Sunflowers and a flat tire

One of the main crops that are grown in Hungary is the sunflower. There are acres and acres of fields around Sopron and they are really beautiful.

Their heads lift up in the morning when the sun comes up and then drop when the sun gets too hot. They remind me of the people that live in our apartment!

I am out standing in the field so that you can see how tall they are. It reminds me of the song "I'm a lonely little onion in a petunia patch."

Earlier that day we had a flat tire when we were going shopping with the Elders.

Elder Abrok is amazed at the size of screw that came out of the tire. It started to go flat on Sunday night when we made three trips to the branch house to take the elders their keys that they left at our house. Let's just say that it was a small problem of communication as to where the keys were!

And they call it a service project!

Erika, our landlady, has been having a lot of problems with water in the garage under her home. We have had a lot of rain lately and when it rains hard the water comes. We don't mind except a bird died that had got trapped and has been on the floor of the garage underneath our apartment. The last couple of days have been on the really wet side so the bird has started to smell. I wish we would have heard it before it died.

Steve, Peter and Elders Abrok and Bowen offered to help do some digging to change the route of water. She brought in a professional to tell them what to do. I love how they are all leaning on their shovels.

The did some serious digging.

Is it a bad sign when the hole you are digging for the water to run into is already full of water?

They worked so hard that they got drinks.

The best part is that Steve got the bird out of the garage and buried it in their pile of dirt.
RIP!

A Pinic at the Pinik!

On Sunday Elder Morgan who had served in Sopron five years ago came to church with his mom, dad, brother-in-law and girlfriend. After church the Joo's and the Revesz's families invited them and us to go to the Picnic Area.

It was really interesting because Karoly had served in the Army, as did all young men while Hungary was under communism. He never did have to guard the border but he drove the leaders around when someone tried to escape or was killed. Sometimes he would have to take the body to the family. He showed us where the fences were and how they had explosives in between the barb wire.

Then we really had a picnic. Ildi and Ande had put together a lunch in a big hurry after church.

It was a great day!

Hair Cuts

My biggest fear about coming to Hungary was getting my hair cut. It is hard for a gal to switch hair dressers because not only do they know how to cut your hair they know your whole life history. I just needed a trim and had just cut Steve's hair and had him trim mine. He is a better barber than me but he had never cut my hair before. After another couple of weeks I was in need of a serious hair cut.

This is Sandra and she has cut my hair twice. She speaks English and I use that term loosely. She does not know my life story nor does she want to hear it.

I told her that I wanted a kissi (little) bit cut off. I guess that means different things to different people. I have never had my ears show before and the first time I curled my I burned my ear!

The end result took some getting used to but it feels good in the summer heat. This is at a restaurant in the center of Sopron. We have set a new goal to try a new one each week along with ALL the ice cream shops. Goal setting can be a fun thing.

This is what Steve thought of my hair cut!

Grasshopper's trip of a lifetime

We drove to Budapest for our first zone conference with President and Sister Smith. They are amazing and we are going to learn a lot from them.
I guess this grasshopper was tired of the small town life and hitched a ride at the branch house in Sopron. I am not sure when he got off because we were late when we got to the mission home but he was still on the car at Gyor which is halfway to Budapest. He provided a lot of entertainment I guess we are easily amused!  Note the old Russian car in front of us!

Happy Birthday to me!

Usually people don't blog about their birthdays especially women, but I really didn't mind turning another year older with all the great stuff that happened.

Tibor brought the most delicious ice cream cake to our English Club and he also gave me a book with cool pictures. Zsolt gave me a book about Sopron and Eva crocheted two beautiful doilies. 

This party was actually on Saturday, June 30th.

On my birthday Steve took me shopping to find a new skirt and we were successful and also found a summer jacket to go with it.

We forgot to take a picture of our lunch which was an ice cream cone followed by dessert which was a slurpee. My birthday only comes once a year. I took this cool picture of a butterfly the next day when we took the Hartwell's to the Picnic.

On Wednesday the Joo family, who are in our branch, invited the elders and us to dinner at their home in Fertodhakos just outside of Sopron. To my surprise they had a party for me complete with a cute decorated table, balloons and gifts and flowers and a birthday girl badge!

Steve even got a present for being married to the birthday girl!

ElderAbrok and Elder Wright were a bit jealous but they got to eat the delicious dinner of paprika chicken and stuffed cabbage. Elder Wright had two bowls of soup and five servings of the main dishes.

Best of all I heard from all six of our children and all of my brothers and sisters and lots of friends. It just doesn't get better than that. It was definitely worth growing another year older!