Achoo! We ‘re back in Hungary, and that goes along with sneezing and nose blowing because of an allergy to some plant that blooms here in this time of year. More than half of the population is allergic to it, and pharmacists do great business with all their sniffs and pufs and pills.
But what an exciting summer we had! We have given several presentations in a number of churches, among others in Apeldoorn, a new contact. The two youngest children, Febe and Christy, had traveled ahead already to do a summer job in Holland and to go to a summercamp. We only arrived when they already came back from camp; they already manage these kind of things all by themselves…
We could stay in different locations this summer: on Urk, in the mission chalet of our mission coach, in Zierikzee. And also did we have a midweek with the Keuter side of the family in eastern Groningen. Meanwhile we traveled quite a lot. And met a lot of family and friends also. By the end of our furlough we had the highlight of this summer: our son Gerrit got married to Eline! We had an amazing day together, it was heart warming to see all those people helping and contributing to this day. In the church service we sang a song as a family to the young couple about the goodness of God, that is leading them on their path together.
The day after the wedding we had to go to Zeist to deliver Lea to the Bible school, where she will be studying for half a year. In going there we could experience once again the famous crowded Dutch roads with their traffic jams and delays (it was Friday afternoon). But Lea has got a great place at the Bible school, and in the weekends she can go to grandma and grandpa on Urk, where she is well taken care of.
And then the moment came that we had to go back to Hungary again, with only two of our four children with us. Actually we had planned to leave the very next day, but that turned out to be too much. So we decided to have the girls take the plane back to Debrecen, so they would be in time for the start of the new school year. And the two of us – together with the doggies – drove by car back to Hungary.
When we travel back home with more people in the car, it ’s usually pretty quiet in the car; and so it was this time when it was just the two of us. There was a lot to digest and think about. Even after arrival we needed some time to land emotionally and to find our place again: in our international church, within school, in work. Every time we go back and are immersed in a different culture, we are forced to face the question: why are we here again? Why are we doing this? It ’s good in these kind of moments to remember the many encouraging reactions we got during our furlough from people who support us and pray for us: we are not alone in this. And perhaps this song in the wedding service was not just for Gerrit and Eline, but also meant as an encouragement for ourselves: Your goodness is coming after, it ’s coming after me!
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