Keith Hudak

Keith & Jody Hudak

Candace, Cody, Cal

Date: 10/11/05 14:38:12

Subject: I think that fall has arrived...

Today we woke up to cloudy skies and some sprinkling. We are looking forward to some rain for the next few days. The land here needs the rain. We are still under a drought. The cooler temperatures have brought the feel of fall to Torrejón. Even if we do not get the leaves changing like we are used to, we enjoy the change of seasons. Saturday, for instance, we were able to enjoy a special day at Faunia (an animal park here in Madrid) with some of our friends from Los Fresnos. We had a good time.

School is going well for all of the kids. They all did well with their first mid-quarter reports. Cal is adjusting…he still struggles with spelling issues, but is doing much better with printing American style instead of Spanish cursive. Candace is keeping us busy with all her homework during the week and then her extra activities. Cody is having a good year also. His teacher is doing some great projects with book reports. Here are a few funny moments from last week that had us all laughing.

My niece, Mandy, had a baby last week. When I told the kids, they were all excited. Cody exclaimed “Yea…I am a grandpa!”

Cal came down with a cold, missing a few days of school. He kept coughing and his voice was sounding really rough. He whispered to me…”Mom, my voice keeps getting lower and lower. But Mom, when you lose your voice, do you get another one?” J A few days later, he asked me what his new voice would sound like. J

Baseball has begun once again. Keith is coaching Cal’s team again this year. So our Saturdays have become busy with practices. Both boys are enjoying their teams. Keith is finding it a challenge to coach in two languages, since there have been some new kids that have joined the team from ECA (the kids school) and some of them do not speak much Spanish yet. It is great practice for Keith. It is good to be able to see our baseball friends from last year, and we look forward to meeting new parents as the season goes on.

Speaking of speaking in English and Spanish, I have begun teaching the 3-5 year old Sunday School class. Please pray for me. Although we have a good time, it is WORK at the same time. I also have to teach class in both languages, so now I have a lot more sympathy for my husband. I have to think harder, and everything takes twice as long. This past Sunday I had two little ones (under 2 yrs old) in the class with me also! Thankfully I had a helper. Usually I end of throwing Danny (my little buddy) at Keith when he comes in to take attendance, and Keith takes care of him for me until the story is over and I can go and get him back.

Pray also for Keith. He is working on a sermon that he will be preaching October 30^th in the church in Coslada. He will be preaching in Spanish, so you can pray for his Spanish also.

I will start this week in the language school in Alcalá. I find out tomorrow if I have the early time slot (5:30 – 7:30) or the later one. We are hoping for the earlier so that I will be home before the kids head off to bed. I am praying that the class and studying will help me be better able to communicate. I can be understood…and usually understand…but that is a far cry from where I would like to see myself. Keith continues with his intercambio with David (from church). He is also meeting with Cesar (also from church) and trying to set up a time to meet again this year with Antonio (from Cal’s old school).

The coffee club has renewed with a vengeance. We plan at least one morning a week (and sometimes two) and meet with our friends from Cal’s school. We have had some good chats, as well as meeting a new friend that the others invited to join us. “Coffee” takes a good part of our morning, but we feel that it is time well spent as we seek to share the love of God with our friends and neighbors.

One more big request! Coming up this Saturday is the Alameda BBQ. Keith was able to secure the baseball facilities (for free), and we are planning a big outreach event. There will be food (Spanish style) and a day of fun games. We have invited all of our coffee friends. Loli and Danny are coming. The others say that they will try. If all the families come, we have the possibility of having about 15 friends at the BBQ. The Clodgos have also invited their Los Fresnos friends. Please pray that the church at Alameda will be edified and strengthened through this event and that our friends will have an enjoyable, unforgettable time fellowshipping with us.

Keith and I are beginning to fill dates on the calendar…three down, twenty-something to go. Tomorrow is a holiday here…Patron saint of the Military Day. The kids are looking forward to having the day off school. Seems like there are a lot more days off/holidays here. We hope that you are all having a good fall. Looking ahead, we look forward to seeing the leaves change next year! (The kids are beginning to anticipate the visit already). Thank you so much for your prayers for our family. What a gift it is to know that we can depend on you, our brothers and sisters in Christ – our fellow saints J, to lift us up before our good God.

Adios from Spain!

Jody (for Keith and the kids)

From: Keith and Jody Hudak

Date: 04/18/05 05:07:43

To: Keith and Jody Hudak

Subject: Hello from the Hudaks

Here I am again...way past due for an update! Life is moving at a quick pace for us, as well as for all of you, I am sure. I am going to try to be brief as I give you another glimpse of life here in Spain.

Over the Easter break, we had a great visit from Hannah, Marshall, and Peggy...our good friends and Candace's best friend from NC. We were able to spend some quality time with them because the kids had off school. It was a busy time, as we showed them our Spain, but we hated to see them leave.

One thing that we did while they were here was an Easter Egg hunt. I invited the Clodgos, Johnsons, our Pastor's family, and a couple families from Cal's school to meet us in the park next to the house to hunt eggs the Saturday before Easter. Not everyone was able to make it, but Keith and Glenn took the seven kids that were there and began to play games with them while us Moms hid the eggs. Although we chose a place that was not busy, we soon attracted onlookers, who wanted to know what exactly we were doing and if they could play. At the end, we had around 15 children hunting for eggs. It was quite an adventure! The day was made more exciting later. The egg hunt turned into a kid hunt when Gracen went missing. There was about 30 minutes of frantic hunting and praying before she was found. What a day!

Marshall, Peggy, and Hannah left (after their own little adventure at the airport - the airport police take a dim view of those old cap guns in carry-on luggage), school started back up, and life has returned to a normal schedule. Normal meaning just as busy, but in a different way. Elaine and my English class continues on...with a steady attendance of around 7. The main benefit of the class has been that it has helped us to get to know the parents of Cal's school so much better. It has broken down some barriers, and we have noticed that everyone is much friendlier to us now. It is fun and also good practice of our Spanish to be able to go to coffee with some of the parents. When we go to coffee, we sometimes are there talking for over an hour!

We are in the thick of baseball season. Keith's team (which is also Cal's) is now 3 and 0. As I sit the sidelines with the other mothers, they tell me that they are so happy to have Keith as a coach. :-) It opens up another platform to talk to and connect with people. Cody's team is also doing great (3 and 0 also). Cody has been playing around some different positions...shortstop, catcher, and even pitching for an inning or two. Cody and Keith enjoy just tossing the ball around in the park also. The hard part about baseball is having two kids on two different teams. There are Saturdays when we leave the house early, go to one field, play a game, drive to the other side of Madrid, and play another game or two. This Saturday, we got home at 5:00, and we did not stay for the second game (which Cody can choose to play or not) since Cal was sick. Pray for this ministry! Elaine (who knows the right people) suggested last week that Keith begin a team here in Torrejón and offered to go with him to see what needs to be done. We are considering (with much prayer and a bit of trembling) looking into it.

Here is some big news...One week ago yesterday, I was on the phone with my sister, Brenda. Cal (who should have been asleep in bed) came into the living room to tell me that he had just "prayed for Jesus." Remember that for the past two years he has been asking a lot of questions. We have answered them, presented the gospel, but never pushed. He told his Daddy that he was ready to pray (just out of the blue), and Keith listened to him confess to Jesus that he did wrong things but wanted Jesus to be his savior and pay the price for his sins for him. What a joy!! Keith and I (and Aunt Bren too) were pretty overwhelmed. Our first person to accept Christ in Spain!!

Well, we continue in the rotation for teaching Bible study on Fridays (Keith) and childrens church (me). We are gearing up for camp now...full speed ahead. Diana is busy translating the lessons and dramas, while also painting signs and working on student books. I am working on ideas for decorations and crafts. We have asked Alberto (one of the leaders of our praise team at church) for help in translating some of the songs, and he already has one done. We want to have everything ready to present when we have our camp meeting that should be coming up soon. When we are ready, we will be recruiting team leaders and helpers from the different churches that participate in camp. Please pray that we will reach hearts with the love of Jesus this summer!

We have another prayer request for you. Brenda, my sister, would like to come work with us for one year as an independent short term missionary here in Spain. Brenda will be a real asset to us...with the transition of Cal to ECA (hopefully in the fall) he will need a lot of extra help. The truth is that he is more comfortable with Spanish right now than with English. We will have to work with him to get him up to speed. Also, his small motor skills continue needing improvement. I am often unable to help him like I should simply because of lack of time between teaching English and attempting to help the other children with their studies also. Brenda has applied to teach at ECA, and would work there during the day and then help me during the afternoons, evenings, and weekends. I would also like to put her to work helping me to develop my English class. My gifts run more towards support and service, and I could sure use her help. Brenda has by faith not renewed her contract at the Christian school where she has worked for a long time and is praying to be here in August of this year. She will need to raise about $1,000/month for the time that she will be here, as well as her airfare, since teachers at ECA are not salaried. If God touches your heart to help her in any way, I know that she would be very encouraged. Her email address is nedoodledo@yahoo.com if you would like to drop her an encouraging line or schedule her to visit your church.

Speaking of touching hearts, our hearts have been especially encouraged this past month to see God supply our needs through you, his people. Our support account touched the lowest level it has ever been. We were extremely concerned and even discussing whether we were going to need to take an earlier than planned furlough. Two extra gifts this month came in the middle of this time of discouragement. What a blessing, along with a bit of rebuke. We could almost hear Him saying...oh ye of little faith! Yes, we missionaries are not super anything -- we worry just like the rest of you. Thank you, God, for building our faith with the help of our team of prayer and support warriors!

Well, once again it is long, but with God touching my heart to write, I could not bring myself to pare it down. Please forgive me. May each of you find a special blessing from God this week, just as you are a special blessing from God to us.

From Spain,

Jody

(for Keith and the kids too)

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Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 2:01 PM

Subject: FW: Hello from the Hudaks

¡Feliz año nuevo! We are praying that you will have a blessed New Year in 2005. "I guess Christmas is over" said Keith as he came home from baseball practice Saturday and saw the dismantled tree sitting in its box by the door waiting to be carried down to the storage room on the garage level. Sure enough, I had packed up every Christmas item I could find. The programs were over...two for church and one for each school. (You should have seen us parents singing Rudolf at Cal's school...in English, they wrote it out phonetically as Elaine said it for them, we practiced, then we sang...it was quite something! HA) Cal turned 7 on January 29th. Brenda and Jamie (my brother and sister who were with us for three weeks) went back to the states. We rang in the New Year as a family of five...eating our 12 grapes with the ringing of the bell tower on the TV. We went to Campo Real with Roy and Nancy and watched the kings ride into town on their way to hand out gifts on the eve of Kings Day (January 6). Everybody started back to school Monday, and we are back to "normal" life here in Spain.

So what is normal, you ask?! Keith continues coaching baseball every Saturday, with Cal on his team and Cody playing for the next age bracket up. Coaching gives him opportunity to practice his Spanish, meet some more friends, be a positive witness and example, as well as spend some quality time with the boys. Our Sundays are filled with church activities...with Sunday School and Worship Service in the morning with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Alameda and evening Bible studies with our small group session (also from Alameda). The first Sunday of every month, we also have a carry-in meal at the church after the morning service. This week, Alameda is celebrating their 25th anniversary with special exhibitions and services on the weekends also. School back in session means carpooling, meetings and coffee with our friends from Cal's school, homework, and Spanish classes for the kids every Tuesday and Thursday from 5 to 6 PM. Keith continues with his night class as he advances through the ranks of the official language school here in Madrid. As always, our language learning continues to be a big prayer request!

Something that is coming to feel normal, although we don't like to admit it, is watching the ebb and flow of the dollar. The bad news is that there is more ebb than flow. We still have not bounced back from underestimating our needed support and housing which was complicated greatly by the slide of the dollar. We are now almost $1000 under-supported every month, with our support level around 83%. God is so good. We have seen Him provide in ways that we could not anticipate, and we have not ever gone hungry :-), but it is a strain that we are praying that God will alleviate by either adding to our support base or working in the hearts of our present supporting churches. Would you pray also?

What is new then?! One new thing we are doing that you can pray alot about is that we are beginning a Language Club for adults in Cal's school. I am co-teaching the class, along with our friend Elaine, who is from England but has been here 12 years. The class will meet two times a week (while the kids are in Spanish), and the headmistress of Cal's school has given us a room in the school that we can meet in. We begin meeting tomorrow. Will you pray for this Club? We are going to attempt to do a half hour of English, followed by a half hour of Spanish. We will see what works, but Keith and I are praying that this may open doors into the community and into the hearts of those around us. Will you pray for our friends and contacts in Cal's school? Pray for Elaine and John, Loli and Jorge, Teri and Santiago, Eva and Pilar, to name a few.

Another new thing is that the Clodgo family has finally been able to apply for their visas! We are waiting on word from the embassy in DC and anticipating the day that they will arrive (although it could still be a while, God is able to get them here in HIS time!). Once they arrive, we will be busy showing them around, finding an apartment, and helping them get settled into life here in Spain. Please pray for both them and the Johnson family (coming to work with Roy and Nancy Jones), that they will be able to be here SOON!

My resolution this year is to write shorter letters a bit more often. This will be a challenge for me, but I promise to attempt it. Therefore, I am going to close this letter for now. Keep warm this winter and smile! Spring is just around the corner!

From Spain,

Jody (for Keith and the kids)

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