What do Mike and Carolyn Meier, Mavis Thiede and brothers Mark and Gabor Bokros have in common?

They're partners.

The Meiers and Thiede and the Bokros brothers are linked by the Presbyterian International Partnership.

Westminster Presbyterian Church in Austin and the Twin Cities area Presbytery have linked with the Reformed Church in Hungary.

For the last six years, exchanges have been taking place.

Thiede, a Mower County Department of Human Services social worker, has chaperoned groups of American youths on trips to Hungary. The Meiers have visited Hungary, too.

Now, the trio has helped two young Hungarian brothers immerse themselves in American culture and hone their English-language skills.

Hungary's Reformed Church is a protestant denomination in the Catholic-dominated European nation.

A Reformed Church in the village of Gyermely, Hungary is a "sister" church of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Austin.

The Meiers visited the village and the church in May 2001. Mike Meier is a retired long-time elementary principal in the Hayfield Independent School District. Carolyn Meier is a retired secondary and community college teacher.

When the Meiers joined other Minnesota Presbyterians on the trip to Hungary in 2001, they met Zsigmond and Angnes Bokros and their sons, Mark, 25, and Gabor, 20.

The boys' father is the CEO of the largest pasta manufacturing factory in Hungary. Their mother works there in an administrative position. Both young men are college students: Mark is majoring in computer science and Gabor in economics.

The young men arrived in Minnesota a week ago and leave early this week for Hungary.

Thiede and her delegation of American youths were guests of the Bokros family, during one of the summer camp trips to Hungary.

So, what are the young men noticing about their first-ever trip to America?

"It's big. Very big. Everything is big over here," Mark said.

The boys' father visited Des Moines, Iowa, to purchase automatic egg processing equipment from the Old Dutchmen Company. Eggs, of course, are one of the necessary ingredients in the making of pasta.

The sons heard stories about America from their father and watch CNN and MTV cable television, but they believe the media distorts the real America.

That's why the PIP exchange is so important: it puts people from two very different cultures together, face-to-fact to compare, according to participants.

"Their hometown has quite a history," Carolyn Meier said. "It was a front, during World War II for the Russians and the Germans. The town went through a lot of suffering."

"In Europe, there is a lot said about America in the media, but you don't really know," Mark said.

"When we went over there," Mike Meier said, "I had no concept of what Hungary was like, but after spending some time there and getting to know the people I discovered that we are not really that much different from each other."

"In our village, the people are more like they are here in your small towns," Gabor said. "They are different even from the people in the big cities over there. Tradition is more important to them."

Back and forth the observations go between the two cultures. It is an intimate exchange rooted in religion.

That the Meiers live in tiny Brownsdale, a similar-sized village to the Bokros' hometown in Hungary, is a perfect coincidence for this exchange.

They toured the SPAM Museum, Austin Medical Center, Austin High School and the Hormel Institute, during their visit to Mower County.

Now, the visitors are packing souvenirs except for one popular American soft drink.

"I know I will not be taking any root beer back with me. I don't like it. It is too sweet," Gabor joked.

Thiede said seeing the two young men reminds her of the two visits she has made to Hungary. "I met so many wonderful people. They were so warm and caring," Thiede said.

The Presbyterian International partnership seems to be an experiment in breaking cultural barriers that is working.

As Carolyn Meier said, "It helps break stereotypes about each culture."

Want more proof? Consider what Mark Bokros said.

"In my village, I know the people and they know me," said the Hungarian.

Sounds a lot like how the Meiers could describe Brownsdale.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com