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| The interior of a bus in Budapest |
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| Meeting with others - this is at English Bible Study |
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| Somethings aren't as easy to figure out what they are... |
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| The inside of a street car - some are newer, others aren't |
When people come to visit, we serve as guides to Budapest and beyond (bring your walking shoes!) We are often out for 8-10 hours a day on those days!
It is said that here in Hungary (in the city), if you get two (2) things accomplished, that's a really successful day! Things take longer here. Sometimes you have to go from one building for meat, another building to buy milk, another building to get something made of plastic, another store (in another building) to buy twine…. you get the idea! There are more and more supermarkets/markets coming up all over, but many are small little mom/pop stores that may have a great variety of items, or may not. Having owned a mom/pop business, we try to help them out as much as possible. At the piac (pronounced Pea-atz, which is a farmer's market), there are many of these small mom/pop places in one area. Some will just sell plastic bags for trash, some will sell kitchen items, others sell flowers, others may just sell what they have - random things, but you can feel the oppressiveness of poverty around them. God sometimes nudges us to get something from them, or something from some other vendors. In many ways, the piac is like a regular farmer's market, too, though ours has a few booths of our famous Vecsesi Kaposta - YUM!! (It is a sweet/sour sauerkraut with many veggies in it - gorgeous and delicious!)
Maybe another reason that things take so much longer is that if people have a job, they aren't in a real hurry to serve you most places. The markets may have up to ten people in a line, and only one or two check stands open. Customer service desks are incredibly slow on the average. One time it took me an hour to get a warranty validated! Other reasons may be the travel between where you need to go, and how to get there. Main streets in the states are usually full of stores with advertisements drawing you in. Not the case here - often you will find a store in the middle of a neighborhood with a small sign. If you didn't know that store was available, you never would have found it!
Today, we were true overachievers! We got five things done! We had the privilege of mailing our ballot at the Posta (Post office); going to the ATM; Shopping for some things we needed; Arriving at our team meeting; and Kurt is even now helping a brother in Christ with a car while I am working on this blog.
That also brings up more things that we do - paperwork/ computer work and LOTS of acts of service! Kurt has been enjoying the chance to change up the way neighbors look at one another. Normally, everyone takes care of his own sidewalk/lawn. Period. Don't step over the line of the property. Well, when we moved in, I baked cookies to take around and Kurt started shoveling snow for neighbors; sweeping snow; weed whacking for them… all sorts of things! Now it is kind of a game - see if you can beat the neighbor trying to pay you back for your help! The help is tremendously appreciated, even though many don't want to say, you can tell.
Kurt has also been able to be a blessing to others with some vehicle problems they may have, or to help mow the lawn at the Barka, as well as regularly set up chairs while I (Carrie) am often making coffee for the people that will be coming and setting out snacks.
So, weekly our goals are to be a blessing to others - maybe in ways that can surprise them or just to lend a listening ear. Even though we may not understand everything, many heart issues can be understood, and prayer requests encouraged. We are here, after all, to show others through your help, what a wonderful, tremendously loving God we have and we try to do that nearly any way we can.
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| One of the informational tables you may have seen for us |
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| Kurt mowing at the Barka |
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