This 'n That in Tapolca...

SNOWY TAPOLCA THIS WEEKEND!

WE THANK GOD for protection (especially for Dave with his weakened immune system) that we have not caught any colds amid the constant exposure to others struggling with bad colds and coughs! Thank you so much for praying for our health!

Yum!

MONDAY, FEB.18
 
We had a wonderful time with our Monday night Bible Study group of Ildiko, Szilvi and Paul. The two ladies also brought some wonderful gifts: home grown honey, and home-grown and canned lecsa, a delicious mixture of onions, tomatoes and peppers (looks a bit like salsa). You heat the lecsa and stir in eggs to scramble it and presto, a yummy late dinner!

TUESDAY, FEB.19 COOKING CONUNDRUM!
 
Cooking is always an adventure! You never know which of the 4 gas stove elements will work! Yesterday only 1 worked, then today Dave got 2 to work, but at least the oven is always reliable (now that I know exactly where to have the dial). The 6 teens in our afternoon English Club loved the chocolate muffins!

While we teach the teens, Shaun and Sondi have about dozen children they teach English to in the former pub, attached to our apartment.

Half an hour after the teens left, Dave had a wonderful evening study with our friend Karchi. 
 
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 20 CULINARY CREATIVITY 
 
The chefs and waiters class where we spoke invited us to be part of their yearly competition among themselves to see who will be promoted to a higher level in their in-school training. It was a real privilege to be one of the few people to be at the lunch, part of the competition!  It was an extravaganza of culinary creativity the likes of which you would see in the most expensive and upscale restaurants anywhere! They have a magnificent kitchen to work in and master chefs who teach them, and this is in a secondary school!!

 

 
Our personal waiter was Ildiko

 and our personal chef was Alexandra

While Dave and I ate at our private table, judges were walking around, judging the waiters on everything from pouring drinks to explaining the meal (English was difficult for Ildiko), and how we responded to what she did! The food was done to absolute perfection! 
 
After lunch we took our first solo bus trip out to Shaun and Sondi's and from there went to Monistoripati for the children's English Club. Today I told the Bible story of Jonah. The kids were a bit more squirmy today, but loved the pictures, and their hands kept shooting up because they thought of so many questions about the story so they were obviously paying attention.  

CONNECTING WITH FRIENDS AND MAKING NEW ONES

SATURDAY SIGHTS IN TAPOLCA:

It was the nicest day weatherwise that we have had, so we decided to walk about town. We were out for 3 hours but enjoyed the sunshine so much!  

 

Getting in the Swing of It!

TUESDAY, Feb. 12
We woke up to more blowing snow and icy sidewalks, but arrived safely at the high school in time for the 8:45 a.m. class. Actually two classes combined, so we had 40 students. We did a DVD of the geography of Canada, so the kids seemed to enjoy it. 
 
At 4 p.m. kids came to our apartment for Teen English Club while Shaun and Sondi had their children's group in the former pub which is attached to our apartment. Our teens are very motivated, plus they love the baking, and even though my cookies were a little hard due to oven conditions, the kids had no trouble downing them. : ) 

 The teens left at 5:30 p.m. and then one man arrived 6:00 for his Bible Study with Dave. He is so eager to learn about the Bible that he didn't want to quit at 7:30, so they went until about 8:15! 
 
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 13
I spent the morning baking and preparing for tomorrow and then at 2:30 we met Shaun at the bus loop for our first lesson in taking the bus to their place. It was freezing cold and snow was blowing. Before the bus gets to the village where Carlaws live, we have to go down another road to a nearby village. We were 2-3 km. down the road when the bus stopped due to a blockage in the road. Two trucks had slid partway off the road due to drifting blowing snow. After the bus driver investigated, he came back and backed the bus up the whole way to the junction! 

 
We arrived a little late at the village of Monistoripati for the Kids English Club and found our usual group of excited kids waiting for us. Shaun teaches one level and Sondi helps me with translation in my group. A few kids couldn't come because of the bad weather. The kids were so attentive to my Bible Story about Elijah and Mt. Carmel. I am doing an "Amazing Wonders" series of stories.  Amazingly, one girl even remembered my story from last week! (the Red Sea crossing) 

 
 
THURSDAY, Feb. 14 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
After spending the morning cleaning and preparing for tonight's anticipated crowd, Dave and I went across the street to an Italian restaurant to share a Valentine's lunch out. Then Sondi came and we prepared 20 packages of chocolate chip and sugar cookies plus a chocolate Loonie for each student coming tonight. They were tied with curly ribbon and a lovely painted bookmark which my sister made. Unfortunately winter conditions prevented students who come from surrounding villages from being there for class, but we had a great time with the 10 or 11 who were able to come. 

NATURAL WONDER IN TAPOLCA!

Saturday lunch at a new pizzeria was a special time with our dear translator, Magdolna, and her two nieces, Dorka and Gina, from another town.

Magdolna, Dorka, Gina 

Then Dave and I decided to explore the nearby natural phenomenon called the Lake Cave, discovered in 1942 when someone was drilling for a well and found this massive cave under the streets and houses of Tapolca! It is in the centre of the city, about a 15 minute walk from our place. 

Cave under Tapolca city streets

 
First we went down 72 stairs until we came to a water basin in this large cave. Then we got into a rowboat and wound our way through a maze of tunnels and caves, which the brochure called "torturous"! Dave was the "captain" and had the oars while I was the photographer. The water was about 18 ', and so pristine and clear. It was absolutely amazing!!

Lake Cave at Tapolca

rowing in Lake Cave

Sometimes our heads would have banged against the top of the cave if we had not ducked, but other times the passage was so narrow we had to push ourselves along with our hands. It was so peaceful and serene, and not a sound was to be heard except for our talking. On a summer day, about 1,000 people come through, but Dave and I were the only ones there at that time!  It took about 15 minutes to circle around the waterway. God has created such awesome beauty everywhere, even underneath the city of Tapolca! 



Sunday was another great day as we went to the church in Veszprem, about an hour away, with the Carlaws. The church is held in a cultural centre there. About 25 teens and adults plus about 10 young children were present. As you can see by the picture, there are mostly young couples. We were definitely the oldest people there, but were warmly welcomed and had lots of chances to talk to people after the service. Someone sat behind us and translated the sermon. In the afternoon we had our regular "staff" prayer time for the ministry in Tapolca.

church at Veszprem

A highlight of the weekend was our first Skyping with two sets of kids and grandkids, plus Toby the dog who was greatly excited to see us and rushed upstairs to the front door! : ) We couldn't contact Dave and Jen in the Philippines due to Skyping problems, but wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEN!!   

Monday, today, I had a 3 hour project baking the cookies for the Bible Study tonight and teens tomorrow. It takes so long because you can only bake 6 cookies at a time due to the tiny size of the oven. We had the same two ladies for the study tonight, plus a retired teacher who was here last Thursday, so that was very encouraging as it was his first time at a Bible Study. 

Thank you for your many encouraging emails and especially for your prayers. Tomorrow we leave home at 8:10 a.m. to walk 30 minutes to the high school for another Canada presentation. Please pray for safety as the sidewalks and roads have many icy spots in these winter conditions. 

Our First Day Off!

Friday was our first day "off". We could hardly believe it was only one week ago that we landed in Budapest! Here is a belated picture of that day sent to us by our good friend Attila who sat with us on the plane. We enjoyed his company so much and hope to keep in touch. 

Attila, our seat-mate on the plane to Budapest

THE LAUNDRY EXPERIENCE: Well, the time had come to do laundry for the first time. We took the giant key that unlocks the laundry room and headed to the washer which opened to reveal a metal barrel into which you laid the clothing. The wash cycle took a whole hour. Unfortunately the spin cycle didn't work too well so I wondered how many days it would take to dry Dave's heavy sweatshirt, but we were happily surprised that it only took 24 hours to dry. In the pictures you can see our Hungarian clothes dryer : ) 

keys that look like they would open a castle door!

Hungarian clothes dryer!

drying clothes on the radiator 

CASTLE RUINS AT SZIGLIET:
Shaun, Sondi and boys picked us up for an afternoon drive up to Szigliet to see the ruins of the castle built in 1262. As we drove, we passed this gypsy man with his donkeys. 

gypsy on road to castle

The village has many houses with thatched roofs, and the streets are winding and narrow. The weather up the castle hill was windy and also chilly, (despite our long underwear!), but it was fascinating to go back in history. Sondi and I sang several songs together in the castle chapel. The acoustics were amazing!! 

castle ruins at Szigliet

thatched roofs of village 

LAKE BALATON: 
On the way home we stopped to see beautiful Lake Balaton, almost as big as Okanagan Lake. It was a wonderful day, and we appreciated the Carlaws so much for taking time to show us around! 

beautiful lake Balaton

BIRTHDAY THANK YOU!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you who wrote to wish me a happy birthday, and to Margaret who posted the lovely card on the blog! It was a wonderful day. We gave a Canada presentation to a class of cooks and waiters (19 yr.olds) , had a birthday pizza lunch out, had our first kids club class, and had a surprise birthday cake at Shaun and Sondi's on the way home. Birthday singers were accompanied on the piano by Kelen, 8, who learned the birthday song just for the occasion!

We got off to a great start with all our lessons and devotionals this week. Monday we had 2 ladies and a first-time man at a Bible Study, Tuesday we had 3 teen boys for a class and devotional plus Dave had a Bible Study with 1 man , Wednesday was the above mentioned club, and tonight we had a fantastic time with about 25 people, first in 3 different English classes,  and then about 16 stayed for singing and Dave's devotional on Mark. We've met so many warm and friendly people this week and Shaun, Sondi and Magdolna have been a tremendous support to us in helping us get settled!! We thank God for His strength and help during this very busy week of "firsts". 

SOME CHALLENGES OR THINGS THAT WE ARE GETTING USED TO: 
-Who would have thought all those much disliked Saturday morning German lessons when I was a kid would come in handy here in Hungary?! God has a sense of humour. Anyway, it has helped us communicate with at least a dozen people since we arrived a week ago! The few Hungarian words are sort of understood.
-the metal dish drain has to double as a cookie rack when baking!
-using a gas oven that has no temperature control to read (so glad I brought an oven thermometer!)
-different textures of flour and sugar than I am used to
-getting OUT of our locked entrance gate (the key is kind of cranky)

-getting INTO the same locked gate on the way back home!
-having a tiny fridge so Dave can't save up on sale items as usual!
-all the signs are in Hungarian!! : )
-getting used to our big meal at about 1-2 p.m., then a snack after classes about 8:30 p.m.
Just "doing life" takes a lot more of our time than we thought. THis weekend will be the adventure of the first laundry experience! The washing machine has a metal barrel inside, and is pretty small. We don't have a dryer and it is too cold to put clothes outside, so it will be interesting.

It's Virginia's Birthday!

ARRIVAL IN HUNGARY!

Feb.1 

FIRST LOOK AT HUNGARY:  We had a very long but good flight, landing in London with a 4 hour layover, then another 2 1/2 hour flight to Budapest. On the way to Budapest, our seat-mate was a very friendly young man with excellent English skills. We talked the whole time, practicing our Hungarian, learning about the customs and history of Hungary and also telling him  why we were coming to Talpolca .It was a magnificent view of Budapest as the plane was descending! Attila hovered nearby while, much to the smiles of several men nearby, we collected bag after bag off the luggage carousel. He took our picture and promised to keep in touch. When we got to the waiting room, we were greeted warmly by Shaun Carlaw,and also Eva and Sandor, our son-in-law's Hungarian relatives who live in Budapest. What a joy to finally see everyone!

Feb. 2 

FIRST SHOPPING EXPERIENCE:  On the way to Tapolca, we stopped off at a big supermarket where I had my first real practice with the limited Hungarian words we had learned. Shaun was looking at something else, and I wanted to know which tomatoes the sign was talking about so I said "Excuse me..."in Hungarian to the man beside us. He understood me and smiled and responded to my gestures at the signs! That was a great feeling : ) 

The highlight of the day was meeting the rest of the Carlaws, Sondi, who together with Jokas (see picture) cooked a magnificent meal, and the 3 boys, Kelen, 8, David, 7, and Adam, 3.

 Jokas was especially overjoyed when I played the piano while they sang "How Great Thou Art", at her request.  We all agreed it doesn't matter what language you sing in, you are bound heart to heart by the Spirit of God when you are believers. 

(Ed. the photo of Virginia at the piano was taken in Armstrong.)

Feb. 3  FIRST  SUNDAY WORSHIP EXPERIENCE: Today, instead of travelling the distance to church, we met at Shaun and Sondi's home on a lovely property outside of Tapolca. Magdolna, our translator who is a local high school teacher and is one of two believers in Tapolca, came with us for the time of Bible reading and prayer. Then the five of us sang many worship songs together while I played the piano. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and a woman, not a Christian,  from the neighbouring village had walked in the dark to come hear Sondi sing! She was enthralled with the music, and kept saying, "More, more!" 

 

Don't worry, I am not going to be writing every day, but this week of "FIRST'S!" is bound to have a lot of interesting details, so we will write again after we have met all our students this week. We are dependant on God for His strength in adjusting, and know we can only accomplish anything in His power, so we thank you for your continued prayers!