Üdvözöllek a Templomban.
That was the way it went this week. We had a large group of Hungarians here and that means “Welcome to the temple” in Hungarian. It was the second time since we’ve been here that the folks out of Budapest and neighboring cities were making an excursion and we had some fun trying to figure out their language. The last time they were here we met Brother Balzac Kiss, a native Hungarian whom we first met in Vienna when his German wasn’t too proficient, but his English was pretty good. He had now been set apart as a temple worker and he sat down with me to go over some of the phrases and teach me how to pronounce them. We also regularly work with Sister Dospil whose step-son also lives in Vienna and she is a native Hungarian. She also spent some time back then helping learn some of the pronunciations. Most of what went on back several weeks ago was now gone so this time I decided to really get into it and attempted to read from prepared cards as they all worked on their endowments. I got a lot of smiles for my efforts, so I guess they could figure out what I was trying to say but it will take several more visits before we get a little closer. Isten aldjon, testver! God bless you, brother!
That was the way it went this week. We had a large group of Hungarians here and that means “Welcome to the temple” in Hungarian. It was the second time since we’ve been here that the folks out of Budapest and neighboring cities were making an excursion and we had some fun trying to figure out their language. The last time they were here we met Brother Balzac Kiss, a native Hungarian whom we first met in Vienna when his German wasn’t too proficient, but his English was pretty good. He had now been set apart as a temple worker and he sat down with me to go over some of the phrases and teach me how to pronounce them. We also regularly work with Sister Dospil whose step-son also lives in Vienna and she is a native Hungarian. She also spent some time back then helping learn some of the pronunciations. Most of what went on back several weeks ago was now gone so this time I decided to really get into it and attempted to read from prepared cards as they all worked on their endowments. I got a lot of smiles for my efforts, so I guess they could figure out what I was trying to say but it will take several more visits before we get a little closer. Isten aldjon, testver! God bless you, brother!
I did remember that there were several pages of expressions in Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, and Rumanian beneath the recommend desk up front and as I asked around there were several who were interested in learning a little bit, so I had the office secretary make us several copies and we’ll see where we go. Apparently, this week it will be a Czech group coming for their third time since January. We know several of them quite well, so it might be fun to surprise them that we can say a few things to them in their native language. English is really a pretty well understood language throughout Europe and serves us well when we need to communicate with someone whose language we don’t really know but we’ll see what we can come up with.
This past Monday we had a belated farewell party for the Bonners who had already left but we skyped as it went forward. There is a brother who plays the accordion fairly well, “Ziehharmonika” in German, who came and entertained us and I’ll try and attach two or three videos we took as he played. You’ll probably have to download them separately to hear it but we’ll see how it goes. (I added a link to the videos as the files were to big to add here)
We welcomed the Linfords at the same time and you may remember their pictures from last week. Both couples are from Midway and knew each other before they served here. oday was the first day to welcome the Thornocks who just arrived yesterday evening. We didn’t have much time to get their details yet but they started out in Idaho, he served with the Air Force for many years and they ended up in Hawaii where they’ve lived for the last thirtyseven years or so. He served in the North German mission from 1960-1962, before my time in 1964 but she has only taken a little German in school so will have much to learn. He felt it was probable that he was related to Warren and Sue Thornock but we didn’t have time to track down the specifics. We’ll see if we can get to know them better, perhaps Monday night if we succeed in inviting everyone to watch “Miss Potter”, one of Mom’s favorite movies. We did get the opportunity to walk out into the woods on Wednesday and took a picture of someone’s efforts to build a shelter, no doubt a local Boy Scout effort which will be our final picture for the day.
This week we had several opportunities to work with youth groups from Munich, Nurnberg and even some occasional families who came in to participate with groups who had reserved the time. We were used to 5 or 6 baptisms each back home but here most come with large stacks of names. We had a family with 4 youths who performed baptisms for about a hundred departed souls and groups of 15-20 who would easily do from 200-300 or from 15-20 each. Friday was a very typical long day for us with “early service” in the morning starting at 6AM, then our prayer meeting, followed by baptisms, initiatories in our ‘spare’ time, occasionally being assigned to an endowment veil. Then on Friday afternoons we have to get our laundry done in the break between 4 and 6 PM, then it was back for another baptism session at 7. We felt we were really efficient when we got done by 9:30 and could go home. You know you’re really serving when your day lasts 15 ½ hours!
Yes, 15 ½ hour is unusually long for senior missionaries, but interestingly enough, I don’t feel the tiredness while we are working and serving. It comes when you get home and just want to drop in bed. I have really enjoyed the time we spend with the leaders or parents that come with the Baptism groups. One sister asked if I had a name she could take on an endowment session as I don’t often get to go myself. There is a special spiritual connection you get when you serve the Lord together. Even the work of cleaning up doesn’t seem like a burden. It’s nice to see everything bright and clean. There is nothing comparable to the sweet, powerful feeling of the spirit you get in the temple. I hope all the grandchildren who are old enough to do baptisms for the dead are going as often as they can. What a blessing to have those people whose temple work you do watch over you and help you in times of need. Love the Work. Love praying for you all in the celestial room.
Prayers and Hugs,
Grammy, Grampa,
Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sister Parker
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