Our First Dinner Invitation

After church, we caught a train to Siofok, along with the Elders and two children from that town. The girl, 13, and boy, 9, had come up on Saturday for the Farsang party. They, and their mom, used to live in Szakes., and moved a couple of months ago. The mom has been a member for a couple of years, and the daughter for a few months. To get to their apartment, the train ride took 45 min., then a brisk 10 min. walk took us to the bus stop, a 25 min. bus ride and another brisk 10 min. walk. You can see why they don't attend much church anymore. When we first got to Siofok, we walked (15 min.) to Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Hungary. This is a great resort in the summer, but off limits to the elders after April 15th, because clothing is optional, as it is in most of Europe. I was so glad we got to see it now, at the end of winter, with the ice starting to break up. The color is very beautiful, about the same as the sky, and it is very shallow; so it is warm to swim in the summer. There are huge hotels along the shore, but it was pretty quiet while we were there, as tourist season hasn't started.

This family's apartment was part of a house in the countryside, and the mom shared that she had spent the whole day before cleaning. It had two bedrooms, an entry room with a bed and T.V., and a kitchen and bathroom. I guess it is common here to not have a living room. The missionaries said that they give many of their lessons sitting on someone's bed. Everything is very tiny, and I have yet to see a drawer that is not behind a cupboard door. Furnished apartments must come with four plates, cups and sets of silverware, so that's what they had.

The mom sat us at the kitchen table and put out a bowl of peanuts and popped some microwave popcorn. While we ate that, she made a fruit salad that consisted of a can of sour cherries poured in a bowl, with apples and bananas cut up and added to it. Then she heated meat loaf made with pork that she had prepared another day, in the microwave, and it was very good, but very salty. After that, she put out some cake that looked like a jellyroll cake. (I haven't found very many sweet things that I've enjoyed.) She told us that she had eaten before we came, and so we and the kids ate, but not her. The missionaries said that they have never eaten anywhere that the mom ate with the family. (I need to remember to remind the missionaries to leave a portion for the mom the next time we eat at a home.)

After we ate, the missionaries asked the mom what they could do for her. She said that them coming to see the family was enough. So they gave a good spiritual message through an object lesson of three knives, balancing on cups, with tips overlapping. With all three tips touching, they could support a pot filled with water. They likened those tips to scripture reading, prayer and church attendance; and told how trials could be endured if those things were in place. It was sweet. Then the mom asked if the missionaries could "shoot some hoops" with her son. We walked to the park and stayed until dusk, and the kids had a great time with Elder Remy and Elder Peterson. The family had a Turner-and Hooch dog, who chased the boy all over the playground equipment- up and down the ladders and slides, trying to eat his right shoe. It was a hoot! It was also very cold and I could hardly feel my feet by the time we left. We walked all the way back to their house, just to turn around and retrace our steps with the mom and daughter, running to catch our bus. I was surprised when they got on the bus with us. Then they walked us to the train, which didn't leave for another 45 minutes, and stayed with us. Once they made sure we were on the right platform, they left so that they could catch the bus back to their town. The missionaries said that this is a custom in Hungary, which they said was often awkward, standing around waiting for transportation in the cold. It was a great visit and I'm so glad that we were invited.