March 1, 2015

Typical step configuration for strollers, the disabled, etc. 

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.   And 9 non-members were at church today, along with 4 visitors, and a member who has not attended since we’ve been here – and she bore her testimony!  It was a very good meeting – even if the mission president pre-empted the elder who usually translates for me.  

Another week here at home and attending many programs with the elders.  One was with a 12-year old who wants to be baptized.  The elders need to meet with his mother (she brought him to church last week).  Another program was with a lady from the Dominican Republic.  She is married to a Hungarian and he has a cousin who is a member serving a mission in California.  She wants to learn about the church.  (Small problem, she is leaving in a couple of weeks to meet her husband who is currently working in Germany.)   Interesting program.  She is being taught by a German elder.  He speaks great Hungarian, has also learned English and is now learning a bit of Spanish to teach her.   She speaks a little Hungarian and a little English, but Elder Miller’s Spanish and the translation app on his iPhone for Spanish were great helps in the lesson.  Another lady is very interested, likes all that she has been taught; she just doesn’t want to discount other churches.

We also visited a sweet family who live about 40 miles out of town to home teach and give the husband a blessing.   They just had a baby boy a couple of weeks ago.   He is so cute and filled out; he weighs around 8 lbs.  When I held him, I just thought of Carlee; she’s about that size – and I wanted her to be in my arms.  It was a tender moment.  The husband is doing some sort of training/school so that he can get a job and when that is finished in April, they will move to Kaposvar and then they can come to church.  They seem very interested and sincere.  His mother is an active member, but she usually comes in to town on Saturday and stays with a daughter for the weekend. 

On the way we went through a village with homes that had interesting designs.  We have noticed them in villages before.  We are told that this is a very old custom.

We did have three projects approved this week and have been monitoring the deliveries of several orders from our computer here.  We will be headed to Budapest this week to close a project, purchase items and possibly visit with a new potential project.  

Elder Miller had a suit cleaned and picked it up this week. The lady at the cleaners very carefully took his suit off the hanging rack, took the hanger off and neatly folded it up inside out.  Since it was raining out, he did ask for some plastic to cover it.

We had a branch activity/party on Friday evening for Farsang (pronounced ‘far-shong’).  Farsang (“Carnival” in English) is an important tradition in Hungary, as it is in many other parts of the world.  It’s a combination of Christian traditions and old pagan rituals, very tied to the Catholic Church.  Typically, Farsang season starts after the Christmas season, which officially ends on January 6^th or Epiphany.  It can be marked by masquerade balls, eating, drinking and loud noises and comes to a high point the last three days before Lent begins.   We are told that some towns carry on this tradition with events during the whole season.  Don’t know of any events in our town, but then there’s a lot we don’t know about.  We saw some masks for sale.  Our party was much milder than other celebrations, I’m sure.  

Since missionaries can’t dress up, we only had a couple of young girls don the ghoulish garbs that are supposed to scare away the winter and welcome spring.  And the girl who was in charge didn’t really get the karaoke to work as she planned, so it was a pretty low-key activity.  We did have 10 non-members in attendance!

Exciting week or not, we are grateful for the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, for our membership in this Church and Kingdom on the earth and for the opportunity to serve the wonderful people of Hungary.