In an effort to elicit a response from Arpad, minister of our partner church in Transylvania, we asked this year’s Balazs Scholar at Starr King to send him an email. Here is what Szabi Czire sent:

Kedves Árpád!

 Szeretnénk gyakrabban hallani felőletek! Jó lenne tudnunk, hogy hány diák van az oktatási programban, segítene a gyűjtésben.

 Mi történt azokkal a családokkal, akiknek leégett a csűrje? Csak úgy tudjuk az itteni embereket érdekeltté tenni, ha elégséges információt kapunk az ott lakóktól.

A berkeleyi testvérek várják a mihamarabbi válaszotokat!

 Köszönjük!

Sure enough, that got a response from Arpad. He promised to send us the list of students and other information we requested. OK, so we’re still waiting, but at least we have another channel of communication with our partners.

All of this is important because they celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6 as the principal gift-giving time of the season. We like to have our R.E. children make holiday greetings for the village children and send them not too long after December 6. We also like to send our monetary gifts from UUCB around the same time, but we need Arpad’s cooperation in that department. Köszönöm! Thank you to all of you who have contributed this year.

Kellemes Karácsonyt! Merry Christmas!