View from the Fisherman's Bastion

The Next Level…

In our last update, we informed you of plans we had to move to Budapest and our idea to go on a 2-week trip to check things out. Our purpose for taking this trip was to “spy out the land” to see what the possibilities were and what God would speak to us while we were there in Budapest.

The trip was good and we feel confirmation that we are to proceed to the next level – to go to Budapest for a trial period of 6-7 months to see how things go with the girls’ schooling and with working and living there. We still need lots of wisdom on the timing, though. We had originally hoped to be leaving in November, but we need to raise up more partners who will stand beside us, supporting us in prayer and also financially before we go.

Since having more partners is crucial in us fulfilling our calling we want to give priority to this, so that will mean we will push our departure date back until sometime later this year or early next year.

Bus, Metro and Tram

The house in which we were staying is located just outside of Budapest proper in a little village called Csömör (click for a Google map). To get into Budapest by public transportation, we first had to take a 30-minute bus ride which cost a whopping $1.35 per person (and the kids could ride for free).

This bus took us to a shopping center with an Ikea and a relatively large mall where we could then catch a metro (also known as underground or subway) further into the center of town. The whole trip from the house to, say the YWAM office (another Google map) took about an hour, although it didn’t feel like it took that long.

Lisa and Sarah loved going by public transportation and even got mad at us one day when we decided to go somewhere by car.

YWAM Budapest

While in Budapest, we visited the offices of YWAM Budapest several times. We met there with Carmelita Clarke – the Central European director with whom we will be working – who has her office there. We also attended YWAM Budapest’s weekly staff meeting to share our vision, where they also prayed for us.

We were also very blessed to be able to meet with a Hungarian staff lady, Gabi who was able to give us a lot of information and answer questions about schooling, and other aspects of life in Hungary.

Housing

The house in which we stayed was built by YWAMers who have moved away (they’re in Arizona now, oh the irony). They built it as a YWAM house to be able to house many people. If we feel like this is the place where we are supposed to stay, then we could probably move in tomorrow.

One drawback is that it takes an hour (one-way) to get in to the office by public transportation. This could also be seen as an advantage since it means when you’re home, you’re completely away from the office. It also means that if Jolanda is there alone with the kids, it makes it harder to “pop in” to the office or meet up somewhere for lunch from time-to-time.

There are plenty of other houses and apartments to be found on numerous websites, but most of them require a minimum of a one year contract which could present a problem if we go for only 6-7 months.

Why 6-7 months?

In Holland, we enjoy financial benefits from the government, such as child support and health-care subsidy. Altogether this amounts to more than $450 a month that we receive from the government. However, to enjoy these benefits, we have to be resident in the country no less than 4 months out of a 12 month period. That is one of the reasons we have chosen for a trial period of 6-7 months. That way we can go check things out without having to immediately give up that extra financial support.

We hope you have enjoyed reading our update as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Thanks again for your time.

Blessings from The Netherlands,
Rodney, Jolanda, Lisa and Sarah

We are sending you this extra update this month to share some plans with you that we have been making and feel God has put on our hearts.These plans have to do with our future as a family in missions for the next season of our lives. We are writing this to you even though the plans are as of yet still in the early brainstoming and praying stage.

We are looking into the possibility of moving to Budapest, Hungary to move the EuroCom office there and to work with YWAM Budapest.

Even though it is early days yet, we are sharing with you to ask you to think and pray with us for this big decision we have to make.

Why Budapest?

Budapest by night

You may be wondering, “Why Budapest?” There is a YWAM presence there in Budapest, plus the Central European office is located there. The director of Central Europe, Carmelita Clarke is my contact with the European Leadership Team now that Jeff Fountain has stepped down as European director.

When I was there in April, there was a real click in my heart with Budapest. When Carmelita invited us to join her team there, I was very open to it.

EuroCom Office

I, Rodney now work 100% for EuroCom – on a European level – even though I am staff here at Heidebeek. When Jeff Fountain was director, I worked in the European office which was located just down the road from Heidebeek. Now that he has stepped down and there is no obvious replacement for him, he asked Carmelita to be EuroCom’s contact person on the European Leadership team. She is, in a very real way, my boss.

For me (and for EuroCom), it would be better for me to be closer to what is going on at a European level. Budapest is also a very international city with easy (and cheap) access by air which makes it easier to organize Europe-wide meetings. It will also make it easier to attract more international staff to come and work with me on the EuroCom team.

What about Jolanda?

Besides being a full-time mom, Jolanda is great at walking out her front door, meeting people and creating ministry opportunities. That’s one of the advantages of living someplace like Budapest. Although, she will be greatly missed here at Heidebeek by the people and ministries in which she is involved.

It will be a fun challenge to find the opportunities in Budapest for us to be involved together in ministry as a family (and I think there will be more of them, too).

Spying out the land

Another reason we are emailing this now is that we are leaving on Saturday, 3 July to take a 2-week “spying out the land” trip with the whole family to Budapest.

A glimpse of the house we will be staying in this Summer

We will be staying in a house built by YWAMers to be used as a YWAM base, which we are very excited about. This house is one of the many options for us for housing in Budapest. There is one disadvantage (or advantage depending on how you look at it): it is located in a village on the outskirts of Budapest, not very close to the YWAM office or other houses.

We will be looking into other options for renting something for ourselves.

We would appreciate your prayers very much in this time. If all goes well, we will look into moving to Budapest sometime later this year for a 6-8 month trial period. If we go for less than 8 months, we can still keep our Dutch insurance and all of the subsidies we receive from the Government.

Be sure and keep an eye on our website and Facebook profile pages for updates while we are there.

Typical Dutch?

I, Rodney, recently had to take a language test as a part of the program of integration of foreigners here in The Netherlands. Last year, I was required to start an 18-month integration course, but after taking the intake test, it became clear that I no longer needed to take the course and was instead advised to test out of it. Read More…