Szeged

Saturday, April 21st I had the opportunity to spend the day in Szeged with Elder and Sister Adams and one of our Young single Adults, Timi. Sister Smith and I were supposed to speak in church in Szeged and Békéscsaba on Sunday, but there were also two baptisms on Saturday. So, Sister Smith and I went on splits. :) Timi and I took care of the speaking assignments and Sister Smith took care of the baptisms. Just getting our of Budapest was a trick. We turned on the GPS and put in Szeged and then I drove to go get gas in the car. During that whole time, the GPS didn’t say anything, which made me a little nervous because we were not going the correct way. After getting gas, it still wasn’t talking and I wasn’t sure where to go to get on the freeway going to Szeged. So, I drove all the way back to our street, where I knew where to go from there because Elder Bagozzi had given me verbal directions. Finally, I said, “Timi, check and make sure it isn’t muted.” :) Well, she did and sure enough, it was. The GPS began talking to us as soon as we pushed that little button. :) Needless to say, it took us 45 minutes just to get out of Budapest! The rest of the trip was uneventful. We had fairly traffic free roads to travel on and a beautiful country to see. Big fluffy clouds crowded the sky, which now and then poured down sweet smelling rain on us. :) I love the rain! Spring is beautiful in Hungary. But the best was yet to come! When we got to Szeged, Elder and Sister Adams took us on a walking tour of their walking section of town. There were beautiful tulips, daffodils, violets and pansies growing everywhere! I took a lot of pictures! :)

We walked by a Jewish Synagogue that had the coolest looking gate. The Synagogue was really pretty also, :) but I loved the gate. It was hard to get a good picture of the Synagogue because it was surrounded by huge trees. A lot of things are closed on the weekends in Hungary and the Synagogue was one of them, so, we didn’t get to go inside.

There were many beautiful buildings on our walking tour. We passed by the Szeged National Theater that was built in 1883. It was constructed by a famous Viennese theatre builder and ornamented by statues of various famous people. I love all the statues that decorate the buildings and towns in Hungary!

In one of the town squares, we saw the Reok Palace that is definitely a work of art. It’s shape and amazing art work made it look like a fairy princess palace. It was gorgeous!

I loved the flower and leaf detail on this building! Amazing, isn't it? :)

I love all the statues that are everywhere!

On all the signs leading into Szeged there is a picture of the Votive Church. We got to see this church up close, and it was another amazing sight. It is the replacement for the original church that was destroyed in a flood in 1879. The only section of the original church that survived the flood is the Demetrius Tower which was built in 1272 and restored in 1931. The new Votive church was built around it.

Votive church

Demetrius Tower

The back of the Votive Church

Heroes’ Gate was built in honor of the guards who were responsible for cleansing Hungary of communism. The gate is guarded by two, huge stone statues. Wall paintings cover the underside of the arched gate, and tell the story of war, the mourning of widows and orphans, and hope in the Savior and his resurrection. It is an another amazing sight in Szeged.

In Klauzal Square there is a really cool looking stature. It was built to honor Lajos Kossuth who recruited thousands to fight for their independence. He actually gave his recruiting speech in this square where they built his statue.

The last thing we saw was the Historic Water Tower in Szent Istvan Square. It was built in 1903 and is still functioning as a water tower as well as a museum. It wasn’t open on the Saturday that we were there, so we didn’t get to walk up the hundreds of spiral steps to the top and see the view of the city. Maybe some other time. :)

Szeged is a beautiful city! I think my favorite was all of the beautiful flowers! :)

Sunday, I spoke in church on Personal Apostasy. I shared a message I got while living in Utah as a Single Adult. I had attended a Single Adult Conference where Elder Robert E. Wells talked. Of course, I don’t remember all that he said, but I remember well the message. He told us that we were not only on a physical journey through life, but that we were on a “spiritual adventure” as well. During this journey, we would have experiences that would teach us personally all that we needed to know to become all that we could in this life. Those experiences would prepare us to return to our Heavenly Father’s presence. From that time on, when things became difficult in my life, I remembered the words that he spoke. I began asking my Heavenly Father, “What do you want me to learn from this experience?” :) It helped me to not give up, but instead press forward with faith in the Savior. I learned that what the scriptures say about our trials are true. The Savior will show us all things that we must do to overcome those heavy trials that we sometimes have to go through. I know this is true! With His help, I was able to endure those hard times in my life. There was no way I could have done it on my own. I know that we can always do more with our lives with our Heavenly Father’s help than we can alone. We must never give up! He is always there loving us and hoping that we will ask for and accept His help! I loved this quote by President Eyring: “If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing. In all conditions, we can choose the right with the guidance of the Spirit. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to shape and guide our lives if we choose it.” It was fun to see some of our missionaries who served here in Buda, who are now serving in Szeged and Bekescsaba.

Holloko

Monday, April 9 was a National Holiday, so we had a Super P day. We went with the Elder and Sister Bagozzi, their friend’s Debbie and Stan (visiting from Sacramento) , and Sister Smith and her son, Eric and his wife, Erica (who were also visiting) to Hollókő. It is a quaint little village about an hour away. They always have a huge celebration on the Monday after Easter. They had a stage set up, with dancers and musicians performing throughout the entire day. The dancers were all wearing traditional Hungarian clothing. It was very fun to see. There were a lot of shops set up along the cobblestone streets. One of them sold beautifully painted chicken eggs, but they were so delicate, I didn’t get any - I knew they would never make it home. I wish I’d take a picture though - they were works of art! There were fun performances happening in the streets as well. At one point, three men on very tall stilts performed in the middle of the street. It was amazing to me that they could keep their balance on those cobblestones. There were musicians playing for them as children from the crowd formed a line and walked between their stilted legs. :) Sister Bagozzi and I bought a Kürtőskalács (like a spiral cinnamon roll that is cooked on a barbeque). Kürtős means chimney and kalács means cake. They got their name from the old chimney pipes that they used to wrap the dough around. They are my favorite Hungarian treat and are soooo good, especially when you can get them nice and hot, right off the barbecue. To make them, they just wrap a long strip of sweet bread dough around a wooden cylinder and cook them over the heat of the barbeque. When they are done, they dust them with cinnamon sugar. Very yummy! We had a very fun day just walking around. We even saw the ruins of Hollókő castle off in the distance.