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Sunday, August 01, 2010 5:11 PM Subject: Coppage News Dear Friends and Family, Doug here. Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon we arrived back home in Vác from our annual trip home to Virginia. We all enjoyed all the visits, the appearances at churches, and the good times with our many loved ones whether we are related to them or not. Tomorrow (Monday) we will turn around and travel to Austria to meet missionary friends who live and work in Africa. I hope to talk about work and about baseball and to share stories. (Yes, there is baseball in Africa, but there is much less grass on the field!) We will also accept a long-standing invitation to spend a day with a family whose daughter stayed here with Karen on a school exchange two years ago. This is a "working vacation" (for me, at least) and part of the celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. That’s right! Lea and I were wed on August 10, 1985. Time flies when you are having fun. :-) Many have already asked, "How was the trip to America? " It was busy. Busy busy busy! There was always somewhere to go, someone to see, something to do. We had Cili, Karen’s school buddy, with us, and she is pure suburban tourist! In every town, at her request, we visited souvenir shops and clothing stores. (Durable clothes and good shoes are cheaper in America than in Hungary.) There were also side trips to downtown Washington, to Colonial Williamsburg, and to the shore at Virginia Beach for her sake. She had never seen the ocean before. My mother was finally healthy enough to travel to America for the first time in four years. It was good to see her. Karen reports that my Mom’s appearance has definitely improved since last summer in Australia. Although Mom walks with a cane (a handy weapon in the presence of sarcastic relatives) and has to rest every other day, she isn’t doing too bad. One of the highlights of our trip was four days in Syria, Virginia, with my two brothers from Virginia, my Mom, her sister and brother-in-law (my aunt and uncle), and three cousins who traveled from California, Florida, and Alaska, and many other family members. We celebrated my aunt and uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary. On a Sunday morning, the twenty of us attended a local Methodist church (easily quintupling the average attendance). My cousin Susan commented that the presence of my atheist aunt in a church was a sure sign that The End is near. I think it is good that Karen wasn’t too eager to leave America. She said that she "put down roots" as she talked and played, especially with her cousins of all degrees. Next summer she will be eligible for her Learner’s Permit, so this summer she had the thrill of driving some vehicles for practice---of course, not on the road, and always under adult supervision. She has four more years here in Hungary, but after that she plans to go to college in the US. It’s good for her to feel connected and to be prepared. So, what next? After my annual "reboot" in Virginia, I realize that I can afford to be a little more prepared as I return to the school-year routine in Hungary. So this August I will consider setting year-end (June) objectives for the Deaf School and Deaf Church and baseball, and planning backwards from there. Furthermore, while in Virginia my colleagues in Vác reported that City Hall has given us permission to develop a Little League baseball field on a good piece of city-owned land and to use it free of charge for the next ten years. Hooray! I also realized that, with regard to missions, we are not reaping. We are plowing and preparing to plant. Also, I think that the metaphors that the church finds in the Bible were used in agrarian societies, but they aren’t very clear to us, so we can adapt them to our culture to make them more understandable. My generation does not "sow and reap"; we spend and get. We don’t understand sheep and shepherds, but we do understand cattle and cowboys. So imagine Paul writing to the Galatians (6:7-8), "Everyone gets what they pay for. The one who spends to please his sinful nature will find himself completely bankrupt at the end, and the one who invests to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will receive the dividends of eternal life." Or suppose that Jesus says to us (John 10:11-16): "I am the good cowboy rancher. The good rancher lays down his life for the cattle. The hired cowhand is not the rancher who owns the cattle, so when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the herd and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the herd and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the cattle. I am the good cowboy rancher; I know my cows and my cows know me---just as the Father knows me and I know the Father---and I lay down my life for the cows. I have other cattle that are not of this herd. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one herd and one rancher." If you don’t like being called a cow, then consider that a sheep is no better. Both are rather dense animals that need to be told where to go for their own good. For Americans, shepherds and sheep are religiously romanticized. Cows are more familiar, more pedestrian, more everyday. But this is just how we are to be with Jesus: less religious, more familiar, walking with him every day. And let’s face it, Jesus is the most intelligent person who ever lived. Compared to him, we are about as smart as cows. Plus, anything to remind us that Immanuel (God-with-us) is authentically present should be pursued with vigor. That’s enough for now. I need to pack. We leave for the train station in six hours, and my American suitcase still has stuff in it. Please continue to pray for us, to correspond with us, and to support us in whatever way you can. We are grateful for your friendship more than words can tell! Grace and peace to you and yours, ---Doug, for the family Joyful things: + Great times with friends, family, and churches in the USA. + Our safe travel everywhere, and Cili’s safe return to her parents. + Some people who attend our church in Vác were baptized while we were gone. Prayer requests: + During the next two weeks, there will be an evangelism outreach in Budapest. Please pray that Hungarians will come to know how much God loves them. + Please pray for our safe travel to Austria and back. + Please pray for enough money to do what God calls us to do here. + Please pray we do what is necessary to have healthy relationships –with God, each other, the Deaf, Hungarians, colleagues, and all of you who support us in so many ways. ============================== Doug, Lea, and Karen Coppage |
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March 4, 2009
Dear Friends and Family, |
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