March 2023 Boumans by the Danube

March 2, 2023

Dear friends,

Today, March 2, 2023, marks the second anniversary of our arrival in Budapest. It’s hard to believe two years have gone by already, but here we are. We celebrate the ways you have supported us with phone calls, emails, texts, prayers, and visits. After more than 350 90-minute on-line lessons, we are still eagerly learning this most difficult language, Hungarian. And two years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine the ease with which we now have (still-rudimentary) conversations in Hungarian with our teacher, and other regular interactions in our daily lives. That’s not to say we don’t have a long way to go – we do, but we’ve improved exponentially.

I will try to keep this update short, but thorough.

We celebrated Christmas with our kids in Grand Rapids, and were very glad and grateful for a short visit with extended family and close Grand Rapids friends. We returned in time for the new year to arrive, and we’ve stayed active for the first two months of the year. The new year began with both of us being ordained as new elders and members of the Kirk Session (the Church of Scotland version of Council) on January 8 at our local church, St. Columba’s Scottish Mission. St. Columba’s is a very long-time outpost (since the 1840s) of the Church of Scotland in Budapest, and we have a thriving, very international congregation. The worship is in English.

January’s other highlight was a quick trip to Berlin for a weekend birthday celebration for our friend and colleague Mary Buteyn. It was a fun and meaningful visit. Two weeks later, as January turned to February, I (Jeff) was able to spend 2 days in western Ukraine visiting and encouraging Hungarian Reformed pastors and leaders in their time of intense trial. There were many amazing things to hear about and see, but one of the most poignant was the opportunity to meet with a grandmother, mother, and adult daughter with a small child, four generations of women from the city of Bakhmut, which is currently being destroyed and fiercely contested. The mother and daughter are both music teachers, and they shared that their home has been destroyed, and they have no idea where they will go next. The Reformed Church of Transcarpathia, in partnership with the Reformed Church in Hungary, is providing them with temporary shelter and provisions.  It was a huge blessing to visit, and a very challenging time of wondering how long this catastrophic war will last. 

Last week we met our Resonate Europe career team partners in Klaipeda, Lithuania at LCC International University. We were there to share with each other our field plans and projects, and to develop a 2023-24 budget plan together. Quite a bit of focus these first two months of 2023 have been spent working on giving the Europe Cohort program some structure for next year, and our time in Berlin and Klaipeda was very helpful toward that end. We will soon be unveiling a recruitment plan hoping to bring 6 young adults to volunteer in one of three locations, Klaipeda, Berlin, and Budapest. If you know interested young adults, please send them our way.

Our on-going work with the refugee ministry, the food bank, the university, and the international students are all moving forward, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. My highlight this week was meeting 13 \ students who registered for my newly-developed class “Film, Music, Poetry, and Social Change: American Civil Rights Artists, Prophets, and Truth-tellers.” My hope is that the class will introduce students to the many connections between the deep Christian faith and the artistic creativity of the activists and peace-makers of the 20^th century movement for justice and equality. We are off to a good start. I have also been continuing to work on a series of staff development trainings to build community, and to encourage overall well-being and trust for the staff and long-term volunteers at the refugee ministry where we work.

We have continued our work with international and Hungarian university students, meeting each Thursday evening for fellowship and support. We've gone bowling and indoor mini-golfing this year, and also begun a series of discussions of each members’ individual passion and calling in life. New joiners to the group have recently come from Syria, Pakistan, Palestine, and Nigeria.

We have one concrete request for your input if you’re willing to hit “reply” with some ideas. We would love to hear from you any suggestions for “table blessings” that you have found meaningful for your family. Prayers that you offer before or after a meal. We have several that we have collected in a small book over time, including some songs like “For health and strength and daily food…” And now we would love to expand our repertoire if we can, with your suggestions. Non-English blessings are also a welcome challenge if you have them, and these can be spoken or sung ideas. Thanks in advance! 

Please pray for the following:
* An end to violence and conflict in Ukraine, and also in Syria and other places of long-term struggle.
* For recovery efforts and for comfort for families in Turkey and Syria after the devastating earthquake.    
    Our weekly student fellowship group includes several international student members from Aleppo
     and Damascus, and they have been personally affected by the destruction.
* For Jeff’s mom – she had a knee replacement surgery on February 6^th, and is still struggling with an infection
    in the recovery process.
* For safety and refreshment in an upcoming Resonate retreat. We will meet with 30-40 of our Europe
   colleagues in Croatia from March 6-10 for spiritual refreshment and rest. Pray for safe travel, and for
   rest.
* Quite a few of our close friends around the US have recently lost dear parents, and we suffer these
   losses with them. Pray for the Spirit of God to be close in times of grief.
Thank you for reading, friends. We so appreciate your support. Our financial situation is stable, but we are currently below our goals for the year to date. A few of our monthly supporters have recently had to step back from their financial support, so we could use some new members of our team of monthly supporters. If you have the ability to support us financially on a monthly (or one-time) basis, we welcome you to consider doing so. You can find information here on giving to our Resonate account.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
Jeff and Julie
 

We don't take spring for granted, and in addition to this gorgeous daffodil blooming on our balcony, we are grateful for evidence that somewhere between 12 and 20 tulips will bloom in our planters as well. 

Mary had a significant birthday, and we were privileged to attend a most creative and communal birthday celebration in Berlin. 

We had our first-ever in-person Resonate Europe team meeting in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Here we all are on the gorgeous shores of the Baltic Sea.

Neon mini-golf with our students from Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Syria, Palestine, and more in January.

Julie's gift mug from the Ukrainian families who receive food on a weekly basis. May the war end soon, may peace prevail, and may their be glorious homecomings.