Week 27 Photos - Buda

"We just got our transfer calls this morning, and I am staying in Buda ... I am happy because we have great investigators and the city is so fun!!!" 

Fresh Nővér with the missionaries in the Buda District
before transfers. Behunin Nővér is going home this week,
and Butterfield Nővér and Judd Elder are being transferred
to other areas in Hungary. They will be missed!!!

Fresh Nővér with the Elders in the Buda
District. The Elders in the district have been
really supportive of and helpful to the Sisters.

Here are two of the "great investigators" that Fresh Nővér has become friends with:

Panni ... ("She always wants to make the funny
faces but then looks cool and I look like this!!!")

and Kriszti ... ("We are matching for church!!!")
She loves them both!!!

More wonderful friends from Budapest ... 

Butterfield Nővér, Fruzsina, and Fresh Nővér

Butterfield Nővér, Fanni, and Fresh Nővér

The "sketchy" place that the missionaries in Buda email from each week:

Butterfield Nővér, Fresh Nővér, and the Elders
sending their emails on p-day.

There is a story behind these next to photos ... Fresh Nővér has always been our dog lover and a couple of weeks ago we found an abandoned and very dehydrated puppy when we finished a hike up Box Springs Mountain. We took him home and cared for him (gave him food, water, love, got rid of the ticks and fleas, and named him "Elder Max") until we could find a dog rescue center where it could be placed with a good family. Aimee loved him from the photos we sent and said these ones were taken "in honor of my puppy!!!" ...

Translated from Hungarian this means
"Viktor Orban ate a dog!"

Celebrating "Elder Max!"

Elder Max ... or as it would be in Hungarian, Max Elder!!!

Week 26 Photos - Buda

In her email today Fresh Nover said: "Last p-day [July 15th] we went on a boat ride down the Duna [the Hungarian name for the Danube River] and let me just tell you that this place I live in is beautiful!!! I am so in love with my life right now here in Buda. I cannot even believe that I get to live this life ... that I am here in this beautiful country, with all of these amazing people, doing this great work! It just blows my mind to see how great and beautiful it all is! My words can not even accurately describe it and pictures really do not do it justice. So ... I guess we will have to take a big family vacation here in a few years!!!"

The Buda District before their boat ride with
the Parliament House in the background.

The Parliament House from the boat.
When it was completed in 1902 it was the largest
parliamentary building in the world.

Fresh  Nővér and Behunin Nővér on the boat ride.
Behunin Nővér goes home in 10 days and Fresh Nővér
is "not too excited for that! I think we should just
be companions for my whole mission! :)))"

Behunin Nővér, Lynch Elder, and Fresh Nővér on the boat.

The next day ...

"Me and the Elders!"

Butterfield Nővér and Fresh Nővér making funny faces!

"How many missionaries can you fit in the elevator???
Lynch Elder is the one looking up... super funny!!!"

On Saturday some of the missionaries in Buda had a lunch appointment ...

Fresh Nővér, Johnson Elder, Judd Elder,
and Butterfield Nővér at lunch.

There was a dog sitting behind Fresh Nővér
and during lunch "the dog farted and then
they all accused me of farting!  Hahaha!
This was the moment when I told them
that it was actually the dog!!!"

The email from Fresh Nővér was later than usual and she explains why ...
"This p-day we did something really adventurous ... we went caving!!! It was so so so fun, but I am so tired right now! Caving is like crawling through caves and tight places and just getting really dirty. It was the best. I was really worried that I would get stuck because I have put on a few pounds, but I didn't! ... So just imagine me in a wild little suit and hard hat with a light on it crawling under the earth!!!  ...  A few of the tight places we had to crawl through were called the sandwich, the birth canal, and the wiggle! It was so good but now my body hurts!!!"

"About to head into the caves!!!"

With Butterfield Nővér

With Judd Elder

"We went in that hole!!!"

With Lynch Elder 

Crawling into the unknown ... 

Budapest is famous for its thermal baths and the same springs that supply the water for the baths also formed caves over millions of years. It is the only capitol city that has natural caves in the middle of the city.

"Me crawling through the Birth Canal!"

Still crawling!!!

The group taking a break!

Waiting for her turn ... "I am the one behind
the person in the dark caving suit."

Judd Elder, Butterfield Nővér, Fresh Nővér,
and Hatfield Elder ... Look at the smiles,
they must be having fun!!!

Behunin Nővér and Fresh Nővér ...
"Look at these cute suits!"

All of the "Cavers" posing for a picture!!! 

Not only does Fresh Nővér have fun doing things on p-day, but she also loves the work she is doing and the investigators they are teaching right now. "My life is these people, and I have some fun mixed in there too!" She said, "We have the best investigators here in Buda!!!" Many of them are progressing as they feel the spirit and grow in faith. She also commented that "I celebrate six months as a missionary tomorrow, and my one year until I leave on Wednesday ... I am kind of not okay with that!"

Szeretlek!

Week 25 Photos - Buda

On a trip from Buda to the "touristy" part of Pest last week the girls stopped for a picture on the Chain Bridge overlooking the Danube River. 

Kriszti , Panni, Fresh Nővér, Behunin Nővér, and
Butterfield  Nővér sitting on the edge of the bridge.

About these next pictures Fresh Nővér said "This is a good group!" She loves Behunin Nővér and Butterfield Nővér, her sweet companions, and Panni, their wonderful investigator." This is them when they took a bus/walking trip together.

Funny faces ...

And more funny faces!

A picture in the park!

Panni and Fresh Nővér on the bus. "
Panni is the best ... I really love her!"

An embarrassing moment from the week: "I broke a chair! I was going to sit down on a chair and peel my hard boiled egg, but when I was sliding onto it I went right onto the floor. The chair fell too but more violently than I did, and it broke!  My egg didn't crack when I fell, so that was good news!!!

Fresh Nővér is down and the chair is broken ...

The egg, however, is fine!!!

"I cut hair this week, Judd Elder's hair to be specific. Isn't that wild!!! Can you even imagine me cutting hair ... and not just with the buzzers, but also with scissors! It was really scary but I did it and only messed up a little bit! Haha! He was not even mad that I messed up so that was nice. :))"

Judd Elder looks a little nervous!!!

Fresh Nővér has made many friends and had wonderful companions in the MTC and in Hungary. One part of a mission that is constant is change and in her email this week she discussed possible changes. "So everyone thinks I will be leaving Buda next transfer, which is very bitter sweet.  I love Buda and would be happy to stay, but I also want to experience other places and with our mission switching to 9 week transfers I will have less areas to serve in. I have no idea what will happen but that either way I will be happy!!!!

 Behunin Nővér, who goes home at the
end of this transfer, and Fresh Nővér ...
"I really am going to miss her. We have
so much fun together." 

Butterfield Nővér and Fresh Nővér ...
They keep the work going when Behunin
Nővér is away with her leadership
responsibilities and have had some
great successes!

Messinger Nővér, Nővér, Fresh Nővér, and
Butterfield Nővér all came out of the MTC at the
same time and are still learning Hungarian!!!

Week 24 Photos - Buda

"This week we went with Panni and her friend Kriszti and walked across the Chain Bridge. We also walked in the downtown, more  touristy area of Pest. It was so fun!!! ... I love Panni so much! We were talking and I told her that I want to come back to Hungary someday when I am married and show my husband this place that I love so much. So we decided that when that day comes we are going to meet up and have a picnic with our husbands on the bridge :) " 

The Chain Bridge in one of Budapest's most famous
landmarks. This is a view of the bridge looking from the
Buda side across the Danube River to the Pest side.

The Chain Bridge was opened in 1849 and at the time was the longest suspension bridge in Europe.  According to the internet: "The [Chain] bridge ignited the economic revival of Hungary that would lead to Budapest's golden century and it was one of the factors that made the provincial towns of Pest and Buda evolve into a fast-growing metropolis."

Fresh Nővér and Panni in front of one of the "touristy"
shops.  Hungarians are known for their fine embroidery
and the flowers stitched on the blouse in the background
are very traditional.

Kriszti, Fresh Nővér, and Panni in front of the same shop.

Panni, Behunin Nővér, Fresh Nővér, a local Hungarian
(maybe the shopkeeper), and Butterfield Nővér posing
for a photo.

The Buda "threesome" in front of sculpture in Pest
called Scooter Boy which was done in 2008. There is
a great mix of the old and the new in Budapest.

"I love being a missionary and I love my companions and the Elders here in Buda. We are just like a happy little family and I love it. ...I love laughing and the friendships I have made on my mission so far. The language is hard but I am trying to be more diligent and just not be so hard on myself... I guess I needed something to be hard so the language is it!"

"Sok szeretet!"

Week 23 Photos - Buda

"Last Monday we went to a member’s house because she invited all the missionaries [in our district] over for dinner. We had to walk and take a bus to get there, and right when we headed out it started to rain ... and then it rained harder and harder and harder. All seven missionaries were walking on the side of the road in the rain with cars passing by when I mentioned a dream I had about someday walking on the side of the road and then having a car drive by and splash me with a giant puddle of water … five seconds later it actually happened! The funny thing is that it happened two more times!  I couldn't even be mad because life is good as a missionary even when you get caught it rain storms!!!"

On the way to dinner ... the rain begins.

Arrival at the member's house ... time to start drying out.

Butterfield Nővér and Fresh Nővér 

were both totally drenched!

The majority of people in Budapest using mass transit travel by bus, and the missionaries are no exception! There are over 200 routes, and express buses with red number signs serve the busiest routes in the city. They travel along the same route as the regular buses with black number signs, but make fewer stops. 

Fresh Nővér and Behunin Nővér doing what 

they do often ... waiting at a bus stop. 

Living in a foreign country is an adventure with lots of new and different experiences, but there are always some things you miss. Fresh Nővér said "Go to the beach for me... I miss that one a lot!" She did, however,  find a little bit of home this week ... 

"We found salt and vinegar chips!!!!!
So excited ... A little taste of America!" 

"Well ... other than that life is pretty much the same this week ... I love being a missionary, my district is awesome, I love my companions and investigators, I am always laughing, and just loving life! Hungarian is hard but what can you do ... I am just trying to have more faith and be patient with myself!!!"

Panni and Fresh Nővér on Sunday. "Panni is so
cute and I love her. I will be so sad when I leave 
Buda because of her! She is the best!"