Who Are We?
Home Who Are We? News & Praise Pictures Guest Book Links

 

 

So, if you just stumbled across this web-site, you may be wondering - who are you?  For those who do know us, you may be wondering why we're in Szeged, Hungary as missionaries.  First, Norbi and Rachel met at Calvary Chapel's Bible School in Austria in April, 1994.  Norbi was a student, and Rachel was there on staff.  For more of our meeting and romance and how God lead Rachel to the missionfield, go to "Rachel's Page" below.  We married on December 31, 1994 ( a nice, easy date for Norbi to remember!) and thus began our family.

Before our wedding we were both living in Hungary - Norbi here in his hometown of Szeged, working at a computer store and leading worship at the Calvary Chapel here.  Rachel was living in Baja, Hungary at the time - serving as a missionary with the Calvary Chapel (C.C. from now on) there.  We returned to the States for our wedding - to Rachel's parent's home in Maine.  We came back to Szeged in Jan. 1995 as newlyweds and fully expected to call this home for some time.  To make a long story short, God closed all the doors for us to remain in Szeged, and we returned to Maine in August of 1995. 

We lived in Maine for two years, helping at the C.C. Lewiston on the worship team and teaching the youth group.  Norbi had a job with TechKnowledge Inc. servicing computers.  And in December of 1995 Josiah entered our little family.  He was followed closely by little brother Joshua in February of 1997.  This whole time we still desired to be used in Missions.  Norbi was saved through C.C. missionaries and we both felt called to be in full-time missions work.  But Maine is rather far removed from, well, everything!  And in June of 1997 we packed up our boys and the "stuff" that goes with kids (and Rachel's beloved dishwasher) into a U-Haul trailer and did the very "American" rite of passage and drove cross country to California (It was in So. CA that the C.C. movement began and where we knew we could connect with a church to send us back out as missionaries).  Our final destination had originally been San Diego, after a stop over in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley for Rachel's grandparent's 50th Anniversary.  And we would stay with the grandparents while job hunting several hours south.  For those of you who may know a little about both San Diego and the San Fernando Valley - you can understand our dismay when God led us to stay on in "the Valley".

God did truly guide us, as His provision of a wonderful job for Norbi with Call One Inc., and our finding the great home church of C.C. Simi Valley would prove.  At C.C. Simi Valley we found a church with a great Missions Heart.  Our pastor, David Guzik, besides being a gifted teacher of God's Word, also has a strong love for Missions and Missionaries.  We were able to become members of the church Missions Board as well as leading the Children's Worship time together.  And through Call One, God kept blessing and blessing with His financial support.  We were able to begin setting aside every month for when we would be able to head out once more.  We really did live with that expectation, ready to go whenever we heard God's call to do so.

Norbi got his U.S. Citizenship in Sept. 1999, something that makes traveling together much easier.  And after living in the States for five years, he's definitely become very "American" (sadly for Rachel most of his once adorable accent is gone).  Just before this, in August, our final addition to the family, Anna Danielle entered the picture.  The time seemed ready, and we were getting very restless to be going - anywhere.  That was the biggest question for more than a year - where did God want us to go as Missionaries?  We had no doubt of our calling to go, and had also become quite certain of when God was telling us to leave - fall of 2000.  CC Simi Valley held a large Missions Conference in November 1999.  We didn't really need any prompting, but it did begin many conversations in the car home each night from the all week event.

Rachel had quickly fallen in love with Hungary when God had led her there back in 1994, but Norbi wanted to be able to go out somewhere too - Hungary was too much like going home for him.  And so we really didn't consider Hungary as we prayed and discussed possibilities.  Plus, in the five years we were in the U.S., Hungary seemed to have an explosion of missionaries and new C.C.'s - we didn't see the need.  But God knew of the need that we didn't see.  If you read Norbi's "History of CC Szeged" by following the link below, you can see the crazy and mostly hurtful events that happened in the leadership of CC Szeged throughout it's almost ten year history.  We kept in touch with several friends here, and were heartbroken by the events happening during our absence.  We were excited when Samer came in as pastor, but it was when we were praying about where to go that problems began again.  Samer was asked to step down as pastor due to theological differences and Kyle became pastor.  We had sent out some e-mails to a few friends, and word got to Kyle that we were praying about where to go - so he e-mailed us and invited us to come help him in Szeged.  After prayer, we knew this was what God wanted.  We would return to Norbi's home town and he would return to the church where he got saved, though only three people remain from that time in 1992!

We moved back to Szeged in November, 2000.  Norbi is back leading worship, and is the church treasurer.  Another blessing is our old friend Laci, whom we had kept in touch with.  He was in High School here when we left in 1995, so it was sort of strange to be giving him premarital counseling via e-mail last year!  He and his lovely young wife Keri are the other couple in the leadership here, besides ourselves and Kyle and his wife Odi.  And Odi is an old friend of Rachel's from her time in Baja in 1994.  It really is a small world.

So, that's us, and that's why we're here in Szeged, Hungary as C.C. Missionaries.  Enjoy the web-site and come on by if you're ever in the area!

 

Home Rachel's Page Szeged History The Bunny Burrow