Calvin Synod Herald, 2006 (107. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2006-05-01 / 5-6. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 9 to house it; and the equipment sat in front of the orphanage for two years. Last summer, a work group from TRAC put up the outside structure for the bakery, but it needs finishing off before they will be able to use it. But what is needed more than anything are contributors who will provide support on a regular basis and, in this way, give a sense of stability to these efforts to provide a Christian upbringing for these needy children. TRAC - Diaspora Mission - Eszteny/Szarvaskend On the 12th of February, the theology students went to Diaspora mission again. This was the first organized occasion in 2006 because in January there was an exam session in our institute. In that quiet and mild cloudy morning, the five of us started to the Eszteny-Valley: Tamas Zsolt Bucsi, Csaba Miklós Czuhai, Emil Nemes, Attila Erdei, and David Sipos, our driver- all third-year students. We started early and on the way we had a pleasant talk. We talked about how our exams went, what did we learn, which were the deficiencies. Then the Diaspora memories came along. There were a few places that everyone had been before, and there were some people that everyone knew. We told a few stories that we had, nice stories about enthusiastic cantors. We all smiled while we listened or told these stories. David, who knew these places better than anyone else, told us the properties of each congregation- where it is cold or warm in the church, where there are less or more present at the service. In the meantime, the clouds disappeared slowly and the sun started to shine. The snowy hills were bright from the sunshine but somehow this sunshine brought brightening in our hearts too. We all went to our places: Emil Nemes to Eszteny; Attila Erdei to Szarvaskend; Csaba Miklós Czuhai to Alsótok; Tamas Zsolt Bucsi to Felsőtök. Everyone arrived in time, and the service could start at 10AM. In Eszteny, the father of the pastor who wasn’t at home was waiting for us with coffee and tea, and he invited all of us to lunch after the service. In some of the places the churches were too cold, so the services were in the houses of the chief elders. After the services, each of us started to Eszteny to have lunch. I, Attila Erdei, had the occasion to go by foot from Szarvaskend to Eszteny. I walked with my Bible in my bag, watching the land with hills, the houses dispersedly, the snow, listening to the silence; the cold wind scratched my face from time to time. In these moments, I couldn’t take my mind off the ancestors we had, the pastors who went from village to village by foot, decades or centuries ago. The lunch in Eszteny was very good, and everyone told of his experiences. Everyone was pleased somehow, and all of the feelings we had could be expressed best with Csaba Miklós Czuhai’s comment: That day was the dearest Diaspora mission experienced for him. I think God guided our way by His love. By: Attila Erdei A sermon by another student, at another time, and in another Diaspora church was summarized as follows: The subject of the sermon was the question of Jesus and the answer of Peter. Jesus asks the apostles if they want to leave Him. Peter answers him in the name of everyone: “Lord, there is no one else that we can go to! Your words give eternal life.” This answer was applied to the Diaspora problem. When the old people from Diaspora have to fight the cold weather, the isolation, and the poverty - the only refuge is Jesus. By: Janos Biro TRAC - Homeless Mission As usual, we went out looking for the homeless people. When we found them, we gave them sandwiches, we spoke with them, and we wrote down their names, age, and where and how they live. One of my colleagues took pictures too. We found new homeless men. For example, there was a 16-year-old boy who is living alone. Next, we went to the people we know and visited them, making sure they had food to eat. The Lej an family lives in a shack on a stream by the river. Mrs. Lejan has severe headaches, which, at times, she numbs by putting her head into the icy water of the stream. The police once threatened to drive the family away, but through the pleadings of Dr. Buzogány, they were allowed to stay there. István Kuti lives with his daughter, Erzsébet, whose husband left her, taking her son with him to Hungary. They have a very neat tent, which they built in a pretty little meadow, surrounded by trees, where they are allowed to live for a while. We stayed longer there because they asked us to change their gas bottle. They weren’t able to heat the tent for a few days, even if it was very cold outside. Living near the Kuti’s is their friend, Cornelia. We visited Cornelia also. She told us, with happiness, that she is working at the same place. She introduced us to Laci Bácsi. He is 60 years old. Laci Bacsi’s wife had just died last year and his wife’s relatives took the house he lived in, so he became homeless. Paul Pavel and his friend were already waiting for us at the entrance of the graveyard. There, they showed us the little “shack” they built. The police destroy their shack from time to time, but he rebuilds it again. Paul is the student of the group and shows indication of reading his Bible regularly. He shows great interest in speaking of spiritual things and responds to the preaching. And there are many more. Visiting prepares the way for the weekly worship services. After we prepared the tea and sandwiches, we went where we used to gather. They were all waiting for us in front of the church. Eighteen people came to the worship service. I noticed, to my great surprise, two children. We started the program with greetings and singing. We learned new songs about Advent: “Somebody came once, somebody left once, and somebody will come back again!” The homeless liked it very much. We remembered the things we learned the week before. We read from the Bible from Matthew 6:19-34, both in Hungarian and Romanian. We asked all the questions we had and tried to look for answers together. After that came the sermon. The text was from Luke 15:11-31 about the squanderer son. On the base of the story, they had new
