I got assigned to be district leader and zone leader

September 27, 2017

Udy Elder outside the Provo temple

Sziatok,

On Sunday I got assigned to be district leader for our district. Now bestowed upon me is the sacred and holy responsibility of opening the lock to the mailbox every day. On top of that me and my companion, Morgan Elder, got assigned to be zone leaders (there are about 30 missionaries in our zone). So now I will be operating under double duty. Since we are zone leaders, we carry around a cool brick-like flip phone. It's like one of those phones that if you drop it, it breaks into four different pieces. Then you put it back together and it is good as new.

Our district

This week all the American Sign Language missionaries from our zone left us. And one of my new responsibilities as zone leader is to check and make sure that their rooms are clean when they leave the MTC. It's like I'm their RA or something. Speaking of RAs, I saw my BYU RA from last week at the Provo temple which was cool. All of the ASL missionaries left on Tuesday morning except for Elder Mcgrath, so he slept in our room and we were in a trio on Tuesday. He's from Alpine, Utah and played basketball at Lone Peak. He is going on his mission to Independence, Missouri. It was a fun experience to have him in our companionship.

Elders Morgan, McGrath, and Udy

Every Friday, we do this thing called TRC, where volunteer Hungarian speakers come into the MTC, and we have a couple of 20 minute spiritual discussions with them. Usually it is just returned missionaries that come in, but this time the MTC managed to get two native Hungarians to come in. It was cool because it was the first native Hungarian I have talked to. One of the native Hungarians we talked to was named Sylvia. Even though I couldn't understand everything she said, she understood everything we said. That gave me greater confidence that one day I will be able to speak this language. 

Hungarian Flag

Also this week, I got a mission long sleeve T-shirt that says 'Hungary, Budapest Mission" and it has a map of Hungary in the middle. My companion ordered the same one but the one that came said "I heart my Missionary." It was funny because instead of just sending it to his mom to wear or something he just crossed out "ary" with a sharpie marker and now he gets a lot of funny looks when he wears it.

I still have yet to give a talk on Sunday. But each week I have prepared a different talk. After sacrament meetings on Sundays each district splits off and has Sunday School. Since there are only 3 companionships in our district, we have to teach about every third Sunday. Then after Sunday School the elders in our branch split up into two different priesthood classes, and companionships teach that too. I have already taught it once. But now I am zone leader, I get to assign companionships to teach priesthood class. Also on Sunday we have choir practice, Sunday devotional, and we get to watch a church movie/talk of our choice.

  - Udy Elder

Since we have a room to ourselves I made my own personal "tie closet"

Some friends from BYU--Sister Snow is going to Spokane WA and Elder Gurksnis is going to Sao Paulo Brazil

Our teachers decided it would be a good idea for us to only speak Hungarian

September 20, 2017

Sziastok,

     This week our teachers decided it would be a good idea for us to speak nem angol (no English) in class and only speak in magyarol (Hungarian). It's safe to say that class got a lot quieter, but it's a good idea for us to try and learn the language faster. Hungarian is a very foreign language. It may use the same alphabet as English, but the similarities with English start and end there. There are actually 40 different letters in the alphabet because there are so many different types of O’s, U’s and other vowels. And since there are no latin roots, it is a struggle to memorize new words, but I try my best each day to grow my vocabulary. Another thing that makes Magyarol so foreign is that the words can be very long because of all the suffixes you add onto words. A word could have 2 or 3 different suffixes and first you have to try and listen to what the word is and then listen to all the little suffixes to try and understand the meaning.  

     Also, this week we had to change classrooms which was sad. Our old classroom was on the same floor as the terrace so we would go out there for class sometimes which was nagyon jo (very good). But all good things must come to an end. Now our class is on the first floor of the other new building so we don't get to watch the sunset over the mountains anymore. I'm just grateful that our class isn't in one of the older buildings because those buildings are like a dungeon compared to the new ones. Also on every P-day (today) we get to go the Provo temple which is always a good experience. It's the one time a week we get to step foot outside the MTC campus. 

New MTC building with Provo Temple in backgound

      On Tuesday, another apostle came and spoke to us. This time we heard from Elder Quentin L Cook. He spoke of 4 loves to develop to be a successful missionary. 1. Love your Companion 2. Love the People 3. Love your Mission President. And most importantly 4. Love the Savior. As we learn to love the Savior and make it our primary emphasis, we can show our love by taking his gospel to the world. 

I got the your package and the cookies were very tasty. And now I have some socks I can wear during exercise time so my socks aren't sweaty for the rest of the day. And the hoodie is for when I go and grab breakfast at 6:40 in the morning. Yes I prepared my talk, but luckily I did not have to give it this week. But since I am here 9 weeks, I will probably have to give a talk at least one time and maybe two times. And I have yet to think of a scripture for my plaque so I will think of one and let you know what it is next week. Also for some reason I can't figure out how to get pictures using the USB cord that plugs into my camera, but I borrowed my companion's SD card reader and it works. So if you could send me one of those that would be great.  And you only say “Sziastok” if you are saying hi or bye to multiple people and “szia” is hi or bye to just one person.

- Udy Elder

You don't need to be a doctrinal scholar to teach people, just know and teach the primary songs

September 13, 2017

Sziastok,                     

 I have now been here at the MTC for 2 weeks. It's crazy to think that if I was English speaking I would have already left by now, but I still have 7 weeks left here.  

On Sundays, all the Missionaries have to prepare a talk, in their mission language, and then the branch president selects a few who will speak. So basically I have to watch someone give their talk in sign language or hear it in Albanian and not understand any of it. But my companion, Morgan Elder, gave his prepared talk in Hungarian and I could understand probably about 50% of it. So I guess you could say the language is slowly coming along. 

Morgan Elder and Udy Elder

Saturday night was the BYU-Utah game, so we went up to the 6th floor of one of the buildings and we could get a good view of the stadium and we saw the planes fly over which was pretty cool. We couldn't see the field, but we could just barely see the scoreboard. Whenever someone scored we could hear the roar from the stadium. It made me wish I could be there sitting in the front row like last year. 

On Sunday night Chad Lewis, former BYU and Philedelphia Eagles TE, and current NFL Ambassador to China, came and spoke to us which was cool. Yesterday President Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke to us. During his talk he said that we don't need to be doctrinal scholars to teach people but just know and teach the primary songs. Even though in Hungary I'll receive a legal card that says I'm an ordained minister or something because I completed 4 years of seminary. I am no doctrinal scholar. But you don't need to be because it is the simple truths like those sung and taught in primary songs that will cause the spirit to testify to those I teach. 

 Also if you could send a few pairs of Nike socks and my BYU hoodie that would be great. I also will try and get better with the picture taking. ​​

- Udy Elder​

The 9 week grind of learning Hungarian has begun

Sept. 6, 2017

Sziastok,

              The 9 week grind of learning Hungarian here at the Provo MTC has begun. When I arrived at the MTC they gave me my name tag which reads Udy Elder. Since in Hungarian a person's title comes after their name, I get a lot of people that ask me if my last name is Elder or if the MTC misprinted my name haha. Since there are only two of us elders here at the MTC going to Hungary, we got to have a room to ourselves which is nice since I don’t have to share a closet or a desk. Each day I wake up at 6:30 and go grab sack breakfast, which I like because we get more time in the morning and don't have to wait in the long lines. The lines in the cafeteria are extremely long, but I realize the summer is the busiest time here at the MTC and by October it wont be nearly as busy. Then I do my personal study and go to exercise time and usually play either basketball or 4 square. There's an elder in my zone who played basketball at Lone Peak who is really good. We have two 3 hour class sessions, one during the day and one at night. There are only 6 of us in our district, 2 elders and 4 sisters, so we all will get really close with each other during the 9 weeks. Our classroom is in one of the newly built buildings which is really nice. There are beautiful murals and huge glass windows everywhere.  The last group that left to Hungary was a lot bigger with, I think 19, missionaries, and two districts. Almost all of class is spoken in Hungarian so it consists of me saying "nem tudom" a lot which means I don't know. But we are slowly learning and I realize learning the language will eventually come. The food here at the cafeteria is very reminiscent of BYU's Canon Center but maybe just a little bit better. 

                 The missionaries in the zone like to pull tricks on the newcomers. Our zone consists of missionaries going to Hungary, Germany, Albania, Turkey, and for some reason ASL(American Sign Language). The first day one of the missionaries pretended to be deaf so he even told us to scream in his ear so we would be convinced. And next door to us there are two missionaries going to Germany, one from Russia and one from the Czech Republic, and the one from the Czech pretended to not know English and the one from Russia would translate for him. This went on for 3 days until the missionary started to bear his testimony during our nightly zone devotional haha. 

      It's crazy to see all the people I know here from BYU. Just from my dorm hall alone I have seen 6 other people here at the MTC. I have even had 3 people come up to me who knew my name and knew who I was and I had no idea who they were. It was kind of akward but I guess I must of been pretty popular around that BYU campus haha. I also ran into another Elder Udy which was cool.

     I've been singing in the MTC choir and On Tuesday, we got to sing in front of and hear from Elder Dallin H Oaks who came and spoke to us and it was broadcast to all the other 15 MTCs worldwide. He talked about 3 challenges new missionaries face. First is change, like a change of schedule and bad habits. Second is achieving skills, such as language skills and learning the Gospel. And third is we must become a missionary and like Christ by having a mighty change of heart. We must put off the natural man and not be selfish and look inward but rather look outward and serve others.

I'll try and send some pictures next week. 

   

 -Udy Elder