest. Since the departure of the Cohort members to Berlin and Klaipeda, here in Budapest Rebekah Shultes and Hanis Kakaba have begun volunteering with partners across the city in a variety of placements, ranging from refugee services, working with Roma children and families, and work with the St. Columba’s congregation. During a historic flood in mid-September, they had the opportunity to join our pastor for a day of sandbag filling at a nearby riverside village. During the first weekend of October, our Cohort group gathered once again and traveled together to Lupeni, Romania, for the first of our four weekend intensives. We focused on team-building, using an experiential learning model that has been very successful in helping build trust in a post-Communist, Romanian Orthodox society. Only in its second year, the Cohort program appears to be a successful method of introducing young adults to the possibilities of ministry in Europe.
 
I have also once again begun teaching, with three interesting university classes this fall. Primary once again is a course I am teaching for the third year, on the American Civil Rights movement, and how poetry, song, and film from the Black community wove through this movement for justice. There are 19 Hungarian students enrolled, many eager to learn more about these creative role models. I am also teaching a course with 11 Calvin College students – placing each of them in a service-learning practicum placement, and attempting to guide them in meaningful reflection on the cross-cultural learning that accompanies these experiences. Finally, I am assisting in a brand-new Master’s level course at Károli Gáspár University, on Spirituality and Society, in which we have 14 students learning about a broad overview of big ideas that affect modern society – everything from post-secularism, contemplative spirituality, artificial intelligence, race, and the ecological crisis. Also in September we began our weekly hosting of the international young adult fellowship on Thursday evenings. A few have moved away, and a few others are newly joining us, and this fall’s theme is “what does it mean to be human?”
 
We continue with our language learning, meeting three times weekly with our private teacher. Our comprehension is growing, and we each have a growing number of formal and informal opportunities to practice with language partners. On a more personal note, we have also enjoyed having our Resonate colleagues from Berlin, Mary Buteyn and David Kromminga, temporarily living nearby since we returned – it has been a delight to spend time together in various places around Budapest – an encouraging time of deepening friendship for which we are grateful. My brother Greg was able to spend several days visiting at the end of September – his first trip to Budapest, and we had a great time together. And in Pennsylvania, Julie is in daily contact with her mom, Joyce, and her sister to keep tabs on Joyce’s progress toward recovery from her stroke. This is a challenging time to be so far away from there for Julie. We also have been challenged by the unexpected passing of a young American acquaintance of ours here in Europe – he had an accident while hiking in the nearby Slovenian mountains – leaving behind a young wife and two very small children for whom Julie and I have enjoyed babysitting several times.
 
We are very mindful that the strong promises of Psalm 121, that God will not let our foot slip, and that God will keep us from all harm, are sometimes difficult to understand when real harm comes our way, or to others. We are mindful that the world is at war, in real military terms in places like Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, and Myanmar; but also in spiritual, political, emotional ways as well. This is a time of stress and worry in the world, and there is much to fear. And yet we hold on to promises, even when they are beyond our full understanding. We cling to hope. And we appreciate your encouragement now more than ever.
 
Thank you for all that you do to encourage us, to support us, and to stay in touch with us. If you have a moment, drop a line of update – we would love to hear from you, or know if there are any specific ways we can pray for you.
 
Peace to you,
 
Jeff and Julie

PS: Our year-end financial report showed that we raised 93% of our overall goal for the 2023-24 fiscal year, and we would love to see that go to 100% over the next year. If you have been pondering a one-time or a monthly financial gift, we would welcome your partnership, and if your church is looking to add a ministry in Europe to those you support, we would welcome a few more churches as partners as well. Details for supporting us can be found on our Resonate webpage here. After you tap the yellow “donate” button, you will be asked if you would like to donate in USD or Canadian, and then you will land on a page where you choose an amount, and then on the drop-down menu below you will choose “Missionaries-Europe,” and below that a drop-down menu will be a list of names, and you select Jeff and Julie Bouman. Below that are instructions for entering payment information.

 

Finally, one deeply meaningful part of our time together with the new Cohort group in August was the daily singing of a new-to-us worship song, “Jesus Strong and Kind” – we share the lyrics below in case they can be an encouragement to you:

 

Jesus Strong and Kind

Jesus said that if I thirst, I should come to him

No one else can satisfy, I should come to him

Jesus said if I am weak, I should come to him

No one else can be my strength, I should come to him

For the Lord is good and faithful, he will keep us day and night

We can always run to Jesus, Jesus strong and kind

Jesus said that if I fear, I should come to him

No one else can be my shield, I should come to him

Jesus said if I am lost, he will come to me

And he showed me on that cross, he will come to me

For the Lord is good and faithful, he will keep us day and night

We can always run to Jesus, Jesus strong and kind.