Reaching Out To Our Neighbors
Recently I was interviewed by Dr. Jimmy DeYoung who has a national radio program in the United States on 400+ radio stations. Jimmy was asking about Christmas in Hungary and how churches here recognize and honor Christ at Christmas time. Christmas has been secularized and commercialized by businesses and stores in Hungary which is a big change from 1990 when we moved here. Yet, Christians still honor Christ at Christmas time.
What Lynne and I did was to reach out to our neighbors on our street. We started this last year and invited them to come to our home again this year. On December 22, our home was full and each of us had our fill of tasty goodies that Lynne made ["finger foods" such as spicy meatballs, chicken wings, quesadillas, tortilla chips with salsa, cookies, banana bread, apple cake and more]. Yum!!
Since we had "finger foods" people either stood around the serving table munching and talking or filled their plates and moved to the living room where two or three would be in small groups talking. The conversations were excellent with people checking on each other to see how their health is or to learn how their families are doing or to discuss ideas and plans for the future.
As for me, I had two in-depth conversations on things of a spiritual nature with neighbors inquiring about what we are doing in our mission. Then, both of these people began talking about their spiritual needs or interests. The truth is, I did not force the conversation. They know who we are and what we stand for, so, they wanted to talk about their needs. Both conversations laid the foundation for future conversations that I want to have with these dear people. Hopefully, I will be able to hold at least one of these conversations in the next few days.
Oh yes, I had quite a fun conversation with four year old Fruzsina . . . what a personality! Talking with her made my day! What fun!
We have GREAT neighbors! Some are believers and some are not. Certainly, we know them much better after having them in our home this year and last year at Christmas time.
That's what we did right before Christmas . . . reach out to our neighbors on our street. They really seemed to enjoy this. We did!
Let's see, what can we organize as soon as the weather warms up? Grill some chicken and steak? Now, where is my calendar . . . ?
Eric
What Lynne and I did was to reach out to our neighbors on our street. We started this last year and invited them to come to our home again this year. On December 22, our home was full and each of us had our fill of tasty goodies that Lynne made ["finger foods" such as spicy meatballs, chicken wings, quesadillas, tortilla chips with salsa, cookies, banana bread, apple cake and more]. Yum!!
Since we had "finger foods" people either stood around the serving table munching and talking or filled their plates and moved to the living room where two or three would be in small groups talking. The conversations were excellent with people checking on each other to see how their health is or to learn how their families are doing or to discuss ideas and plans for the future.
As for me, I had two in-depth conversations on things of a spiritual nature with neighbors inquiring about what we are doing in our mission. Then, both of these people began talking about their spiritual needs or interests. The truth is, I did not force the conversation. They know who we are and what we stand for, so, they wanted to talk about their needs. Both conversations laid the foundation for future conversations that I want to have with these dear people. Hopefully, I will be able to hold at least one of these conversations in the next few days.
Oh yes, I had quite a fun conversation with four year old Fruzsina . . . what a personality! Talking with her made my day! What fun!
We have GREAT neighbors! Some are believers and some are not. Certainly, we know them much better after having them in our home this year and last year at Christmas time.
That's what we did right before Christmas . . . reach out to our neighbors on our street. They really seemed to enjoy this. We did!
Let's see, what can we organize as soon as the weather warms up? Grill some chicken and steak? Now, where is my calendar . . . ?
Eric
posted by Eric Murphy at 27.12.07
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