Transylvania Tidbit – October Visit Update

Gabor was in Transylvania from October 23 – 26, having driven from Budapest

This article is a summary of his main activities:

1) Attended a service and met with the new interim minister of our Partner village of SInfalva, Rev. Mihály Bálint. Rev. Bálint is a young (30-ish) English-speaking, guitar-playing minister who travels among several villages and does not live in Sinfalva. He will be replaced by a new permanent minister at some point, we don’t know when. Here are pictures of him playing guitar during the service, and of the meeting. The message was delivered that we would like to continue this relationship.

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2) Took delivery of two embroidered shirts with the usual chalice-dove design that is seen in the intro graphic to this article. The embroidery was done by the now-retired minister’s wife, Ildikó Pálfi, on shirts contributed by the two Service Auction 2026 winners.

3) Attended the celebration of Francis Balázs’ 125 birthday in the village of Mészkö, right across the Aranyos river from Sinfalva. Rev. Balázs is the subject of the book Alabaster Village (we have a copy in the Partner Church Corner), and a very interesting and significant historical figure from the 1930s for the Transylvanian Unitarians. Here is a photo of the Unitarian Church of Mészkö, packed to the rafters, probably the largest crowd it has seen in years.

4) Participated in the Unitarian Youth Conference in Kolozsvár organized by ODFIE as a representative of UUWYN (UU Worldwide Youth Network) . There were three youth from UUUWYN, a German young adult man, a Russian young adult woman, and a 16-year-old American girl as well as her mother. Gabor helped with translation and transportation as necessary, including a memorable visit to the fabulous Torda Salt Mine.

All of the goals of this trip were met, and the conditions are in place for this valuable and long-standing relationship to continue. There will be more about Partner Church in a lay-led service on December 6.