We had a very busy weekend filled with fun things to do. On Friday, we had the opportunity to attend another Hungarian wedding. This one was for one of our Young Single Adults, Lilla who married Sebastien from France. He served a mission here in Hungary and then came back afterwards to get to know Lilla better.:) It paid off! They are now Mr. and Mrs.! She was a beautiful bride and he was a handsome groom.
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The Ceremony
Because the Hungarian Government doesn't recognize marriages performed anywhere but Hungary, they married first in a Hungarian Courthouse on Friday, and then flew to London to be married in the London Temple on Saturday. One of the groom's missionary companions got to be the Best Man. Next to him is President Baughman, then Sebastien and Lilla, and then her brother.
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| The Kiss |
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Sebastien and Lilla
On Saturday, the missionaries had another baptism. Szilard was baptized by Elder Reese. Usually it is a Hungarian member who does the baptizing, but Elder Reese was the one to find him and teach him. So, Szilard wanted Elder Reese to do it. It was a once in a mission event for Elder Reese!
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Right after the baptism, we left the cleanup to the Office Elders :) and drove 2 1/2 hours to Sopron where we would be speaking on Sunday. We left hot & humid Budapest and as we traveled towards Austria, the skies grew cloudy and it began to rain. It was great weather for driving. It was much easier on my eyes. :) We arrived around 7:00 p.m. and tried to find Elder and Sister Flammer’s apartment. The GPS kept trying to take us down a one way street. We finally just stopped, called the Flammers, and they came to find us. :) Sister Smith and her daughter checked into their hotel and then we followed the Flammers to their apartment where I would be staying.
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| Elder and Sister Flammer in front of their apartment. |
Elder and Sister Flammer live in a very cute Bed and Breakfast apartment. Upstairs is the Bed and Breakfast, and next door to them is the church member who owns it. The apartment has a small kitchen, bathroom, living room, 3 bedrooms and a door that leads to nowhere. :)
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| You open the door and it is literally a drop-off into what used to be a garage. |
After seeing their cute apartment, we picked up the missionaries and went to dinner at a nice restaurant that was practically empty except for a large room off to the side that had a large group of people. We were the only ones in the main section that we were in. The food was very good, so we couldn’t figure out why no one was there.
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| Our table in the empty restaurant! |
On Sunday, we went to the Sopron Branch to talk in church. We met a senior sister, Zsuzsa who was serving a mission in Hungary when I first came on my mission. She has since returned home. It was nice to see her again!
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| Zsuzsa, Sister Hanson, Elder & Sister Flammer |
We were told that a member of the Branch Presidency would be translating for us, but when I got up to give my talk, Reka (one of our YSA’s from Buda) stood up with me because she was to be my translator. :) It was such a nice surprise to see her! She is living in Sopron now, because her fiancé lives there. They are getting married in September.
Sister Hanson & Reka
Don't you just love her cute Hungarian outfit?
Right after Relief Society, we had treats! Someone had brought these very yummy cherries all washed and ready to eat.
Following church, we all headed back to the Flammer's apartment for a wonderful dinner of chicken, new potatoes, asparagus, salad and homemade rolls! For dessert, Sister Flammer served fruit pizza.
Sopron Paneuropai Piknik Exhibit
Following dinner, we all drove to the Hungarian Austria border to see the Sopron Paneuropai Piknik Exhibit. It means Pan-European Picnic, and was a peace demonstration held on the Austrian-Hungarian border near Sopron in 1989. It led to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the reunification of Germany. The borders were to be open for 3 hours. During this time 600 East Germans took the opportunity to escape into Hungary. Prior to the picnic, Hungarian border guards received an order to not intervene in it and not bear any arms on the day of the event. At this time, the Hungarian border guards even helped people to flee across the border. Because of this, the Hungarians became known as the ones to remove the first stone of the Berlin Wall. :)
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This open door represents the open borders of freedom.
We walked across the border into Austria to have our picture taken in front of the Welcome to Austria sign. :) Then, we went back to the Hungarian side. So, now I can say I’ve been to Austria. :)
This is portion of the border fense that kept people from freedom.
This is what that fense looked like during it's time.
This has pictures and explanations of the Breakthrough. The people who left Germany and came across the borders, left their cars, belongings and former lives for freedom.
Reading some of the information and seeing the pictures of the people and their rush to freedom, was very emotional for me. I wondered if some of our German ancestors participated in this.
If you look very close at the background, you will see an old guard tower.
This is our group on the Breakthrough Monument
A very cool monument!
The rock above his head is a portion of the Berlin Wall that came down.
They are breaking through to freedom!
Following this little excursion, we headed back to Budapest. And that was the end to our very busy, but fun weekend!
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