Debrecen Branch American Thanksgiving Party

 

On Thursday, November 22, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Hungary with an American Thanksgiving feast.  The first time to cook turkey in our crazy oven was a scary experience; especially since I was cooking 6 huge turkey breasts.  I put them in a Hungarian turkey baking bag and stuffed them into a pan that fit in the oven (the first one we tried didn't fit).  I wasn't sure how long to cook the turkey breasts, so left it in 2 1/2 hours and then took it out to check it.  I figured that if it wasn’t done, we could put it back in another bag and cook it longer, but it was done.  With the turkey cooked and Sister Weberg slicing it, I made a big pot of gravy.  Then I began throwing all the ingredients for stuffing into a bowl that I had measured the previous day, and baked one pan while getting the next pan ready for baking.  While the second pan was baking, I threw all my premeasured ingredients for Frog Eye Salad together.  Unlike last year, the whip cream even whipped up like it should.  :)   Then, we called Elder Cummings to come pick up all of our food and take it to the church.  It was way too much to walk over with!  We walked and our food got to ride in the car.  :)

Our lovely turkey breasts and Sister Cummings' turkey thighs.
We had mashed potatoes and gravy also.

 

The stuffing and veggies.

One of the Frog Eye salads.
We assured our Hungarian friends that it wasn't really frog eyes.  :)
 

The Hungarian members brought the desserts

One group of our Hungarian friends with
YSA Counsel member & Relief Society President at the head of the table!

Another group with President & Sister Szilagyi at the head of the table
and Elder D. and Elder and Sister Cummings on the right.

A table with some of our YSA's and Sister Missionaries.

Table with missionaries, branch members and our soon to be baptized YSA.

One more table of friends.  :)

Our table with Vili and Agi Sister Hanson and Sister Weberg.

Everyone had a good time tonight!  And they certainly got enough to eat!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Hungary!

Service Project for Christmas!

We have the opportunity to participate in a blanket making service project to donate to the Children's Cancer clinic and Premie Baby clinic here in Debrecen.  We will be making a total of 75 blankets and need to have them done by December. 

 

 

 

Roberta and Dori cut strips to be tied.

Tamas and Tibi helped with the cutting as well. 

The Sisters and Dori are tying the strips.

Michael and Tibi are tying another blanket.

Elder and Sister Cummings are helping too!

And Sister Weberg and Sister Hanson are adding there blanket to the done list. 
We now have 24 completed.  51 more to go!

All Saints Day in Hungary

November 1st was a National Holiday - All Saints Day - a celebration of all Saints, especially those who don’t have a special day of their own.  It’s a time when everyone puts flowers on and lights candles on their loved ones graves.  Flowers are so much cheaper here, that most people can afford them, so the grave yards are beautiful day and night.  Sister Weberg and I walked to the cemetery one morning to see the decorated graves in daylight. 

 

 

Fall Colors and Flowers!

Beautiful Statues

Works of Art

All were beautiful!

A soldiers' grave.

 On the actual holiday, we got together with our Debrecen group of missionaries for a potluck dinner and then walked to the cemetery to see the graves all lit up. It was a really nice night to walk around the peaceful cemetery. Although it rained for awhile, most of the time, it was just comfortably cool and misty. After walking around for a bit, and taking a few pictures, 

we headed back to the front gate to return home. However, unknown to us, they had closed the cemetery! We arrived at the front gate at 8:00 p.m. and found it locked!  The sisters said, “Guess we’ll just have to climb the fence”, to which I replied, “I’m not going to be able to do that.”:)  So, we walked to another gate and found that it too was locked.   We weren’t the only ones who were locked in - there were Hungarians locked in as well. The young ones just climbed the fence, like it happened every day. But there were older ones who couldn’t climb the fence any better than me.   However, after being unsuccessful in finding an open gate, we finally decided we’d have to give climbing the fence a try afterall. From the ground, the fence didn't look too big, so I gave it a try as well.  I was able to get up on the first slanted step of the fence and even swing my leg over so I was straddling the top bar.  Trying to balance up on top, that fence seemed so much higher, and I began to wonder if I'd make it down the other side.  Because the top bar was not a comfortable seat, it prodded me on to keep trying to go the rest of the way over.  Elder D’Angina and Elder Greaves helped me make it the rest of the way.  When I reached the ground, I was shaking so bad, I could hardly stand up. I said, “Well . . . . . that was awful!”   There was just no other way to describe it! But, I was very grateful to not be locked inside the graveyard anymore.  So, if you ever visit a graveyard in Hungary, check to see when they close! 

 

Flowers and Lights!

All beautifully decorated!

I loved this one!  It had so many flowers!



So grateful to be on this side of the fence!

Debrecen Branch Halloween Party

Halloween Fun!

On October 31st, we had a Branch Halloween Party.  Elder Cummings explained to the Hungarian Branch members what happens on Halloween in America.  Then, they actually did some of those activities.  They had a Mummy Wrap game, decorated monster cookies, trick or treated, bobbed for apples and watched a movie.  And of course, they had a suti table!  Everyone had a good time!

 

The Mummy Wrap!

The cookie decorating table.

The pumpkin making table.

Fun times visiting with friends.

President and Sister Szilagyi



Elder and Sister Cummings



Branch Members had a good time!



Everyone enjoyed making a monster face cookie and then eating it!

Elder Greaves' Sad Face Monster.



Elder Greaves' Happy Face Monster.



Sister Hanson's Stary Eyed Monster!

Elder D'Angina's apple bobbing prize!

Success at apple bobbing!



Eger

Elder and Sister Cummings and Sister Weberg and I drove to Eger to visit the castle, the Palacsintavar and the Marzapan Museum. Eger is such a quaint little town. It’s fun to just walk around it’s cobblestone streets and look at everything. We met Elder and Sister Scott and went to one of the outdoor Piac for a bit, then we went to lunch at the Palacsintavar. I love that place! :) Their palacsinta’s are amazing! Besides being delicious, they are a work of art. They make things so beautiful here! After stuffing ourselves, we walked it off by going up to the castle and looking around. 





In front of one of the statues honoring those who fought the Turkish invaders.

 

Walking up one of the cobblestone streets to the Palacsintavar.

The best Palacsinta restaurant in Hungary!

Sister Weberg's decorative dinner.



Elder and Sister Cummings' dessert palacsinta.

Sister Hanson's dessert palacsinta!

Inside the Castle walls looking out over Eger.

Sister Hanson and her favorite view of the city.

Holes in the castle wall made for cannons to shoot through.

Sister Weberg took a picture of us through one of the cannon holes.

I took a picture of Sister Weberg through the same hole in the castle wall.

How's this for a giant dog house?  :)  This is one of the guard dogs that roam the castle after closing time. 

Looking down at another castle area.

Senior's have fun too!  :) 

Trying out the play equipment made for small and big people alike.



A piller in the ruins of a Romanesque Cathedral.



More of the castle.



A view of the Minaret from the castle. 

The Minaret was built in the 17th century during Turkish occupation.  It is made from carved sandstone and stands 131 feet. 
 



After leaving the castle area, we went to the Marzipan Museum. 
All that you see in this picture is made of Marzipan, except for Sister Weberg, of course.  :)