Evelin's Baptism

Sister K., Sister W. and I headed to Szeged for Evelin’s baptism.  The Sisters were able to go because I was going and because it was Sister Kramer who found Evelin while streeting 6 months ago, and taught her for most of her 6 months of taking lessons.  The ride to Szeged was truly beautiful.  Even though our GPS doesn’t speak Hungarian very well, she knows where to lead us.   She took us on a wonderful adventure!  We traveled through many little towns and wide open countryside that was beautifully adorned with Fall colors.  The best part was yet to come however.  We went through one town and met a farmer with wagon full of hay coming down the street.  In the next town there were more people riding bicycles than driving cars.  We saw 80 year old women riding their bikes around town.  Then we were out into the countryside again.  After awhile, I noticed that the GPS showed that we were approaching a street called Ferry.  We laughed about that and said wouldn’t it be funny if it was a real ferry?  After a short drive, the GPS said, “In 200 meters, prepare to stop and board the ferry!”  We all said at pretty much the same time, “WHAT!  And then started laughing.  It was so cool!  We went up over a hill and came down to the ferry that would take us across the river.  We drove up onto the ferry, paid our 600 forints (about $3.00) and began our lovely ride across the river.  We felt like pioneers.  :)  It was a beautiful river crossing and we made it safe and sound on the other side.  Then, we just continued on our way to Szeged.

 

Our first look at the ferry. Two cars were coming across as we drove up.  Great timing!



Paying for our way across the river.

Traveling across the beautiful river.

The best part of this trip was Evelin’s baptism. Szeged doesn’t have a baptismal font, so she was holding her baptism in one of the Mineral Bathes. After a very nice program about baptism and a song by the missionaries, we went into the pool area. There were 3 large pools. The one in the center was where she would be baptized. The other two had people in them, who were splashing and laughing and having a good time. As we walked in, I thought, “this is so irreverent - how will they do a baptism in here with all these people?” But, as soon as Evelin stepped down into the pool, a big hush came over the entire area. The people stopped what they were doing and quietly watched. Then the ordinance was performed and we all felt the spirit sooo strong! It was an amazing experience! I will always remember how it felt! I learned that it doesn’t matter where the baptism takes place, the Holy Ghost will be there. It was wonderful!  

Evelin with the missionaries who found and taught her.

All of the missionaries who helped to teach her.

 

 

 

 

 

Morning Walks

Our Favorite Walking Places

 

 

One beautiful morning, Sister Weberg and I walked down to the Belvaros where most of the sights in Debrecen are located.  There is a the Great Reformed Church and fountain, as well as a statue of Kossuth  who was the most outstanding figure in the 19th century during the fight for independence.  It only took us 20 minutes to get there, so we looked around a bit.  I took some pictures of the beautiful buildings on that square without all the crowds of people around.  I took one picture of the statue of Kossuth who just happened to have a live pigeon on his shoulder that morning.  I loved it because it looked like he was gazing at it lovingly. Down the road a bit, I wanted to get a picture of a villamos in front of this really pretty building, so I waited for the villamos to come.  A big bus pulled  up first and I was thinking ‘keep going-I don’t want you in my picture’.  :)  But, it didn’t keep going.  However, when the villamos finally got there, it pulled up right along side the bus and stopped as if it were posing :) and hid the bus!  So, I got a really great picture.  I totally love it! 

 

Great Reformed Church

Kossuth Statue

I don't know what this is but it was a big beautiful building with a gorgeous sky above! 

My favorite picture of the day! 

 

Another favorite place to walk is the park just up the street from us.  It is gorgeous! 

 

 

 

Frog Lake during a rain storm!

Debrecen University is right next to the beautiful park we like to walk in.

 

Beautiful Fall Colors around the lake.

The ducks are making designs in the lake!  :)

This is a tree stump that had a baby tree growing in it as well as all kinds of mushrooms. 

Same tree stump from the side.

My favorite picture of all! 

Move to Debrecen

A New Apartment

 

 

Sister Weberg and I moved from Budapest to Debrecen.  Here we will have the opportunity to work with Elder and Sister Cummings.  They will be serving as Member support to the Branch, while we serve the Young Single Adults in Debrecen.  We have a very nice apartment that is only a block from the Branch House. 

This is our lovely living room/second bedroom.

 

This is our dining area.

Our little bit of spring in the winter.



This is the kitchen.

And bathroom.



Bedroom #1



Extra bedroom/Drying room

Beautiful view from our balcony!

 

Missionary Work!

Sisters Bake for Neighbors

 

 

One Sunday, Sister M. and Sister T. had a great idea during their planning time.  They wanted to tract my apartment building!  :)  So, since it was their Pday on Monday, I had them come over and we made cookies to take to my neighbors on Tuesday.  We had a great time and made lots of Chocolate Crinkles.  The next day, I practiced what I would say all morning and when the Sisters got to my house, I told them my plan.  :)  At each door, I would say: “Szia!  A nevem Hanson Növér és szomszédod vagyok. (Hi!  My name is Sister Hanson and I am your neighbor.)    "Szeretnénk megosztani ezt a sutit, és egy különleges üzenetet veled.”   (We would like to share this suti and a special message with you.)  Then, I told them they could say the rest!  :)  Well, at the first house, I got the "Szia" and "A nevem Hanson Növér és  szommmm . . .”  and couldn’t remember the rest of that word! (So frustrating!!)  Anyway, luckily, I took a cheat sheet with me which I looked at and said the rest.   My neighbors were all very patient with my effort and the Sisters were wonderful of course!  Sadly, there weren’t many people home in the afternoon, but they were able to leave a Book of Mormon with one husband and wife and were told they could come back.  When we went to my 82 year old neighbor (who lives just outside my kitchen window), we were invited right in. The Sisters gave her the first lesson about the Book of Mormon and translated for me so I could bear my testimony.  They were also told that they could come back to visit her again.  So, we had a great time and became acquainted with a couple of neighbors as well!

 

 

 Rolling out the Crinkles



 

and tasting cookie dough.  :)

 

Fun with Cukkini Bread

One day this week, Elder W. wanted some help making Zucchini bread for an investigator they were teaching.  So, he found a recipe online, bought what he thought was zucchini and came ready to learn how to make it.  However, it turned out that he had bought cucumbers.  (They were long and green, but would never do for zucchini bread)  :)  So we took a quick trip to the market around the corner where I showed him what zucchini looked like.  With zucchini in hand, we returned to the Center to make the bread.  He did a very good job preparing and measuring the ingredients and then mixing them all together.  The bread turned out Tokeletes!  (Perfect)  It was the best Zucchini bread I have ever tasted!

 

 

Grating the Zuchini

 

 

All done!

Our Senior Get Together!

As August drew to a close, we enjoyed a fun Senior get together.  It began with a luncheon upstairs in President and Sister Smith’s apartment.  Then, following a bit of training, we went to dinner at the Bistro.  The food was good, as usual, but when the check came, we had a hard time figuring out what everyone owed.  Elder Bagozzi always did this when they were here and so, since Elder Carpenter was the new Office Elder, we told him that he could do it.  ;)  After collecting all of the money, he counted it to make sure we had enough, and we didn’t.  So, then someone else counted it and it still wasn’t enough :)  So, then we took it to the other table where yet another person counted it and it still wasn’t enough!  We thought it was funny that we were all having Senior moments at the same time!   Finally, we just all gave up trying to figure it out and put more money in.  :)  After dinner, we went back to the Mission Home to visit and play games. 

 

My Stuffed Chicken dinner!  Very Yummy!

Our attempts at trying to count the money.

The next day, we continued our Senior get together with some sightseeing. We began at Szell Kalman Ter where everyone bought tickets for the metro.  We walked past cute, little gypsy lady who was selling homemade items.  We then took the escalator down to catch the Red and then the Yellow Metro.  We got off and rode the escalator back up to go to Heroes Square.

 



Kal Szellman Ter

 

Cute, little gypsy lady.

Riding down the escalator to catch the Metro. 

 

 

 

And riding back up again at Heroes Square!

Our Senior Missionary Group

Some of the Heroes honored at Heroes Square

The Senior Sister Missionaries & a view of the Hero Statues

The Senior Elder Missionaries & another view of the Hero Statues

After finishing at Heroes Square, we walked over to Vajdahunyad Castle.  It was originally built for the Millennium celebration out of cardboard and wood, but everyone loved it so much that they later built it out of stone and brick building materials.  So, it is now a huge, beautiful ‘Sleeping Beauty’ like castle, with water surrounding it, and housing the Museum of Agriculture.  The only disappointing thing was they had drained the water directly in front of it and were setting up for some kind of concert or political program.  Sister Smith and I were disappointed that everyone couldn’t see how pretty it was with the water surrounding it.  I loved the happy lions guarding the entrance to the castle.  We had our pictures taken at the very cool entrance, and with an anonomous Monk.  The building was beautiful like many buildings here in Hungary.  After leaving the Castle, we walked over past the U.S. embassy and the stature of Ronald Reagan to catch the Yellow Metro again with plans to get off at Kossuth Lajos Ter so we could go tour St. Istvan's.   I find it a little humorous that I am considered the one who “knows how to get everyone everywhere!” :)   Because, all I have is my little list of places to go with directions on how to get there.  What it doesn’t say is how to get there from somewhere else, so we soon found out that I am still learning too, because you can’t get to Kossuth Lajos Ter on the yellow metro.  So, we ended up taking it to the end of the line, watching the driver walk back along the rails to the other end of the Metro and then taking us back the other way!  We got off at Deak Ferenc Ter because that is where all the Metros cross and you can get on the correct one to get you where you need to go.  Howver, once there, Sister Smith said, “Let’s just see if we can see St. Istvan’s from here, so we all left the Metro and went outside and we were in luck!  It was right there and even a shorter walk than it would have been from the Kossuth Lajos stop.   After touring St. Istvan’s, we walked up the 302 steps to the top of the clock towers where there is a wonderful view of the city. Then, we left and went to the Strudle House for lunch.  They served us asparagus soup, chicken tacos in orange sauce and of course our choice of strudel.   That concluded our Senior Get together.  It was nice to see everyone who's still here and all of the new missionaries coming in.

One happy lion guarding the castle.

The cool entrance to the castle.

The beautfiful castle.

The annonomous Monk and all of us Senior Missionaries.

Some beautiful art work on the Castle. 

I loved the entrance gate.  It was a work of art!

St. Istvan's Cathedral

 



Silly Seniors gasping for air after the climb up 302 stairs.

 



 

View from the top with Sister Hartwell and Sister Smith.

 

 Looking down at the square where we saw Elder and Sister Adams waving to us from below. 

They are the speck of white shirt off to the left. 

 



 

The U.S. Embassy

 

 

Dinner at the Strudle House and the end to a very fun Senior Activity!