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| A museum in Budapest we walked by one evening. There are dozens of museums. |
This was not our normal missionary week! On Easter Monday, a holiday, most businesses
were closed so we decided to go see a few places. We were all over town – on the tram and
walking. At the end of the day, Elder
Miller’s Fitbit (that the kids game him for his birthday and he loves it) said
we walked 9.25 miles!
The Hungarian State Opera House, one of the most important historical
buildings in the city, dating back 300 years.
The Hungarian National Ballet is also based here. Tours were not available until late
afternoon.We'll go back some other time.
We had to take a peek in the New York Café – touted as ‘the
most beautiful café in the world’ – and connected to the famous Buscolo
Hotel. It would certainly rival the
Grand America in SLC or the Waldorf Astoria in NYC.
We headed to City Park to find the statue of George
Washington. In Hungary, you ask? Some Hungarian leaders, particularly Louis
Kossuth, went to America to raise funds for Hungary after the failed revolution
for independence in 1848. In 1902, a
movement began in Cleveland, OH to erect a statue to him, the ‘Father of
Hungarian Democracy.’ Not sure it ever
happened, but later Hungarian-American leaders placed a statue of George
Washington, the ‘Father of American Democracy,’ in Budapest as a sign of unity
between the two nations.
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As it was a holiday, we discovered a festival in the park. Once again, we checked out the Hungarian handicrafts and food items. It wasn’t as big or
as crowded as Swiss Days in Midway, but they did have one thing over on Swiss
Days – the traffic flow went one direction!
Langos is a Hungarian specialty – a giant scone (or
sopapilla) deep fried and then slathered with honey, sour cream and
cheese. Yum. . .yuk-cholesterol kingdom!
Deep frying and sour cream are big in Hungary.
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And this booth is all about oil! Interesting, you can only buy milk in a one liter
carton, but oil is common in gallons!
Here’s a booth probably not to be seen at Swiss Days. He’s forging tools, knives, etc.
Hungarians love their sweets.
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We went for a walk along the river to see Shoes on the
Danube. This memorial honors the Jews
who were killed during WW II. They were
ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that
their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. These sculptures represent their shoes left
behind on the bank. (They’re bronze but
look like real, worn shoes.) There were dozens of jars in which people have lit candles to show their respect.
Tuesday we finished up some details for the BYU Chamber
Orchestra concert and submitted three projects:
1) tools for a disabled foundation.
The handyman there repairs and rebuilds everything. When items can no longer be repaired, he uses
the parts to build such things as these carts for the disabled to use for
contests, races, fun and developmental exercise. He told us he is retired, and does this
because he “has 3 healthy children; and not everyone has healthy children;” 2)
developmental and speech games and tools for a communication school for
children and adults with speech difficulties, and 3) a breast pump and special needs
nursing accessories and kits for mothers who have difficulty nursing, premature
babies or those with cleft palates, etc. All were approved the next day!
Wednesday we headed to Kaposvár for the rest of the week. Again, the views on the way were of peaceful
farm fields, valleys and villages. It sort of reminded us of driving through
small towns in Utah, but there was no LDS chapel in each falu (village).
The quiet walking mall of downtown Kaposvár from both directions.
The peaceful, quiet street of our Kaposvár apartment.
The front of our apartment building. We are on the top floor (96 steps). When we walk out on the spacious deck, we’re level
with the birds!
The next few days were spent cleaning the apartment. It took a bit of ‘elbow grease’ to whip that
baby into shape – especially the bathtub that was full of rust and grime! The washer had been closed up and was full of
mold. The landlord confirmed that the “rubber
was kaput” and he took the soap dispenser away, so hopefully that can be
repaired or replaced! Pictures will come
when we move in late May.
We attended District Meeting with the elders, a ‘program’ (discussion)
as they visited with a brother who is no longer attending church meetings, and
we sort of invited ourselves to the branch president’s wedding at the city
hall. He is age 25, a member for only six months.
We came early and
thought we would ‘explore’ a bit around the walking mall, but because it was
Saturday afternoon everything was closed (common in Hungary – most shops and
businesses close around noon) so we watched a few wedding parties gather outside and
be ready to go in the hall at their scheduled time.
What a fine, young couple President Balint and Dori
made. They had the largest entourage
also. Here you see him greeting guests.
. .
. . .and Dori lining up with her family and friends.
The wedding ceremony seemed very lovely (it
was in Hungarian). They each took a
candle and with it lit another single candle – symbolic of two lives coming
together as one. The woman Justice of
the Peace spoke to them about becoming one, kindness, love and family – so the
elders told us afterwards. The JP then
toasted them with their witnesses and parents.
They lined up outside and the attendees were able to then greet them and
wish them well. We did not invite
ourselves to their reception!
Here is the Branch House – just a small section of a
building off the town square; it has a clothing boutique right next to it. It has been remodeled nicely, is new to the
branch, but their sign has not yet arrived.
This is where we attended Sunday meetings, which were being presided over
and conducted by the high councilor.
There were 15 adult members in attendance, 6 missionaries (including us),
a few children and then a couple, their 3 children and parents visiting from
New York and Canada came in a bit late (they had been lost). The Spirit can be felt even when the words
cannot be understood. It was a sweet
meeting and testimonies were shared.
There were 9 sisters in Relief Society, and the young sister who was
teaching said this was her first time and she was very nervous. She spoke some English, so was good to add
comments and questions to include me and the sister from Canada.
Back to Budapest; we are busy this week with projects and
are looking forward to a visit this weekend with our area supervisors from
Germany. Our post next week may be a few
days late because we will be busy with our supervisors for several days.
