Saturday, May 17, 2014

TRANSFER BREAKFAST

He is dying.  I will be his mother.  That is my dad.  She is my sister, it will be good to work with her.  She will be dying soon.  WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT???????  I feel like such a baby.  I can't speak my mind.  I don't know the towns "these people" are being transferred to.  What?  How can he be your mother, I thought he was an Elder?  I can barely make it to the train station to buy a ticket to go to a town a few miles away.  I certainly don't get the lingo.  Have I lost my mind?  

Let me start over.  First of all we served "transfer breakfast" this morning.  What that means is:  The Mission President calls everyone between 7:30am and 10:00am that is being transferred to another location.  Elder Anderson brought a guitar from the church.  See the picture.  We eat breakfast until someone gets a phone call from the Mission President.  He/She gets the call in the bedroom.  After everyone gets their call, we all start guessing where they will be going.  
It is sad to see them go. They created an exciting atmosphere this morning.  They were calling others within our mission and on speaker phone were yelling some of the words in the first paragraph. 

The missionaries refer to their life on their missions this way.  I would be considered a baby because I am new to the mission and I will be dieing after 18 months.  Your daddy is the first companion you have, who is also your trainer.  Your mother is the person you replaced.  Your mother leaves you treats.  They are of course appreciated because you are new to the mission and it probably includes a "Milka" bar.  Milka bars are the best chocolate of the earth, sorry Hershey but it's true.  You get a sibling when your father gets another person to train and you are transfered.  Sometimes that would make you a mother.  If it's a white wash then all the rules change.  SOUND COMPLICATED?  Yes, but Hungarian Mission traditions are fun.  I am very blessed to be here.  


Now we have 2 new missionaries in Pápa.   Eldér King is here straight from the MTC so he is a baby.  Next is Eldèr Rae, his trainer that makes him the father.  Sister Naegle will continue to serve here and her new companion is Sister Kovács.  She is transferring here and has been on her mission 9 months.  She is a native of Hungary.  They are all outstanding missionaries.  


A statue in the farmers field is tipical.  They believe it will protect and bless their farms.  This one says:
We love you
And we bless you
By your Saintly cross
Redeemed because of 
Your Word.
AD 1933



This is the awesome local market where we buy our produce because the vegetables are huge compared to American grocery stores and the prices are good too.  This is also the place where we bought the flowers for the center pieces for the Branch Party.
Look at the size of those radishes.



Our friend, Piroska was also shopping at the market that day.  She was baptised in January 2014 in Arizona, America.  She also did baptisms for the dead at the Gilbert Arizona Temple before she came home to Pápa, Hungary.  Sister Scherrer is next to her.  What a sweet lady.  She is a fabulous cook and always feeds us a home made lunch when we visit her.




Monday, May 5, 2014

WHAT AN AWESOME WEEK.

Endre Kövi was baptized Saturday.  Judit's son baptized Endre.   He lives in London and speaks English.  He is standing next to Elder Rae on the far right.  It was good to talk to him.  Judit raised a great family.  I think she had 9 children and most of them are active in the Church.  Elder Anderson is standing on the far left.


This Monday (P-Day) we went to see a castle on Somlo Hegy (Hill).  I obviously didn't dress for the occasion.  I did not know we were going to walk up a trail.


Sister Scherrer is talking a picture of Elder Anderson and Elder Rae.  We are looking down on the falu (country village) of Somlo.  The camera doesn't do justice to the incredible view.   It is interesting that Hungary Is flat except for occasional hills like this one.




This Castle protected it's people from the enemy a few centuries ago.  I wonder what life was like then.


It looks like people either grow grapes for wine or they are farmers.  Yup that's the castle at the top of the hill.

 
Friday the Junior Sister Missionaries came to Pápa for a District meeting.  After the meeting we usually go on splits with them to visit members of the Branch.  This time we were invited into Szuszanna Övz. Mukieshè Berhidaí's home.  It was so good to get to know her.  What a beautiful woman.


The rest of the week I spent studying Hungarian, as usual.  I will be glad when I can speak well enough to talk to the people without an interrupter.  This is our living room, office, kitchen combination.  Behind me are the 2 bedroom doors.


I actually saw someone standing in a phone booth like this one using his cell phone.