The End of April and Our Second Transfer

Here are a few scenes of our apartment. The one to the side was to show you where we study and read, but the camera went off before I got to my chair.

This is actually our second transfer. The definition of this is that there is a transfer every six weeks in the mission. Everyone doesn't get transferred every six weeks, but some do get transferred with each transfer. Is that clear as mud? Your life in this mission is dictated by how many transfers you have lived throught. So if you ask someone how long they have been in the mission, they will reply six (or however many transfers they have lived through to that point) transfers. Some missions call them something else.

We are loosing two of our Elders this coming week. We were given the information yesterday morning. Elder Barrio, our district leader, is going home. Elder Gaufain is being transferred to Pecs. This will all take place on Wednesday of this week. However, I will tell you about that next week.

This past week has been great. On Wednesday we had Zone Conference. I wish that I had pictures to show you of the mountains that we drove through. Fortunately, we will be going that way again and will get pictures then. We also went teaching with the sisters and had a good meeting. All the piano students copped out this week, so no piano lessons last week. I did talk to Sister Gasser about them and she said that there is an extra piano keyboard in the mission office that she will keep for me to use until someone needs it for a student. Next trip in, I willl pick it up, I hope. Then I can go through all the lessons myself at home and have a better idea of what I am teaching.

The Zone Conference was really nice. Elder and Sister Oakes (of the Seventy) were our guests. He is the area president stationed in Germany. Delightful people. Sister Gasser called me last week to see if I would do the dessert. I decided to take 7 Up cakes with strawberries and cream. I had a little problem with the oven temperature. I had adjusted it to centigrades, but this oven needs more adjusting, so the first one is still uncooked in the center. The other two were pretty good. We only used the last two. They seemed to like it, but they are not as good as at home. The sugar here is coarser than at home. I may try to put it in the blender to see if I can make it a little finer when I make the next stuff. We are also going to try a new store today, I am told they have more American stuff, sometimes. Elder Oakes gave lots of good information on how to be a good missionary. Most of it was directed at the younger missionaries, but we can learn from it too, even though we don't do exactly what they do.

We went on a program with the sisters the other night to teach a family. They are so nice. They have a 14 year old boy who speaks some Engligh. I kept looking at him and thinking about Drew and Trevor. They also have an eight year old boy....we discussed Brigham's baptism with him. They are progressing and fairly regularly attend church.

One of our jobs is to do apartment inspections. We have to do the entire eastern side of the country, so when we go to speak at church, we do inspections. We did our district on Friday and Saturday. They all did well. It is interesting to see what the apartments are like and how the individual missionaries take care of them. All of the ones in our district are nicer than the one we started out in. We did a couple more yesterday before church in Szolnok.

Saturday after inspections, we took Elder Barrio and Elder Wilson with us to TESCO to purchase a ping pong table. We had tried to figure out how to put it on the top of our car, but we forgot that we have an antena on the top of the car. We checked and found that they would deliver it to the church. This is for the Branch and for our Outreach Program. We had to hurry to the church to beat the delivery guy. Boy they were fast.

The Elders and Elder Gudgell put it together. We had branch night and everyone (both of them) were really excited to have the ping pong table and had to get it out to play. The branch president is excited about it, too. You can see where we play pingpong. This is the foyer of our small building. When we are done it goes into a locked room to be stored. In the picture of Brent, you can see the stairs to the upstairs where all the rooms are. It is an interesting, but a

very nice chapel. We are lucky to have one. So many of them are rented buildings with businesses right across the hall.

Sunday was a good day. We got up early and Elder Gudgell went to a meeting with the Branch President. I packed a lunch for us while he was gone, then we attended church at our branch at 9:00. The branch president talked about branch unity and the good Samaritan and if you read between the lines, there are some of those kinds of problems here in the branch. Then Elder Barrio spoke and gave his "farewell address" along those same lines. I am not sure if they coordinated or not. It was a good meeting. It was also the first time the Branch Choir to sing in church. They have been practicing for quite a while. You will note that there are two pictures. There is one with an extra person on the end. You have heard me talk about him before. He is the one who sets up the sacrament table each Sunday. I think he just wanted to be in a picture. Some of our Elders and Sisters are also in the choir.

After church we set out on the road to Szolnok. The drive down was very nice as was the drive home. We went two different roads. We took lots of pictures, and I will attach just a few. There are fields and fields of beautiful yellow flowers. They are probably not so beautiful alone, but the fields are incredible, expecially when the sun is on them. We spotted a wind mill, and had to stop to take pictures of it. All the neighbors came out of their houses to see what we were doing. It was a tiny, tight neighborhood. The next town we found stork nests. They were all along the street. Quite a sight. I have added a picture of storkes flying, (you have to enlarge the picture to see them) and a picture of a road sign that we see all the time. I have been amused about it because it includes several eras of transportation that are all here. The other day when I didn't have my camera, we say a horse and wagon, holding up a long line of cars.

Our meeting in Szolnok was really good. It is a tiny, tiny branch. They really don't have many members, but those who come are great. They had quite a few investigators there. One of them is a darling family, which will be a real boost to the branch. Our talks went well. We talked about the blessing of the temple. Several people got quite teary at times. The four elders in the branch sang "I love to see the Temple". That also elicited tears from the members. I think I could go around the room and tell you which of the people there were touch by the spirit of the meeting. It really was an incredible opportunity for us to be part of it. I can't wait to go back there. I would love to be able to go to the baptism of the little family.

Another Good week for the Hungary Gudgells!

A Good week

I am quickly learning that a lot of what I do is cook. Oh well, everyone has to eat. This was a cooking week or so it seemed. We started out by making brownies, as the local missionaries were coming over. I am learning how to use the oven, and am getting better. It is small, and electric, though the stove top is gas. Ali would love it as you have to light it with a match each time you use it. The rest of the food week was planning, shopping and cooking food for our Mexican Night for Outreach. The picture at the right is so that you can see our new kitchen. The lady in red is the Relief Society President.

The highlight of our week was getting up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the 6:00 train. We had to walk to the vilamos and catch it, then get to the train station and figure out which track and then find our seats (you have to reserve them). The ride into Budapest was much nicer that last time, as we had foot room. We had seats without a table and other people on the other side of the table. The countryside is beautiful with spring blossoming. It rains a lot here and that appears to be the only way they water the crops.We quickly found our vilamos (Trax) and we go off at the correct stop. Wow. We attended a wonderful training session on Outreach. We are the “Outreach Couple” in Debrecen. Our job is to get an Institute program established here for the Eastern part of Hungary, where it is possible for young adults to travel to. It is actually Institute Outreach Program. We have some of it in place and will gradually increase the activity of the program. We will become an official Outreach Program when the President writes a letter requesting it.

These pictures are of our Outreach group a week ago.

Several years ago Elder Perry was assigned to look at things in Eastern Europe. It was made known to him that it was very important that we work to attract young adults to the church and from that the Outreach Program was begun. It started in Germany and we have been told is doing well there. The training we received was wonderful and we are excited to get things moved further along with the program. Part of it is that the young adults help with finding and teaching other young adults, and thus integrate new members in the culture in a very natural way.

This training was one of two highlights of the week. The other was driving to Egar to speak in church. It is a darling little branch, sitting at the foot of a gigantic cathedral in the center of the town. We enjoyed the members. They were very nice. We were to talk about blessing of the temple. Before it was known that we were coming, they had asked someone in the branch to speak. He also chose to speak on Blessings of the temple, and actually gave most of Brent’s talk. Coincidence? I think not.

After we did our training, we decided to drive through the mountains to our home. It was a beautiful drive and I am glad that we did that.

Today I have been cooking for Wednesday when we go back to the area we drove through to attend a zone conference and I was asked to provide dessert for the lunch. I have been baking all day long. It isn’t chocolate, I don’t know if they will like it. Oh well…..

We are still healthy and the Gospel is true, what more can we ask?

Second Report from Debrecen

Ok, so I can't remember how to do this. We will just be creative with the pictures. As you can see Grandma and Grandpa were escorted to the MTC by Ashley and Meagan. Liz was the photographer for this picture. Just in case you thought Ashley might have been the driver.


Now to Debrecen. The view out our window was as below. It was a warm spring day and there are three ladies sitting on the bench. It has not been that warm since.




This is us and two other sets of Sr. Missionaries at the Debrecen Chapel the first Sunday we were in Hungary.

We really didn't love that apartment at all. 81 stairs up for the legs was difficult. I was never sure I was going to make it alive. Toward the end of our stay in that apartment, we started limiting our number of trips, until the last day. The last day we were there Brent made about 8 trips up and down the stairs with all our things. I stayed down stairs to protect our possessions. I had my umbrella, just in case I had to hit someone. There are lots of gypsies in Hungary and they go through garbage cans, and sleep on the tables in the park, you know the scene. They would have taken everything they could, if someone hadn't been there. Several walked by and looked it over but they didi't come near.

The decor in the apartment was lovely. Please note Brent's bed. And the lovely curtains and drapes. The picture doesn't do them justice. The sheers are truly a lovely shade of laverdar and the drapes, which pull flat over the curtains at night for privacy, are ugly brown.

It certainly was an experience that will always make anywhere else we live seem wonderful. I guess that the good thing is that we survived and have stronger legs for it.

This last week we moved into a new apartment. It is very nice and has lots of windows.

Now to backtrack just a bit. We have been attending the Debrecen branch, except in March for two weeks when we travelled. On Easter Sunday we were given the keys to the new apartment and we invited the sisters and elders in our district over for dinner. It was very nice to have them and get to know them. The pictures here will let you know little about this apartment.

This last Sunday was our day to speak in church here in Debrecen and also to train. We were happy do to stay here and Elder Gudgell reported to the mission that we didn't get lost this time.

A good deal of our Sundays will be spent going to branches in the eastern part of Hungary to speak and train. It is sort of like High Council Sunday, only we don't have a high council as we are part of the Mission and the only stake is in Budapest and we are not a part of that.

We have learned to take trains, vilamos (like trax). We can find our way around the town. The elders and sisters like to invite us to go on programs with them when they are a ways away. they are asked to take members with them to teach all they can, however, we count as members. We do encourage them to take the local people when they can.

This month our training is on Family History (Elder Gudgell) and Primary (Sister Gudgell) I have two angels at home who sent me good stuff for primary on the internet \\. I hope there are some more who will send me suggestions. The sister training rotates each month between Primary, R.S., and YW. I am open for suggestions of ideas to share with them. Some of the branches are pretty small and don't have full programs. We pretty much are on our own to decide what to train on. My e-mail is nang973@hotmail.com.

We get invited out occasionally, mostly Nan and the Sisters. We have eaten stuffed cabbage. The last time the relief society presidency sent the leftovers home with Brent. He was in hog heaven. They do love to cook.

On Friday nights we have Institute and that is followed by an Outreach activity. Outreach is for those 18 to 30. Sound familiar? It is for members and investigators. We have found that the program here in Eastern Europe is for a lot of concentration on younger members. On Thursdays we teach Anglora (English). Saturday is Branch night. That was started because the members don't think they can have family home evening on Monday. Mostly the young people come and have a lesson and sometimes play games.

Several days a week I teach piano lessons. It has not been too hard. I do know how to count and think of Mrs. Sardoni every time I have them count. It is interesting to note that we have an Elder Sardoni in our mission. I knew he had to be a relative of hers, so when I found some papers of Mother's on Sister Sardoni, I brought them to him. I hope he appreciates it. He said he didn't know very much about her.

We are enjoying being here and have learned to love the members. We are trying to learn a little Hungarian, but not as speedily as the elders and sisters do.

Our intent is to update this about every two weeks or so, so please feel free to check occasionally if you want to know what we are up to. You also have the e-mail address, so if you have something you would like to write to us we will love to hear from you. You can also make comments at the end of the blog, if you are so inclined. It will ask for your e-mail address.

Finally we can update April 2008

After two weeks in Hungary we still don’t know much Hungarian, but we have seen a lot of Hungary. We have traveled a great deal…in fact from one side to the other. It has proved to be very exciting and interesting. We have learned to plan a trip ahead of time so that the chances of our getting lost might be reduced. The drivers here are very aggressive and especially in the big city. If you try to get in a lane to turn off, we found that they may or may not let you in. If you miss a turn, you cannot just go around the block. These are the times you get lost. In the smaller cities they are all situated around the center of town and the streets go out from there, sometimes like a winding spoke of tires. This has caused us much grief and long detours.The church members are so nice to us even though they really can’t communicate with us, at least some of them can’t communicate. Others have a very good command of English.We spent the first three days in the mission home trying to learn about how to run an outreach program in Debrecen, just as they are doing it in Budapest. We have a big job there, but will be jumping into it rather soon. Fortunately, the outreach program includes seminary and institute and that is already in place. We will just need to put some other things into place. Our missionaries have been asked to start to work with the young people at the several colleges here in the area. They will be streeting in those areas soon. We have one sister who has had outreach experience here. They have just disbanded the Outreach District in Budapest and all the missionaries in both Buda and Pest will be contributing to finding young people for the Outreach program and using the Outreach Center. Before I guess they did not use the Center unless they were in that district.On the first Saturday we drove the mission van out to Debrecen to do training and then to speak in church on Sunday. We did this with the Woods who are the couple doing the Outreach in Budapest. They drove a car out to Debrecen to leave with the elders, so that they could open a new area. It is their apartment that we are now living in and they are gone. More about that later.As we arrived in the city, we were following the Woods, and they make a left turn while we were waiting at a light that was very long. We followed them through the light and down to the end of the street and they were not there. We came back out and still did not find them. About an hour later we drove down what we thought was the street for the hotel we were to stay at and there they were.Interesting enough was the fact that the street we had turned down was the one to the apartment we are now living in. We have learned a great deal in a short time about the city of Debrecen.When we drove back to Budapest on Sunday, we had moved out of the mission home and then stayed until Thursday night with the Duklow’s, who are the office couple for the mission. They have two bedrooms in their apt. That was very kind of them to allow us to stay there. We continued to train with Woods on outreach and with Duklow’s just in case they need us to be the office couple come August, as the Duklow’s go home at that time.Early Wednesday afternoon we picked up Sister Tanner (one of the sister missionaries doing an early transfer) and brought both her and her luggage out to Debrecen. When we arrived we had to go to the Giauque’s (pronounced Jukes) apartment to get our key. Sis. Giauque said that the sisters and the RS Presidency were on their way to their house to practice making the menu that they would be serving on Sunday after church for the Relief Society Birthday dinner. The Menu was to be Apple Soup (was that good or what? It was like hot apple pie with melted ice cream.) Open face sandwiches of either chicken salad, or egg salad, accompanied by sliced carrots and sliced cucumbers. The meal was completed with really good ice cream. That was a good start. While we were practicing the dinner, Elder’s Gudgell and Giauque brought our luggage up the 81 stairs to our apartment. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it up when I got there. Wow that is a lot of stairs up for someone with not so great climbing skills.The stairs are a challenge for us. I can make them, but rather slowly and carefully and I stop occasionally to shake out my legs and go on. The President told me that he didn’t know there were so many stairs and apologized, but didn’t change the apartment. Dang.We spent the rest of the week going to activities at the church, doing programs with the sister missionaries; that is what we used to call a cottage meeting. Except that we also do them for members, especially new ones and inactive ones.Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. we were found getting into the van, along with Sister Call’s luggage (she was taking the train back on Sunday and left the mission Monday). We arrived in Budapest on the Pest side just in time to be turned back at the bridge, because it was a national holiday and there were protests at the bridge. That was a challenge and slowed us down, as we had to figure out where we were and how to get across on another bridge. We made it and unloaded the Van, then got into a little VW Polo and drove further south west to Pecs (pronounced paich) to do training at a branch there. I trained with the YW President, who is wonderful and speaks English. She had all her girls except one there, so the training was discussing getting the girls to work to get their awards and some other stuff. We had a great time.We found a too expensive hotel right off the town square and were able to walk to the branch, however, even walking we got lost. That does seem to be our lot in Hungary.We spoke in church on Sunday and then left to drive to Kaposvar a little north of Pecs. It is a very small, dependent branch, but it was great. Just as it was time to begin the meeting we received a call from the missionaries that the Branch President from Pecs was arriving by train and could we hold the meeting for a few more minutes. He came to present a certificate to a 13 year old young man. We then spoke and then left to get back to Budapest so that we could take the train home.Everyone else in the world was also coming home from their holiday weekend and the motorway got very crowded in Budapest and we had a hard time arriving at the mission home at the appointed time. We decided to stay over with the Woods who live right across the street from the mission home/office. We got the 8:20 train to Debrecen early Monday morning.The scenery is beautiful. I can’t wait until we have the opportunity to get off the main road and drive through some of the picturesque townsWe are doing well and so far staying healthy. We wish we could say we are loosing weight, but when you go to a program at someone’s home. they want to feed you and are insulted if you don’t eat it all. The Sisters seem to have perfected a method to look like they have done so. I guess that I will have to have them teach me how to do it. They do have good bakery products here. That is not good for us.Transfers are today, so last night the branch had a party for the missionaries leaving. It consisted of sitting around the big table and writing notes to the missionaries leaving, and then we sang a song, said a prayer, and then began to say things to the missionaries. It was all in Hungarian so we have no idea what they said. It was followed by another song and prayer, and then we had suti (sweets) only we found some tortilla chips and salsa and cheese and took that instead.It is all so interesting to see how things are done here.We have been kept pretty busy this last month and do expect to get busier as the time goes by.You have seen the pictures from our snowy day in Hokolo, a small town in the mountains(?) they are rolling hills here. I will post this section and then update on what else has happened here. Not much to see on this one, just prose. Sorry that it is not so fun to see.