Christmas Market in Budapest

15th Mission report 25 Nov to 23 Dec

Mission Report 15 from November 25 to December 23

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our faithful readers. We hope you enjoy reading our blog with its added photos. If you would prefer to receive your copy of our report by e-mail, you need to tell us and we will send it to you directly. Some people had difficulty in reaching our blog.

This reporting period was filled with interesting events. One of the highlights was the baptism of Andrea, a sister who had been investigating the gospel for a year. She had many questions and several times the young elders gave up on her. One evening we were going over to her home to drop off the conference edition of the Liahona (the International Church magazine) and we met Andrea in the post office on the way. She told Sister Dukelow she had decided to be baptized. So Elder Dukelow worked out the arrangements for interviews and she was baptized on 15 December. He also spoke at her request at the baptism and used an analogy of transplanting trees, taking special care when there were deep roots on mature trees. Converting from Catholicism to LDS requires maintaining the critical supporting family networks and yet cutting thick roots that have been intertwined with many others over the years.

Sister Andrea had been working in a Catholic Church office and felt she could not join our church while working for the Catholic Church even though she knew our Church was true. She prayed and asked for God’s help in finding a new job. Then she bought a newspaper and searched through the job announcements. The first one she called offered her a job. She believes it was Devine intervention. Sister Andrea is reading the Book of Mormon line by line asking “how does this verse apply to me?” For instance, what does Nephi building a boat have to do with her life she asked? The Spirit told her she needed to have the faith of Nephi to cross a large unknown sea between her old church and her new church. She is still not in a safe harbor but we hope and pray daily that she will arrive safely.

Sister Dukelow was able to get her visa extended without difficulty on Dec 17 so now she is legal until Sept 26, 2008. If one pays the fee, which was 6000 FT or $34, anyone can get an extension. What do they do with the stack of paper work that is turned in every time a person gets registered or reregistered? They must have at least an inch of paperwork for Sister Dukelow alone. Of course that involved another passport type photo and it cannot be one that was previously used so another 700 forints for “ugly photos”. Oh well, that is how it is. It is probably the same when one goes to the American Embassy trying to get a visa or some sort of paperwork to go to American. We needed something notarized so we made a trip to the American Embassy and there is a bit of “red tape” there too.

On Sat, December 14 we went to one of the local Christmas markets. It was very cold and it even snowed while we were there. There are many booths with all sorts of things that can be bought for Christmas presents. Elder Dukelow bought a kaleidoscope and Sister Dukelow bought two potholders to match the aprons bought last year. These items are both Hungarian made. We bought Kürtőskalács (spiral pastry cylinders). They are hot off the round iron and ours were cinnamon flavored. They tasted good in the cold weather. It was a beautiful time with the snow falling; the decorated Christmas tree and a large advent wreathe plus the Christmas booths. For those who have been in Germany at Christmas time, think of the Christmas Markets there and it will give you a good idea of what we experience here.

We had two family home evening during December. One new sister gave a lesson for the first time and she did quite well and there was a lot of participation. The other sister had had experience in teaching lessons and she did a good job. They enjoyed the microwave popcorn one time and banana cake the second time. One time we had celery with soft cheese in it and that was also enjoyed—something a bit new and quite different for them.

We traveled to Szeged on the 8^th and 9^th of Dec and did missionary apartment inspections along the way as well as delivered mail and packages. Sister Dukelow gave training regarding the Young Women Program (12-18 year old girls) of the church. Only the YW President was able to come Saturday night so she did the same training with one of the counselors and the president of Young Women after the 3 hour block of meetings on Sunday. The leaders were happy to get the information and it gave them ideas in how to improve their program in the Branch (congregation).

Elder Dukelow trained the male leaders of the congregation on carrying for the families from the Feb 2006, World Wide Leadership Training on Supporting the Families. We reviewed the key points from each of the four talks given at that training and discussed how we as Priesthood leaders needed to be very sensitive to family needs, including our own.

Elder Dukelow told of an incident when he was serving as Stake Clerk in Germany and working a very busy schedule. He would leave home early in the morning and return very late at night. One evening he came home early at approximately 6PM and told Sister Dukelow he was just stopping home to pick up his Church bag because he had an important meeting with the Stake Presidency. Sister Dukelow then asked in a quiet voice, "Why did you even bother to come home?" Elder Dukelow immediately went to the phone, called the Stake President and explained he could not attend the meeting that night because he needed to stay home to take care of his family. The Stake President was not happy with this situation but understood. The Szeged brethren also understood and commented on this story several times later during the weekend.

Sunday we both spoke about the great plan of happiness that has been given to us. We talked mostly about the pre-earth life and what we needed to do while on this earth so we can receive the rewards of our efforts after we have been judged and assigned to our “mansion above”.

On 16 December we visited Békéscsaba which should become an official branch of the church soon. The last time we visited Békéscsaba was in July. The drive down in July took less than three hours from Budapest. This time we planned for three hours but got a late start. Then we ran into snow about twenty kilometers south of Budapest on the M5 freeway but it was too late to turn around and take a train so we continued on. The drive from Kecskemét to Békéscsaba on the narrow two lane Highway 44 was mostly on one or two inches of fresh snow and slush. Each big truck passing in the opposite direction gave us a thorough drenching as in a carwash. It was very hard to stay in our predecessors tracks. Needless to say we did not make our schedule. We arrived 40 minutes late.

We called the elders in Békéscsaba when we knew we would be late and they rearranged the schedule of meetings so Primary and Sunday School were first and Sacrament meeting was last. Primary was attended by four children (one being a 12 year old girl) and taught by a new member. She had the children’s attention and seemed to be doing a good job.

Sunday School was being taught by Elders Sardoni and Morgan from the Spencer W. Kimball manual. The topic was keeping the Sabbath Day holy. The Elders sitting at the front of the class would have people read a section and then ask are there any questions or comments. No one would respond most of the time. The only question of any substance came from an investigator, a middle aged woman name Judith, possibly attending for the first time because the elders did not seem to know who she was. Judith asked about how we observed the commandment to fast and explained how she understood this commandment from the Catholic point of view. Elder Sardoni explained how we fast and how there are some exceptions to fasting due to health reasons.

Sacrament meeting was conducted by Elder Stromberg. Sister Dukelow talked about a bridge of faith needed to get from this life to the next if we want to follow Heavenly Father’s plan. Elder Sears translated and did a good job.

Elder Dukelow talked without a translator about work as a key part of Heavenly Father’s plan. He pointed out that even Heavenly Father Himself works according to what we have learned from the scriptures. He also talked about the need to make good choices in life. The people understood him and helped him along when he forgot a word that he needed.

Elder Stromberg bore his strong testimony for the last time to his branch as he was scheduled to fly home on 20 December. We closed by singing God be with you ‘til we meet again. There was a great spirit in this small branch.

Following Sacrament meeting Sister Dukelow conducted a short training on the Primary program using the pamphlets Faith in God for Boys and Girls, and Young Women Personal Progress. She also talked about For the Strength of Youth and passed out the little books to the mothers of each family and the sister who teaches Primary.

After the training the kids (including some missionaries) played in the fresh snow. Every adult took home a copy of the highly treasured conference Liahona and a new Joseph Smith manual for the 2008 Priesthood and Relief Society classes. We visited with some of the members and investigators. One single adult investigator named Zsuzsi wants to join the Church but is reluctant to do so because she is afraid she may break the Law of Chastity after she joins. The elders have taught her how important this law is and the serious consequences of breaking it. We invited her to come to Budapest to meet the other young single adult members at the young single adults’ New Years Party. She said she may be able to come.

Memorable meals during this reporting period include a very nice dinner at the Szeged Roosevelt Fish Restaurant. Elder Dukelow had a bowl of the traditional spicy carp soup followed by a plate of extremely tender tenderloin medallions smeared with goose liver in a light sauce. Mmmm good! Even the Gypsy musicians were good. More recently Sister Dukelow had a nice plate of penne in leek sauce with ham. Elder Dukelow had cream of leek soup followed by an item that was described as a pork steak with a salad in a loaf. It turned out exactly as described. The pork stake and accompanying salad were stacked inside a pita bread. He won’t order that again. Our friend ordered gnocchi with mushrooms and that was good. Those last three meals cost approximately $8.50 each.

Laura Chilkott, an American English teacher from Balatonfuered who joined the church here recently, previously reported, visited us this weekend. This was the first time she attended an English speaking congregation here in Hungary. We had a very nice Christmas program and she was very happy to meet so many English speaking members. She plans to come back to Budapest once a month to attend church with us.

Last Thursday we attended the Christmas Concert at the Saint Imre high school where Andrea’s daughter, Laura was performing. Even though we knew these were the Buda gifted and talented students, we expected this would be something like an American high school performance. It was more like a college level performance even though it started with a first grade class singing Christmas songs. Almost all the choirs sang a cappella with the conductor using only a tuning fork to give them a note to start. They sang without microphones and filled the packed hall with beautiful music.

Highlights of this Christmas Concert included but were not limited to:

Csányi Márton, the winner of Hungary’s piano competition, playing a beautiful rendition of Chopin’s C minor Fantasy Impromptu (made even more remarkable as this pianist is blind).

Later in the program, Szokolay Adam, a ten year old boy who won the basic talent scholarship, played another Chopin piece, C minor waltz.

The chouses sang several songs in English, some well known and others such as “Jesus Christ the apple tree” unfamiliar. Interestingly the school director joined in the chorus and sang along with his classes while another man who was the master of ceremonies directed.

At the end of the evening of music, the master of ceremonies gave a short talk on the true meaning of Christmas that could have been used by Richard L. Evans. We then all sang two rounds that everyone seemed to know and it sounded remarkably good. All that was missing was the final, “Once more we leave you within the shadow of the everlasting hills…”

Last year we basically had no winter to speak of. This year, we can report it is bitterly cold, and even the most hat resisting missionaries are wearing head gear. Elder Dukelow has been wearing a stocking cap to work for a week. We see no more tanned tummies on the streets but many bundled up people.

Our neighbors down stairs apparently lost their heat in their apartment and have been banging on their pipes at random times during the day for the past few days. We hope we do not lose heat in our apartment. We have discovered how to regulate the heat without opening the windows. We also learned we have a heating element inside our hall closet so we can put on toasty warm coats when we leave the house.

The Hungarian Railroad workers do not want to be seen as non-European so they have gone on strike a couple of times in the past weeks. They were supposed to be joined one day by the city public transportation workers but the city came to an agreement with the union before everything shut down. So far we have been able to rearrange our missionaries’ travel to avoid strike delays.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We wanted to make sure no one was left without a place to go for this holiday. We asked the single adults in our family home evening group if they knew of anyone who had no family to go to on Christmas Eve. They told us of one brother, Uncle Laci, who has no family. He is probably 70 and has had some ups and downs in his life. We invited him to join us tomorrow and he was very thankful for the invitation because he told Elder Dukelow, the Church is now his only family.

We thank you all for your prayers in our behalf. We know we are in a great work and cannot succeed without your help. We wish you all the best and hope you will find great joy and happiness in your service to others in the coming year.