Tuesday Update

Patrick O'Dell, Dennis O'Dell, & Jake Gattis begin to paint the walls of the courtyard.
Thomas Lewallen climbing the rock wall at Mecsestrem. He almost made it to the top. The Taylor family were the climbing champs with Sarah, James, & Rachel all making to the top.

Kenzie Broome with Rachel Taylor and Hallie Caneer on her back. Looks like they are having fun!

All sharing a knee - Jamie Mackey, Patrick O'Dell, Thomas Lewallen, James Taylor, Rick Holloway, Jake Gattis, & Blake Reasons.

Our adults are having fun with one another. Here Brian Leffel sandwiches Rick Holloway's van so he cannot get in. This is after Rick and Brian decided to separate as roommates because Brian snores.

Hey yall this is Conor live from Pécs,

We have just finished yet another of Clista's amazing meals and everyone has settled into their evening leisure activities. Today the group had a wonderful day at the school in the morning and the "Extreme" Park during the afternoon. Big Rick and his crew pretty much finished with all of the painting in the music room and started building a wall and the stage. The group from the courtyard continued their work with the stucco, and started painting the outside walls of the school. Finally, the indoor painting crew continues to make headway in the boys dorm. It is going to be tough, but I think that most of the projects will be completed (even if that means we have to work late on the last day).

After lunch we went to the Mecsextrém Park. There we were able to do a variety of activities like ropes courses (three difficulty levels), zip lines, the Zorb (look it up it's pretty cool), rock climbing, horseback riding, and my personal favorite, the bobsled. We were there for about four and a half hours and got to see some hilarous things. At one point on the ropes course one could see Joel Keene sliding on his bum at the end of a zip line, and Blake Reasons struggling to get through one of the ropes courses (he is not a big fan of the suspended rings). It would be safe to say that there were many laughs to be had.

On another note...I want to thank everyone back home for the countless number of prayers and the outpouring of love, and support that has guided us through this entire trip. I really do believe that we are making a difference in the lives of the people that we come in contact with. Please continue to pray that the words coming from our mouth, and our actions can convey the message of Jesus Christ.

See you all when we get back home,
Conor

Monday Update

Melissa Russell & Hallie Caneer carrying materials.

Katelyn Owen & Melissa Russell working on the courtyard wall - notice Melissa's earrings and powertool combo.

Our dinner table.

John Mark Russell and Conor Gattis having fun while Kenzie Broome actually paints the wall.

Laura Moon rolling a dorm room wall.

Rachel Taylor and Joel Keene team up to drill anchors into the wall.

Melissa Russell, Katelyn Owen, Hallie Caneer, Rachel Taylor, & Joel Keene taking a break for a picture.

Thomas high up on a ladder cleaning the air ducks. Did Thomas really need a ladder?

Gandhi student Risci working in the Music Room.

Bethany McDaniel, Will Tucker, & Andrew McPhail with missionary Glen Adkins and the school's social worker Eszti. They gave Eszti the 26 suitcases of clothes and toiletries collected in Huntsville to give to the Gandhi students. She will distribute the donation as needed.

Jeremy Dickson holding the ladder for Rick Holloway. They are in the Music Room.

Conor Gattis, Jake Gattis, and Andrew McPhail using their "special" muscles to move beds back into the boys dormatory.

Our FBC students learning the Beas language through a game.

Our FBC students with the Gandhi students during devotion. At the back of the room is Andi and Joshua, our special music guests tonight.

Thomas Lewallen playing guitar with Glen Adkins during the devotion.

Jő napot,which means good day in Hungarian. Today we woke up and began working on our projects. In particular, we improved the music room by partially painting the ceilings and the air ducts. We also installed a wall that has to come out tomorrow for a door. In addition, we cut the grass in the second facility, finished two of the rooms at the boy's dormitory, and prepared to stucco the wall in the courtyard of the school.
Some interesting things that occured today were Big Rick learning how to walk on a ladder from one of the professional carpenters (named Atila the HUNgarian). Little Rick was drilling in the wall when he drilled through some wires which resulted in the lights going out. The other handyman, Gabor, spent his time with the people in the courtyard teaching them how to mud a wall. He is very patient and encouraging although there is a language barrier. He tells everyone "Süpa".

After dinner, we received Beas lessons from our Gandhi friend Risci. Beas is one of the two Gypsy languages. Then we had a devotion/singing time where some of the Gandhi students shared some of their culture with us through some songs. It was really upbeat and enthusiastic, and a very neat cultural insight. We are having a great time getting to know all of these new people and sharing, like we learned in our lesson tonight, the universal language of love that comes from God.

- Jake Gattis and Jeremy Dickson

Sunday PM Update

Mission team at Pécs Baptist Church after worship.
The youth "singing" during worship.

Working a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle (it is REALLY hard)

A cool overlook close to where we ate in Pécs.

Us and the Ghandi students playing the human knot game.

Randy Taylor playing foosball with Ghandi student Barbi.

Jamie and Ghandi student Richie

Everyone singing together during devotion time.

Human knot again.

Hey ya'll! This is Bethany and Andrew.

This mornig we went to a Hungarian Baptist church and sang for the congregation. We sang two songs in English but other than that, the whole service was in Hungarian with no translators. You think Dr. Hull's sermons are long... =] Then we went to lunch at the Mediterranean Hotel where we had a Hungarian buffet. Our translator Laci (Latzie), who graduated from the Ghandi school in 2002, was able to tell us what each thing was and how delicious it is. After that we went back to the Walking Street in Pécs and toured the Basilica and an early underground Christian crypt for 800ft or 6 bucks. It was awsome! We then proceeded to take a two hour riding tour of the Pécs countryside. We went through many Roma villages that were both full with ancient beauty yet obviously neglected. We also went to Laci's house and met his family while also getting the oportunity to tour his vineyard and vegetable garden in their backyard. We came back to the school to greet our Ghandi guests. There are 6 in total (so far) and they will be working and hanging out with us for the next few days. Now we are hanging out, doing puzzles, and playing the guitar. Hungary is great!! ...so far.

Bethany McDaniel and Andrew McPhail

Skype Call TOMORROW

Reminder that we will have a Skype call tomorrow in the First Fellowship at approximately 8:2ö with 2 of our students and me.

Saturday's Update

Bethany McDaniel did a great job stuccoing the wall.

Andrew McPhail celebrating that he placed the mortar perfectly.

Joel Keene cleaning while painting.

Blake Reasons & Andrew McPhail having fun with our carpenters playing foosball.

John Mark Russell painting a dorm room.

Katelyn Owen painting a dorm room.

Bethany McDaniel and Laura Moon ready to work for the day.

Conor Gattis and Blake Reasons mixing mortar for adherring foam to the walls.

Sarah Taylor and Kenzie Broome applying the mortar.

Jake Gattis mixing the painting with his hands - yes, that is how they mix the paint here!

Patrick O'Dell, Blake Reasons, & Will Tucker putting mortar on the back of foam before putting the foam blocks on the wall.

Hallie Caneer and Melissa Russell mixing painting.

Jeremy Dickson carrying some materials - oops, I caught him before he smiled.

Greetings from Pecs in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I thought I would greet you with this greeting because it will be how I greet the congregation of Pecs Baptist Church tomorrow. Our group will be singing 2 songs and I will be bringing a greeting on behalf of the group and our church. The rest of the worship time will be in Hungarian so it should be an experience!

We have had a good first day of work on the projects. As you can see from the pictures, the students worked extremely hard on the three projects we began today: renovation of the school's music room, repair to the wall's of the school's courtyard, and painting several of the rooms and halls of the boys dorm. A lot of work was accomplished in spite of some language issues. We have two "carpenters" with us. They do not speak any English so our translator is running from one spot to another continuously explaining things. We are learning some words to help along the way.

Pray for our day tomorrow as we worship and later welcome 1ö Gandhi School students that will spend the next four days with us working. I am particularly excited about this part of the trip. Our FBC students will be able to build relationships and share God's love with them.

Greetings from PECS!

Friends - as you have already heard hopefully, we arrived yesterday from the many hours of travel to Pecs. Today, we are getting to know our home for the next week. This morning after a chance to sleep in to regain some energy, we toured the Gandhi School and learned what our work projects would be for our time here. The work projects begin tomorrow and will continue through next Friday morning. We will be renovating and building a theater/music room, repairing and painting a courtyard, helping with some landscape and lawn needs, and painting many of the boys dorm rooms.

After touring the school, we loaded up in our 4 vans and made our way to the town center of Pecs. We had lunch at a mall foodcourt. Many played it safe by eating at either Burger King or Subway, but some of us ventured into some Hungarian food. We all enjoyed the different taste except Andrew McPhail. Andrew accidentally order a plate of chicken livers. After lunch we took a walking tour of the historical district of Pecs. We are in a beautiful city that dates back many centuries. As I am updating you, the rest of our team continues to tour and look around Pecs.

Here are some pictures in reverse order of occurrence (sorry):
On the streets of Pecs with Clista Akins gives details about our whereabouts.
Rachel Taylor and Hallie Caneer on top of the Barbikan (corner of the historical city wall).
The group walking through the streets.
Several in front of the "love locks." Don't worry, no one added a lock for their relationships.
Students touring part of the Gandhi School - notice the banners hanging from the ceiling. We really enjoyed touring the school, seeing the artwork of the students, and learning the purpose and vision of the school.
The team in the courtyard where we will be painting and doing some refurbishing.
Glen Akins (to the left) is giving the team an introduction to the school before the tour.
Conor Gattis and Andrew McPhail hanging out at the airport.
The team unloading the American Airlines plane in Paris after the long flight.