In six months, I'll be leaving my home for the past five years and moving to Budapest, Hungary. Ever since I first went to Hungary in the summer of 2015, I've had a hard time conveying to others the love that I have for this little Central European country. For a while, whenever I tried to tell people about my first summer spent in Hungary, I just couldn't get out a single coherent sentence. A year and a half later, I've now traveled to Hungary three times; twice to serve with the mission organization, Cru, and once for a vision trip to see what life will be like when I live there. These additional trips have helped me to expand on my answer for the question "Why Hungary?"
Heroes Square
God has placed a passionate love for Hungary on my heart. He's called me there twice, and each of those mission projects profoundly impacted me in different ways. The first summer I served at SpeakOut Hungary, in 2015, I was stretched to learn how to be open and transparent in a discipleship setting. I also learned new ways to evangelize and got to experience the joys and challenges of sharing the gospel with Hungarian students. God grew me a lot that summer in Hungary. When it ended, I saw, yet content, to return to my life in Memphis. Upon returning, I decided I probably wouldn't go back to Hungary. It was an amazing experience, but I didn't feel the pull to go back.
Parliament
In January 2016, however, God made it clear He was calling me to Hungary again. This time, I'd be going to SpeakOut without my best friend, and I was a bit reluctant to go because of that. God ended up using my time at SpeakOut 2016 to expand my ministry vision, and give me a clear direction of His calling on my life. Up until now, I've been working as a private tutor and nanny, which I knew wasn't my long-term plan. I just didn't know what God was calling me to long-term.
About a week into my second summer in Hungary, God placed the idea of teaching in Hungary on my heart. At first, I began considering teaching at the international Christian school in Budapest. Two of my American roommates grew up in Budapest and attended that school, so I was able to ask them lots of questions. Then, I started talking to my discipleship group leader and found out she previously taught in Hungarian high schools. I had no idea that Americans could teach in public Hungarian schools. She encouraged me to pray about the opportunity, so I left Hungary that summer praying about where God is leading me. Through her, I heard about the organization Teach Beyond, which is the organization I am now partnered with.
My time in Hungary has given me a deep love for Hungarian students. I appreciate how open they are, their general eagerness to learn, their love for wanting to make a change. I absolutely love Hungarian culture. My vision is to see Hungary transformed for Christ. I can play a part in this by ministering to students as an English teacher. I'm incredibly excited for this calling God has for me, and I can't wait to spend my days working with Hungarian students this fall.
It's Govember! Applications for Cru's Summer Projects are now open. You can check out all of the projects they have here.
I wanted to write today to share about my time spent on two summer projects.
Before I decided to go to SpeakOut in Keszthely, Hungary for the first time in 2015, I searched and searched for blog posts by other people who had previously gone so that I could read about their experience. I only ever found one blog post about it. All that ever came up when I Googled "SpeakOut Hungary" was the website for the mission. That's great, and super informative, but I wanted to read about personal experiences from Americans that had been.
Thus, I'm writing this blog post. I want to share my experience so that others may stumble upon it and decide to apply to SpeakOut.
SpeakOut Staff 2015
I served at SpeakOut in 2015 and 2016. I could talk about those two summers for hours, but instead I'll share just a few points explaining how my time at SpeakOut grew me.
Evangelism
Evanglism at SpeakOut is set up in such a way that relationships play a huge part. While hanging out with my campers, I shared the gospel with them, but I also formed relationships with them. We played games, talked about life, went shopping...we simply spent time together. Through that, gospel conversations came up and I was able to share my faith with my campers several times a week. It's incredible. Tutors are basically handed people they can share the gospel with. It's a beautiful way to evangelize. I learned so much about starting gospel conversations, answering hard questions, and using tools that I had never heard of. The training I received during orientation week at SpeakOut has enabled me to be much more comfortable with sharing the gospel.
Community
The community aspect of SpeakOut is definitely one thing I miss most. Both years that I served on the project, the team became close almost immediately, and the sense of community is there from the start. We live together, serve together, play together...it's great. I now have many close friendships with people I met at SpeakOut. The shared experience of SpeakOut bonds people, and holding onto those friendships means the community can extend even after SpeakOut ends.
Discipleship
Another invaluable part of SpeakOut for me this past summer was the discipleship group times.
I learned a lot during our weekly Bible studies as a group, and I felt loved and cared for during my one-on-one meetings with my discipleship group leader where we talked about the struggles I was facing, the highs and lows of the week, and that sort of thing. I've never had any kind of discipleship relationship with anyone before SpeakOut, and it's one of the things I miss most about SpeakOut when it ends. It was through my discipleship group leader that I began to recognize the calling that God was placing on my heart throughout the summer.
Called to Ministry
The single most important way that God worked in my life at SpeakOut occured on the last day of SpeakOut 2016. I had been praying about what to do with my love for Hungary, and my desire to serve there. Towards the end of SpeakOut, my discipleship group leader and I talked about how she had taught English at several Hungarian schools in the past. From that conversation, I found out about an organization that sends teachers to Central Europe to teach conversational English classes. While I was in still in Hungary, I submitted an inquiry with the organization, and a few months later, the application process is complete, and I'm now planning to serve in Budapest as an ESL teacher beginning next fall. God placed this calling on my heart while at SpeakOut, and I'm eager to follow Him in this exciting journey.
I made this video to show my friends when I came home from SpeakOut 2016.
God used SpeakOut to grow me in incredible ways. If you'd like to learn more about it, you can check out the SpeakOut Hungary website
My time in Hungary has given me a deep love for Hungarian students. I appreciate how open they are, their general eagerness to learn, their love for wanting to make a change. I absolutely love Hungarian culture. My vision is to see Hungary transformed for Christ. I can play a part in this by ministering to students as an English teacher. I'm incredibly excited for this calling God has for me, and I can't wait to spend my days working with Hungarian students this fall.
