March 30, 2020

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Hello Friends,

Coronavirus...This word is all over the internet, the news, and social media.

The words “GLOBAL PANDEMIC” sound like something from the movies.

I’m sure most of us have never heard “WASH YOUR HANDS” so much in our lives.

We are able to keep up not only with the NEWS here in Hungary, but also in Europe and of course the USA. Neither Brenda nor I are big news watchers. In fact rarely have we had the news on in the last 10 years here in our house in Budapest.

Brenda was supposed to go to Nashville last week (see video below for a two minute update from Budapest) to see our new grandson, Jamie Robert Puhr, who was born to our son Ryan and his wife Katie. But because of all the airline/travel issues she canceled her plans.

Here in Hungary, like America, things are changing daily. Even today they closed the schools.

They also closed the borders to other countries around us today.. Hungarian citizens can come and go but other nationalities cannot. Hungary borders SEVEN countries,. Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine and Slovakia.

There are few cases of the virus in Hungary as of today. I think we saw today that there were 29 cases. One person has died who had the virus.

In the midst of this we have total PEACE. The authorities also closed down meetings of over 100 people So like many in America yesterday, we watched our church service here in Hungary online. It was great that were able to do this but we did miss being with everyone.

So we expect this to be over with soon, and people’s lives will get back to “normal”.

In the meantime in the coming weeks people here in Hungary, like in America, are concerned about their jobs, groceries, etc, and all that was once normal in their lives.

There is much to get “nervous” about. But we go forward trusting in OUR GOD.

So thank you for thinking of us, praying for us, supporting us, in this time of uncertainty.

You may want to watch the TWO minute video update from Brenda that was made on March 13.  Lots of things have changed since them, but it will give you insight into things over here.

In Awe of His Faithfulness

Jim and Brenda

Brenda is at Szabadság Tér, which is Liberty Square in English, here in Budapest. The US Embassy is to her left and a Statue of Ronald Reagan is also in the Square here in the middle of Budapest. This was made around March 13 so lots of things have changed since then.