December 2005
Dear Friends and Family,
We wish you a Merry Christmas and we say our prayers for a blessed New Year. I haven’t been avoiding it, but I feel like I do need to say something about the weather. IT’S COLD! Hovering around 32 degrees, we know it is not really as cold as it can, and probably will get, but it’s cold. We are getting a chance to wear our heavy wool sweaters and long underwear which have gone unused for 12 years. The girls bought boots and we got some sledding saucers the other day. We had our first small snow before Thanksgiving. On the drive to school we pass through a rolling wooded area. The grey-brown barrenness, of the day before, had been transformed into the magical white winter wonderland that only this time of year can produce. The girls, having never really seen snow before, were appropriately impressed. Since then however, it has been snowless due to our proximity to the lake. We are all awaiting the really BIG snow fall with great anticipation.
Attending church this time of year has become a bit of an adventure. I now see why the Reformed pastors wear their three piece suits and their large heavy capes during the service. The several hundred year old stone churches are unheated. We all remain bundled up for the entire service and when it is over we go home… fast. I was mentioning to our pastor that my head gets really cold during church, (I have noticed that not many Hungarians are bald). He kindly gave me permission to wear my hat. There are a few churches with heating systems installed under the pews. This modernization comes with its hazards, however. Tammy was instructed to keep her long coat up so it would not catch on fire!
Tammy and I joined the church choir. Warm up exercises have proven amusing as the familiar ma, me, mi, mo, mu has been replaced by some undecipherable Hungarian syllabic sounds. We are loving the fellowship and the opportunity to sing in some of the same churches mentioned above- hats and all. You cannot beat the acoustics. No wonder Bach and Handel were so inspired. While we are at rehearsal, the girls stay with the children of some other members. They have two girls, ages 16 and 9. They have made it their personal responsibility to teach our kids Hungarian. They even came home last week with a vocabulary list. Fortunately their time together is also filled with much laughter and games. This particular family has been a great blessing to us in many ways.
Ministry this past month has
centered on various church presentations.
While the bulk of the actual speaking has fallen on my shoulders (which
I gladly accept, seeking the language challenge) Tammy has been my muse;
talking over the themes with me, researching the lecture topics and
proofreading the pre-translated manuscripts.
In the course of the month I have preached two sermons, told my faith
journey at an evening ecumenical gathering, spoken at two youth groups and been
a guest lecturer twice in seminary classes.
I have spoken on everything from advent to faith and science, from the
We held our final exam for the
English class at the seminary this week, at which each student was to present a
10 minute talk in English on a topic of their choice. They did amazing well. Their topics covered missions to the Roma
(gypsy) people, the situation of the church in Serbia Montenegro, the life of a
pastor in
Last week we were invited to and privileged to attend a class presentation on deacons’ ministry given by sixth (and final) year students at the seminary. They had two hours in which to create a presentation that answered the question “What is deaconate work?” Their presentation was excellent, done in power-point in which they addressed the theoretical definition and challenges to deaconate work. Since their presentation was primarily theoretical, the professor asked them to give some specific examples of deacon-type ministry. Surprisingly to us, they really struggled to come up with examples. The professor then turned to us and asked if we had any examples from our church experience. We had loads of examples from observing our Deacons at Community Presbyterian Church. We could affirm that there is great energy there and that many people come forth with resources for deacon ministries. Lay ministry is very rare among churches here. Most service is limited to and centered around what the pastor can do, particularly in the village churches. Upon later reflection and discussion with our Hungarian friends we learned that among the 40 year olds and up there is still significant distrust among people. The 50 years of Communism bred distrust even within the church communities as various members of every community were co-opted or forced to inform on the others. The result of this is that some communities fear one another on a deep, gut level and do not want people knowing their needs. This will change. In the mean time, it was nice for us to be able to give so many concrete examples from our CPC deacons. Deacons, thank you for your witness.
Plans are in the works for the mission tour this summer. Tammy continues to seek out a place for a more vigorous short-term mission opportunity. Please pray for this. The calendar year is winding down. However, our opportunities are increasing and we haven’t even started the new season of service here at the Retreat center. Stay tuned for more exciting news. Thank you for your continued prayers, financial support and encouragement.
Christmas Joy and Peace,
The Auses
Prayer requests:
Please pray for the girls’ language learning, increased use of the