September 7, 2014

A city center project just finished this week -- new steps down to a lower street,
 flowers and play area for children.

Another cool week.  In fact, Tuesday was dark, cold and rainy.  The Hungarians are wearing coats!  Our branch president went to help his parents harvest their big garden and commented how much the rain has hurt the tomatoes and the grapes.  He said the potatoes and carrots have to be harvested out of mud.

School started this week for most students, so we had only one young man for home evening.  He has recently become active and attended the Youth Conference in Germany and is fired up.  He was so worried after his first day of school because of the way students were talking.  He said he doesn’t want to be around them and was worried how he is going to handle this year.   That gave us a great lesson topic for home evening and we talked about standing for what you know is right – often alone. 

Two afternoons we spent with our translator making calls and setting up appointments for humanitarian projects.  We did make one delivery this week (which joyously cleared our bedroom of stacks of blankets and towels), but will have the official closing this coming week. 

Oh, we solved the therapy bed problem.  We went to see the man who is the country’s head of the disabled agencies (we have met him a couple of times before) and asked him if another of their agencies could use the therapy bed.  He was thrilled!   He said that 20 cm would not hinder therapy work for most people.   Currently our budget is calling for less expensive projects, so it may be the first of the year before we can get back to that lady – if it seems right at that time.  He even offered to pick up the bed and transport it to a new location; and said he would invite us to see it and observe it in use.

Thursday we were invited to dinner at the German family’s home.  They live about 50K away from Kaposvár.  They have a 38-year-old son who lives at home with them (who has an internet business), and speaks very good English, but who is no longer active.  He is a very personable and is very respectful to his parents and translates for them and us.  I gave her a visiting teaching message.  We wish we could get him back to Church.   The parents are faithful – every other week.  Don’t know if it’s money, distance or just the mindset they have.  He served as a branch president in Germany years ago, but even after 9 years here, he does not speak any Hungarian.   

Friday was district meeting and then Young Single Adults in the evening, so typically I am cooking all afternoon.  I have to think of things that are inexpensive (for the branch budget) on this day and can be transported to the branch house and kept warm – so that means either in the two (small) crock pots or two kettles that I have.  There is no oven at the church.  I usually make a one-dish something and some sort of bread.  The kids and the elders (of course) lurk over the bread waiting for ‘go.’   (When I was asked to bring sacrament bread one elder said he was waiting all week because he thought I would make it.)   Institute began this week as the first part of YSA, and we had Minute-to-Win-It games planned, but the kids all left after institute and the meal.  School has just started and a couple of them had been out of town all week at school and were ready to be home.   Who knows?  Things may change with school starting.  We’ll have to see, but we have next week’s games ready.  

Saturday came and we realized we hadn’t taken a single picture – not a picturesque sort of week.  We knew there was a city festival of some sort in town so we walked there to see what it was about.   It was a city family festival.  There were about 20 or so booths set up selling jewelry,

porcelain, 

candies, 

This reminded us of Utah, but it is Slovakia.

artwork, specialty foods and a few miscellaneous items -- i.e., wine.  

 

There was a stage with music,

children painting on a vacant store’s windows (this was planned) 

and another area with some games for families.

We had invited the young man and his mother (who is less active at the present) to dinner today.  Then we got a call from the mission president saying he and another couple were coming here to church today so I invited them to lunch.  So it was to be a double header.  I shopped and was preparing on Saturday when we received a call from the mission president saying they forgot they were supposed to be in a different city for the dedication of their chapel.  And then the young man’s mother got called into work.   We quickly invited another young couple over.  He is from Texas (is our translator here), served here on a mission, married a Hungarian and is living here.  Her mother came with them and we had a delightful time.  So we had company after all.  It was a good day.

Testimony meeting today was awesome.  I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and for its restoration on the earth at this time.  I am grateful for my testimony of its truthfulness, and for my parents who have taught me this truth.  I am also grateful for the Spirit which bears witness even when the words cannot be understood.  We have a Savior who loves and cares for each of us, who truly knows our every feeling and how to comfort us because He truly descended below ALL (or deeper) than any of us so that He would know and feel our needs and be there for us -- always!

August 31, 2014

 

Stan saw 'fried clod' on the menu and was curious.  It was a breaded piece of pork served over potatoes.  I liked the carrot flower which was also on my vegetable plate (but that picture is blurry).

The temperature is supposed to reach 80⁰ today.   That’s probably a high for us in August!

 

The weeks keep flying by.  Monday night we had a good home evening – 3 members, 1 investigator and 4 missionaries.  They fill our little house, but that is good.  One young sister reported on attending a central Europe YSA conference in Poland.  Besides several mishaps with the train going and coming to Budapest, the bus going to Poland and a window breaking in her hotel room, she had a great experience -- meeting many other Young Single Adult members, attending classes, learning, hearing Sister Elaine Dalton and enjoying the social events.

We made a quick trip to Budapest this week to make a payment on an order for a project (remember, things must be paid in cash up front), picked up items for two other projects and then headed home through other cities where we needed to stop. 

First stop was in Székesféhervár where we stopped to ‘close’ a project, which was this therapy bed for the county home for disabled adults.  Here we encountered a new problem.  The director is not happy with the bed.  It is the standard size, but she wanted it 20 cm narrower.  So, we are not through with this project and are still a bit unsure how this will be solved.  Anyone need a rather expensive, custom-made, electrically adjustable therapy bed?

Next was Tatabánya where we presented three three-tiered serving carts (you can see the top of one) to a home for the elderly.  They will use these for delivering medicines and meals to the residents of their facility who cannot leave their rooms.   

We then took ping pong paddles and balls to a day care for disabled adults to go with a ping pong table that was delivered last week.   Their handy man was to arrive later in the day to finish setting up the table; the residents, holding their paddles, were ready to play and looked forward to some physical activity.  The missionaries do service there periodically and said they would go play some games with them.

In  Pápa, where we had previously closed a project, we delivered sheets for the cots at the day care.  We had hoped they would be delivered, but the company called us to say they were ready, and they had no idea when they could be delivered as they needed more than one delivery to go that direction.  Since we had another order at that company and had to pay in cash, we picked up the sheets and delivered them.  They were very excited because on Monday, their classes will be full.

In the evening inTatabánya we walked around the square and took a picture of the statue of Arpád.  Arpád is everywhere in the country – statues, streets, bridges, and buildings.  He was the head of the confederation of Hungarian tribes in the 9^th and 10th centuries. He is considered by many Hungarians as the ‘founder of the country.’  He is also known as the Grand Prince, and played a prominent role in the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin; his line ruled the country for 300 years.

Back in Kaposvár we went with the elders to a small village about 40K away to teach M, an investigator.  Normally, they would not teach someone this far away, but her aunt lives next door and is a member, and M attended church last week and asked for the missionaries.  She will be attending school in another town, so not sure how much teaching will happen there. 

On the way we passed several farm implement dealers with surprisingly large equipment on their lots.  We also came upon numerous tractors and equipment driving on the road.   True to form, there is the new, . . .

. . .and there is also the old.

In this little village we drove to the end of a narrow street to turn around at the roundabout, and saw this quaint statue of a farmer and his wife surrounded by a flower garden.

And on the way home, we saw this sign with the old Hungarian language-- it's not backwards.  In the small villages, these old names are still posted.  This old Hungarian script or alphabetic writing system was used in the Middle Ages.  

Today at church we had several people who have not attended in a long time – a very nice happening, and a full meeting again.  The German couple spoke about marriage and eternal families.  Interesting, he only speaks German; she speaks a little Hungarian and a little English.  So they wrote and gave their talks in German.  Prior to today their son translated their talks into English and they gave a copy to Stan and I and the person who used the English to translate into Hungarian for the congregation.  Translating makes for interesting meetings; and sometimes we don't get it all.

We have sweet members and are grateful that we can feel the Spirit in spite of language differences.  The Gospel is true in any language.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to partake of the sacrament and ponder the blessing of our Savior's Atonement for each of us.  

Happy Labor Day to All!

  

August 24, 2014

I tried my hand at Hungarian Lesco (Leh cho) for YSA -- onions, peppers, tomatoes and sausage if desired.

An amazingly cool week – in the 60’s and 70’s!   Sorry for those of you still enduring the 90’s to 100- degree summer heat.  

For the week prior and leading up through Tuesday was a Kaposvár Classical Music Festival.  We went to the closing concert on Tuesday evening.  The program listed two numbers:  Beethoven’s piano Sonata in A Major, Op. 101 and Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks.   The Cultural Center was full with overflow seating on the sides of the stage.  We enjoyed the Beethoven piece played by a soloist who is turning 80 shortly.  Since his retirement from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music he travels and gives master classes in Europe and Asia.  When that piece was finished they announced that the next piece would be outside in the city square – complete with fireworks.  Minor though they were, they added a festive flair to the music. (Didn't get a picture of the fireworks, sorry.)

Then Wednesday was a holiday – St. Stephen’s Day.  In the year 1000 Hungary’s first king was crowned and the Hungarian state was founded.  In Budapest, a case containing the right hand of St. Stephen is carried in a procession from the Basilica through the streets of Budapest.  Traditionally, the first bread from the new harvest is baked for this day. 

We were not in Budapest to celebrate; however, so you won’t miss the tradition, here is a picture of St. Stephen’s hand as we viewed it in St. Stephen’s Basilica a few months ago.  

A wasp's nest.

Here in Kaposvár, we celebrated rather quietly.  We went to the Rippl-Ronai Museum and thought we were going to see the Hungarian artist, Rippl-Ronai’s paintings.  Surprise!  There were none.   Instead we saw early Hungarian artifacts (much like other historical museums), animals and insects (much like the Monte Bean Museum),

Festival dress for a young married man.

Festival dress for a young married woman.

Festival dress for a young married, childless woman.  Talk about discrimination!

early Hungarian clothing, 

and samples of early Hungarian embroidery.

Later in the day we went to a city park which has been remodeled in the last couple of months.  The festivities there were mostly for children: some booths selling stuffed animals and toys, a group doing some rhythmic children’s songs and stories, a few carnival rides, inflated slides, several nifty playground  areas,

. . .a new jogging path around the lake, and of course vattacukor (cotton candy).  So our summer is complete – just walking by the carnival rides and cotton candy like we do each year at Strawberry Days or the Fourth of July celebration.   Wish we’d had some grandchildren with us. 

We made arrangements this week to ‘close’ some projects in a couple of other cities so will be heading out on Tuesday.   On Friday evening we had several new people at our Young Single Adults.  This week was a service week; and they helped finish the last three blankets for the home for the disabled, which we can’t ‘close’ until September.  We are discovering Europe goes on vacation in August.    

A Hungarian frustration – we ordered a dermatology lens from California (because it was not in stock here, and to order it through the company here would have been much more expensive, and taken much longer – we think).  It is to be given to a medical teaching hospital here.  Well, it has been in the country now for at least three weeks (that we know of).   The Posta man came to our door to tell us it had arrived in Budapest and we needed to pay customs.  Fine, but we can’t seem to get it here so we can pay.  We have filled out the paper work, sent it, and talked to a customs lady in Budapest.  She verified everything and said it would be sent here this past week.  When we hadn’t heard anything, we went to the Posta and showed them the paperwork – only to be told we had to do it all over again.  So typical; things here are so labor intensive.  So now we will see if anything arrives this week.  

A word about the Hungarian language, or, why I am not speaking by now.  Check out this word: 
                          Megszentségtelenithetetlenségeskedeseitekrét   

This is the longest Hungarian word.  The root word is ‘szent’ or holy.  Add the ‘ség’ and it makes it holiness, next the ‘telen’ and now it is unholy or sacreligious.  Then add the co-verb ‘meg’ at the front and ‘it’ next at end and now it is defile or profane.  And then you keep adding and finally you have a word that means something like ‘for all your undoable sacrilegiousness.’  Granted, this word is hardly ever used, but it shows the principle of the language – adding different ‘cases’ at the end or the beginning for the tense of the word, the postpositions (instead of prepositions), plural, denoting active or passive verbs, collective or abstract nouns, result or product of the action, to make adjectives out of nouns, to create verbs, to make it opposite and a host of others – and then if the word shows possession or is being acted upon, it has an accusative ‘t’ at the end.  I know words and some very simple sentences, but when people start talking to each other (always very fast) they commonly use words that are 7-10 syllables in length, and I am lost!!!  I wish I could start over and go to the MTC with the young missionaries and learn it like they do – all day every day!   

We live near the hospital and when the helicopter comes we can watch it land on top of the building from our kitchen window.  And speaking of the hospital, when we walk past, it is common to see the patients in their robes and slippers out on the sidewalk having their smoke.

Today was a great day at church.  Our 30 chairs were full; we even had extras brought in and had at least 7 investigators attending.  Unfortunately, today was the last day for one of our priesthood holders who is moving to Budapest.  We still have much work to do. in this branch.  Two of our convert Young Single Adult girls attended the YSA Conference in Poland a couple of weeks ago.  They both were thrilled and had a great experience.  They made new friends, loved hearing Sister Elaine Dalton speak, and were strengthened.  One of them is talking about serving a mission.

Oh, how we wish all those who attend and those who the missionaries teach would have the witness of the Spirit and accept the gospel and thus begin to enjoy the blessings our loving and merciful Heavenly Father and His Son want to bestow upon them.  I guess. . ."we do sin in our wish; for we ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto us."  (see Alma 29:3)  And we must honor the agency that each is given.  It is just hard to watch choices and mistakes being made and know how much better life could be for them.  We are so grateful for the infinite understanding and love of our Savior for all His children.