On a Jet Plane....

I'm in the process of tossing the last things in my two large suitcases, and giving my cats their last hugs for 5 weeks. I'm heading to the U.S. where I will meet with family and friends and meet lots of new people as well, I'm sure. Leaving is always difficult for me...doesn't matter where I'm leaving from or where I'm going to, I simply don't like the leaving part. Both my cats have their backs turned to me as I'm typing this...their silent protest as I get ready to head out the door.
I DO have something HUGE to look forward to upon my return to Hungary...last night, one of my seniors...well, she's now a graduate...asked if we could sit down and have a LONG discussion about religion and faith! It all started when this group of students at their end of the year banquet asked me how I stay so young looking. I made my typical jokes, but then said, "Let me tell you the REAL reason: it's God in me who is changing me day by day!" Magdi is my student's name, and she immediately jumped on that which led to her request; so I promised her that when I get back, I'll call her and we'll sit down over chocolate chip cookies, and talk about religion and faith and God! She is sooooooooooo excited, and she has NO idea how excited I am too!!!

Banquets

One of the most wonderful traditions here in Hungary is the end of the year banquet for each senior class following their oral final exams. My 12a bilingual class, whom I taught for 4 years, finished their exams today, and their banquet was tonight at a local restaurant. Teachers are invited, and it is a great time to hang out with the students as well as colleagues and enjoy good food and conversation.
One of my most challenging boys approached me about 2 hours into the evening and hesitatingly began to speak with me. He wanted to say "thank you"...but for him, this was really challenging, because he knows he was extremely challenging all four years for me. He paid me one of the highest compliments I've ever received in 17 years of teaching. "Miss Campbell, you were the most patient teacher I've ever had, and I want to thank you for being patient with me." I could only thank the Lord for the patience I obviously showed him because his behavior would have reaped the "wrath" of many a teacher, and I know there were days when I was extremely impatient with this young man. I'm not kidding when I say he probably did about 10% of his homework for me over 4 years...and every time, I reprimanded him. But, somehow, through it all, he saw patience. Wow. That has to be God!
While I'm really looking forward to the next two banquets next week, this one will forever be etched in my memory because of this conversation with this young man.

Anger

I met an angry kid this week. He's pretty much judged everyone in his life as well as nations and cultures. He's pretty much miserable. We had a couple of great talks...it broke my heart to see the blame, accusations, and judgement pouring from his lips and heart. What made me even more sad was that he doesn't want to change...well, he wants to, but he wants to do it his way. I asked him a question which is very poignant: "So, how is your way working for you?" He was struck by that...."Not very well."

This is a good question for all of us to ask ourselves when we face our "stuff".... "How is the way I'm doing it working for me?"

Getting ready

Once or twice a year I've gotta get ready to travel a long distance. A lot goes into travel prep, from closing down, making sure the animals will be cared for, to packing, to buying gifts, organizing transport, etc. It's exciting to go on a trip, and I am so blessed to be able to go so often.

The part I like least about getting ready is saying "see you laters". In most cases, I'll meet the people again; but for some, it's "goodbye." The part I like the most is the anticipation of seeing those I've not seen in a LONG time. However, even in those, I struggle with this anticipation of "geez, I'm gonna only get a couple of days with them and then have to say goodbye again..."

So what the Lord has taught me through all of this is to cherish every second, every moment that we have with people, even if it is just a couple of hours one afternoon. God can do miracles in a second; He can bless reunions of friends and knit hearts for a lifetime and beyond!

My summer itinerary:

June 30- July 8 - Charlottesville, VA
July 8-12 - Beach in NC
July 12-18 - Denver, CO
July 19-24 - Kansas City, MO
July 24-26 - Minneapolis, MN
July 27- August 6 - Powder Springs, GA

Swimming.......again..........

On Saturday, I decided to go swimming...it was a cloudy day with intermittent rain, so I figured there may not be too many people in the pool. I was right...in fact, I could choose my own lane from 4 available! Understand that there are typically 5-8 people in a lane on any given day, so this was a real surprise and treat!

I proceeded to backstroke my way toward my 1000 meter goal for the day, thoroughly enjoying being alone in my lane! Ah, breathing room! Suddenly, at 700 meters, I made the turn and noticed that a woman had started swimming in my lane. I quickly glanced around to see if all the lanes were full, and to my surprise, 3 lanes were completely EMPTY! First question: "WHY IN THE WORLD would anyone choose to swim in a lane where someone is already swimming when 3 other lanes are completely empty and free???" Baffled, I moved to the adjoining empty lane and finished my last 300 meters.

Did this woman want company? Was she still living out the "old" ways of thinking that you fill up a lane or a line, or a bench before starting a new line, going to a new lane or sitting on an empty bench? I'll never know because I didn't bother to stop and ask...maybe I'm the one with the "issue"...I want my space, my freedom, and I don't want someone infringing on any of that....hmmmm.

Thoughts on the end of school

I just finished my 18th year of teaching...wow, that is a HUGE number! As I looked around at the faces of teachers today when we were discussing student's grades, I saw complete exhaustion on most of them. Bags under the eyes, feet dragging, voices strained and tired...typical. When I first started teaching, a relative of mine who is not a teacher made this comment: "You teachers have it easy; you go to work about 8 a.m. and you are home by 3 p.m. What an easy life!" Only a non-teacher can make such a comment.

Funny things happen at the end of the year. Students who rarely paid any attention in class are suddenly participating during the last week, and being very friendly with me. Hmmmm, wonder what THEY want?

At the end of each year, I take a bit of time and try to do a bit of self-assessment. When I was a young teacher, I was really hard on myself, seeing all the mistakes I'd made, and I'd often feel quite down. Now that I can call myself a "seasoned" teacher, I have a bit more objectivity. Also, I ask myself very different questions now: Did I love that kid who constantly drove me crazy? Was I patient with the one who just doesn't have an ear for languages? How did I respond when students came to me asking miss my class for a "good cause"? Was I patient, kind, loving, caring, long-suffering, joyful, peaceful, good, gentle and did I show self-control? In other words, was I like the Master Teacher?

Expectations

I have a friend who has a "rule". That "rule" states, "No expectations." We've had a few discussions regarding this rule, and I want to start offering some thoughts from my perspective.

Quite honestly, I believe it is impossible to live by this rule. If someone asks someone to do him/her a favor, then that person has expectations that the person will follow through if he/she agreed to do that favor. If someone truly lives by this rule, then that person should never ask anything of anyone because behind asking something of someone is an expectation that that person will do what has been asked. And logically, this would contradict the rule that the person is living by. Bottom line would be that the person who claims to have no expectations should do everything he or she wants done HIM/HERSELF, then the only person he/she has expectations of is him/herself.

However, the dilemma that arises from that is this: the "no expectations" person does not honor other people and their gifts and abilities, and could even be said to dishonor others by not nurturing their abilities.

Personally, I have HUGE, GRAND expectations!!!! I expect my friends to be friends! I expect myself to be a friend to my friends! I expect HUGE things from God....He has made hundreds of promises and I expect Him to keep every single one of them because He is God!!! I believe the reason I can have HUGE expectations is because my hope, my faith and my trust is in the ONE who never fails, not in anything or anyone else. Therefore, I expect BIG!!!!!!

Got pulled over...........

Sunday night, 5 of us were driving home from Kiskoros to Szeged when suddenly, a flashing flashlight in the middle of the road was beckoning us to pull over. It was the Hungarian Border Patrol!!! Mind you, we were no where close to a border....well, maybe within 90 km. When we pulled over, I said in my friendliest ENGLISH, "Hello!" One of the 3 border patrols started "yelling" at me that I need to turn off my bright lights when driving. I let my friend Melitta speak Hungarian for me....not that I couldn't have, but I've been "encouraged" to speak English when being pulled over.
So, this guy asks me for my passport...then he finds out all the details about me from Melitta, that I'm a teacher and a missionary, and the guy asks her if I'm a nun!!! Ha ha ha!!! It was tough not to laugh out loud at that question! Then he asked for the car papers. He never asked for my driver's license........very interesting! By this time, his two colleagues were of course very curious and had come over to see these 5 beautiful women in this car with "foreigner's" license plate. Thankfully, all my paperwork was in order and they let us drive on...my first excitement driving in Hungary!!!

Thoughts on Freedom

For nearly 7 years, one of my cats, Toby, has "faithfully" awakened me at those wonderful hours of the morning when NOBODY wants to be awakened...3 a.m. 3:30 a.m.....he wants to be let out onto the balcony. About a gazillion times I thought about getting a cat-door, but never followed through.

Finally, about 3 weeks ago, I got the brilliant idea of cutting the corner of the screen in my kitchen window, a window which stays open most of the time, and lo and behold, I can now sleep through the night as my cats wander in and out through the screen flap! 7 years.....7 years....now when winter comes, we'll have to think seriously about that cat door.

Yet another freedom I've granted my cats is treks into the enclosed yard outside. Of course these are monitored excursions....either I or my neighbor, Kati, is with them, so that WW 3 doesn't break out between my cats and the neighboring 7 or 8 cats who come sauntering into this yard.

What has all this new freedom done? It's made my cats MUCH more peaceful and content! They are not chomping at the bit to get out of the house when I come home, but rather peacefully sleeping, either outside on the balcony, or inside on some comfy chair.

As we become more and more free in Christ, because it is said that it is for FREEDOM that Christ has set us free, we, like my cats, can live as we were intended to live, as we were created to live, as we were destined to live, in the fullness of freedom, not bound by man-invented institutionalized regulations which have no biblical basis or at best are a twisting of a biblical guideline in order to limit rather than liberate in Jesus.

As my cats relish their freedom, I too relish the freedom God has given me and continues to give me to live in the freedom pulsing through me by His Holy Spirit.

Last week of school for 2007!

Anyone who is a teacher can relate to this blog. It's the last week of school...and the teachers are looking forward to the summer break JUST as much, if not moreseo, as the students!!! One of the many blessings of teaching English as a second language is that we get to teach American culture. And, of course, one of the most important things in American culture is BASEBALL!!! So, ALL of my classes, yes, every single one of them, will take to the "field" this week and play baseball, some for the first time in their lives! Today, we had 3 classes out in VIRGINIA style weather....i.e. hot and humid....trying to hit that ball and run those bases!!! My colleague, John, commented after one class, "This is harder than teaching!" I turned and said to him, "Yea, just imagine, when I was teaching in the U.S., I taught 25 hours per week in the classroom and then spent 4 months during the school year, 2 1/2 hours per day, coaching after school!" My question to myself today was: HOW DID I EVER DO THAT????
I have 11 lessons left to "teach" this week, and yes, every single one of those classes will step onto the baseball field and try their hand at batting and fielding! It's a great way to teach a very important part of American culture, and end the year on a fun note! However, I sure am beat at the end of the day! Pictures to come later!

Vision Missions Trip pix

Check out my trip to Ukraine, Serbia and Hungary!

Pictures from grill party, cont.

Hi there.......click on the link below to see the full album of pictures from our grill party. I'm learning so much about the internet. :-)

http://ardencampbell.myphotoalbum.com

More grill party pix

Here's more pix from the AMAZING grill party!!!!

Grill Party

Saturday evening, we gathered at the "penthouse" flat of Erik Ottoson, in Szeged to have a grill party for those involved in the international Bible study! What a FUN night of TONS of laughter, GREAT food and PLENTY of it, good conversations, and relationship building. I've not had THIS much fun in many months and I'm so thankful for these young people, all of whom could be my kids, for all the love they show each other and me! 7 hours of laughter and joy is enough to fill anyone's tank!