Saturday - final day in Hungary.

As we finish our efforts here we looked at Philipians 2 and Paul's commending us to shine for Jesus, to work hard, to make sacrifices. We talked about what we do for God. Sometimes we are able to do physical labor on a mission trip like we are today. Our families also give sacrificially when they stay behind and live victoriously and joyfully in our absence even though it means extra work for them. Many of you have given money or your time for prayer in supporting us - all gifts to God. Other times what you do for God is providing encouragement to someone through kind words, or sharing a meal, or helping them with their labors. We will leave this place with new friends, and people to pray for as we know more about their struggles here. This morning we were able to take the bus down to the market for a couple of hours while meetings were going on in the building. After noon we got back to making some noise and wrapping up what God has assigned us to complete here. The cabinets are installed, the tile on the walls, and the walls got painted. The rest will have to be finished by those who stay here. Then we headed to supper about 7:30 (Italian: pizza & pasta). Praise be to God for his grace and placing some of His children in this city! Thank you for tracking with us on this Journey 4 God. Pray for a safe and quick day of travel home. Amen.

Friday - Vienna

Today the Mozi is filled so it is a day off for us to visit Vienna. After breakfast the rest of the team (Jensen's and Dave left for home) head down to the train station for the 2 1/2 hour ride to Vienna, Austria. The train was very comfortable with an enclosed box of 6 seats for us. After arriving we took the subway downtown and walked around the area visiting 3 large, old and beautiful churches. Two were being renovated, with St. Charles having scafolding inside which allowed us to go to the very top of the dome to view the surrounding city of about 2 million, about the same size as Budapest. Unfortunately the windows at the top were all draped with pigeon netting so we could not get pictures of the view. The city was windy and colder than Budapest so it was a welcome break to get inside the buildings.

Before the train ride home we enjoyed a nice dinner. Aaron and Rob each had a Wiener Schnitzel as big as a pizza. Then the ride back to Budapest about 8:30 in the evening. Tonight a Christian singles group of about 60-70 people are meeting in the Mozi (each Friday night). Nice to hear sounds of this ministry center being used for God.

After some e-mailing we are out for some sleep. Here are a couple of shots from our day.

Pics from Thurs--2 Days 2 Go

Sorry to late last night to work on pasting in pics, so here they are. Off to Vienna!

Thursday, 2 days to go

Today was the beginning of wrapping up and putting everything back together. We had hoped to the have the cabinets and wall tiled by the end of the day. But like a lot of projects the grinches showed up. Some of the original materials were the wrong size and the frig was damaged. So after 3 trips to the plumbing store, 2 trips to the hardware store, 2 trips to Ikea the day got away us and from completing all of our desired tasks. We were able to install the drop ceiling, finish some the smaller projects, and do some more drywall taping. The upper cabinets were hung but that is it. We needed to do a major cleanup job because tomorrow a group has rented the entire building. So at 4 pm we switched hats from dust makers to a Service Master crew. the group that rented the building are architechs, professional and students, who meet quarterly and discuss various topics and look at old buildings and the current changes. There will be about 300 involved in the seminar. The caterer and sound and tech people started setting up at 2pm today. Tomorrow we need not to make anymore dust, so out of the building we go. We purchased our train tickets and will head to Vienna for the day. Blondie and the Jensen's will be leaving early in the morning for home and we will head to the train station for our 2 hour ride. Our work will have to wait until Saturday, our last day.

Tonight we went to a favorite local restuarant for gyros and specialty burgers. Aaron wanted to order this King Kong burger. The lady taking our order asked if he was sure, so she showed him the king kong bun......it was at least 8 inches in diameter and 3 inches high. Dad said no and he ordered some other large specialty burger. Our team is running on fumes now, but God's strength is keeping us moving. Thanks for your prayers and keeping in touch, it means a lot.

Working in two locations

Well the day started early again at seven, but the guys that went for breakfast didn't remember that the store did not open till 7:00, so they walked back and forth twice to get the food we needed. We had devotions and it was off and running to get things done at the Mozi before we headed out to do a mission project for a person in the church. Joe and Chris went back to sanding and mudding in the kitchenette room, while the rest of us were off to do odd jobs. Lon, Rob, and Blondie worked on extending a wall for Orshie so people can't go through her ceiling to get in to the office.

After a nice snack that Brad picked up for us which was an apple thing with merangue, we headed off in the van to haul debris. Brad had told us before we left that three to four trips by each of us and we would knock this out and eat pizza. After ten trips we still were not done and we had the heaviest things left to take down to the street. To line this up for you we had to go up 71 steps and carry down plastic bags of tile, bricks, concrete, and whatever else would fit in a bag. Then we had a tub, radiators (wieghing at about 1500 pounds), bricks, and wood framing. Anyway about half way through everyone was getting worn out, so we took a break and prayed for power and strength to finish. After we got the iron down a Gypsy came over and wanted the metal. So one of the other guys, Ricky, bartered with the guy and got 10,000 Forints for the metal. Another blessing from God as that paid for the pizza and John, who we were serving was just planning on junking the metal. Then it was back to the Mozi to finish things and start new projects. Lon has become quite the erector set guy. The projects we did required lots of small pieces of steel studs and Lon was the man that cut and shaped the pieces we needed. After a long day of working we had dinner with another missionary family, the Humphrey's. They have three kids and have been in Hungary about 7 years. The oldest daughter, at 13 when they moved, said "you are ruining my life". She is now at Trinty going to College, but is home on a study abroad. She now wants to find a field that will keep her in Europe in marketing or human resources. I can say that this area does seem to grow on you. After dinner we went out to see the city at night under the lights. So we headed back to castle hill, high above the city where we had gone on Sunday. It was fun to ride the metro rail this time if only for a short time. Lon was getting talked to over the loud speakers because he was too close to the rail line. Ask Rob to see the audio/video of the the conversation and translation. Well it is getting late over here, but at home it is only 5:00. time for the tired workers to hit the sack bye bye.

Tuesday - Day 6

Aah, Tuesday is coming to a close and we are more than half way through this mission to Budapest. Our morning began with our usual time of breakfast and devotions, though we were visited by a local policeman pounding on the door. Apparently there was a robbery downstairs this morning and he wanted to know if we had seen anyone. Following that we all moved on to our assignments that included finishing drywalling our new kitchen, hanging a door, putting together the last cabinet for the kitchen and taking care of some other items. Pastor Joe has been our tile and mud man. Today included grouting the bath floor from yesterday, mudding the seams from our drywall and then tonight laying the kitchen tile floor with Chris instead of going to Brad's house with the rest of us. Rob got a crack at driving in Europe for the first time. He sooo wanted to get the little van out on the autobahn, but it was pretty much city streets, many only 1 car wide. He did great and got us there and back with no crashes or arrests.

At 11:30 Joe and Chris are finishing up the tile floor and hopefully will be done by midnight - a very long day for them.

Monday - Day5

Today was our first work day of the new week. We are building a new kitchen, but too small for all of us to work in at one time so we got split up. Chris, Lon and Allen worked on the kitchen. Pastor Joe sniffed a lot of glue as he tiled the floor in a bathroom. He got some glue on his arm, but no solvent to remove it - so he may be wearing it home. Rob and Kathy put together the new Ikea cabinets for the kitchen. Mark was working on installing a water heater and Aaron helped in several places.

Tonight we went with Allen, Emily and Brad to the big Ikea store. They have cheap food so you can eat and then shop so we all had some Swedish meatballs and walked around the place. Picked up another cabinet and sink. Rob and Aaron rode the big carts down the aisles. Lon had to explain to our hosts that his job is to follow along, get embarassed and apologize to the locals. Pastor Joe had to get a decent pillow to sleep and also found a rather cute rat to bring home.

We stopped at a Tesco (like Super Walmart) and picked up some water, etc. for the next day, then back to the Mozi for some Rook, reading and relaxing. Thanks for the comments. Below are a few pictures from today, thanks to Rob's shutterbug talents.

Rob still having fun at Ikea!!

The Sabbath

Today was our church day. After breakfast which Lon and Aaron brought back from the store, we went to the top of the roof to pray. Climbing to the roof through access points and steel ladders was interesting since it was totally cover with pigeon droppings and a few dead birds. After praying and going back down we cleaned up for church. Oh yes, everyone wore their work gloves and work shoes so we would not be too disgusting for church. At 10am we gathered with the church here at the Mozi and worshipped God with songs both in Hungarian and English and then listened to the message through a translator using FM radios. After church we headed to see some of the sights of Budapest. We made Aaron purchase our bus tickets and ask the sales lady in Hungarian for 4 packs of 10 tickets. Riding the bus we learned an important cultural lesson, if an older person is standing you are suppose to offer your seat. Well, Pastor Joe got to ask Blondie to get up and then a chain reaction started. Blondie asked Lon, who asked Rob, who had Chris stand. Good for a laugh. Our first stop was at Castle Hill and seeing the restoration of the great church and castle. A terrific place to see across the river and view "Pest." Then we walked down hill to the Pollechinka resturant and had our desserts of thin pancakes with strawberries, or apple and walnuts and chocolate, and cream cheese and rasins. From there we hit the transportation and headed down to the Citadella. After climbing about 300 plus stairs and walkways we landed on the top. This is a large military fortress built by the Russians during their takeover. Again another site to see the great downtown of the city. After leaving the top we walked down to another resturant for gyros.. packed with roasted turkey and veggies dripping with sauce. For only $3 what a meal. Finally, we headed home and walked some more. We probably put in over 5 miles today. Our evening consisted of cards, laughing, and planning. Oh, yes for you northern popsicles... it was in the mid-40's and sunny again today. Tomorrow we are starting early and planning on working late into the evening and hopefully will have the new walls up and floor tiled.

Take a look at our new recruits to the hungarian army. They were drafted since they didn't have their passports. Rob looks really happy, doesn't he.

Saturday Feb 9

Crawled into bed by midnight and all got a good night's sleep. This morning it was up and enjoyed special cinnamon rolls made by Brad (the chief honcho), then another breakfast put together by Emily with goodies that Joe and Blondie bought at the market. Following that we took a prayer walk through the outdoor Saturday market and around the neighborhood.

Returning to the Mozi center about noon, most of us packed into the van to head out to help with a home of one of the church members. Alan and Emily have been taking good care of getting us around. They are a young couple from Kansas who have been here 2 weeks and will be heading back to the States the same time we do.

In the meantime Blondie and Mark used some concrete to level the floor from the torn out walls and rework some plumbing that ran through that room. Kathy ministered to a women's group.

The rest of us worked on an upstairs for a family here. We did some framing, some insulating and foila work and a little sheet rock. We had to pack up by 5:30 as it was getting too dark to work. Zuza (Susanne) blessed us with a wonderful lunch with a baked potato and poultry dish along with salad about 3:00 followed by some apricot desert about 4:30.

We returned to the Mozi and cleaned up. Joe, Rob, Blondie, Chris, Aaron and Lon walked down a kilometer or so to have pizza. A good walk back and then downloading some pictures and computer work followed by a few rounds of Rook. Tomorrow we look forward to worship after Rob and Lon go shopping for breakfast. We know 'Egen' (yes) 'No' and 'Koszonom' (thank you). We'll see how we fair.

Day 2 Arriving after 20 hours of travel

We left Rhinelander airport at 10:45 am on Thursday the 7th and arrived in Budapest on Friday at noon (There is a 7 hour time difference.) Only two members got a few snoozes throughout the night. Once on the ground we meet up with the Dave Johnson and Mark Jensen at the Mozi Center and our missionary friends. After a brief tour, we got right to work demolishing a old shower and storage area. I mean demolishing... tiled walls, bricks, concrete. It took us until after 10pm to get the room ready for plumbing and concrete floor leveling. We had to remove two 1o inch walls within the room. Some of our team spent the time on the roof hauling away all the debris and either lowering buckets to the ground floor to be emptied in the dumpster or throwing things down a shoot. Needless to stay we were really exhausted and ready to sleep no matter what time our body clocks said it was.

Budapest Rhino Team 2008

On Thursday, February 7th our Conover Church 2008 Rhino Team will be leaving Rhinelander to fly to Budapest, Hungary. It will takes us approximately 20 hours of traveling until we land around noon on Friday. Our team includes: Aaron Mlaker, Lon Fisk, Pastor Rob, and Pastor Joe (all from Conover Church), Mark & Cathy Jensen (from Faith EFC in Woodrfuff), Christ Ehlert from Eau Claire, and Dave (Blondie Johnson). Dave and Mark already flew east last week to scope out some projects in the Czeck Republic with the Ellenwoods and will arrive in Budapest by train on Friday, Feb. 8th to join up with us.

This year our projects will include demolition of a shower room and do a makeover into a a kitchenette, reparing the coffee shop, and some other carpentry projects as time permits.

Thank you for your support and prayers as we get ready to leave. Once on the road we hope to post daily with the pics of the day.

God bless and grace! Rhino Team 2008