July 1, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
The time is flying by.
I can’t believe it is already July.
We hope this finds all of you doing well and enjoying the summer doing
some fun things. We are keeping really
busy and for some reason I just don’t seem to get everything done that I want
to do. Sounds like life, doesn’t
it?
Marv is doing an excellent job with the Centers for Young
Adults. He has been busy building new
forms and spreadsheets to track the information they need and getting the
Finances organized. It is a lot of work
but when he is done, it will be done right and will be easy for the next people
to follow. Because of his association
with the CFYA we had the privilege of going to Budapest, Hungary, for three
days last week, June 22-24. When I told
my boss we were going he asked that I do a review on the Coordinator out there
and so we had to work that into the plan also.
Our flight from Frankfurt was delayed a half hour but
when we got to Budapest we were met by two awesome young Elders from Washington
State. They are from the same town, same
ward, received their calls the same day to Budapest, entered the MTC together,
flew to Hungary together and after 18 months of serving, they are now serving
together in the mission office. We
really enjoyed getting to know them and feel of their love for their
mission. They even called us on Friday
and asked if we needed a ride back to the airport so that saved us a taxi
ride. Their names are Elder Murray and
Elder Miller. (Even their names start
with the same letter of the alphabet).
They also helped us during our training which was held in the mission
home/office/CFYA building.
It was very nice and there was a little air conditioning
in the room, which was like a small living room that we gave our presentation
to the Mission President and his wife, two sister missionaries (senior) serving
right there in Budapest and a senior couple, the Harwell’s serving in a town
about two hours away. One of the
sisters, Sister Smith, was in the MTC with us and so it was great to renew
acquaintances. She also made a lot of
the arrangements for us for the training.
She made homemade cinnamon rolls and they were so good.
We spent over two hours in training and then we had sat
in on a council meeting with the Council Chairmen of the CFYA. What a wonderful young man he is and how
devoted he is to finding the lost sheep.
It was exciting to hear about the things he is doing with the other
young people to search for those that could be coming to the Center and taking
Institute classes. They have an average
of 16 people attend Institute and on Mondays for Family Home Evening, they have
25 to 30 and on Friday night activities they have sometimes as much as 50 young
people come. Some of these are not
members and so this is a great place for them to feel the spirit. Sister Smith and Sister Chase are doing a
great job because they are having the Center open five nights a week from 3 or
4 p.m. on. They have FHE on Mondays,
Institute class on Tuesday and Wednesday, English classes on Thursday, and an
activity on Fridays. A lot of the
Centers are only open two days a week but the Church would like them to be open
5 nights a week and as you can see they are definitely doing that. Sister Chase is there until the end of July
when Sister Smith’s new companion will come and Sister Chase will return to
Germany to a CFYA she was working in before Sister Smith’s companion, who was
her aunt had to go home because the work was too hard. I think she might have actually been
assigned to a new mission in the States that would not be as hard for her to
do. She was in her late 70’s and I
believe this was her 5th mission.
When we got done with the meetings, Marv took them out to
lunch but it was almost 2:00 p.m. and I needed to meet with the Coordinator of
S&I so I told them to go without me.
I met with the Coordinator and was so grateful to have this opportunity
to look at his records, which he did a really good job at organizing his
papers. I was able to teach him some
things about how to use and record his Visa charges and the program that is
used for that. I loved that part because
I was teaching him something he wanted to know.
He then after about two hours took Marv and I in his car
to see some of Budapest. Budapest is
split in the middle by the River Danube.
On the flat side it is called Pest (peshh) and on the hilly side of the
river it is called Budda. He used to be
a history teacher so he was so wonderful at telling us the history of Hungary
and Budapest. He showed us Castle hill
that looks over the city and has a huge Castle on it. (We didn’t have time to actually go in but
we walked around a little bit.) It was
so hot too.
Then he took us to the hill that Elder Nelson dedicated
the land to preaching of the gospel. This
is the story I downloaded from the lds site.
But to actually stand where he stood was quite amazing and the funny
part is we were pretty much alone there even though before there seemed to be
people everywhere. It was so peaceful
and beautiful. It was a by a huge
statute that they call their Statue of Liberty, which was put up after World
War II. Here is the story:
Hungary, Budapest
The desire shown by many Hungarians to learn about the Church
and the improvement in relations between the U.S. and eastern European
countries presaged the visit to Hungary of Elder Russell M. Nelson of the
Quorum of the Twelve in April 1987. On Mt. Gellert, situated in a Budapest
park, he offered a prayer to dedicate Hungary for missionary labor. In his
words, “It was Easter Sunday. There had been a lot of people, a lot of traffic
in the park. But all of a sudden, the people had gone home, and I had a sweet,
peaceful feeling this [was] the spot.” 25
Because the Church had not as yet received legal recognition,
Elder Nelson immediately informed the government about the dedicatory prayer.
He explained its significance to Dr. Imre Miklos, state secretary and president
of the State Office for Religious Affairs. Dr. Miklos was moved and expressed
his appreciation for the desire of the Church to bless the people of his
country.
On 1 June 1988, the document granting legal recognition to the
Church was signed in Budapest by Dr. Miklos, representing the government of
Hungary. On June 24, Elder Nelson received the official declaration in Budapest
on behalf of the Church. He was accompanied by Elder Hans B. Ringger of the
First Quorum of the Seventy and President Dennis B. Neuenschwander, president
of the Austria Vienna East Mission—the Church leader who would have immediate
jurisdiction over missionary efforts in Hungary. Also present were two
Hungarian members of the Church, Dr. Gedeon Kereszti, serving then as the
president of the Hungarian District, and his counselor, Dr. Peter Paul Varga.
He then took us to see the Parliament Building. It is huge with a lot of Roman
architecture. We didn’t have time to go
in but it was still nice to see the outside and have him share more history
with us. The buildings in this town
have a lot of detail on the outside with statutes and figures everywhere, on
the face of the buildings, on the top of buildings, etc. The town is dirtier than in Germany and there
seem to be more poor walking around.
Marv and I walked around on Friday morning before our
flight and walked in the park across from where we were staying. We were approached by a gypsy (I’m sure that
is what she was) and she was begging us for money for her bambinos – we are
told not to give out money. She
followed us and I was really nervous.
I’m sure she figured we were American because we told her we didn’t speak
Hungarian so she tried German and then French but she didn’t know English. It was very strange. I wanted to get out of there and I had to
practically drag Marv along. I didn’t
feel safe and he thought we were fine because he saw a woman with a baby. I don’t care – I didn’t feel safe and I was
really glad to get away from there. We
were looking at a statue of a Hungarian Soldier and German Soldier shaking
hands, the date was in 1914 so the end of World War I.
The currency if HUF and it is large amounts and so when
you spent 1800 HUF you panic but that is about 7 EUR or 11 US Dollars. I was ready to come home on Friday. I thought I would be better about the travel
but it is actually kind of scary to me when I can’t speak the language and I
don’t know where to go and some of the streets we were walking on didn’t seem
safe. I know you have to careful about
pick pockets there and Marv was so frustrated with me for making him put his
wallet in his front pocket. It really
was an interesting city but without Brother Jozsef Kucskar we really wouldn’t
have seen much or known what we were looking at.
One of the most interesting parts of the time was hearing
his conversion story and hearing how he came to be a Coordinator for S&I. He and his wife are the only members on both
sides. He joined because of his
wife. He was raised staunch Catholic
and practiced his religion and didn’t see a need for any other one. But he joined and developed his testimony
and even though he always wanted to be a lawyer (I think he would have made a
good lawyer), he agreed to work for S&I because of his wife again. Women look at the influence you can have on
the men around you. He is a wonderful
man and he has had many challenges but I believe that has made him even
better. He was traveling that night to a
town and then staying overnight so that he can meet with the Elders and
Priesthood leaders to see about starting an Institute class there. The area was just opened to missionary
work. He loves what he does and we were
told he is a great teacher. I know he
was a great teacher for Marv and I.
Isn’t it interesting all the people the Lord just puts in our path so
that we can learn and grow?
By the way, Budapest had McDonald’s, which we ate at 2
times because we could point at the picture, a KFC and a Burger King all in the
same block. They are everywhere. We did eat breakfast in the motel because it
came with our room and we ate dinner on Thursday night there. It was really good. I had perch and Marv had some bacon wrapped
meat. Our room was very hot and our
little refrigerator did not work but other than the heat issue, we survived and
learned a lot from our experience. We
are suppose to go to Warsaw, Poland, to do some training in July. We have an S&I couple there so we will
probably do double duty again. I just
hope we get to go to some other places too even if it is scary.
On Saturday, we went to Mainz, Germany about 45 minutes
away to meet up the Asplund’s and the new Mental Health Couple, the
Dearings. She is the doctor and they are
from West Jordan. She is the same age
as me, 57, and she was able to take a leave of absence from BYU to serve this
mission because her husband wanted to serve before his health was bad. He is around 65. She has a medical degree and worked for the
state as a clinical psychologist, retired from there and is now teaching at
BYU. I really like her and it was fun
to get to know the two of them. We ate
in a Mexican food place. It was
interesting and sort of okay. They all
loved it but I don’t know if I will drive 45 minutes to eat there again. You never know. We didn’t do much here but do in a Catholic
Church which was huge. We found an ice
cream stand because Brother Asplund always likes to get an ice cream when we
are touring and ate it and then pretty much came home. We got home by at 6 and we left around 12
that day.
I have really had my struggles while being here but this
week after a few bad days, I feel I have passed through some of the tough times
and I am on the road that is better. I
guess I expected this to be easy because it is like a job but it has been the
hardest job I think I have ever done. I
have trying to learn all the different personalities and trying to get people
to make changes that have been their traditions for well over 30 years. I think I was trying to be someone I am not
and now I have come to realize that the Lord expects me to be me and that he
will help ME. I look forward to better
days ahead. Thank heavens for my
awesome husband. He has been my strength
and support. It is funny that I was the
one that felt we needed to do this and I am the one that has struggled the
most. He has just jumped in with both
feet and he is doing great. I know I
couldn’t be here without him so I am grateful his life was spared. We are loving our time together. This is a wonderful place to be and this
really is a wonderful experience. I
have decided without the challenges I get to face, I wouldn’t grow and the Lord
expects me to grow so hopefully I will learn to do what will be the best for
those here in Europe and make lots of new friends and come home with a great
love for them and be able to share all I have learned. Every day is a day for learning and I am
trying to open my eyes and see what is around me and how I can learn for
everything that happens. I love it and
I am in a good place inside myself, which allows me to reach out to those
around me.
I want you to know I love my Savior. I know
he lives. I know he loves me, he knows
me, he know the end from the beginning and everything between. I know that we are here at this precise
moment in this precise place for a precise reason and I know the Lord doesn’t
want any of us to fail and he is there to help us. I feel his presence and the presence of
others that sent to help me. We are so
blessed to be surrounded by great people.
I love all of you and I miss you but I know this is right. I know that President Monson is the prophet
and he has extended this call to us.
May you all be happy and enjoy your journeys where ever
they take you. Stop and smell the roses
along the way because I am finding that is what brings the peace and happiness
to our lives. Well I had best stop and
get this ready to mail.
We love you, Elder
and Sister Paxton, Mom and Dad, Marv and Vickie (did I miss any titles?)
We love to hear from you – Write or e-mail let us know
how you are doing. I can’t believe how
much we look forward to a word from home.
By the time you get this you will have had the 4th of
July. I hope all of you were safe and
had a great day.
