Thankful Giving and Feasting!

November began with busy days. To add to the busy-ness our shower broke which required a whole new tub and tile around it. Our Landlord was speedy and with in two weeks we had a new tub, but it did require finding an AirBnB close by to go shower in for the two weeks.

Clark and I are now the "seasoned missionaries" we have been in the country longer than the other Senior Missionaries. It is hard to believe. We were asked to organize a Senior Missionary Conference for November. With help from the very talented, Sister Beth Hill, our mission medical advisor, we had a wonderful 2 day conference with tours of the city, good food and a spiritual feast! We had 15 Senior missionaries and our Mission President Chet Wall and His Wife Kristy Wall as our 40'something chaperones.

We visited the new Temple sight land, it is beautiful on the side of a hill. Then walked all the major sights of Budapest. In the evening we went to Luminary park to see the History of Budapest in Lights. These people have fast become forever friends.

We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving at the Ben King Family Home. They have been serving at the U S Embassy for the past three years. They leave in December for the next assignment in the Philippines. Every year they have fed all the American Missionaries serving in Budapest for Thanksgiving, and Jan King is a great cook. They will be missed in Hungary, but will be a great blessing for the Philippines. Once again, we had a feast. Next our ward relief society held a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for all the sisters. More of a feast. It was so kind of them to help us feel welcome and show a desire to learn about our funny American customs. Why turkey? They have Goose day here.

If that wasn't enough food for the month we then helped prepare a meal for the Young Missionaries as they met with Elder de Feo, our Area President for Central Europe. The missionaries are always uplifted from General Authority visitors.

We always squeeze in walks down to the Christmas Markets just for fun.

Our time is going by too fast. We are forever changed from serving this mission, meeting these people and seeing the hand of God in so many ways. Today we say our mission does not define us, it has refined us. We are looking forward to December. The city is already bright with lights, symphonies, and Christmas markets. Songs of our savior are around every turn. We are finishing up the year with visits to close projects with trusted, faithful friends. We look forward to a visit from our Daughter Sarah and the opportunity to show her this beautiful city. We know January and February will fly by. Then once again, we will find ourselves watching the weather in Pryor Oklahoma with family and friends close by. How do we explain what a blessing this has been? We will be watching your holiday adventures on Facebook while having our last Christmas in Europe. We love you and are very very grateful for the support and kindness we have received while serving here in Hungary.