IT'S OFFICAL....WINTER IS HERE

Saturday we were at home on our "P" day and I (Brent) looked outside and it was snowing. It did not stick to the streets and left about 1/2 inch on the dirt. So I guess winter is here. They have told us that we do not get a lot of snow but we will have several storms during the winter. Look carefully and you can see the snow flying in the picture to the left.. If this keeps up we may have a fairly wet winter. We can only hope so. It is really really cold, for us.

Saturday evening we attened an English Branch Harvest Party at the home of the branch president, who happens to be from Canada. Our hostess is on the left holding a baby.

We had great food and wonderful company. And we were able to leave when it was time to take the Elder's home. That was good also. This was a good moment for the missionaries to get to know the branch members. They have been attending the Buda Ward (which is the Hungarian Ward) and the Bishop asked that they now start to attend the International Branch and work to strengthen that one also. They can only attend the Buda ward if they have an investigator.

Intersting enough, there were some investigators attending the party.

Most of the people at the dinner are BYU fans and graduates and it was fun to talk about the game that was coming up later in the evening our time. I told them I was thankful for many things but I also mentioned I would be thankful for a Utah victory in a few hours. I guess a couple of the branch members stayed up most of the night and watched the game. We weren't at their branch Sunday but I understand that they were really dejected. Oh well.

To the right is our contribution to the dinner, along with some other stuff. It was done in the spirit of fairness, sort of. The inside of the cake, which was very good, was RED chocolate.

Sunday we got up at 5 am and drove to Miskolc to speak at 9 am. We did check the score of the game before we left home. It made for a very pleasant trip.

We gave the same talks,(revised some) as we did last week and will do again next week. We always have a theme for the month and we all ( the Senior Couples, both of us) have the same subject, unless the branch president wants us to address something particular. We are getting to know the members there and they are always happy to see us. The YW President translates for me always. One of the Elders always translates for Brent. My little friend is single and would like nothing more than to serve a mission. She has some physical issues, but they certainly don't hold her back. Obviously she speaks very good English. I hope that she will be able to put it all together and be able to serve. The Branch President made it a big point to invite us to their Turkey Banquet on Friday. There is no way we can attend, but it would be nice. This is because it is a two hour drive in the best of conditions, it just wouldn't work, as we have to be in the office all day Friday.

This picture is in Miskolc. It is the missionaries there (six of them ), The Gudgells, President Schnebly and two members from Debrecen who went up there for church that day.

After that block, we put President Schnebly (Second Counselor in Mission Presidency) in the car with us and drove over the mountians to Eger. The road reminds us of the road to Hauna on Maui. It was a very nice drive up through the mountains. The weather and roads were really nice. That will be the last time until late spring to take that road. We spoke in Eger. We have made many friends there also. They love to have us come. We had received an e-mail from the Ballentines with greetings from them to Eger and we were able to read it to them. You should have seen their smiles. The Ballentines were part of that branch for quite some time on their mission and the members really miss them. The Elder's had as an inactive member to translate for all of us. He has been a member for some time, but only comes on occasions. He would be such a great support to that branch if he would come and participate fully. We hope that he will catch the spirit again, and do so. One of the neni's gave me a gift to take to one of the elders who is going home. It is a beautifully embroidered doily. These people do love the missionaries and try to take good care of them. He showed it to me tonight and I told him that his wife, or his mother will love it. Embroidery is a great part of this culture.

Today we had to go to some cities outside of Budapest to check apartments. As we finished the last apartment we saw that it was beginning to snow. By the time we had stopped at a store to do a little Thanksgiving shopping (have to make rolls and pies, and good old sweet potatoes or yams, which ever we can find, without marshmallows) and got back in the car to drive home, we were using the windshield wipers and driving very carefully. The plows were out. It took a little more effort and time to get home, but we finally got to the mission office and were glad to stop driving. It was also dark, dark, dark and rush hour around Budapest and it was only 5:10 p.m. Sometimes we are glad to be able to walk. My boots are really warm and sporty looking. I have a feeling I will be wearing them most days at least back and forth to the office.

Tomorrow we receive 7 new missionaries. It is always great to get the new missionaries but it is sad to see some go home at the same time. We really do get attached to these missionaries much like we did in the Young Single Adult Ward. Most of them are very good missionaries and they really enjoy the work they are doing. We love to go on programs (discussions) with them. They teach us so much. Many of their investigators really have a great spirit about them and we have seen a number of baptisms.

This is Elder Prescott who leaves Thursday, turning in his JPM card to me before leaving. He had to have a couple of tears wiped away. Actually we were both trying not to laugh. Actually we have four elders leaving Thursday and several of them we are particularly close to because of the fact that we have worked closely with them.

We love and miss each of you. This is the hard time to be away from home because the Holidays are always special family activity days in the Gudgell family. Last year for Thanksgiving we were in St. George and played golf and went into the mountains to cut Christmas trees. Check our our first blog...the pictures of the tree cutting are still there.

One of my missionary companions in my younger mission had a favorite saying "The Gospel is True and don't you ever forget it." I will leave that with you as my closing remarks.