Today I thought it would be good to finalize this Blog. We are no longer in Hungary but home in our cozy home. I will never tell you that the adjustment is just slick because it isn't. Still having sleeping issues, but we are happy to be home. We are happy to have had the wonderful experiences we had in Hungary serving the Lord.

Now on to bigger and better things, and a little more rest.

Thanks for taking the time to follow our grand adventure over these last 18 months.

Nan

The last Blog from Hungary...Can you believe it?

The City of Pecs from the mountain close by. The first city we travelled alone to visit. Almost the last one.

We went to Waffle Night one last time.

Adriane left for Nevada to work and go to school. Her last night too.

What a Cook!! At least he has a sense of style????

Elder Gudgell enjoys visiting with Elder Huggard from West Bountiful at Waffle Night.

Then we were off to do audits and inspect apartments for the weekend. Did a little speaking. It was wonderful to be able to say good-bye to people in Pecs and Kaposvar, but a little hard. We gave the plaque that Denese and Dan gave us for Christmas to a wonderful family in Pecs. I hope they enjoy it. They are the Szabakai Family; most incredible wonderful members of the Church.

A couple of apartment inspections.

Everytime someone comes into the office we pull out the camera and take pictures and say good bye. That is a tough one every day.

We found time to go to dinner with some of the missionaries in Pecs. That was a great adventure. After we went for ice cream. I think Ihave eaten more ice cream in the last few weeks than I have ever eaten in the whole time we have been here.

This is the theater in Pecs and that is me standing in front of it.

This is a new missionary who arrived from Hungary on Sunday. We have known him almost since we arrived here. It is difficult to have to call him Elder, instead of Richie. He is one of a lot of missionaries who have been called to serve; some in Hungary and some in England and Romnia and other places aroung the globe. It is wonderful to see second generation young men and women begin this great service.

We have loved this opportuntiy to be able to serve. We understand that our service is different than the young missionaries, but we do serve. We are so happy to see the growth of the Church that has occurred in the last few years. We pray it will continue. Thanks for taking the time to follow the fun things we have done while having this wonderful opportunity. We are excited to be able to be with our family and friends at home again, but will truly miss those we have left behind here. Thanks to those who have made this possible for us to do this.

Running fast, faster, fastest!!!

If you can read this, you can see that we are coming home pretty soon. The preparations have started, however, they are not completed by any means. Time is flying by and we only have our suitcases partly packed. It is lucky that we have two, we saturdays and a holiday so we can get something done.

We have been running so fast this last while it is unbelievable. I am going to try to catch you up a little with pictures and short messages. We have been receiving some wonderful messages from some of the great church members here in Hungary. They are so touching.

We attended a double baptism for two members in Tatabanya. I can't remember if we told you that or not. Sorry. It was a wonderful experience for us, as we have known the older lady for a year now, just waiting for her to be baptized. She is terriffic!

We have been able to spend some wonderful moments with the Baughmans. They are great friends, as well as great leaders. This mission will prosper under their guidance and leadership and every missionary who comes in contact with them will learn much from them.

We celebrated the President's birthday with, what....office ties. Anyone heard of that before?

We welcomed new missionaries in and took a picture of Elder Hecht and his twin brother. We had been waiting a long time to see if they looked alike, like their pictures did.

We bid farewell to some of our favorite groups of missionaries and got to participate with them in a dinner and testimony meeting the night before they left.

We spent a day with the Area Controller Brad Barlow. Just in case anyone wondered, he is doing a hard job in a very terrific manner. It was so good to see him in action. Along with Brad was Johannes Gutther (sp), who just happens to be the man who drove through snow at Christmas time to bring the very first copies of theBook of Mormon to Hungary. I was so excited to meet him.

We went with Brad to the castle. We love going there.

This is Brad Barlow and the Gudgells together in Hungary.

We went back to Debrecen last weekend and visited with some of our favorite people. This is Roberta and her mother.

We also went to Nyireghaza and had a wonderful dinner with some of our missionaries. Then Sunday we went back to Debrecen and spoke in church and had a real Hungarian dinner with Misi and his family.

Then on Tuesday this week we greeted the new senior missionaries and went with them to dinner, even though they were really tired. We have spent the rest of this week working to get the Garners trained and trying to get a number of things accomplished in giving them a few experiences of Hungary. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough time. They will have to do a few things on their own. They are all great and very willing workers; ready to go at it.

After having a very wonderful Hungarian meal and a lovely sidewalk cafe in Pest on Tuesday evening, on Wednesday we took them to the Mexican restaurant, to get a little more of a cultrual experience.





It is beginning to feel very surreal. We are happy to be coming home, but part of us wishes we could stay a while longer and get to know the Garners and the Haslems just a little better. We are sure they will have a great experience here. We will be missing our association with so many people across the country.

Today is August of 2009....

This week has gone by very fast. We have had so much to do. I can also tell you that this weekend isn't nearly as exciting as last week end. Not nearly as great company. However, this is the first weekend that we have been home for so long, that we decided it was time to do a little cleaning and packing and tossing....big time.







Brent says that the week has been a boring week. Not that we haven't worked hard, because we have. Brent was able to finally make some headway with LURBS. I have been trying to keep up and write a detailed job description for Sister Garner. I am hoping that it will make some things a little easier as she has to do things for the first few times without anyone there to show her how, or to ask questions. The President wanted to borrow my book of instructions, and still has it. I am going to have to ask him for it so I can keep working on it.



Just a few missionaries hanging around the office.




We realize that we really don't have much time to train the Garners , as the first week they are here they will arrive on Tuesday in the evening....very tired. Then we will have an orientation day with Garners and Haslems on Wednesday. Thursday will be our zone conference. Friday and then it is P day. The following week we have a National Holiday the airplane one at the Duna. So there goes another day. We are going to have to talk fast to them. I hope they are quick studies. Luckily they are learning the new and the old program for the operating program for missionaries. That is really good. I hope that will help us when telling them all we need to tell them.






This week I did get to run away with Sister Baughman to go to Metro to shop. Metro is like Costco. I found V8 and bought some. We loved it.






Saturday was washing day. Fortunately it is hot and we had a couple of fans going and the windows open and so I was able to do five loads of wash and will be able to put everything away tonight.



I really think the biggest excitment was that we had a conference call with Germany and England on Thursday. It was with the Stake President and one of his counselors. Unfortunately, they didn't get on (the Stake) until there was 15 minutes left to talk. This was at 9:45 at night. We were able to talk about things with the folks in Germany and England. We were so tired on Friday neither of us could keep our eyes open.

We went to Tatabanya for a baptism. It was wonderful and we are so glad to get to say good bye to our good friends there. Rose cried when she learned we were going home. I promised to send her a picture of all my grandchildren. Get ready kids. We met at a swimming pool and was it ever hot!!! I ended up paying for the rental. I guess if I don't get it back, it won't be the end of the world.

Well it is Tuesday night and I am just getting this finished. I am rather tired so It will just have to be. This is Transfer Week and it is crazy from here on out. We will catch you all up soon.

The temperature has finally been pretty steadily hot, but not as hot as last year. I keep wondering what happened to global warming? Guess we should call Al Gore. Didn't he invent it.

What a Wild Ending to a Busy Week!!

These are the Sunflower girls. That is as close as we could get to the Sunflowers. There was a big ditch that none of us wanted to walk through. The sunflowers for the most part, are waining. Too bad to have them end. They are so beautiful in the field.

This was a busy week, again, just because of all there was to do. We have established a new meeting with the president and the office Elders and us. The assistants do not meet with him and this group. They have their own meetings.

We had a great meeting with him on Monday. The rest of the day was just regular work. That is always busy enough. We had missionaries in for a good part of the day, as some of the new missionaries needed to go to the Hivatal to finish their registration.. Wow! that is an ongoing process. sometimes Brent has to drive them because none of the office elders know how to drive a stick shift. (A hint for young men planning on serving a mission: keep a good driving record, and learn to drive a standard transmission). This week he got to stay in the office.

Fortunately, on Tuesday we did not have a District Meeting. That gives us about two and a half

hours to work. Sometimes is is only an hour. Having extra time to work is good right now as we are closing several apartments and that takes some work. We are also opening a new one and it seems that the potential landlords always want to talk to the Sr. Office Elder...that is Brent.

Wednesday was the Mission Presidency Meeting and Brent is involved in that for a number of hours.. It does seem that we have plenty of meetings doesn't it?

President Baughman has established a habit of being in his office a good share of the day when he is not traveling to other cities. That makes him very accessible to us. It really helps us, as we have just a little short term memory deficiency on occasions. He also pops in and out of our office with questions.

By the time Thursday came, it was the Buda and Southwestern Zone conference. That was nearly double the normal size of our Zone Meetings...hence double the dessert, etc.

I spent two nights cooking so that we could have enough cake for them all. As usual, even with extra cake, there was nothing left. Imagine that with a room full of missionaries?

We also had a great musical number for the zone conference. Here is the Pest District practicing for their number. Now it may look like too much fun, but it actually was very beautifully done. They sang "A Child's Prayer" and played one chorus on the bottles.

Friday brought a new Elder to the office. Elder Garcia will join us in the office. He will replace Elder Pickerd who will be going back out in the field. We have enjoyed Elder Pickerd. We will also enjoy Elder Garcia. Just like all callings inthe church, good things must come to an end.

Friday we worked hard all day, awaiting a phone call from the Barlows. It finally came and they had arrived in Budapest along with the Wilkinsons. We met them and whisked them all off to VaPianos for dinner, where we visited and visited like crazy. They back to their hotel and our apt. to grab a few hours of sleep.

Just so any who may not know Wilkinsons and Barlows. They are long time friends from Bountiful. Steve and Lana Barlow have been in Frankfurt Germany for about three months. They are working with LURBS for the Area and Budapest is one of their areas. They also were neighbors, three houses down, on Spring Creek. We have known them for a long time. Our children are good friends. It is kinda like having family come to see us. Pat and Steve Wilkinson just arrived in the country of Germany on Tuesday of this week. Thursday they set sail with the Barlows to come over to learn about LURBS and audits. We have just begun to implement LURBS in this country. We had planned three places to go for this weekend, without knowing if they were coming. We had a troubleshooting meeting with one branch, who has a new president and has been struggling with the finances. That was a trememdous learning experience and teaching experience for both sides. Brent helped them to get things straightened out. Steve B gave the president a 1:1 simplified teaching of how to do LURBS. At the end of that, there was a touching moment when the branch president put his arm around Steve B and put his head on his shoulder and thanked him profusely for helping him. This is a great example of how much Senior Couples are needed in the mission field. You cannot imagine how such simple teachings are such great messages to these Pioneers in Hungary and in other places. More and more we realize that we don't have to be doctrinal giants, or anything but ordinary members with a little experience in the Church to help these wonderful pioneers understand some of the simple principles of the Gospel and of how the church actually operates.

This is our Branch President who was so thankful for Steve's teaching. He also appreciated Elder Gudgell's kindness and help with getting things straightened out.

This is the travelling group in Debrecen after the training and help.

We left Debrecen and hurried to Hortobagy to get a couple of whips. Listen up Tom. You will get your bill later. We enjoyed looking at the wares there and had a nice Hungarian Lunch.

Following lunch we headed up to Miskolc to do an audit. When that was over, we found a McDonalds and had a quick supper and a little more conversation. Like we hadn't been talking non-stop all day long. We realized that we were all very tired and went to find the nearest bed.

The next morning we headed to Church and Brent and I spoke, said good byes to some of the people who we knew well and then headed off towards Eger to repeat the process of auditing and speaking. A little more tearful goodbyes and we were again off; this time to Budapest so that the Barlows and Wilkinson's could get on their way.

Just before leaving Eger we walked over to the town square and a few more pictures. This one is of the castle at Eger, which was the only place that the Hungarians ever won a battle.

We had a wonderful weekend with our friends. Probably won't see them now until they finish their mission. We are certainly aware of how quickly that will be; especially as we learned that our replacements are headed to the MTC.

Enjoy your week. Ours is going to be very busy again.

Rather a busy week......

This past week was rather ecclectric. A whole lot of stuff going on, some of it rather disjointed.

This is my favorite picture of the week. Taken in the West of part

of a wind farm next to bales of hay. So typical this time of year.

We had an Elder with a broken foot who took time to polish his shoe just before going to the airport. The President usually takes the missionaries to the airport, but he was scheduled to be out of town at a zone interview, so the office elders, and Elder Gudgell took him. Brent said that all returning missionaries should have casts on their foot to get the go to the first of the line treatment. Do you think it would take long for the airlines to catch on?

It ranged from a silly office elder, making himself a mustache and pasting it on his face.....to the President's Reaction to this silliness. I can't imagine that anyone would be hiding to take pictures of this activity.

This is just a quick peek at the huge mess that we all made in throwing away all the extraneous junk in the office. Why is it that when you clean out, you always make a bigger mess before it gets better?



We did get the weeding out pretty much done and managed to do some other work too.

I always feel like I need to assure you that the biggest part of our mission is to provide the support for the missionaries, so that they can do what they do best. We are happy to do that.

Then there was the issue of trying to be sure that we remembered all the traffic that we drove in in Pest. To the beautiful architecture of Budapest, ie., the train station and why we were driving over to Pest during lunch time.

It appears that we were delivering a copier back to the stake center, and in taking the two parts of it in, the bottom part came apart. It took quite a few missionaries, who just happened to be there for District Meeting (directly after) to get it put back together.

We are starting to realize that we are not going to be here for the rest of our lives, and want to be sure that we have pictures of everything.

We just love how they build little villages on the hillside of a small mound in the middle of nowhere.

For the weekend, we had to travel to three cities in the West to do audits. Saturday we had terrific rains storms as we were driving. Sunday it was beautiful again. The clouds were really pretty, so I just kept taking pictures. The storks are getting big in the nests. You can almost see them.

We were able to get three audits done and speak in church in Sopron for the last time. We will not be heading West again.

It was a little sad for us. It is really hard to realize that we will not be following up on things here anymore.

This next week will begin the first round of Zone Conferences for the Baughmans. Then they move into transfer mode. When that is complete, they will have gone almost full cycle.

Sister Baughman and I walked through the park nearby to go to get our hair cut/manicure, respectively, when we saw a man coming toward us...and....he flashed us. We had nowhere to go except walk past him. We pretended not to even notice him. certainly hope it hurt his feelings. Our hair and nails look great.