-Called To Serve-

From June 11- July 23 2008 I am going to be serving a Mini Mission in Debrecen, Hungary  -I am really exited. My companion will be Sister Tanner, and I couldn't be happier about that. It will definitely be a challenge because of the language and all the difficulties of mission life but I honestly cant wait. I feel like it is what I need in my life right now and I am so grateful for the opportunity to do it. I will be returning to Utah on July 24 and I will be there till Aug 19.

My Golden Birthday

On my birthday Erin and Szandra surprised me by baking me 3/4 of a cake..Its an inside joke/tradition. It had a big 87 and then 2 little candles. It took me a while to figure out that all the numbers added up to be 17.

I absolutely love these girls!

Erin and I at TGIFridays

They surprised me and all the lights went out in the entire restaurant and TGIFriday people marched out and sang me happy birthday. They made their plans in German at the dinner table, so I wasn't entirely clueless. 

Pyro...

Because of new missionary training a couple of missionaries had to sleep at the mission home on the night of my birthday dinner- so they all came! It actually worked out well cause 2 of the missionaries had had their birthdays earlier that week.

I just like this picture of my mom :D

Elder Christensen, Nemelka, and I  getting sung to

Over all it was a way fun dinner and I was glad that we had guests!

Hajdúböszörmény

Last weekend I went with a group from my school to build houses with Habitat for Humanity in Hajdúböszörmény. The Habitat for Humanity program is awesome, I went with them last year to Szarvas also. The day I was leaving my dad came in and said that all morning he had been thinking about how the missionaries that are serving around there should come and help us. So with in a couple hours we had it planned out for 6 missionaries: Sister Tanner, Sister Ringling, Elder Sears, Elder Wilson, Elder Dillman, and Elder Christensen to come help us. It was hard work, a lot of fun, and I was very sore the next day but it was a neat experience. After digging trenches for 2 hours and then spending the afternoon plastering I became so grateful for my wonderful apartment (and my house in Utah)- and especially grateful for the fact that I didn't have to do any work to live in them.

This is where we were- close to the Romanian boarder

These are the missionaries resting for lunch

They were hard workers and great to have around. It was really funny (and maybe not a coincidence) that one of the american volunteers there had been tracked into the day before and they had been.. well lets just say they weren't nice. After the missionaries left this couple told me numerous times how impressed they were with these young Mormon Missionaries

I love these two Sisters! Sister Ringling and Sister Tanner <3

Romania Video

This is a link for the Youtube video that my friend Chris (whose family owns the orphanage) made about our trip to Salonta.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqkqEENqTC4

Romania

In the end of March the National Honor Society at my school went to Salonta, Romania to work in an orphanage for a weekend. It was an amazing experience. It’s right next to the Hungarian boarder so every one spoke Hungarian and Romanian. It was so nice to be able to communicate with these darling little kids. It broke my heart to see so many kids from 1-18 without a family. It made me realize how blessed I am-I am so grateful for my wonderful family.

These are the buildings they live in. They use to be army barracks and the gov. had donated them.

I spent most of the day working in the garden

This was my buddy Atilla, He probably hugged me 1000 times that weekend. None of the kids could say my name, it usually turned out to be something like Weenie. So I told them my name was Kate, then I was called Katya, Kata, & Kate. The poor kids probably thought I was deaf because they would have to say Katya 10 times before I realized that they were talking to me. And every time they called me Kate I would smile and remember the wonderful woman I was named after- my grandmother. 

We played a lot of Futball (thats how you say Soccer)

For every meal(3x a day, all year round) they have to walk 15 minutes to the main orphanage, so we did a bike drive and brought them more bikes. 

These were all my little girls- Oh I love them

When it was time to leave they begged us to stay, which made leaving even harder

They blocked the gate so that we couldn’t get through. It crushed my heart. I am going to do all I can to find a way back to Salonta before I go back to Utah.

Wicked

In February I lived my dream- I was Elphaba from Wicked. My high school couldn’t get enough people together to do a musical so we did a Cabaret instead. My friend Pamela and I both love Wicked and so we decided to sing ‘What is this Feeling’. Luckily Elder Swett (who is amazing at the piano) and Elder Christensen (who is a brilliant page turner) helped us out. Wicked is the prequel to the Wizard of Oz and it tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the west and Glinda the Good. What is this feeling is from the beginning of Wicked when the meet for the first time. Wicked is my favorite musical- I recommend it to anyone! 

With Mac Makeup anything is possible!

In character right before going on stage

My idols: Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth 

Budapest

I have been living in Budapest for almost 2 years and absolutely love it! In my opinion it is one of the prettiest places that I have ever been. Its historic charm, with all of the castles, is truly picturesque. Although it is completely different from Bountiful I am so grateful that I live in Budapest.

Parliament- my favorite sight

The Chain Bridge

Fisherman's Bastion in the Castle District right next to my house

Heroes Square- the millennial monument  

Va'ci utca- Also known as "Fashion Street"- I love this place!

Váci Utca is the main walking/shopping street in Hungary and is always packed

On March 15- The national day- in a square next to Váci there was a market/festival that had Hungarian food and hand made goods- too much fun!

Hungarian Gulyas being stirred by a kis magyar la'ny

These are really good scone like things that Hungarians eat with garlic, sour cream (they eat sour cream with almost everything), and cheese

St. Mátyás templom- St. Mathew's Church

Only have of one of the longest escalators in the world- Moszkva Te'r

This is E'rzsi Ne'ni (the one sitting down). She is my ne'ni, and I can't help but buy fresh flowers from her almost every time I pass. 

Budapest at night

St. Stephen's Basilica 

Budapest is full of statues and monuments, but this has to be one of my favorites. 1/10 of the Jews that died in the Holocaust were Hungarian Jews. They use to chain Jews together and then make them take off their shoes (they were the only thing of value) and line them up by the river and shoot them, that way they didn't have to get rid of their bodies. It is said that the Danube flowed red during these times. This monument has shoes of all types and sizes, childrens and adults. It remembers lives that were seen as less valuable than the shoes on their feet.

The chain bridge at night

Home sweet home