Sloppy Joe's and Texas Sheet Cake

TEXAS NITE. Our resident Texas Elder gives an overview of the Lone Star State. "Eat beef, not chicken." We think it was a hint. What did we serve....beans with beef, but pass on the beans. Sheet Cake got sucked up by a Texas tornado in the form of devouring Hungarians.

A Church for Komló

A few years ago when Hungary had a higher quota of missionaries than at present there were Elders stationed in Komló. Komló is a small city to the North East of Pecs. Several members joined the church and made the commute to Pécs over a mountain pass with a 45 minute bus ride. Many of the dedicated persevered and attend the Branch in Pécs, however many, due to various circumstances found it a hardship to do so and fell away. President Baughman authorized the Pécs Branch Presidency to establish a group in Komló. Sunday August 8, 2010 was Komlós first Sacrament meeting. The space was already filled to near capacity. After the regular meeting a spontaneous testimony meeting broke out. One wonderful sister who has been looking after a elderly bedridden mother inlaw for many years, can now attend church just blocks away from her home for the first time in a long time. Her spirit and gratitude was felt by all.

The Komló meeting room is located centrally in the town on the ground floor of a small retail complex and has a seating capacity of 19. Elder Mark Mason, second counsellor in the Pécs Branch acts as Group Leader. During the meeting I could not help but notice a few of the sisters plotting a reconfiguration of the floor plan, and sure enough, as soon as the closing prayer was said they had totally reorganized the seating arrangement. We rejoiced in their pride that this was now their Church. These dedicated pioneers will hopefully be the nucleus for a future Komló Branch.

August Zone Conference, Then off to Skanzen

Norm: I sat in awe. Here in Zone Conference, we were being instructed by a pair of twenty year old kids. No let me rephrase that. We were being taught by a group of the Lords Elect Disciples. There could be no doubt, we were rubbing elbows with tomorrows leaders, CEO,s, Bishops, Stake Presidents. These missions are a 24 hour a day, 2 year intensive training of the Lords Elect. Absolutely no where else could a person receive an experience such as this. The whole process is truly inspired. Greenies become District Leaders. District Leaders turn into Zone Leaders. Zone Leaders develop into Assistants to the President, And this was but a small group of 50 or so. And to think there are some 50,000 more out there speaking every conceivable language one could imagine doing the same thing. All being molded into the best of the best. This process has no equal any where in the world.
And at the same time another phenomena is taking place. They are changing lives of those they meet and strengthening the church.


Lets call this Shot "The Migration of the Penguins"

Does this look familiar. A balance gate. Very much like the one that used to exist at the Sun Ranch " Mormon Handcart Historic Sites".

After Zone Conference we were treated to a field trip To "Skanzen." This is a Heritage Park or Old Nauvoo style re-creation of a Historical Northern Hungarian Village representing the traditional vernacular architecture and life style of the region.

"Hey Elder..whats that story about the woman at the well?" " Your name is not Rebekah by chance?"

Shopping the Szentendre

Quaint picturesque 1700's village now a popular tourist shopping area. Love those cobble stone streets; Great to look at, but a bear to walk on.

Elders shopping for souvenirs to take home to the family.

Our CEO's of the future, practicing their Chairman of the Board technique.

In this photo (Elders Golze, Smith, Cheney, Bohner)

In just a few short weeks these Elders will be back home after their two year mission, But not for long. A week at home then back to University. Elder Cheney and Golze served with us in Pecs. We are proud to have associated with each and every one of them. They have affected our lives. Please Elders, don't forget us

How Can That Be

HOW CAN THAT BE..............
*THE SMALLER THE FRIDGE, THE BIGGER THE APPETITE.
*BACK IN AMERICA, A SHIRT SIZE WAS LARGE. ITS HUNGARIAN REPLACEMENT IS AN
EXTRA LARGE.
*BACK IN AMERICA, A SKIRT SIZE WAS AN 8. ITS HUNGARIAN REPLACEMENT IS A 12
*WHEN WE MOVED INTO OUR APARTMENT, WE WERE ON THE SECOND FLOOR. NOW I
SWEAR WE'RE ON THE THIRD FLOOR, AND WE HAVEN'T MOVED.
*WHEN SOMEONES SPEAKS IN HUNGARIAN THEY SHOUT.
*WHEN SOMEONE SPEAKS IN ENGLISH THEY WHISPER.
NOW, CAN YOU TELL ME...........................HOW CAN THAT BE?????????

More Summer Fun in Pécs

July 27, 2010; Heather: It is the last week in July and we have had a busy month. Great things are happening here in the Branch. We celebrated with Beatrix the night before she left to go to the Temple for the first time. She felt like a queen because she is one and is so thrilled to be able to go to the Temple.

Our youth Zita, Marci, and Veronika left for EFY in Germany Sunday night. The bus was 4 hours late picking them up from the Stake Center in Pest. That was a test of their patience and commitment to attend EFY. I am sure they slept all night on that bus.

July 23 we celebrated Pioneer Day with biscuits and baked beans. Elder Bouck was a great help in the tiny over-heated kitchen. I don't recommend baking biscuits at 450 degrees when it it almost 100 outside. We watched the movie Legacy, which many in the group had not seen before. pioneer stories are not as familiar here as at home. The Elders dutifully hid their eyes during the kissing scenes.

We started our YSA activities for July with a water balloon fight like we did in Kaposvár. We had a smaller group and only 2 Elders so things did not get as wild and wet here. The YSA had fun playing an impromptu volley ball game with a piece of tape for a net and a almost deflated pool balloon. We are so grateful that these kids are so easy to please and entertain. We consumed 4 water melons between the 2 groups and Hungarian water melons are home grown and delicious. This morning Elder Rollingson was up at 3:30 to pick up 4 of our dedicated YSA group to drive them to Budapest so they could catch a bus to Poland for a YSA conference. I hope the bus was not 4 hours late. So this last week in July will be very quiet here as most active members are either at the Temple in Frieburg, in Poland, Germany, or on vacation.

Summer Fun in Hungary

Kaposvár YSA very wet and much cooler pose for the group shot. The Zone leaders then drove home to Szeged in their sopping clothes and shoes grateful that it was a very hot night. Elder Rollingson and I drove home to our very hot apartment in Pécs and decided that spraying the sheets with a super soaker was the next best thing to AC. It worked until the sheets dried out!

There is only one way to deal with 100 degree temperatures when you are a missionary and that is to have a water balloon fight.

So on a hot July evening in the city park of Kaposvár, Elder Rollingson filled up 50 balloons and 2 super soakers and we turned the YSA and 6 Elders loose. The visiting Zone leaders in their white shirts and ties made perfect targets and they were bombed relentlessly. I have to say that they gave as good as they got and by the end of the evening there was not a dry YSA or Elder to be found.

Sign Trivia

Pass this restaurant every day on the walking mall. Have never eaten there for some reason. Food is probably very good. I wonder if he wonders why his International trade is just not what he hoped it to be.

This high budget sign tells us where to find the local tire shop. Yes Gumis means tires. A hardware store is called a "Csavars Bolt"
Csavar meaning screw and Bolt meaning shop. I have no idea what a Bolt shop is called.

On the Lighter Side

Hungarians will be the first to claim Albert Einstien as a Hungarian and I'm sure that many, many great minds came out of this country.

From there it was all down hill. It all started during a Family Home Evening, when Elder Bouck went flat on his butt.....when one of our recently purchase locally made plastic lawn chairs let him down so to speak. Now I thought this was great. I had something on Elder Bouck in which I could give him a bad time. However......chapter two came yesterday as I sat in the mate to Boucks chair waiting to give a Family Home Evening lesson on "Effective use of Humor" I could not have planned it better. It was a 95 degree day when the chair decided to do a giraffe drinking water imitation with legs spreading in different directions. Now I was on the floor.(Sorry no picture) Oh...... and W.C. users beware.....toilet seats are made from a very similar material.

Whats a guy to do.......... Got a free set of plans for a 30 foot building, but nobody told him he only had a 29 foot lot!

Kids got it figured out. Who needs Disneyland!

Family Home Evening Fun

It is funny, but the favorite game for FHE is the game we used to play with our children when they were young. It is blow the feather and everyone gets a kick out of seeing who can be the last person to blow the feather across the sheet. And one game is never enough. Sometimes we play Mexican Train or Uno. Norm gave a great lesson on friendship and we think the night was a great success with 2 non members present.

July 7, 2010; Heather

Monday night is our Family Home Evening night. We never know for sure how many we will have for dinner, the lesson and some fun. This past Monday we had 17 people altogether. It was Elder Gardenhire's last FHE as he has been transferred to Tatabanya where he will be the branch leader. He is a great Elder and we will miss him.

Largest contigient of graduates next to Hungary were the Americans

Rare Treat

July 6 , 2010 , Heather

Pécs is a noted university town with over 30,000 students attending various universities here. On Saturday the July 3rd, we had the rare treat of attending the Graduation Ceremonies of the Medical School of Pécs University. Our lovely friend , Karishma received her Doctorate of Medical Science, Cum Laud. The event was very dignified and traditional. There were over 125 students that received their certificates after more than 6 years of schooling. The students were from countries all over the world and their representative flags were carried in while everyone stood. The sight was very impressive. Another impressive thing was the number of young women that graduated. It seemed that about three fourths of the graduates were young women. We were pleased that Karishma invited us to see her receive such a well deserved diploma. Her parents could not be there but they are justifiably proud of their eldest daughter's achievements. She is a wonderful credit to them and their unfailing support of her desire to be a physician. We wish her the best of everything as she ventures out in the next phase of her career.