November 9, 2014

You'll never guess about these pictures.  We came across this in an upgraded area of the city.  
The tree roots are covered with a 'cork like' substance.  It looks almost like it was
 poured over and then it hardened -- clean and nice.

Another busy and full week at home in Kaposvár with wonderfully warm weather.

Monday we attended a funeral for a member of our branch.  It was held at the mortuary in the cemetery.   His family did not want anything LDS; they felt that "he was taken by a cult.  They were very nice people and cared for him, but a cult nonetheless.”  In the funeral, a woman (I think this is her occupation) read for about 8 minutes, another woman got up and recited something and then the original woman read some more for several minutes, and closed her book.  Three men came in to get the flowers.  The wreaths were put on top of the hearse, the urn (he was cremated) was put in the hearse, and then

we all walked behind the hearse as it slowly drove through the cemetery to the burial site.  This all  took 15 minutes.  At the grave, the woman read some more, and then our branch president was given three minutes.



He sang a hymn (he has a beautiful tenor voice) and prayed.   And then they put the urn in the crypt, sealed it and placed the many flowers around.

Monday evening was FHE again with a good crowd – six investigators; one new one.  We had a lesson, and then an activity and games; and of course, refreshments.  Again, all seemed congenial and had a good time together. 

Tuesday, the senior missionary auditing couple arrived to do a branch audit.  They came over for dinner afterwards before leaving to go on to Pecs.  Actually, Elder and Sister Bailey (from Sandy, UT) served a mission here and while living in Pécs, drove to Kaposvár a couple of times a week to serve as the branch was beginning in Kaposvár.  They have now returned as the auditing couple and travel to several countries in Eastern Europe for auditing purposes. 
 
Wednesday we met with a children’s home here in Kaposvár.  You may think you’ve heard that line before.  You have!  Children’s homes are plentiful in this country.   Children can be removed from their home because of parental abuse, neglect, alcoholism, poverty or their own delinquent behavior.  And all those things happen frequently.  In these homes they are expected to attend school until at least the age of 16, help with the chores and maintenance of the home and participate in the activities in their ‘family’ group.  We have visited many of these children’s homes and find that although their facilities are old, they are clean, orderly and seem to be well managed with caring staff.  Only a couple have we had negative remarks made by the staff about the children.  One place told us the children were ‘mean’ and they destroyed the computers they had.  We did not approve them for a project. 

And then the rest of the day we helped a branch member’s family move – back to where they moved from a couple of weeks ago.  Long, emotional story.  But where they are is a better place for them.

Thursday we met with the Kaposvár Red Cross.  They are very involved – in this county they support a homeless shelter, a family shelter and a day care for mentally and physically disabled children -- plenty of needs there.  

Friday, November 7, 2014 we celebrated our 44^th wedding anniversary – by putting a 'love lock' on our apartment deck.  They don’t have a public place here, but here is where we lived at the time – so we found an appropriate place.  We were wished 44 more years!

Friday is always district meeting in the morning and then we typically grab lunch with the missionaries before we come home and I’m in the kitchen the rest of the day to prepare for Young Single Adults.   We celebrated Evi’s birthday, one of our sisters.  She is gluten intolerant, so I made a cheesecake.  It was not beautiful and I didn’t have a spring form pan, but the looks and shape did not keep it from being eaten.

At one of our home evenings a lady attended.  She and friends help feed some of the homeless on Saturdays.  We visited that sight on Saturday. This day they made s a large kettle of mostly pasta.  Not sure yet if we can help them; we cannot provide food or money as they are very temporary.   And we must meet with an actual organization/foundation – to know that the donations will be used properly and will be long lasting.    She and her friends are definitely doing a great service as they also brought donated clothes and some mattress pads.  They all went very quickly.  

Today we had two branch sisters, Erzsi and Eva (and Erzsi’s grand daughter), to lunch.  The elders always need to come to translate.  These ladies are very fun and quite the talkers, so it was a delightful and chatty time.

We have a busy week of traveling ahead – stake conference in Budapest next weekend.  

Little Carlee Miller had the procedure to close her abdomen opening on Friday.  She handled that well.  Erin was able to hold her on Thursday.   She is stable, her color is improving; we are praying for her intestines, bowels and her body to grow and do well so that she will be able to be removed from the ventilator and her nutritional supplement as soon as possible.  Her future will depend on how she heals and grows in the next couple of months.

We know that the power of the Priesthood is real.  We know it is the healing power.  Of course we hope and pray for Carlee to be healed by that power.  But we also pray for Heavenly Father’s will to be done, and for the strength and faith to accept His will always.

November 2, 2014

Pretty real looking -- these hot dogs and onion fingers!

What a week!   We helped a bit more with the moving of a branch family.   We did some calling, scheduling and purchasing for some humanitarian projects.  

Tuesday evening the elders turned their English classes into a Halloween party.  After the prayer and thought, they told about Halloween in America and then taught the class all the English Halloween words and played some games.  We had quite a group there and had a fun time.  One of the elders made pumpkin soup, I made some bread and pumpkin cookies.  Someone who attends the classes brought brownies and someone else brought the ‘fingers’ shown above; there was candy for prizes, so all were well treated!

We visited several people this week – a sister who lost her husband and another less active sister.  We drove out to a village 50k away to have dinner at the home of Brother and Sister Gutschow (our German couple) so I could visit teach her.  We continue with having branch members to dinner on Sunday; today was a sister and her young daughter -- and a set of elders so we can communicate!

Friday evening was a branch Halloween party.   It was to be potluck.  We had a good turnout, but let’s just say it is a good thing I took a rather large dinner-in-a-pumpkin.  Here are some photos of branch members carving jack-o-lanterns.  We then played Halloween Bingo and cleaned up.  It was our turn to clean the building; we managed to get a little help before everyone left. 

Daytime view of a cemetery

November 1^st is a Hungarian holiday – Day of the Dead, All Soul’s Day or Day of Remembrance.  You know this day because it is also celebrated much the same way in Mexico.  “Instead of glorifying the world of the dead by dressing up in ghoulish apparel, the Hungarians first honor the dead saints and then go and visit the hallowed ground where their past family members have been laid to rest,” much like our Memorial Day. 

The last two or three weeks there have been lots of red and white candles for sale in all the stores.  There wasn’t any Christmas out yet, and they don’t have any Halloween things, so we wondered what they were for.  Then this week, there were flowers for sale all over.  November 1^st is really their Memorial Day.  So, last night we took a walk to the cemetery to see.   It is a huge cemetery and I think all the graves had candles on them – even in the World War I section. 

As you can see there were many candles outside the mausoleum and around a memorial statue for Christ.  As we walked through we did remember our own family members who have passed away.

The other happening this week that has required our thoughts, prayers, and fasting.  Long story short, our son, Michael and wife, Erin, were contacted by their case worker a week ago Thursday to say they had been chosen by a birth mother for adoption.  Would they consider a baby girl due in January that would be born with Gastroschisis, a congenital defect in the abdominal wall that doesn’t close and allows inner organs to protrude at birth.  They were told this condition is reparable.  They said they would consider.  On Saturday they received a call that the baby had been born early that morning – at 30 weeks and 2 pounds, 4 ounces!   What a shock!  

Everything has happened so fast.  They spent some VERY emotional days at Primary Children’s Medical Center and with the birth families this week.  They signed papers to adopt Carlee Rose Miller.  Since then there are further issues with the intestines that were protruding.  They were re-inserted, which caused some strain.  Carlee then stabilized and seemed to be ‘holding her own.’  When they went in to close the opening they found that a small section of the intestines had died and another part was damaged.  Part had to be removed.  Currently they are watching her for a week or two and have not closed the opening.  Carlee will probably need to have feeding tubes for several years and maybe forever – depending whether or not the rest of her intestines function and grow well.  Thank goodness for Primary Children’s Medical Center.  We have Michael and another grand daughter because of their wonderful care and expertise.   As you can imagine, Michael and Erin are struggling with the reality of what all that this means.  Through all that we have done this week, our thoughts are really in Utah with them as they make this very eternal decision.   And yes, we would accept and appreciate any additional thoughts and prayers in their behalf.

There is no doubt that our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ hear and answer prayers.  They are concerned about the details of our lives.  We are so grateful for this knowledge.  We are also grateful for the privilege and opportunity to seek comfort and peace through the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

October 26, 2014

This is a picture of a beautiful roundabout in Kaposvár.  We want to put in our favorable votes for roundabouts.  They are plentiful here and very efficient.  Cars need not stop (and contribute to air pollution), but can just slow down and continue.   Out on the highway wherever there are crossroads, there are roundabouts.  So nice.   We first saw them in England years ago and have been wishing that Utah would use them more than in the few places where they currently are.

The coats came out this week!  In fact, Thursday a storm began about mid-day, the rains came and the winds howled long into the night.  And the rain lasted about 30 hours.  

Yesterday was chilly, but much nicer. We helped a branch family move – at least the first day of their move, which may turn out to be many days in the end. 

We spent some time this week with humanitarian paper work; submitted two projects and they were both approved.  So we have new projects to begin work on this week.

Monday night we hosted a home evening for investigators that the missionaries invited to attend.  It’s always hard to know who will actually show up.  But we had 10 investigators!  Add to that the 6 missionaries and 1 branch member!   We had a house full.  We had a short lesson, supporting activity and refreshments; the people were very congenial.  It was a great evening.  Two of the investigators were at church today for the second time.  

We attended a ‘program’ with another investigator who has actually been investigating for several years.  He is a great guy and lives a healthy, clean lifestyle.  The missionaries were very bold and asked him about baptism – again.  He was at church today.  We are praying for him.

We also attended a ‘program’ with the mother of one of our young single adult sisters.  In the past she has had a hard time reading the Book of Mormon, so the missionaries were not sure about her progress.  However, this night she was very excited about the gifts of the spirit that she read about in the Book of Mormon and said she could really see these things in those who are members of the branch.  The Spirit was very strong at this ‘program.’  She was also at church today.

Speaking of church, we had 40 in attendance today!   Today is the year anniversary of our branch president’s baptism.  He spoke and talked a bit about the things he has learned this last year.  He really is a remarkable person, only 25 and very insightful and humble.  He is currently working and continuing his schooling.  His wife, the Relief Society president, is also in school and is teaching English.   They are very busy!   

Our only (active) Aaronic Priesthood holder will turn 16 on Tuesday.  President Balint asked me to make a cake to surprise and celebrate after the meetings today.  So, here’s most of the branch at Buci’s birthday celebration today.  (His mother was going to make the cake, but last week she got upset at him and called President Balint and said she was not making him a cake.  She is a bit temperamental, and is less active.  She did show up today for him, however; which is very good.)

We had the branch family with children over for lunch today.  And then we had to help them run to catch the bus on time when we finished. 

That’s really the happenings of the week.   We miss you all and send our hugs and love your way.  We know Heavenly Father lives and loves His children and wants to help them every day.   He desires that they learn of Him and His Son and then work to know Him and become as He is as we serve His children.  We are trying to do that, and pray for the help and guidance of His Spirit to be with us – and you.