Back to the beginnings
When I recently told a long-time Hungarian friend that I was moving back to Batthyany ut 18, she said "Now Mary Jill is REALLY back in Hungary" :-). Perhaps you can grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this post which became a little longer than usual.....
Just to refresh your memories and for my new readers...I moved to Hungary (from Scotland) in May 1997. Yes, almost 15 years ago. After a short stay in a B&B and a month of house-sitting, I went to look at this flat (apartment) in Budapest and moved in at the end of August. At that time, I did not realize what a great location, and opportunity God had arranged. I did see that it was an interesting villa style house with only 2 floors and a total of 6 apartments. My lease was for only 10 months as the Hungarian family was living in Bejing, China where the lady of the house was teaching Hungarian to Chinese University students!! The flat was fully furnished, complete with books, lots of books, plants, pots & pans! The bedroom was a loft. In fact, there were 2 lofts above the dining room. Frequent guests had interesting reactions to the lofts. Some felt they were in a crib, or a bird nest or a cage in a zoo. On one memorable evening, a guest, woken from a deep sleep with the phone ringing, "ran" to answer forgetting to take the ladder!! The fall to the floor shook the whole house!!
To access the flat, you walked up to the first floor, out the door to the balcony which overlooked the courtyard and then into apartment door. What a little sun-catcher that outside entry was and what a surprise the courtyard was, with the flowering plants and the trees and the birds. Hard to believe you were in mid-town Budapest, an international city of 3 million then. The first 10 month lease was extended another year. When the family moved back I sadly had to move BUT a wonderful apartment, on the next street was available and I rented that. It was on the 3rd floor (no elevator) and 72 steps to the front door!! and then another set of stairs to the 3 bedrooms and a view of Parliment (if you climbed on the bed and stuck your head out the window- which of course every visiting minister or missionary over the next few years did!).
In an amazing God-incident I was able to buy that original flat around 2000. For a number of years, I also kept the 3 bedroom rental apartment and used it for the overflow of guests. During the years of 1997 - 2002, an uncountable number of visitors, primarily missionaries and ministers visited Budapest and stayed in the guest rooms. During those years communication was limited to snail mail and faxes so myself and a team of other missionaries facilitated many Kingdom travelers through the intersection of Budapest and into the 7 surrounding nations. By 2006, the traffic patterns of ministries and missionaries were shifting and the internet was readily available to groups so they could make their own choices and reservations so the decision was made to close the larger, rented guest house. That summer I left Budapest to go to the University of Debrecen to take intensive language courses. While there I felt a "calling" to live there and ended up relocating to Debrecen. Those were wonderful years, appointed by God. My flat in Budapest was rented to a wonderful couple, and long-time Ukrainian friends who came to Budapest to start a Russian speaking Church. They have now moved into another flat and I move back.....to the beginnings....to see what God will do!! Very excited!
Just to refresh your memories and for my new readers...I moved to Hungary (from Scotland) in May 1997. Yes, almost 15 years ago. After a short stay in a B&B and a month of house-sitting, I went to look at this flat (apartment) in Budapest and moved in at the end of August. At that time, I did not realize what a great location, and opportunity God had arranged. I did see that it was an interesting villa style house with only 2 floors and a total of 6 apartments. My lease was for only 10 months as the Hungarian family was living in Bejing, China where the lady of the house was teaching Hungarian to Chinese University students!! The flat was fully furnished, complete with books, lots of books, plants, pots & pans! The bedroom was a loft. In fact, there were 2 lofts above the dining room. Frequent guests had interesting reactions to the lofts. Some felt they were in a crib, or a bird nest or a cage in a zoo. On one memorable evening, a guest, woken from a deep sleep with the phone ringing, "ran" to answer forgetting to take the ladder!! The fall to the floor shook the whole house!!
To access the flat, you walked up to the first floor, out the door to the balcony which overlooked the courtyard and then into apartment door. What a little sun-catcher that outside entry was and what a surprise the courtyard was, with the flowering plants and the trees and the birds. Hard to believe you were in mid-town Budapest, an international city of 3 million then. The first 10 month lease was extended another year. When the family moved back I sadly had to move BUT a wonderful apartment, on the next street was available and I rented that. It was on the 3rd floor (no elevator) and 72 steps to the front door!! and then another set of stairs to the 3 bedrooms and a view of Parliment (if you climbed on the bed and stuck your head out the window- which of course every visiting minister or missionary over the next few years did!).
In an amazing God-incident I was able to buy that original flat around 2000. For a number of years, I also kept the 3 bedroom rental apartment and used it for the overflow of guests. During the years of 1997 - 2002, an uncountable number of visitors, primarily missionaries and ministers visited Budapest and stayed in the guest rooms. During those years communication was limited to snail mail and faxes so myself and a team of other missionaries facilitated many Kingdom travelers through the intersection of Budapest and into the 7 surrounding nations. By 2006, the traffic patterns of ministries and missionaries were shifting and the internet was readily available to groups so they could make their own choices and reservations so the decision was made to close the larger, rented guest house. That summer I left Budapest to go to the University of Debrecen to take intensive language courses. While there I felt a "calling" to live there and ended up relocating to Debrecen. Those were wonderful years, appointed by God. My flat in Budapest was rented to a wonderful couple, and long-time Ukrainian friends who came to Budapest to start a Russian speaking Church. They have now moved into another flat and I move back.....to the beginnings....to see what God will do!! Very excited!
Comments
Even though much is familar, I'd be keeping a spiritual eye open for the super in my natural. An expecting posture for more, more than you remember, more than you imagine, the 'more than,' in your day to day. For you return with a greater awareness of who the Lord is in your life and world and have grown into greater things, knowing the "Greater Than God!" The days of learning the streets and the shops the customs and the life of Hungary are past. The day of Hungary, it's portal city Budapest and this street Batthyany Ut honoring in the natural heirs of Europe, is to discover they are heir to a Kingdom not of this world. There is a new light resident no longer transient, but steadily shining in its midst. A new ever lasting kingdom and heritage is upon it! Amen!