Tuesday - Day 6

Aah, Tuesday is coming to a close and we are more than half way through this mission to Budapest. Our morning began with our usual time of breakfast and devotions, though we were visited by a local policeman pounding on the door. Apparently there was a robbery downstairs this morning and he wanted to know if we had seen anyone. Following that we all moved on to our assignments that included finishing drywalling our new kitchen, hanging a door, putting together the last cabinet for the kitchen and taking care of some other items. Pastor Joe has been our tile and mud man. Today included grouting the bath floor from yesterday, mudding the seams from our drywall and then tonight laying the kitchen tile floor with Chris instead of going to Brad's house with the rest of us. Rob got a crack at driving in Europe for the first time. He sooo wanted to get the little van out on the autobahn, but it was pretty much city streets, many only 1 car wide. He did great and got us there and back with no crashes or arrests.

At 11:30 Joe and Chris are finishing up the tile floor and hopefully will be done by midnight - a very long day for them.

Monday - Day5

Today was our first work day of the new week. We are building a new kitchen, but too small for all of us to work in at one time so we got split up. Chris, Lon and Allen worked on the kitchen. Pastor Joe sniffed a lot of glue as he tiled the floor in a bathroom. He got some glue on his arm, but no solvent to remove it - so he may be wearing it home. Rob and Kathy put together the new Ikea cabinets for the kitchen. Mark was working on installing a water heater and Aaron helped in several places.

Tonight we went with Allen, Emily and Brad to the big Ikea store. They have cheap food so you can eat and then shop so we all had some Swedish meatballs and walked around the place. Picked up another cabinet and sink. Rob and Aaron rode the big carts down the aisles. Lon had to explain to our hosts that his job is to follow along, get embarassed and apologize to the locals. Pastor Joe had to get a decent pillow to sleep and also found a rather cute rat to bring home.

We stopped at a Tesco (like Super Walmart) and picked up some water, etc. for the next day, then back to the Mozi for some Rook, reading and relaxing. Thanks for the comments. Below are a few pictures from today, thanks to Rob's shutterbug talents.

Rob still having fun at Ikea!!

The Sabbath

Today was our church day. After breakfast which Lon and Aaron brought back from the store, we went to the top of the roof to pray. Climbing to the roof through access points and steel ladders was interesting since it was totally cover with pigeon droppings and a few dead birds. After praying and going back down we cleaned up for church. Oh yes, everyone wore their work gloves and work shoes so we would not be too disgusting for church. At 10am we gathered with the church here at the Mozi and worshipped God with songs both in Hungarian and English and then listened to the message through a translator using FM radios. After church we headed to see some of the sights of Budapest. We made Aaron purchase our bus tickets and ask the sales lady in Hungarian for 4 packs of 10 tickets. Riding the bus we learned an important cultural lesson, if an older person is standing you are suppose to offer your seat. Well, Pastor Joe got to ask Blondie to get up and then a chain reaction started. Blondie asked Lon, who asked Rob, who had Chris stand. Good for a laugh. Our first stop was at Castle Hill and seeing the restoration of the great church and castle. A terrific place to see across the river and view "Pest." Then we walked down hill to the Pollechinka resturant and had our desserts of thin pancakes with strawberries, or apple and walnuts and chocolate, and cream cheese and rasins. From there we hit the transportation and headed down to the Citadella. After climbing about 300 plus stairs and walkways we landed on the top. This is a large military fortress built by the Russians during their takeover. Again another site to see the great downtown of the city. After leaving the top we walked down to another resturant for gyros.. packed with roasted turkey and veggies dripping with sauce. For only $3 what a meal. Finally, we headed home and walked some more. We probably put in over 5 miles today. Our evening consisted of cards, laughing, and planning. Oh, yes for you northern popsicles... it was in the mid-40's and sunny again today. Tomorrow we are starting early and planning on working late into the evening and hopefully will have the new walls up and floor tiled.

Take a look at our new recruits to the hungarian army. They were drafted since they didn't have their passports. Rob looks really happy, doesn't he.

Saturday Feb 9

Crawled into bed by midnight and all got a good night's sleep. This morning it was up and enjoyed special cinnamon rolls made by Brad (the chief honcho), then another breakfast put together by Emily with goodies that Joe and Blondie bought at the market. Following that we took a prayer walk through the outdoor Saturday market and around the neighborhood.

Returning to the Mozi center about noon, most of us packed into the van to head out to help with a home of one of the church members. Alan and Emily have been taking good care of getting us around. They are a young couple from Kansas who have been here 2 weeks and will be heading back to the States the same time we do.

In the meantime Blondie and Mark used some concrete to level the floor from the torn out walls and rework some plumbing that ran through that room. Kathy ministered to a women's group.

The rest of us worked on an upstairs for a family here. We did some framing, some insulating and foila work and a little sheet rock. We had to pack up by 5:30 as it was getting too dark to work. Zuza (Susanne) blessed us with a wonderful lunch with a baked potato and poultry dish along with salad about 3:00 followed by some apricot desert about 4:30.

We returned to the Mozi and cleaned up. Joe, Rob, Blondie, Chris, Aaron and Lon walked down a kilometer or so to have pizza. A good walk back and then downloading some pictures and computer work followed by a few rounds of Rook. Tomorrow we look forward to worship after Rob and Lon go shopping for breakfast. We know 'Egen' (yes) 'No' and 'Koszonom' (thank you). We'll see how we fair.

Day 2 Arriving after 20 hours of travel

We left Rhinelander airport at 10:45 am on Thursday the 7th and arrived in Budapest on Friday at noon (There is a 7 hour time difference.) Only two members got a few snoozes throughout the night. Once on the ground we meet up with the Dave Johnson and Mark Jensen at the Mozi Center and our missionary friends. After a brief tour, we got right to work demolishing a old shower and storage area. I mean demolishing... tiled walls, bricks, concrete. It took us until after 10pm to get the room ready for plumbing and concrete floor leveling. We had to remove two 1o inch walls within the room. Some of our team spent the time on the roof hauling away all the debris and either lowering buckets to the ground floor to be emptied in the dumpster or throwing things down a shoot. Needless to stay we were really exhausted and ready to sleep no matter what time our body clocks said it was.

Budapest Rhino Team 2008

On Thursday, February 7th our Conover Church 2008 Rhino Team will be leaving Rhinelander to fly to Budapest, Hungary. It will takes us approximately 20 hours of traveling until we land around noon on Friday. Our team includes: Aaron Mlaker, Lon Fisk, Pastor Rob, and Pastor Joe (all from Conover Church), Mark & Cathy Jensen (from Faith EFC in Woodrfuff), Christ Ehlert from Eau Claire, and Dave (Blondie Johnson). Dave and Mark already flew east last week to scope out some projects in the Czeck Republic with the Ellenwoods and will arrive in Budapest by train on Friday, Feb. 8th to join up with us.

This year our projects will include demolition of a shower room and do a makeover into a a kitchenette, reparing the coffee shop, and some other carpentry projects as time permits.

Thank you for your support and prayers as we get ready to leave. Once on the road we hope to post daily with the pics of the day.

God bless and grace! Rhino Team 2008