FAT THURSDAY

Fat Thursday (Torkos Csutortok) is the first Thursday after Ash Wednesday here in Hungary. It is the final day to indulge your taste buds before fasting begins.  The event brings alive an old folk tradition of feasting to be rid of the leftovers from carnival season ( Farsang).  On this day you dine for 1/2 price at participating restaurants in Budapest and around the Country.  We were invited to go with President and Sister Smith, also Elder and Sister Bagozzi to one of the nice restaurants  of the Buda Castle district.  This restaurant, Halaszbastya Etterem, is on top of the castle wall and overlooks the Danube river.  At night we had a beautiful view of the river, bridges and the famous Parliament building.  Everything was lit up and magnificent.  We has a wonderful string quartet that played at our table upon our request.  It was wonderful.

                       

This week we got word from the Area Presidency that we will be attending the multi-Country YSA Conference held in July.  It will be held in Poiana, Brasov, Romania, in the heart of Transylvania at the top of the mountain's ski resort.  It is a beautiful area and our goal is to spiritually and emotionally feed and enrich our young adults in an atmosphere where they can connect with other like-minded young adults. We are looking to get about 40 YSAs from Hungary to attend.  It will be about an 8 hour bus ride from Budapest. Other countries invited to the conference are Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Moldova, Slovenia and Croatia.  We are really forward to this experience.

Friday we had our YSA activity.  The young missionaries came and gave a great spiritual thought and then we watched the movie "Flipped".  It was in Hungarian so Sister Peterson and I tried to get the story by their actions and body language.  We did pretty good and by the end of the movie I think we knew what the plot was.  We had a very good turnout for the activity. Later when we got home we watched the English version of the movie and really enjoyed it. 

Saturday  is our P-day so we went with the Bagozzi's out to Hero Square in Pest.  This is a famous area with monuments and statues dedicated to the founders of Hungary who came to this area about 896 AD.  There are also monuments to many of the leaders of Hungary down through the ages.  It was pretty cold and windy so we did not stay long but it was fun to see.  We also attended the Fish Festival down by Hero Square.  Lots of fun sights and foods to try.  The festival was held in an area with lots of unique buildings that looked like churches, castles, and fancy government buildings.

                                                     Elder and Sister Peterson at Hero's Square

We miss all of  our dear family and friends and wish each of you a great week.

Sok Szeretettel
Elder and Nover Peterson

Another wonderful week

We thought we would tell you a little about what we are doing. Every week brings a different adventure.  This morning we set out on our morning walk and picked a direction we would go. After 30 minutes we had climbed more than 300 stairs steps, leading us at the top of the hill over looking a beautiful part of Budapest. Such incredible architecture every where you go. It is so beautiful and spring isn't even here yet.  It has been an unusually warm winter.  This week it is suppose to get up to the 50's.  We are not complaining.
Monday morning we shop for FHE.  We serve dinner for about 17 very hungry young adults. A few of them come from a shelter so it is their meal for the day.  They read together from the Book of Mormon and then discuss how it can be applied in their lives, then have an activity which the YSA have planned themselves. There are usually games played afterwards, then they help clean up and we try to be headed home by 9:30.
Tuesday we are over here in the evenings to meet and greet for institute.  We then greet and visit for awhile after institute. We usually have a program (Discussion with the sisters or elders)that we help teach.  This is our very favorite part of what we do here.  We love to share with the people our testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ and how important families are in Heavenly Fathers plan.  The elders and sisters usually translate for us.  Sometimes the investigator knows a little english and that is nice.
Wednesdays are usually our lighter days and we enjoy a fun lunch and a sight to see.  (Actually we do lunches most days.  There is always someone inviting us for lunch and the food is great and not very expensive.
Thursdays we have district meetings with the young missionaries.  We usually have a Stake meeting to attend in the evening.  And then whenever the missionaries need us for a program we are there ready to go.
Friday is the day we have an evening activity for the YSA's.  We make treats for them and they plan the activity.  It is usually a late night but Saturday is P-Day.  On P-Day we have a lot of fun.  The office couple has been showing us the sights of Budapest.  We are loving it. It is becoming one of the most beautiful places we have ever been and it isn't even Spring yet.
Sunday's we attend the ward here in Buda.  We are getting to know the members. All the meetings are in Hungarian so the missionaries translate all three meetings for us. The spirit is so strong here with these members where most have only been members for less than two years, including the Bishop and one of his counselors.  They are such wonderful people and have such amazing conversion stories.
We feel like we are living the dream!  Spending all this time together while  serving the Lord!

Boldog Valentin-Napot

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Location:Hajnóczy József utca,Budapest,Hungary

Senior Conference

This past week they held Senior Conference, which is held every three months.  All of the Senior couples come into Budapest from all over Hungary.  We had a wonderful time getting acquainted with each of them and hearing of their experiences where they serve.  We shared, we learned, we dined together, we played games and even went on a tour together. The second day of the conference we toured the "Hospital in the Rock".  This was made famous during the second World War where it was the safest place during the bombings in Budapest.  It was built in natural limestone caves under "Castle Hill". The hospital was built for sixty patients but at times housed more than six hundred wounded patients. It now has more than seventy wax figures depicting hospital scenes of World War 11.  It was an amazing sight to behold.

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Trip to the Hivatal

Bright and early Monday morning we loaded up the mission home van and headed for the Hivatal. (Government immigration building) to apply for residency. The office missionaries went with us to interpret. We also took the new sister missionaries who needed residence cards as well! We spent three hours in line to get the papers processed. Now we are official and can stay in the country for 18 months.



After the Hivatal, lunch with the young missionaries at Magic Burger.
Who knew that Hungarians could make such great burgers!
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Location:Hajnóczy József utca,Budapest,Hungary

Our First P Day

Despite the cold weather, we bundled up and took our 3+ mile walk through our section of the city.  We are located on the west side of the Danube river.  This side of the river is called Buda.  The east side of the river is called Pest.  We are trying really hard not to get lost since there are so many winding streets.  So far we have been able to find our way back home to our apartment.  Part of our walk took us through one of the many parks in this area.  Instead of children's playground equipment, they have installed workout equipment.  This park is brown this time of the year but we have heard that this place will transform overnight with beautiful flowers and trees come spring!

In the evening, we took the metro (subway) under the river to walk the famous plaza street, "Vaci Utca" (Vaci Street).  The plaza street is almost one mile long.  It became famous in the 1800's for its fashionable shopping!  Later that evening we enjoyed a wonderful Hungarian meal at the "Szareves Etterem", the oldest restaurant in Pest.  We topped off the evening with hot chocolate served in fine china mugs.  The best hot chocolate we have ever tasted, by far!

Along the "Vaci Utca", shopping plaza!

"Kiskiralylany Szobor" (little princess statue) The most photographed statue in Budapest.

Wonderful dinner with the Bagozzi's at the "Szareves Etterem"!

First week in the mission field

We really enjoyed our first week here in Budapest. The members and the young single adults that we work with are so friendly and wonderful. The city is filled with historic architecture and cultural heritage. This week we traveled to Debrecen and Erd on mission business. The country side is mostly flat with farm land mixed with forests. Not much green yet but that will change quickly come April.


Some of our young single adults. At family home evening.


Part of our activity was to make an original Hungarian dish. So far we are really enjoying the food here.


Moved into our apartment on Monday. This is the courtyard outside of our flat.


In order to get into our apartment there is a locked gate and three locks on the heavy wooden door.



Living room with hardwood floors and 12 foot ceiling.


Bedroom with mirrors covering closet doors.

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