April 19, 2015

Pork Medallions 'good housewife' style? 

We look out the window and what do we see?  Popcorn popping on all of the trees!   There are so many beautiful blossoms – but not sure we’ve seen any apricot trees!   As we were driving home the other day noticing all the blossoms, one elder told us that he grew up singing that song and never understood it.  “But when I turned 18, suddenly I got it,” he said.  And spring is doing its job exactly right -- warm, lovely days alternating with cold, windy and rainy ones. 

We left last Sunday evening for Budapest as we had a full day on Monday shopping for a project.

One stop was at Office Depot to find an electric stapler (seemingly the only place in Budapest to have one) and it was across the street from the Avilai Nagy Szent Térez Templom.  We stepped inside for a few minutes. They had huge numbers above the altar '1515' and '2015' which seems to suggest the church is 500 years old this year, but the information I found only talked about 200 years.

Another stop was in the Mammut (mammoth) Mall and we thought this display hanging upside down from the ceiling was unique. 

Bet you don’t see these openly displayed in American store windows every day!

Refresher in the afternoon – and this was the small one!

 

Finally we were near and had a chance to go into the Eiffel Palace in the day. 

  

This building was the publishing and print house beginning in 1893, hence a couple of old printing presses were displayed in the foyer.   The roof and top floors received much damage during WWII.   In 2013 it was renovated, restoring its 1893 character, to an office building housing some Fortune 500 companies.

Its internal structure and superstructure comply with the highest 21^st century technology and they have received a number of building and environmental awards in the last few years.  We could only stand (in one spot) in the open atrium and take this picture of two different sides – one very modern, the other retaining the old iron work.

Our day was a success and we finished in time to have a free evening – and found a theater with a movie in English – Cinderella.  Oh my, every girl should see this!  It is a fairy tale of epic proportions.  Disney spared nothing!  And, to their credit, there is nothing off-color inserted anywhere.  What a delightful experience.  We were the only two in the theater.

Tuesday was Senior Conference.   Since there are six couples and the mission president 

leaving in June and July, hearing from each of them constituted most of this day.  

In the evening, we ate a quick sandwich and hurried off to see Aida, at the Erkel Theater.   

We were hoping for the State Opera House, but got this instead.  This was not the stage 

play Aida, but Verdi’s original opera – a first for Stan and me together.   

Voices and costumes were marvelous. With a 45-minute intermission between acts 1 and 

2, another 15-minute one between acts 3 and 4, the traditional Hungarian rhythmic 

clapping and seemingly endless encores, it lasted 4 hours!   Our English speaking 

group was watching this Egyptian story sung in Italian with Hungarian subtitles! Good 

thing we had looked at a summary of the story.

Wednesday the seniors all made the annual trek to Szentendre, a riverside town known 

for its museums, galleries, artists and shops – emphasis on shops.  Here’s a photo of the 

shopping day.  The men had as much fun as the ladies.  

This is the town where we saw the miniature museum last year, and we only learned about

the galleries after the fact.  We did see a few artists on the street.  

We stepped into a small Jewish memorial, a home set aside by family for their brother 

who was killed in the holocaust.  From this small town 350 people were taken.

Interesting experience – the group had lunch reservations at this small, but well-known 

restaurant that we learned was started in 1979 -- the first restaurant in Hungary to be 

privately owned, a rather sensitive thing at the time.

Hanging above the kitchen were all these bank notes (money) from around the world.  We were told they could build another restaurant with the amount that is hanging up there.  

 

Here’s a cute little lemon squeezer.  We were also shown a photo of Laura Bush with the

restaurant staff when she visited there.  

Most started with their yummy, famous cold blueberry soup.  Then all our group began 

getting their orders.  We were first to order, and then we were waiting. . .and waiting. . .

and waiting.  They were very busy.  It was time to go and we asked about our order; the 

waitress was adamant that we had only ordered one-half order of soup each.  Oh well – 

if we only spoke better Hungarian.

So that evening in Dunaujvaros we were grateful for dinner -- a plate of vegetables – had

spinach gnocchi on mine and Stan’s had mashed potatoes.

Stan and Buci, the branch’s only 16-year old, caught a 6 a.m. train to Budapest on 

Saturday morning to attend a youth activity at the stake center.  A youth can't go alone 

and only missionaries can ride in our car, so it was the train.  They had a good day; there 

was a good attendance.  Buci enjoyed the activity; I hear he made some new female 

friends.

 And here are a couple of scenes as they walked from the train station to the stake center.

A tree out of control. 

Hungary's version of Deseret Industries.  Put all your unwanted 'stuff' out on the street and 

for a few weeks it's open season.  And then it is all picked up.  And yes, it could rain. 

Stan said from the time he took the picture on the way in to when they passed it on the 

way back, it had grown about three sizes.

On Thursday morning we had zone training and we were asked to give a presentation 

telling about our humanitarian mission.  Many of the young missionaries had no idea 

about the humanitarian arm of the Church and were quite surprised to learn.

We also had four new projects approved this week.  Lots to keep us busy.

Our zone goal is to have 150 ‘friends’ (investigators) visit church on Sunday during this 

transfer.  Our own district here in Kaposvár has committed to 50 of those.  We have 

consistently had 8-10 each week. Right now, one sister is scheduled for baptism next 

Saturday – if a place can be found.   The pool that has previously been used is apparently 

not available that day.   

Another good meeting today with a visiting returned missionary sister speaking along with 

the high councilman.  She is a life-time member and is from a town only a couple of hours 

away and just finishing serving in the Hungary Budapest Mission.   It is wonderful to know 

and hear from those who have been members for their life  – an example to all that the 

Church is growing and members’ roots are going deeper and are being strengthened.