moving. again..

today is friday. wednesday and thursday my roommate and i packed all of our things and moved them into our new apartment. for a variety of reasons. the main one being that our previous landlady asked us to move even though we had the contract for another six months. so we have a new place. it's smaller and unfurnished, so we have a bit of work to do (like buying a stove and a couch and a few other things we don't already have; painting everything; and deciding what goes where and how to organize our space) .. but i'm glad to have moved.

last night my roommate and teammate was figuring out some details with our new landlord. he lives in italy 11 months out of the year, so it's pretty important that we get things figured out while he's still easily reachable. they went to the building facing ours to talk with the administrator and one of the kids we work with was outside and directed them to the right place. when he saw my roommate, he asked her what she was doing. she said 'moving' and his face lit up. he talked about us being able to visit each other and come over to ask for a cup of sugar or some eggs if we needed it .. that sort of thing. another kid came by and also got really excited. which is really good to hear and to see. we talk about this ministry we want to do being 'life-on-life' .. that as we live together and as neighbors we all grow together. and that somehow God is seen in who we are, not just what we do. and the fact that we are so much closer to our kids (almost next door to a couple) means that perhaps we'll get to have that much more impact. we might have less privacy and space than we'd like or than we think we need .. but boundaries are important, and God is good at giving each of us what we need -- even if it's not exactly what we want or think we need :)

as we adjust to the new apartment and discover new things about it and our neighborhood, i'll try to keep you updated. since it's unfurnished we actually get to make it our own. which we're looking forward to. when we looked at the place we just left the last day, not much had changed - because so much of the things there were the landlords and not ours. so having a place that is ours to paint and decorate and arrange and really make home .. certainly feels like a gift

conference in hungary

i'm sitting at the hotel in hungary, at the end of our four-day conference with CRM. and it has been wonderful to be here. the theme of the conference was rest .. so we talked about rest, got to practice a bit of rest, discussed in small groups what keeps us from rest, worshiped, and got to enjoy people. there were about 70 adults here for the conference, who are missionaries from all over the europe & this part of the world .. (hungary, france, russia, poland, uk, romania .. to name a few).

i'm part of innerchange, and innerchange is part of crm. i've spent a fair bit of time with ic people, but less time with crm - so being at this conference has been a gift. the people who are part of this organization are quality. some have been in missions almost as long as i've been alive, which is a bit mind-boggling. my three year commitment feels pretty wimpy. but then i remember that i'm only 24 and it's okay that i don't know what i'm gonna do for the rest of my life. God knows, and that's enough. it has been a blessing to spend time with people who have chosen to serve God overseas in cross-cultural contexts. have chosen and have been called. and encouraging to know that it's possible to stay in this sort of ministry for many many years. and to see that God does really call us to be faithful and not to be successful -- although sometimes he honors that faithfulness with great success and visible movements of people into His Kingdom. He is powerful, and He is moving. mmm.