Merry Christmas Eve!

It looks like the next couple of days will be very musical over here on the blog! I meant to post this about two weeks ago, but this post became a casualty of final exam preparation… oops. Seems like pre-scheduling my posts as much as possible in the future to keep them consistent will be my best bet going forward! But moving on…

A couple weeks ago, I woke up to the song Lord I Need You playing in my head, and I couldn’t resist singing it over and over in both my quiet time and in my head throughout the day (isn’t it awesome when the Lord puts a song in your heart? Since He knows my love for music, it’s almost daily for me!). Later that day, I was browsing on Instagram for a study break and happened to visit Sadie Robertson’s profile (she’s the daughter of one of the main people on Duck Dynasty and actually recently published a book, Live Original). Lo and behold, she had just posted a video of the Daraja Children’s Choir singing Lord I Need You at her church that past weekend! Seeing as that was the weekend right before my final exam period began, the song was such a wonderful reminder for me to recognize just how much I need the Lord in my life, in all facets.

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How Deep

Happy Sunday! We sang this beautiful song in church this morning and it’s been running through my head all day long, so I thought I’d share it here.

I also had my first day-trip to Budapest yesterday (the first of many trips there I’m sure…it was lovely to get my big-city fix after a couple of months as a smaller-town girl in Pécs)! I’ll be sharing photos from that trip soon, along with Part Two of my Art of Translation post. Have a blessed start to the week!

Dean’s Holiday

Today is a Dean’s Holiday for all the students and faculty here at the U. of Pécs! I think this is the first legitimate “break” we’ve had since beginning classes in September almost 2 months ago. We were given the day off for Medicine Days, which is an event that the University holds for alumni who graduated from the school 50 years ago – the honorees receive a new diploma from the University, and they are celebrated during the weekend of activities. Naturally, with a Friday off, I have more time than usual to sit on my couch and do something I love: sing worship songs! Today, this was my Friday jam:

This version of Salvation is Here is on Yahweh, an acoustic collection of songs sung live by Hillsong Chapel, which lately I’ve realized is my absolute favorite CD. There’s just something about this song (and the CD) that’s so uplifting and victorious.

Happy Friday!

Art of Translation

It’s been a bit of a minute since I last posted, but I’m back (with a couple exams behind me too, to boot)!

Fall is here! I love this time of year. I’m pretty sure I can vouch for the fact that no matter where you are, fall weather is always agreeable – whether the day is quietly sunny or breezily cloudy, it’s beautiful. I’m enjoying Pécs’s fall weather so much (minus the mosquitoes… shudder); looking out my window in the early evening at this time of year brings on bouts of introspective thoughts and future-minded daydreams. I experienced one of those thoughtful days recently; a couple weeks ago, I hosted a Bible study at my place here in Pécs with the ladies from the church I attend here (I use the word “host” loosely…though I didn’t cook any food for the event, I’ve recently gotten into baking and a little cooking! I apologize in advance because I may be sharing a ton of food photos in future months…). Since my church here strives to reach out to as many Hungarians as possible, services are often held in Hungarian, and then translated into English (or vice versa). So this time, the Bible study was taught in English, and translated into Hungarian. It was a hilarious ordeal at the onset, because our Bible study leader speaks both English and Hungarian, so at certain intervals, she’d stop and look at her friend translating her words into Hungarian and say, “Aw come on! That’s not what I said! There’s a better way to say that!” We all had a good laugh at these instances, chuckling to ourselves about the translator’s use of artistic license in conveying original words and ideas to the listeners. Continue reading

Leave Me Astounded

The Planetshakers band, from Melbourne, Australia, were our worship leaders in church this morning, and wow, it was absolutely dynamic! The worship leaders seamlessly ushered us into God’s presence and I think it’s been one of the best worship experiences I’ve ever had. We had the opportunity to worship with some of the music from their new album, Endless Praise, and the song that stuck with me the most (literally playing on a loop in my head all day long) was Leave Me Astounded. It was such a beautiful reminder that when God’s magnificent presence fills our lives, we can only be astounded and amazed at His unspeakable glory and love.

Hope this bit of joyspiration starts off your week well!