BRANCH PARTY -CLUE

OThe missionaries hosted a Branch Party.  We called it "Clue Party".   We planted clues in the 3 rooms of the church house.  When each of the 3 groups found their clue questions, they talk about them.  Then all 3 groups met together to discuss how we could use these clues to help each other activate the less active members.  After the game we ate dinner.  Then we had a lucky draw to win the center pieces.  It was fun.  I think the Branch members had fun.  They said, "Nothing like that had been done before".   Yup, I'll bet not.   

Monday is the Easter holiday so we went to a house in the Falu (country).  The house was a summer vacation home of a member's friend.  The missionaries are standing by the gate to go to the front door.  We cooked the traditional Bogrács in the back yard.  It is basically pork stew with plenty of paprika and pepper corns and it tastes very good.  

There is also an Easter Hungarian tradition where young men spray young girls with water or purfume.  It means they like you.  The the girls must give the boy Easter eggs or cookies.  This is the poem that goes with the tradition:

The moss is green 

The fern is green

I'll sprinkle to you

The House Dragon.

 

This is a another picture of the Bogrács.  The neighbors have apple trees and they keep the pesticide in the large container by the fence.  Elder Anderson is next to me.

Some people say the Falus (villages in the county) are disappearing because of the economy.  People can't earn a living there so they move to the big cities.  I don't fully understand it because as we were traveling by train last week we noticed many beautiful fields of (possibly) safflower flowers.  Some one must be making an income off the fields/farms.  

Interesting facts about Hungary:

1.5 million people in Budapest

Hungary is about the size of Utah with 10 million people in it. 

Currency is forint

In 1711 they took their independence back from Turkey and signed a peace treaty.

In 1867 Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy was born and peace descended.

Hungary was a WWII ally to Germany and Austria.

In 1918 Republic of Hungary and the Tready of Trianon split country from 20 million people to eight million.  New borders were established and they lost 71% of their territory.

In WWII Germans over ran country.  Hundreds of thousands died or were deported to German concentration camps.  Germans were defeated and Soviets took over.

In 1956 people tried to stop dictatorship by Soviets but it still lasted until 1989.

The Hungary, Budapest Mission was organized in 1987.

In 1989 Hungary finally became an independent democracy.

In1999 Hungary joined the NATO and in 2004 the European Union.  

Today I wrote my instructions on a 3x5 card after checking the dictionary.  Then off we went to the hair salon.  I showed her my card and I used my best sign language and explained that I wanted my hair the same style and same color.  However, she got a little carried away with the red coloring.  So now I am a red head.  You could say that Kristianna and I are twins.  Many cute Hungarian girls of all ages have red hair so now I am truly a Hungarian. 

This tree is in the park down the street from our apartment.  

MY FIRST TEACHING MOMENT

TI wasn't teaching in Hungarian and I wasn't teaching a Gospel program (discussion) but I was teaching in English and I was teaching a sewing technique.  Teaching Elder Anderson how to fix the hem of his slacks makes me wonder if I taught my boys how to sew on a button.  His family will be proud.  

This is a picture of a Bread Truck.  Yup you guessed it.  They play music just like American ice cream trucks.  Guess what else?  People run out to them the same way.  They have wonderful things stuffed full of yummy stuff with chocolate dribbled on it.  I started buying bread from him.  I want to clarify that I do not buy the white fluffy bread you buy on American grocery store shelves.  I buy real bread.  I am hoping I can develop a relationship with him.  He doesn't speak English but............well we'll see.  

This was a beautiful tree I saw this spring.  It is called a Tulip Tree.

You can put your mail in this postal box there are several around town or you can go to the government post office, if you don't have the correct postage.  Be sure to go early because you have to take a number and wait in line.   Check out the beautiful window frame on the outside of this commercial building.  

I finally made it to the government Hivatala office to apply for residency.  I think that is the same thing as a Visa. The office opens at 1300 (1:00pm).  We were only there for 2 hours.  Once I get my residency card I can apply for citizenship, I think.  

Have you heard of name dates?  

I discovered name dates when I purchased a birthday card.  If your little girl was born on August 15 that would be her birthday.  However if you wanted to name her Klara her name day would be August 12th.  This list of names were produced by the Soviets and it was mandatory.  Even though they are no longer under Communist rule, Hungarians like to use the name date calendar because it is their tradition.  If you don't want a name on the name date calendar, you can chose a foreign name but it has to be in line with the Hungarian pronounciation and alphabet.  For example, if you wanted the name of Jennifer, which is not on the calendar, you would spell her name Dzsennifer.  Then it would have to be approved by the name date institution.  I bet the genealogy experts love it.  Here is the official information:

Hungarians not only have birthday, but nameday as well. Birthdays are usually celebrated just in immediate family. Namedays, however are widely known and celebrated. Each acceptable first name is assigned to one or more days of the calendar, based on religious traditions, historical events, birthday of a famous person who had the same first name, or on other facts. Well, in Hungary there are official first names to choose from, there are 365 or less names to chose from. 

Another interesting fact is that in Hungary the first name is the last and the last is the first.  

Finally, the name of a woman can be confusing to those unfamiliar with this custom. The bride has a chance to choose from 3 possibilities. 

1. She may keep her maiden name in the marriege.

2. She may keep her last name (that is first in English) and uses her husband's 

first and last name. This is becoming more and more popular.

3. By the old Hungarian custom, the bride got the entire name of her groom with a -ne suffix at the and. Even though she was called by her previous first name no one could find it out from her official name.  

SENIOR MISSIONARY CONFERENCE

We had the Senior Missionary Conference at the Mission Home in Budapest.  Here is a picture of some great people in front of the Parliment Building, in Budapest.  They serve in various cities in Hungary.  They were so energetic and full of great ideas.  We are all in one way or another Member Leadership Support.   It did my heart good to speak English to a bunch of women and actually understand their reply.  

We were in Budapest for two days.  We also walked up Gellért Hill.  It received it's name after Bishop  Gellért who came to Hungary from Italy around 1000 AD.  King St. Stephen invited him to help convert the Hungarians to Christianity.  Some resisting pagans rolled him down the hill in a barrel into the Danube River in 1046AD.  They drove nails into the barrel before they rolled it down the hill. 

These pictures were taken from the Gellért Hill .  You are looking at the City of Buda on one side of the Danube River and the City of Pest on the other side.

 

Then we went to the city of Szentendre.  This was a town that they converted to a lot of shops.  The shops were full of traditional handmade items.  We were in shopper's heaven.  It's a hard job but somebody's gotta do it.

We also saw the famous art work done on the head of a pin.  I took a picture of a couple of them.  This first one was in the eye of a needle.  The second one was on the head of a pin.  It was AMAZING.  

The Wonderful Hungarian People

Hungarians are very gentle, quiet and courteous people.  I have never seen someone shout at another person, show the finger to the car next to them or paint graffity on the walls.   Unlike Americans, sorry to say.  I have never seen a piece of paper, a pop can or a cigarette butt on the sidewalk.  In fact I saw a woman reach down and pick up a piece of paper from the sidewalk as she walked by.  They have little (1 ft X 1 1/2 ft) garbage cans all along the sidewalks.Everyone just throws their cigarette butts in the little garbage cans.  I think they are a lay back people.  Not like Americans that have to have everything perfect.  This is a picture of my back yard.  The gardener was pulling weeds in the bare spot you see.  He left the dandelions.  I would have pulled those out first.  They didn't mow the lawn until all the wild flowers have died that were in the lawn. 

When I say good morning to someone I meet on the sidewalk, they usually don't meet my eyes.  I think that is because they have been suppressed for many years and they just keep to themselves.  However, when I do say "hallo" they graciously say something back.  When Sister Scherrer and I were carring a mattress on our heads and walking down the sidewalk, no one honked the horn, no one yelled out the car windows, they just minded their own business.  I admit we were a site to see. 

Most people ride bicycles to and from work.  When we come to the corner of the street, the cars actually stop for us even if they stop in the middle of the intersection.  I am very impressed with this.  One day we were in the store looking for a pair of pliers.  (I needed to fix the faucets).  So some guy about my age saw that I was trying to make a decision about which pair to buy.  I had the smallest pair in my hands.  In broken English he tried to tell me to buy the larger pair but I was focused on the price.  So I bought the smaller pair.  I should have gotten the larger pair but I made it work anyway.  So my point is that he was so nice to try to help me.  He probably spent 10 minutes trying to get me to buy the bigger pair of pliers.  

I can't speak Hungarian so it is difficult to talk to people.  Very few natives speak English.  They either speak Russian or German in addition to Hungarian.  In school they had to take a foreign language.  Most people took German unless it was required that they take Russian classes.  This makes it difficult to fellowship members or less actives.

This gentlemen hauls stuff around.  He has furniture on his wagon this time but I have seen him with a load of hay.  It's no wonder he keeps his horses for his business, gasoline is $8.00 per gallon.  

I occasionally see a couple of school children walking or running when school is out.  Most of the time I see a mother with her child.  They hold hands most of the time.  Recently I saw a mother take the hand of her 10/11 year old to cross the street.  They seem very protective of their children.  Usually it's only one child, a couple of times I have seen a parent with 2 children.  

This picture was taken for all the women out there that think their kitchen is too small.  This is the home of our Branch Mission Leader.  He has 4 of us missionaries over for an authentic Hungarian dinner every Sunday.  The past 2 Sundays he has served pork or chicken soup and cold macaroni with bread.  He said for Easter holiday (Monday) he is planning to serve his traditional fish soup.  Can't wait.  

Gyor, Hungary

Each week we have a District Meeting.  Everyother week it is in the city of Gyor.  This week we took a trip by train to Gyor.  To go from the train station to the tracks, you must go in the tunnel under the tracks.  There were two people playing musical instruments for money.  A women playing a violin and this gentlemen playing an accordian.  We gave him a little money.  

The train. 

There were two things that stuck out to me on the way to Gyor.  One was the trees.  They have been planted in rows so that the Soviets could see more easily if someone was escaping.  If my camara had a faster flash you would have been able to see the rows more clearly. 

Another interesting thing I noticed was the "Housing Estates".  The Americans call them the "Ten Story" apartments.  They were built by the Soviets in about 1970 for their solders and their families.  Can you see them in the background?   Generally they are 10 stories high and built on the outskirts of town.  This particular community is in the city of Veszprem.   It was a big deal when they were built because they used cranes.  In about 1975 the Hungarian solders moved into them also.  The government gave the Hungarian solders a cheap rate to live there.  About 1990 the Soviets left Hungary.  The Russians lived in Hungary after WWII until about 1990.  Students had to learn Russian in the schools.   I hope I have this story correct.  It was told to me by a friend in broken English.  

This picture is of a "Ten Story" but it only has five stories.  The apartments inside are extremely small about the size of a typical home in Asia.  They are still used today and are very economical places to live. 

Gyor also has a government house where a person can go to get their residency card.  This is a picture of the building and the front door.  I will be going to a Hivatala in a couple of weeks while I am in Budapest, Hungary.  

Sister Scherrer  and I went to the mall in Gyor.   Yup, it looks just like any mall in America.  The price of clothes and shoes is terrific.  I like the style of shoes. I just might make a purchase next time we are in Gyor. :-)

On my first Sunday at Church in the Papa Branch, I made a bit of a fool of myself.  I was certain I would be asked to either bear my testimony or say the prayer so I prepared my speech in the MTC.  I had my cheat flash cards.  So The Branch President asked me to introduce myself.  I decided not to use the cards but rather just talk from the heart (or from memory).  I made quite an impression with "3 children and families in Utah, 2 children and families in Texas and one child and family in China".  You could hear them catch their breath.  But then I started to bear my testimony.  In stead of saying "I know that Jesus Christ is my Redeemer and Joseph Smith is a Latter-Day.Prophet".  I said, "I know Joseph Smith is my Redeemer".  Maybe those of you reading this blog have made a mistake like that at sometime in your life.  Actually one of the Elder Missionaries told me I made the mistake.  I didn't even realize it myself.