November 30, 2014

"Floating Island" -- and Stan was so curious he had dessert first.  It was meringue in custard.

Monday we left early to drive cross country to Szeged.   Before our project appointment, we needed to stop at a carpet store and pay for the carpet (which they were kindly holding) so they could deliver it to the school for the handicapped children the next day. 

At the closing we delivered the screen, two massaging machines and the blankets we had made last week. 

The residents were very happy with the brightly colored blankets.

  

We took a walk through Szeged to get the elders a treat and thank them for translating for us.

On our drive, we went through 4 different fairly long tunnels.  You will notice that the ‘mountain’ through which they go is not very high.  We were surprised that they would build tunnels instead of roads over the 'mountain'.

Here, like everywhere else in the world, we drove through road construction.  Just wanted you to notice the very large stop sign. . .

We drove past beautiful fields of green – even this time of the year. I thought it might be winter wheat, but they call it autumn wheat because that is when it is planted.  Fields that are not planted are nicely and neatly plowed; and we passed many of these fences in the fields – to keep the snow from blowing onto the highways.

On to Budapest that evening where we attended the young adult family home evening – a  special family history evening, so we helped do some indexing with them. Tuesday morning we headed to Veszprém to deliver sheets to a hospital there and ‘close’ that project.  

When we finished there we found a quaint little restaurant where I had delicious guylas (goulash) and Stan had cream of garlic soup and a yummy potato turkey dish.  The only waitress spoke English and we were taken with the myriad of memorabilia on the ceiling and walls.   Notice the stove (upper right); that is just about the actual size of stoves in Hungarian kitchens!

Because it was Stan’s birthday this day and because The Piano Guys were in Budapest this night and our anniversary was also in November, we celebrated by going  to dinner and their concert with Elder Nathan and Sister Sandy Broadhead  (originally from Aztec and Farmington, NM) – and who know several of my family members. 

We were so surprised at the turnout to the concert – a large arena was sold out!  Apparently they have become well-known just through their YouTube videos.  In the concert they mentioned a fan club of 12,000 in Hungary.  Amazing!  They are amazing musicians and the concert was fantastic.  

Wednesday we made one stop to make a payment for an order that will be delivered next week and then on home to Kaposvár.

Always after a trip and project closings, there is much accounting and paper work to be finished, so that happened on Thursday – while all of you were enjoying turkey dinner and family.  We hope you had a meaningful and memorable day.   That evening with the elders we attended a program to a very nice and personable family with a small but lovely American-style home.  It was so nice.  We hope and pray they will be interested and will continue discussions.

Friday at our Young Single Adult evening we celebrated a birthday for one of our girls.  Évi, one of our young women, made her a beautiful, professional-looking cake.   We had a good turnout and a fun time. 

At the end of the evening, Évi brought out another cake and they sang “Happy Birthday” to Elder Miller!

We had planned our Thanksgiving dinner for today (Sunday) with the elders.  Yesterday just as I took a pumpkin pie out of the oven, we had a call inviting us to a pig slaughter today.  Yes, you read right.  Erzsi, a fun and delightful member has been telling us about it for several weeks.  I thought it might be some sort of a party with dinner. So we and the elders postponed our dinner and decided to support her. 

It turned out that it really was just a pig slaughter – or a three pig slaughter.  It was wet outside, so we just took a picture of the tubs of meat and the fat hanging up to dry – that they really use -- and then went inside.  

Erzsi’s daughters were cooking up a storm and she served us meat, cabbage salad, liver and cooked blood!   I tried the meat, the salad (like sauerkraut) – it was good, had one little bite of liver, but I couldn’t bring myself to try the cooked blood (above).  The elders were brave and did; but they had a few comments about it on the way home.  The elders did share a nice message with Erzsi.

This evening we walked to the town square to watch the Christmas lighting ceremony.  There were lots of people, and since it was lightly raining, there were also lots of umbrellas. There was a short program and then music and the kiosks were up – so the Christmas market has begun.   

We did try some chestnuts roasting on an open fire,

saw this fun potato spiral, but will go back when it is not cold, rainy,  dark and Sunday and check out their wares.

We have so very much for which to be grateful – our Savior and His Atonement, the restoration of His Gospel, and the opportunity to serve a mission and bear testimony in His name. We are grateful for family and friends who love and support us, for our health and strength, and for miracles and tender mercies every day.  

As December comes tomorrow, we hope you all enjoy the true Spirit and peace of this Christmas season.