FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER
CHAPTER ONE
The
lesson: PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING
from
Lisa Brannack
LCMS Missionary
Serving in
Sopron, Hungary
Home
Congregation: Good Shepard Lutheran Church, Portland, OR
That’s right, I said the P word. Besides the stress of acclimating to a new country, language, culture, and time zone, I believe God is teaching me patience in two different forms. The first is when I am scared and afraid, I need to know that He is always there. I can rely on Deuteronomy 31:6 that says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” This verse is a personal favorite of mine and gives me strength when I feel alone, especially in a country where there are only about as many people who speak English as I have fingers.
The second verse is directly relates to lessons the students are teaching me. “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.” Hebrews 10:36. As I recall, my pastor, Rev. Paul Frerichs, refers to this “blessed” period of awkwardness as one being pruned to be spiritually more mature so that God can use me to do even greater things for His kingdom. Yee-haw, what joyous fun.
Everyone is aware that I should have left for Hungary in September, but God had other plans. And although I thought I was ready for my mission assignment, He was busy preparing me to cope with something much more intense than anything I would experience in the field. After nearly four months of waiting and praying (and waiting and praying) God knew it was time for me to go back home when my grandmother suddenly became very ill in October.
I was absolutely devastated when my grandmother died because I really didn’t see it coming. I wanted to talk to her about my mission but never really had the opportunity. My family told me that she was proud of my choices and adamantly wanted me to pursue this mission work. So when she died, instead of flowers or gifts, my family asked for donations to support my mission. As a result, I arrived in Bratislava for a short respite and then off to Sopron with four pieces of luggage heavy as steel beams. Sweating profusely from the train ride with my supervisor, Rob Lindsey, we finally arrived in Sopron on Wednesday, January 12th. Aniko, the Head of the English department, and another colleague, Hungarian English teacher Ildiko, and of course Jenny Moffitt, whom I was “replacing” were all at the train station to welcome us. As soon as I arrived I knew Sopron was where I needed to be.
It was time for lunch when we arrived and traditionally Hungarians eat their noon meal as their largest meal of the day, so we quickly decided to dine at a restaurant for lunch. Maybe some Hungarian goulash (goul-yash) or stuffed peppers? Nope. Instead we ate at Papa Joe’s, a 100 percent, pure American restaurant where I ate a bison burger from Montana, Texas potatoes, and sautéed vegetables’. The waiter even spoke English!
I was then shown my “flat” in the Kollegium (dorm) and was overall very impressed. As dorm rooms go, it rocks! I do have a new TV, but really for decoration only. The only station I get right now is pure Hungarian news. There’s an anchorman with this startling huge, bulbous nose that always moves up and down to the point you think it may very well fall right off during a tragic newscast. Yes, and that’s my form of entertainment… That and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The day I thought I would even watch that show, much less get addicted, was beyond my comprehension. And here I am, begging Jenny for the next season of “Buffy.” I need to get a more exciting social life, but that discussion comes later.
COLLEAGUES
I am so excited and honored to work with such an intelligent, thoughtful, and fun group of people. Aniko is the English Department Head. She is very wise, has a great sense of humor and is very approachable. I really like her a lot. Then there’s Zsolt. Zsolt is hysterical. But first you must nail him down to talk with you for a couple of minutes. He’s always “off” doing something! The other day he said, “Ah, I think I smell spring in the air!” There’s still brown snow on the ground, and yes it’s cold. I said, “No, Zsoltie, that me! I am fresh!” I love talking to him because we just sit and laugh and laugh.
Kati is the English teacher that everybody goes to when they need or want something done. She knows everything! She’s a cutie and very sweet. Her students, especially her 10th graders are extremely advanced in English. I’m running out of ideas to challenge them because they are so smart and clever.
However, watching Kati and Zsolt is like watching a tennis match. They run back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth…I’m not quite sure what they are doing, but it’s absolutely exhausting! Ildiko, on the other hand, I unfortunately rarely see because I don’t supplement her classes. She is very classy and sophisticated in her look and dress. I am proud to tutor her son in preparation for the oral English examination.
Audrey is my best buddy and we hang out all of the time. Every time we’re together, no matter what we’re doing, it’s a total blast! She teaches me some Hungarian, and I teach her about American culture, and a bit of vocabulary she may not know. We like to go for coffee between classes, make jokes and laugh, go for walks and hikes in the forest, drink bor (that’s Hungarian for wine), get our hair styled, and of course window shop. She is so fun to be with. Her husband, Ishte, also speaks English but when we’re together he speaks mainly Hungarian because his friend Kristian does not speak English. Kristian only knows maybe 8-10 words in English and he delights in speaking all of them to me. In a cavemen voice he calls me “American woman” (that’s two). When we go hiking he says, “Come on, Leeza.” Or “Let’s go, girl” (That’s seven). And the time the boys got us lost in the forest for hours in waist deep snow he said, “Kristian is stupid!” (that would be eight). And of course he can say “hello” and “okay.” And for all that, we have a beautiful relationship!
Ria and Hajni are the two other English teachers I work with. Ria’s 9th grade class once took out all of the bulbs in the hanging lights of our classroom, so when I walked into class and flipped the switch—total darkness. “What’s going on here?” Everyone just looked at me with their innocent “I have no idea” look. It took me the entire class period to then figure it out and make one of the boys “fix it.” And ironically now, they are one of my favorite classes! I only teach one of Barbi’s classes: her 10th graders, and they are very advanced and motivated. I love them because they love to speak English and work very hard!
However, getting back into the classroom on the
opposite side of the desk has made me feel very inadequate, ineffective, and
even guilty at times. I can recall all
of the annoying things I used to do in class that really bothers me as a
teacher. Basically everything that I used to do as a student is all coming back
to me… I hate when everyone is talking
at the same time, or the students aren’t paying attention to the lesson. So,
here’s to all of my former professors from ALL my programs: My deepest apologies if I ever disrupted
your class by talking in class and not paying attention! Please know that I am truly sincere!
SCHOLASTICS
The school itself is so huge one can get lost in the trenches on the way to class and never be found again…. I’m forever asking the English teachers, “Now where is my class again, and how do I get there?” Like a mouse walking around a maze trying to find the cheese, I inevitably I make a wrong turn somewhere and the students or a teacher has to re-direct me.
However, the academic curriculum at Berszenyi is very rigorous and tough. I marvel at what the children must learn and the short time in which they must learn it. As far as languages are concerned, students must decide to take either German as a second language or English. Plus they have all of the “standard” classes like geography, literature, mathematics, etc…
In my opinion, I am learning to be much more relaxed about myself. Being ordinary and silly. I am regimented about my lesson plans, but if I see they’re not working I simply improvise and make a fool of myself to get them to laugh and have fun. God does have a sense of humor and apparently he’s been chuckling a lot lately.
So as it goes, I often make an idiot of myself in front of the students. I usually play charades because they don’t understand my directions or instructions. That means I “act” out what I would like for them to do. Sometimes it’s humiliating, but other times they just laugh and think I’m crazy. For example, I had this “great” idea to get the students involved in following directions through music. Well, I used the song from the Coyote Ugly soundtrack called “Boom Boom.” I swear to this day I will never live that down. I got up in class and started singing and dancing, and when the song went “Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom” I would point to different groups of students to sing. Don’t ask me what I was thinking because frankly I have no idea.
SOCIAL LIFE
I like to hang out with Jenny Moffitt, the former missionary; because she is also is easy going and fun to be with. We call ourselves Oscar and Felix from the Odd Couple, because we are truly so different it’s amazing we get along so well. For example, Jenny moved out of her apartment and back into the Kollegium in the middle of February to save money until she leaves for the States in May. Jenny and our other American friend, Kimo, did the dirty work of packing and lifting furniture while I cleaned her entire apartment. When I was cleaning the bathroom, I said, “I never knew your bathroom was white! I always thought it was beige…” Also, I often ask Jenny to go places with me and the next thing you know we’re two words from getting into some kind of trouble.
Most recently, I had a
crush on this dentist I met at a party.
So, I knew Jenny was having some tooth pain, but under the care of
another dentist, so I asked her after class if she wanted to see Lazslo
(Latzi). She’s thinking just a short
meeting--maybe make a date for coffee or tea. The next thing she realizes, I’m talking to Latzi while Jenny’s in
the dental chair, picking at her teeth and talking root canal! While she was off getting x-rays, I was able
to chat with Latzi but haven’t had time to connect since because I have been swamped
with correcting homework. You see,
that’s the one thing I “forgot” when I decided to be tough and give them
assignments. I have to correct them,
which usually means I completely re-do their papers. Lesson learned.
All in all I am having such a good time with my colleagues, the students, people I meet going out, and the porters take care of me like I’m their daughter. It’s so sweet! I have a few special requests and prayers. My dad, Michael Brannack, has informed me that he has prostate cancer. I am very worried because I just lost my Grandmother and my dad and I are very close. Please pray for his health and that God shows him what His will is to be.
Secondly, I have had a really hard time with the mail system here, so big care packages are not a good idea, but my address to write is:
Tanar Brannack, Lisa
Berzenyi Daniel Evan Gimnazium
Szechenyi Ter 11
H 9400
Sopron, Hungary
My website is www.geocities.com/lbrannack
I encourage you to visit my website because I have pictures, my newsletters, and a guest book for those who wish to contact me. I am very proud of it because one of my students, Adam Graf developed it. He recently won a website competition here in Hungary. He is simply brilliant!
Of course I love to receive “care packages” but the mail system is rather tenuous in Hungary. If you would like to donate materials, I could use notebooks because I write out all of my lesson plans for the week and I use a lot of paper. Plus, there are several books I would like to read. My mom has the list (or will soon have it) if you would like to send me a book. Customs rifles through everything and then tapes the package back up, so books are pretty “safe.”
I also have been asked by Aniko and the English department to stay and teach another year, so I will need to fundraise again. If you have supported my mission in the past, I ask that you take a moment and see if you can help me for this next school year. The amount is the same ($11,000) and donations can be directly sent to:
LCMS World Mission
For missionary Lisa Brannack
Attn: Deb Feenstra
P.O. Box 790089
St. Louis, MO 63122-7295
Or by phone at 800.248.1930 ext.# 1651
Other ideas instead of yummy cookies or goodies would be money to decorate my room and make it less “dormitory-ish” as possible.
I shall end on a positive note~
I would like to give thanks to those that continue to pray for me and support me in so many different ways. God has sent me here for a specific purpose and right now I am just acclimated to a new routine. Typically, the Hungarians are not a traditionally emotionally “open” society, so it takes a while to build a rapport and with that, trust. However, I am confident that the students and staff at Berzenyi can see the joy of Jesus when they talk to me. This is a time in my life where I overflowing with joy, thanksgiving, and sincere gratitude. I feel calm and balanced, just waiting for God to show me what my next step will be. Being here will allow me the perfect opportunity to really listen to what God wants me to. If you have special requests or would like me to address something in particular in my newsletter, you can email me at [email protected] or feel free to phone my mother, Carol Schwark, at 248.656.1353, if there is something in particular you wish to send. J
God’s blessings,
Vislat’
In His love,
Lisa