Moses and the Hungarians

Have you ever moved to a new placed and missed the old? I have; many times. But it really took me by surprise when I moved back to Hungary last year and realized how much I missed my previous home in Texas.

When John and I went through missionary training we had of course classes about how to deal with culture shock, how to transition well, plus I've already had quite some experience in these areas after living in four countries. So at that time, I thought that when we will move back to Hungary, it is going to be John who will have a harder time adjusting...

I guess I was wrong. He has been doing remarkable well and I have struggled much more with transitioning to life in Hungary. Part of it was probably all the friends, family, our spiritual home, etc, we had to leave behind in Texas. I missed these more than I thought I would, and on the other hand, I also started to see many unpleasant characteristics of my own people. Hungary has changed a lot in the last few decades. Politics, the economy, and the people in general have changed, and I feel like these changes have been to the worse. I feel like people became more greedy, less patient, less caring, and normal everyday activities - like going to the grocery store - became a source of frustration for me because I was often confronted with someone acting inconsiderate or just plain rude.

One time on a walk with with John, I told him that I felt like Hungary is not worth our time and energy. Seeing through to the heart behind my question, he asked back gently: "But Zsofi, which place is?" I was not sure what to say, but his question helped me remember that sin, sinful people are everywhere, and it was also encouraging to hear that John still very much felt like we are at the right place.

A few days later, one of those light bulb experiences happened to me, when it feels like suddenly things make sense. My mom was watching a movie on Moses, and though I did not have time to watch the whole movie, it captured my attention and so I watched it for a little bit. Moses was already up on the mountain, and the people down below started to become uneasy and wanted to offer sacrifices to their old gods from Egypt. As you know they built the idol and bowed down before it just as Moses was having an encounter with God on the mountain. When he came back down, he became so frustrated with his own people that he threw down the Ten Commandments. Then the next scene in the movie was Moses praying alone, pouring out his heart to God and asking that God would be merciful to his sinful people. He even went so far to ask God to rather punish himself instead of his people.

That is all I watched, but it made a huge impression on me. I was struck by the love Moses had for his people. I felt like here I am, frustrated with my own people, not even wanting to serve them and here is this godly leader who had much better reason to feel discouraged or even to give up and walk away from his people. Instead of that, however, he was begging God on their behalf... I was deeply touched and humbled by this example of love. It was an inspiration for me to start asking God to fill my heart again with love for my own people. I probably will never get as far as Moses, but I feel like I am on the way and I am so thankful for Moses' example.