On April 28, 2009 eight women from the Presbytery of Lindsay-Peterborough landed in Budapest. Wow! The flowers were in full bloom. Church steeples rose all over the city. And the architecture was beautiful, but buildings were still in need of repair; some even had mortar holes in them from the Second World War.
We had felt called to go on the 12-day mission exposure trip, which would take us to Hungary, Romania and Ukraine under the guidance of David Pandy-Szekeres, a Presbyterian missionary and supervisor of external missions with the Reformed Church of Sub-Carpathian Ukraine.
We saw the greatest cultural differences in rural towns and villages. In Romania we passed a horse pulling a cart of hay, then a few minutes later a Ferrari flew past us.
We traveled to Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in time to hear PCC-missionary Brian Johnston’s choir, which is composed of students from the theological seminary where he teaches English. We learned of his concern for a talented music student who has been living in dire circumstances, having been abandoned by his parents. Brian has taken him under his wing by ministering to his financial, musical and spiritual needs.
The roles of our missionaries are more complex and multifaceted than most of us would ever imagine. During our travels, David was a tireless worker. Along with being our guide and driver, he managed to continue with many of his duties via cellphone. We learned that one of his roles is seeking out funding throughout Europe and North America for the many projects he oversees, and trying to stretch the money as far as possible.
Throughout our journey, we saw many interesting projects at work. The Terra Dei Foundation’s model farm was testing various crops to find out what grows best, and teaching farmers some of the knowledge that was lost when farms were run by the Communist state and work was compartmentalized.
Another highlight was meeting a wonderful couple that has been making a great difference in the lives of some of the Roma people, commonly known as gypsies. They have been gradually renovating a multi-purpose building that is providing religious instruction, nursery school, work skills training, recreation and a meeting place. We visited the one-room home of a Roma family who welcomed us with hugs and smiles on their faces. With their strong belief in God and the care and support of this generous couple, whom we saw as true disciples of Jesus, this Roma family has become self-sufficient.
On our way back to Budapest we traveled to Sarospatak, Hungary, David’s hometown, where we met his wife and children. We found that missionary families sacrifice so much. The family sees David fleetingly, and so much falls on the shoulders of his wife, Anna.
At the Reformed Church College, we were privileged to meet with Dr. Daniel Szabo, a gentle man who lived under the Communist dictatorship for 40 years. He told us, “God’s word is able to change the heart. We must love people to Christ.”
We listened to the call to go on this trip, and it showed us there is mission work needed all over the world, even right here at home.
