When life’s a blur, look beyond…

Emily turned 7 this May.  She’s enjoying her first slushie.

I spend a lot of time with my daughter in the car, driving her to school and back home. Along the way she has time for all of life’s puzzling questions.  One of these the other day was why the Sun doesn’t seem to move as we drive.  The houses pass by, the trees, even the mountains seem to move a bit.  But the Sun seems to stay in its place, no matter how fast or far we drive.  I explained that it was a matter of distance, and that the closer things are the faster they go by, and so the Sun, being very, very far away, doesn’t move fast enough for our eyes to see.  The last update I wrote was almost three months ago, in the hospital room awaiting our new son Anthony.  Since then, life seems to have gone into hyperdrive and the days and weeks seem to blur past.

 

And I thought again about my conversation with my daughter and the perceived pace of life in this stage.  It really is quite the same.  When I get caught up in what’s close at hand – meetings, baseball practices, rainy days when the grass needs cutting, kid’s birthdays, meals, dishes, gagging laundry bins and all the other necessary tasks of life – then of course time will seem to be in short supply and life becomes the blur between the times my head hits the pillow each night.  But if I just take a step back and let all the essential tasks of each day just fade into the foreground, and I think about the greater plan of this life and beyond, then I can actually breathe, and rest in such amazing promises like Philippians 1:6.  Paul tells me  “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”  The thought of actually being able to see something brought to completion someday (me!) gives me hope and peace these days as I am surrounded by the unfinished and incomplete.

There have been times I’ve felt a bit like someone running on a treadmill that has slowly increased in pace and I can’t turn it off or get down without injuring myself.  Just got to keep running.  The consolation in the midst of all of this is knowing that this is only temporary.  We have been through the first four months of baby twice before.  Emily was not an easy infant, and being colicky and our first, we were on a very steep learning curve and our introduction to parenthood was a rude awakening.  With Sam we were a little bit wiser and though he was colicky too, we had learned various techniques to keep him calm and help him get to sleep.  And as Emi was only 2 at the time, it was fairly easy to keep things simple.

Well Anthony is just about as sweet a little boy as you can imagine.  Almost 3 months old, and from week 2 he has never failed to greet me with a big sparkly eyed smile… unless he’s hungry… which he is quite often.  In fact he is the first in this Woo family to be at the average weight for his age.  Sam and Emi were both in the lower 25%.  So we have a happy (when belly’s full) healthy and hungry little boy.  But this also means that Anthony is frequently stationed in Heidi’s arms at what Sammy calls her “feeders”.  And while she has gotten quite adept at one arming him and doing many things with her free hand, well there are just some limits to multitasking when nursing.

So here we are in May.  Emi and Sammy’s birthdays are past, and we are looking at one more month of school before Summer and the kids are home all day.  A month into Summer we head back to the U.S. for home assignment.  Two months and I will be on a plane with my family flying 9 time zones across the sea.  May as well be two blinks of my eyes these days, and so you can see why at times life seems to be spinning a bit out of control.  Well it’s a good thing I was never in control in the first place, and I can take a deep breath, and as Heidi and I often chant in times like this “just keep swimming, just keep swimming” (Nemo’s friend Dori) knowing our God IS in control and His grace is sufficient.

  So what has God been doing in our lives and in our church the past three months?  At the end of April we completed another season of English ministry in the town of Jászfényszarú, a community of 5600 people.  This is the place where we have been focusing the greatest amount of our church planting efforts for the past two years.  It is about 35 minutes from our town, and this year we began holding worship services there twice a month.

Our baseball team has been practicing since October, and the season began in April, with games every week through May.  This has proved challenging for our family as games often take me away for most of the day, and since there are only five teams nationwide in our category – little league majors – we often have to travel across the country for our games.  We have also had to come up with a location for our home games, which has meant taking a basic plot of grass and making a baseball field out of it.  Saturday mornings have been spent measuring baselines, chalking out the foul lines, and mowing down the infield grass.  But we are thankful for this little field in the neighboring town of Lőrinci because it is close by, has good parking, and best of all is free for us to use.  Our rookie team is 3-2 for the season, and while our losses have been disappointing, we have only lost by one or two runs.  It has been a great chance for families to get out and root for our kids, and it’s nice to see how parents have been supportive of their kids in this new sport.

Our makeshift baseball field on a beautiful Spring day

 

I have also had a chance to get to know our newest teammate Tom Ledoux a lot better as he has been helping with the coaching of the team since March when he arrived.  Tom has over 5ö years of experience playing and coaching baseball, and his arrival to the field was timely.  It was a win-win situation for all involved since he has been mainly doing language study, and practices and games gave him the chance to try out his new Hungarian skills doing something he loves with kids who don’t care if he says things wrong.  I am personally very thankful for God’s provision of Tom to our town and look forward to serving with him for many years to come.

Tom and I on game day

But because our games are most often on Saturdays, there have been many weeks the past couple months when there were time conflicts with youth ministry.  Unfortunately I have not been able to work with the church youth group as much as in the past, leaving our ministry partner Miki to handling things on his own.  Fortunately for both of us, our schedules have changed enough for us to switch youth group to Friday night, which means I can once again be involved regularly with the teen ministry here in our town.

This Summer we will once again hold our Children’s Bible Camp, where last year over 100 kids from kindergarten to 8th grade heard the Gospel over the course of the 6 day camp.  We are currently busy planning the various games, lessons and activities for the camp that will be held at the end of June.  I will once again be teaching the 5th and 6th graders, with the help of one of our church members who also loves working with the young teens.

Shortly after our Children’s camp we will be having our teen camp, which is just a long

Sammy at a Children’s Day celebration at preschool, checking out the real police equipment.

weekend with the teens, camping out in tents.  But it’s an intense weekend filled with solid teaching, powerful testimonies, worship and of course great games and lots of fun.  Some of our older teens who are now in a solid walk with Jesus, made decisions at this.  Soon after this teen camp we will be packing up to head out to the West Coast for three weeks, followed by 3 weeks in the Midwest.  Upon returning we will have about a week before school starts up again and we begin a new season of more regular routine and ministry.  I am hoping to be involved a bit more in Emily’s school as there is the potential for English and baseball ministry there too.  This year with the pregnancy and birth of Anthony, it was enough for us that Emily was happily attending school.  But we believe that God can use the unique things we bring to the field here in Hungary in her school as well, to reach the unreached and seeking students and parents in this nearby city.

 

Prayer needs:

> Endurance.  We are going into the summer season with our batteries running low.  Pray for God’s Spirit to energize us and lift us up when we are tired.

> Patience.  We are in the midst of sleep training for Anthony.  Pray that God blesses our efforts and gives us wisdom to know what is best for our baby.  Books are helpful, but they don’t know our kid the way we do.

> Wisdom. As we juggle different roles as parent, spouse, counselor, discipler, teacher, coach, teammate, that we would be filled with God’s wisdom as we seek to fulfill these roles to His glory.

> Discipline.  To stay in the Word and make the time to meet with our Father.  To let go of the urgent and make way for the important.

> Finances.  With our travel home this Summer coinciding with Anthony’s birth this year, we are facing some hefty expenditures.  We are seeking new supporters and are in need of increased monthly funds to meet the needs of our growing family.

> Peace.  As we travel this summer, that we will be covered by God’s protection and find safety and peace in the knowledge of His sovereignty.

As I close this ministry update we want to again express our thankfulness for all of those who have sacrificed so we can stay here in the field where God has placed us.  We are humbled by the generosity of the churches and folks who have given month after month for years so that we can be church planters here in Hungary.  We hope to see many of you in just a few short weeks.

Grace and peace in Christ Jesus,

Roger, Heidi, Emily, Sam and Anthony