News From Hungary! vol. 9

Well, I was super busy yesterday. We just had our payday (which only happens once a month), so after making a one-month dinner menu, and then a shopping list to last for an entire month, I went shopping for a month's worth of groceries (except for milk and fresh veggies, which happens weekly). It was a stinking three hour grocery trip! And then my fridge was so cluttered that I couldn't put anything away. So I had a two-hour "clean the fridge" session and a "wash all the dishes that I emptied from the fridge" session. And then it was time to make dinner—which took another hour. I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day.

This picture is from last fall. *1
(I wonder if I posted this one before...?)

And those are my excuses for not posting Brandon's letter yesterday. But here it is now:

There isn't a whole lot of stuff that I can think of right off of the top of my head right now, so I will just get right into it.

Sunday
I went to church. And tracted. Oh, Ica was at church. She is really funny, she likes to write down the prayers that she is going to say, and then for Sunday she will often write a closing prayer for Sunday school. They are really nice prayers, but it is a little strange. *2  She's sincere though and that is what really matters. She is going to be baptised soon. We still don't know when but we want to talk to a member, Piroska, who is in Germany. It is actually because Piroska isn't here that Ica wants to wait to be baptised, and because of this we can't choose a date for her baptism because we don't know when Piroska will come back, just that she will sometime. But Ica is super excited to be baptised sometime, whenever that is. While tracting we found one person who we were able to share the Restoration with. She at first didn't seem super interested, but afterwards she asked us if we had a pamphlet to give her, so hopefully we can look her up soon or something.

Saturday
More tracting, only nothing super interesting happened. But later we did a Sport day. There was one of the Sisters investigators who came, he is also close to being baptised, but that said he simultaniously isn't that close really.

Friday
Weekly Planning! And...that is pretty much it. I think we found an old man who was mildly interested, but I can't remember if thi... No, it was definitely...well, No actually it was on Tuesday, I remember now. So sorry, I guess that Friday was boring.

Thursday
District meeting! MCM! English Class!
English class was definitely the highlight of that day. A lot of the youth come but then they bum around rather than participate. But, the non member girlfriend of one of the youth participated and we had a great English class. We played this game where one person starts a story, and everyone else adds on a part to the story. It was great.

Wednesday
We met with Ica, it was a wonderful lesson. We let her know that she has now heard every lesson that she needs to hear before baptism. She has also kept every commitment. I don't know what else to say about Wednesday.

Tuesday
We practiced for a song that we sang in Church, forgot to mention, we sang a song in Church. I think it is called Peace in Christ. After we did that we also had our customary Tuesday Game Night. There wasn't a lot of people this time, there is a big test coming up in school for nearly everyone who usually comes so it is tough for them to come to evening programs.

Last Monday
We went up to Benedict Mountain, which is just a really big hill. But it is really cool, it used to be a castle. Kind of still is. Afterwards we went to a Czukrázda and played Uno while drinking Hot Chocolate. Oh, side note, it is still pretty cold here in Hungary, the weather is only just starting to warm up. So hopefully that lasts.

Two really good Hungarian dishes that I like are called Rakott Krumpli (Stacked Potaoes) and Töltött Káposzta. (Stuffed Cabbage) *3
Something else that I like fairly well is what the other Missionaries have called a man log.

Make about two loaves worth of bread dough (you might not need this much but just in case) take about half of the dough and roll it flat. put sour cream, tomatoe sauce (pizza sauce) and if you desire BBQ sauce on it. Then put Beef or Pork on it with bacon bits and Chicken. You can also put your favorite veggie pizza topings on it. Once it is dressed roll it all up like a cinnamon roll, and put it on a greased pan. Bake it for about 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees F.
If you make this then get creative with it. I have never made it the same way twice. *4

Sorry that this email is shorter. But this is al this time.
Love you!

Mom Notes:

1. His new camera is on its way to him! (I hope he'll get it soon, rather than his package sitting at the mission office until the next transfer. I'm not sure how that all works, exactly.) I told Brandon he needs to follow Elder Gilson's example and take lots of pictures. Although maybe not a hundred or more each week. ;-) 

2. Actually, I had a seminary teacher suggest that if we felt like we didn't know how/what to pray for, to write a prayer down. Not every time, but as a way of learning.

3. I asked Brandon for the names of some of his favorite Hungarian dishes so I could search out some recipes and try them.

4. I'm pretty sure this is a recipe that Brandon made up, and not a Hungarian dish. I could be wrong...

Until next time, Szép napot!

("Have a great day!" ...if Google Translate is to be trusted. Brandon doesn't send us many words in Hungarian.)