Enjoying the beauty of Hungary
September was a busy month. Jim always said, “It starts to rain Sept. 15th in Austria and Hungary!” I wanted to go to Lake Balaton (a summer resort area between Budapest and us) while it was still pretty and green. It is the largest lake in Central Europe and has a mean depth of 3.2 meters (9 feet!). So off we went and enjoyed a lovely day around a beautiful lake. I think I spotted an old mariner there!
Breaching the Iron Curtain
Our town of Sopron was pivotal in two 20th Century events. The Russian Army amassed it’s southern troops in the Sopron valleys before it began it’s assault on Vienna at the end of WWII. We drive down the same roads today that the army used to drive into Austria.
It is also the location for the Pan-European Picnic in 1989. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Instead, word got out to the East Germans that there might be a way to the west through Hungary. Thousands of East Germans showed up for the picnic. When the gates were opened, people streamed through to escape. Over the next month 40,000 people crossed to the West at this point. The memorial has a reconstruction of what the Iron Curtain looked like, complete with guard towers, barbed wire, trenches, etc. It stretched 7,400 miles from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic Sea. The Berlin Wall came down 2 months later. It was very moving to be there.
Our first Hungarian Barbecque:
The neighboring branch in Szombathely (pronounced sum-bot-ay) held a Hungarian BBQ in the backyard of the senior couple living in the Branch. The Loughrans (from Huntington Beach) were great hosts. They bought the traditional pot and tripod used in the BBQ. The meal is not charred meat. It is a giant pot of goulyash (pronounced goo-yash) plus side dishes. In spite of an intermittent drizzle, 30-35 members, missionaries, English class students, Ukrainian refugees, etc. gathered for a fun evening of good food and games. Met some fascinating folks. Elder Loughran says he is packing that setup and taking it home to CA!
The Gerszewskis are no longer homeless!
Yes, the big event of the month was that we got to move out of our head-scraping BnB into a real apartment with tall ceilings. It is brand-spanking new, which is great. But it meant that we had to do a lot of purchasing to get all of the little things you need to live. Decisions, decisions, decisions. The white/gray/black decorating motif is alive and well in Europe. We are learning how to deal with Euro appliances and NO CLOSETS! At least nothing is built in. But we are having fun learning to manage.
Service Opportunities
While we were called to gather Church History, during the in-between times, we support the missionaries and do service. We visited a single sister in our branch and did Family Home evening with her 2 children. We assisted the elders as they moved furniture for a woman who found them on Facebook. She was so appreciative and had an interesting story to tell about her life. Finally, we joined a group of 20 or so people and harvested grapes one Saturday from the branch president’s family’s grape vines. It was a cold blustery day, but full of fun as we worked side-by-side with fun people.
Conference Weekend with our first guests.
Saturday evening was the first broadcast of the semi-annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. At home, we had a tradition of having a fun breakfast with our kids and watching the conference on TV in our pajamas!
Because of the time delay, the conference in Hungary starts at 6 pm. We were watching it on YouTube. So we invited our missionaries over for our first entertaining meal in our new home. Elder Caine has the perfect long arms for selfies. He is from Holladay, UT. His companion, Elder Lindahl, arrived in Hungary a day after we did so he is a “greenie” from Aurora, CO. We love them both and are happy to share the conference marathon with them. 1 session Saturday evening. 3 sessions on Sunday. 1 session on Monday! Wonderful talks all centered on living lives focused on Jesus Christ.
We have learned that many email platforms limit the number of pictures we can send. I hope these 7 will get through. We will catch-up more next time.
We are so grateful for our blessings and thankful that we can serve others.
