We just finished an incredible four plus days of self-reliance
in Hungary with an amazing Self-Reliance missionary couple, Elder and Sister
Bradshaw. We met strong priesthood
leaders and were constantly uplifted and led by the Holy Ghost.
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| With Elder and Sister Bradshaw, new Self-Reliance missionaries in Hungary. The Danube and the Parliament building behind us. |
Our week started in Frankfurt where we worked on Monday and
Tuesday. On Monday, I substituted for our
manager, Thomas King, in his weekly management meeting while he was in
Spain. By Tuesday morning, Thomas was
back and we were able to have a workday together, our first in a while and our
last for the next several weeks. We were
able to get caught up on a few things and we finalized our travel plans for the
next several weeks until the middle of October.
We also received our official travel plans for the end of
our mission. We will be returning on
Thursday, November 16, arriving in Salt Lake City at 7:07 pm.
On Monday evening we were able to enjoy a quiet family home
evening at home. We chose to watch a DVD
of “Testaments”, a movie about the visit of the Savior to the Americas that the
Church filmed several years ago. Once
again the Holy Ghost bore witness to us of the reality and power of our Savior.
On Wednesday morning we left for our first ever trip to
Hungary. We flew into Vienna, Austria
and from there took a train to Gyor, Hungary, where our Self-Reliance couple is
based. This was faster and much cheaper
than flying into Budapest, Hungary.
We struggled to understand the train connections at first. We
were told that the train station was in the airport. However, it was just a small station that
went to the main train station in Vienna.
Finally we got on our train, an hour later than planned, but without
further complications.
We took the 74 minute train ride in a compartment for six
passengers. Our compartment had only Sister Rueckert and I and one other
passenger, Brian. We had a very pleasant
conversation with Brian, a single Jewish lawyer. He was from Toronto and vacationing in
Europe. At the end of the trip he
accepted some pass along cards and we exchanged business cards. We hope that we were able to plant a few
seeds.
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| Train to Gyor, Hungary from Vienna, Austria with our new friend, Brian |
We arrived at the train station in Gyor, not sure where to
find Elder and Sister Bradshaw who were meeting us. It turned out they were on one side of the
train station and we were on the other.
Once we got connected, we had a very enjoyable dinner with them and the
Hungary translation manager and his wife.
We ate at a boat restaurant on the Danube River with yummy Hungarian
food. That included a cold, sweet strawberry
soup to start things off. The Hungarians
have amazing soups of all kinds. I had a
Hungarian Goulash meal, but not a soup.
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| Where the Danube and the ? River meet near Gyor, Hungary |
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| Dinner in Gyor, Hungary |
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| Cold Strawberry Soup, dessert before dinner |
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| Hungarian Goulash with Dumplings |
The next morning we went to visit the translation office,
getting to know the supervisor of translation for Hungary. As we discussed our need for subtitles on the
Self-Reliance videos, we authorized them to spend a small amount of budget to
do the Hungarian subtitles on the My Foundation videos. He had the first one ready for us the next
day.
We then went into Budapest, nearly a two hour trip, and met
with the mission president.
He is a
wonderful man who had a strong understanding of the Self-Reliance initiative.
He wanted to know how he could help
Self-Reliance in the two districts under his responsibility.
We discussed the importance of the District
Committees and discussed doctrine.
We
also shared ideas about how self-reliance can be part of missionary work,
including preparing returning missionaries.
This was a totally uplifting visit and we left feeling blessed to have
this great leader in Hungary.
We spent the later afternoon visiting some sites in
Budapest.
We saw some beautiful views,
an old Church and Castle Hill.
We were
fortunate to see a film crew doing some filming and even saw some horses and
riders from the filming.
As we drove to
and from Budapest, we had non-stop conversation with the Bradshaws.
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| Matthias Church - Roman Catholic built in 1015 |
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| Overlooking the Danube and the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary |
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| Close up of the Parliament Building |
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| Horses and riders at Castle Hill |
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| By the Matthias Fountain near Buda's Castle |
We have found instant friendship with Elder and Sister Bradshaw.
They are an amazing missionary couple from
Beaver, Utah.
Throughout these past few
days we have been impressed with their strong missionary spirit and faith.
They are making things happen in such a short
time in Hungary.
I just want to share
one of the tender mercies that they have already experienced.
Elder Bradshaw served the past 4 or 5 years as a bishop in
the Beaver prison/jail. He shared many
miraculous experiences that he had in helping inmates to change their lives and
their hearts. In this process he has
gotten to know Elder Bruce Hafen very well.
Elder Hafen is an emeritus member of the 1st Quorum of the
Seventy who supervised the work with inmates for the Church. After receiving their mission call, Elder
Hafen shared his personal notes and
experiences when creating the first stake in Hungary 12 years ago. He also wrote a letter of introduction for
Elder Bradshaw to the stake president in Hungary. All of this has helped open doors with the
stake president, which we have found very beneficial. We continue to see how the Lord is in the
details of all that we do. He certainly
has been involved in preparing Elder and Sister Bradshaw to be the right people
to be our first Self-Reliance missionaries in Hungary.
One of the advantages of spending time together, even in the
car, is the chance to get to know these special details. Certainly we have taken advantage of this
time with the Bradshaws to not only share thoughts about Self-Reliance but to
also get to know them on a very personal basis.
The next morning we went to the apartment of Elder and
Sister Bradshaw.
They had arrived in
Hungary less than two weeks previous and had not yet been in their apartment
for one week.
We started training from
our prepared agenda..
Finally we left
to participate in a district self-reliance event in the district to the south
of them.
On the way we stopped in the
city of Sopron and visited with a senior couple, who also recently arrived in
Hungary.
They showed us around, including
a visit to an old Roman wall from 200 AD that has recently been
discovered.
As we started our little
tour, we were hit with a thunderstorm that drenched all of us, even with
umbrellas.
It made for a very memorable
activity that will not be soon forgotten.
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| Roman wall dating back to 200 AD |
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| Sister Allmen, our thunderstorm tour guide with a broken umbrella |
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| Sisters Bradshaw and Rueckert drying out their shoes after the thunderstorm |
After we dried out a little, we proceeded to the district
self-reliance event. This turned out to
be a very uplifting experience. In
attendance was the district president and one of his counselors, two branch
presidents with one counselor each, the district SR specialist, district RS
president, four SR participants and two more proselyting missionaries. We spent the first portion of the meeting
reviewing SR doctrine. As each sub group
discussed D&C 104;15-17, the spirit bore strong witness of the purpose and
truth of the self-reliance doctrine. As
we shared some of the next steps to better implement the initiative in this
district, the District president and branch presidents were fully supportive
and accepted the commitments that we suggested.
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| District Leaders discussing the Doctrine of Self-Reliance |
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| Outside of the Church with the District President and District Self-Reliance Specialist |
We went not knowing what to expect, but the spirit guided
the meeting and we were all edified.
Already one of the branches has returned with a proposed date for a
self-reliance devotional in their branch.
We finished with immense gratitude in our hearts to be able to witness
the power of God in that meeting.
We then began our drive to the other end of Hungary for
activities on Saturday. We stopped in
Budapest for the night after driving for almost 3 hours. We left the next morning early to participate
in a Hungarian fair in Edelény. There we
met with Elder and Sister Moser, humanitarian missionaries, and a group of Roma
(gypsies) that they have been helping in a gardening initiative. Generally, the Roma people have been severely
persecuted in Hungary and throughout Europe.
However, this group is trying to be a productive part of society. We will begin involving them in self-reliance
groups at their request. We found them
to be delightful. They prepared their
food from the vegetables that they had grown in their gardens, which are part
of the humanitarian project. Last year
they had won first place in the food competition of this festival. After being fed by them this year, we believe
that their chances this year are very good also. We were also able to watch some Hungarian
dancers and music as part of the festival.
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| Award winning Hungarian Soup cooked by the Roma |
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| Cooking sauce for the pasta |
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| Roma people preparing food |
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| Eating the soup from the Romas at the Hungarian Festival |
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| Young Hungarian Dancers |
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A little older Hungarian Dancers
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After the festival we drove to Miskolc where we held another
Self-Reliance event in this district on the eastern part of Hungary.
In this meeting we had four separate
self-reliance specialists, one branch president and six missionaries (4 junior,
2 senior).
Although the meeting went
well, we did not feel the same level of commitment that came form the
priesthood leaders on the previous day.
We could feel the lack of the priesthood keys.
It gave us something to discuss and problem
solve with the Bradshaws.
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| Presenting to the District of Debrecen |
After finishing this meeting, we began the 4 hour drive back
to Gyor.
We decided to take an alternative
route, following the Danube River on the north of the Country.
It was a beautiful drive and it gave us a
chance to cross the river briefly to visit the country of Slovakia.
Along the way we found an amazing Catholic
Basilica.
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| River Danube, with Slovakia on the other side |
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| Elder and Sister Bradshaw with Slovakian Flag flying on monument |
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| In Slovakia |
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| Estzercom Basilica, largest Church and building in Hungary |
Sunday morning we went to the Gyor ward and participated in
a Self-Reliance presentation during priesthood and relief society time. We invited E/S Bradshaw to participate in
part of the presentation with us. Once
again the spirit was strong. A large
group of members, almost 50, attended.
Many of them committed to bring a friend to the Self-Reliance devotional
scheduled for the following Sunday. The
bishop finished our meeting with an inspiring commitment to what we were
sharing. Once again we felt extremely
blessed to see individuals embracing the self-reliance doctrine and processes
that we shared.
We then drove back to Budapest and participated in a meeting
of the Budapest Stake Self-Reliance Committee.
This was led by the stake president that had been introduced to Elder
Bradshaw. This stake had held one SR
group at the end of last year, but had been fairly inactive in Self-Reliance
this year. As we shared doctrine with
the Committee, the stake president’s vision was opened and he took charge of
the meeting. He committed to share this
type of doctrinal discussion with his bishops and asked the stake relief
society president to do the same with the sisters. We just sat back in awe as he used his
priesthood keys to do so much more than we had ever hoped for.
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| Budapest Stake Self-Reliance Committee meeting, including a few participants by Zoom |
As we completed our four days of meetings with both
districts, the mission president and the Budapest stake, we feel that there is
much hope for the future of Hungary and the Self-Reliance initiative.
They are in good hands with the watchful care
of Elder and Sister Bradshaw and very capable priesthood leaders.
We couldn’t have scripted a better visit and
training opportunity with Elder and Sister Bradshaw.
They are the right people to help strengthen
strong priesthood leadership and implement the self-reliance initiative fully
in this blessed country.
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| Elder and Sister Bradshaw with Sister Rueckert outside of our train back to Vienna |
After our meetings, we went to the train station and boarded
a train back to Vienna.
It is while
riding on this train that I am writing this blog.
A continuation of our journey will be included next week.
