We received our flight plans!

October  25, 2017

Sziasztok barataim es csaladom, (Hello my friends and my family)

This is my last e-mail in the MTC. I am so excited to finally leave. I tell people I have been here since August and it's funny to see their reactions. On Friday we received our flight plans and it was possibly my favorite day here in the MTC! 

Hungarian District holding their flight plans to Budapest

Originally I thought we were leaving October 31^st, but it turns out we leave October 30th and we arrive in Hungary on October 31^st.   We leave the MTC at 10 am and I think we take the frontrunner up to the Salt Lake City Airport. Our first flight takes off at 3 pm and is a direct 10-hour flight from Salt Lake to Amsterdam, but we travel 8 hours ahead in time zone difference, so we arrive in Amsterdam 8 am local time. We have a 2-hour lay over in Amsterdam, and then we take off on a 2 hour flight from Amsterdam to Budapest. I think we will be met by the APs (assistants to the mission president) and maybe the Mission President. They will show us around the city on Tuesday, and we will sleep in the mission home Tuesday night. Then on Wednesday we will find out who our companion will be, our first area we will be serving in, and then we will hop on a train and off we go. In our missions our p-days are on Monday. So my next e-mail probably won’t be until November 6th. 

This past week here in the MTC we moved back to our original classroom which is nice because I can enjoy the terrace once more. Also this week we Skyped members in Hungary again, and we talked to Dorottya again. It was cool, I guess she is a return missionary and served her mission in Arizona, but we only spoke in Hungarian so I don't know everything she said. 

Also this week Dalziel Nover, a sister in my district, told her mom to make us shirts and it was a big surprise for me. On the shirt is a map of Hungary and words that read "Phantom Dragon Rising" with a cool picture of a Dragon. That is because one of our teachers, Haws testver’s, email address includes the words Phantom Dragon Rising and we thought it was the geekiest thing. Then on the back of the shirts we each have our own Nickname. My nickname is "The Wrappper" which actually has a double meaning. One, alluding to the fact that I leave a bunch of mint wrappers on my desk each class because I probably consume between 10 and 20 lifesaver mints during class (not an exaggeration). And the other reason is that I have freestyle rapped, and my district seems to enjoy it. My companion, Morgan Elder’s, nickname is "The Nebraskan" because he can't stop talking about how great the Omaha Zoo and Nebraska are.

Back of T-shirts

Front of T-shirts

On Tuesday another apostle came and spoke to us. This time we got to hear from Elder Stevenson. He talked about the history of missionary training and developing Christ like attributes. Currently in the world there are 15 MTCs (missionary training centers), and 421 missions in 162 different countries speaking over 60 different languages. The restored gospel of Christ is truly being spread to all the Earth.

Also this week I was reading a church news article that says they plan on increasing the number of missions that use mobile devices. Currently there are 87 missions with mobile devices, but they plan on increasing that number to 162 missions which makes me think that it is likely that we will receive tablets in our mission at some point.

Hungarian Flag

I bought a 5 dollar phone card that lets me talk for something like 470 minutes. So I will probably call sometime from the Salt Lake Airport between 1 and 2:30 mountain time. If anyone wants me to call them I can, I just need their phone number e-mailed to me. I got the post card of the Snake River which was pretty good.

Sok szeretettel, (Lots of love)

         - Udy Elder

#SaturdaysAreForTheBoys

October 18, 2017

Sziastok barataim es csaladom, (Hello my friends and my family)

Udy Elder and Morgan Elder

Only one more p-day/email until we leave the MTC and go to Hungary. We get our flight plans this Friday, which I am looking forward to. 

On Friday last week the new buildings in the MTC were finally dedicated. Elder Oaks and President Eyring came to the MTC to perform the dedication. President Eyring said of the new MTC buildings, "They will mark the dawn of a new era of missionary work and a re-hastening of the work."

On Saturday we got the opportunity to Skype with church members from Hungary. We Skyped a women named Dorottya, who lives in Debrecen, Hungary. It was really cool. We talked about the importance of scripture reading with her.  We also were able to see 2 sister missionaries who were with her. 

Also, this week I found out the meaning of "megszentsegtelenithetettensegestedeseitekert." To the best of my knowledge it means "for the sanctifying of your unholiness." It is crazy how a 6 word phrase in English can be translated into one single word in Hungarian. It's one of the reasons why learning Hungarian is very difficult for English speakers because the grammar and word structure is so foreign along with there being no Latin roots.

But I seem to be learning the language just fine. This week when I wrote my talk for Sunday, on free agency and obedience to God's commandments, I was able to express most of what I wanted to say and only had to look up 1 word in the dictionary. Also our teacher Sharp Nover said we were one of the hardest working and better speaking Hungarian groups she has seen in the MTC. She also said that at times we all lack confidence, except for Udy Elder. Saying that did not help the problem I have with being humble.

After a busy week of studying about Hungarian and Jesus, it is always nice to chill with the other Elders in the zone #SaturdaysAreForTheBoys. This week, after our classes, we held our first cosmic bowling night. We used empty chocolate milk bottles as pins, and put glow sticks inside them so they would light up. We used a nerf ball as a bowling ball and had a flashlight hanging from the ceiling with paper, which had numerous holes in it, surrounding the flashlight so we could have a disco ball. Also we made a dart board with duct tape and we used candy as darts. It was a nice and enjoyable cap to the week. 

Cosmic Bowling

Candy Dart Board

I have already dry cleaned both my suits, it costs about $12 each suit. But I plan on dry cleaning both of them and getting my hair cut right before we leave. I didn't get your post card, but I did get a letter from the “other side” of Provo which was nice. And this week we were released as zone leaders so our reign is now over, but I am still the district leader who unlocks the mailbox everyday. Also here in the MTC we can buy a phone card so we can call our families at the airport when we leave. I don't have one yet, but I will buy one and let you know more about it next week.

Sok Szeretettel, (Lots of love)

                  Udy Elder

This week our teacher revealed the longest word in Hungarian

October 11, 2017

Sziasztok,

I am now two thirds done with my time at the MTC, and I leave at the end of this month. 6 weeks of living in the same 1/2 mile radius and re-living the same schedule every day really takes it's toll on you. They say the only difference between Prison and the MTC is that in Prison you at least get visitors, haha. But in Prison I guess you don't get to learn about Jesus and Hungarian all day long. 

This week in our class one of our teachers revealed to us the longest word she was aware of in Hungarian. It is "megszentsegtelenithetettensegestedeseitekert." To me it just looked like a bunch of letter nonsense. I know it has something to do with unholiness, but I don't know exactly what it means. Our teacher said that once we understand all of the grammar principles, we should be able to figure out the meaning. So stay tuned for when I find out the meaning of megszentsegtelenithetettensegestedeseitekert. 

This week while wandering around the MTC I ran into the Prince of Ethopia. Not everyday you run into African Royalty, so it was exciting. The MTC Presidency was giving him a tour of the campus. Also this week we watched the funeral of the Apostle Elder Robert D Hales. It was cool because I have never watched an Apostle's funeral services before and it meant that my schedule was a little different for that day. Watch Robert D. Hales funeral services

On Monday our district, along with a few other districts, was assigned to help with the hosting of 101 new senior missionaries coming into the MTC. My job was to be the

"pack-mule" which meant I carried all of their suitcases from their cars into their rooms. I can tell you from experience that the 2 suitcase rule does not apply to senior couples. It seems that their luggage limit is only dependent on how much luggage they can stuff into their car. Some senior couples had 7 or 8 suitcases we had to carry into their rooms.

On Tuesday night another apostle came and spoke to us. This time we got to hear from Elder D Todd Christofferson. We have been lucky to hear from 3 apostles while here at the MTC. Elder Christofferson mainly talked about the history of the printing of the Book of Mormon. I found it astonishing that the Book of Mormon has been translated into 90 different languages, and there are currently 180 million copies in existence. Probably only the Bible, Koran, and maybe the Harry Potter Series have more copies in existence than the Book of Mormon. And also the growth of the printing of the Book of Mormon was also astonishing. At first there were only about 5,000 copies being printed every year, but now there are 5 million copies printed each year.  To learn more and order a free Book of Mormon click here

Sok Seretettel,

                 Udy Elder

Our district decided to participate in our first "English Fast"

October 5, 2017

Sziasztok, 

Our Hungarian District

On Friday our district decided to participate in our first "English Fast." That means we went the entire day without speaking any English to each other and only spoke in Hungarian. The only exception was when we were talking to other people, we could translate what our companion was saying. I spent most of the day carrying around a dictionary trying to figure out how to say normal day stuff and expand my very gospel-centered vocabulary. Overall it was good because the more we speak the language, the more comfortable we will be with the language. 

This week has been a very important milestone for us. We are now halfway done with our time here at the MTC, and we have been here for over a month now. Every missionary who was in the zone from when we arrived is now gone. So we are now the old guys on the block, which is a little weird to think about. If we were only a 6-week language we would be leaving next week. But I am somewhat grateful that we are a 9-week language because it gives us more time to study the language and feel more confident. This week 18 German missionaries left us. So I continued my duties as the floor Zone Leader/"RA" and woke up at 3:30 AM to make sure their rooms were clean. But today there are 19 more German speaking missionaries coming into the Zone which is exciting. Of the 19 missionaries 15 are sisters and only 4 are elders. It's crazy to think about how many more sisters go on missions these days. So later today we will welcome them and show them around the MTC. 

Also this week we watched General Conference here at the MTC. 

(General conference is our church's worldwide conference held twice a year in Salt Lake City and broadcast throughout the world. At this conference the general authorities of our church speak to spiritually lift us. You can watch the conference at https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cid=HP_SA_23-9-2017_dGC_fBCAST_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng) 

I can honestly say that I have never paid more attention or stayed more awake while watching Conference than while watching it as a Missionary. My favorite talk was Elder Russel M Nelson's talk about the Book of Mormon. I liked the story he shared about the Ghana tribal King he talked to. Elder Nelson told the King he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. And then the King asked him what he could teach him about Jesus Christ. So Elder Nelson read a passage from 3 Nephi with the King, about how Christ ministered in the Americas. And then the King said, "You could have given me diamonds or gold and it would not be worth as much as this knowledge of Jesus Christ you have given me." It was a good reminder to all of us of how valuable the Book of Mormon is. And how it has helped our lives and all the knowledge it has brought to us.

                                                        Watch Elder Nelson's talk here

On Sunday night John Munoa, the producer of the Bible Videos for the Church came and spoke to us. It was refreshing because after watching 10 hours of conference he showed us a bunch of pictures and told us​​​​ about how the filming went.

                                         Click here to see the Bible Videos

To celebrate this big week (one month in the MTC, halfway done with the MTC, and General Conference) I decided to enjoy 3 of the best cans (1 for each milestone) of Mountain Dew the MTC has to offer. One of the missionaries from the previous Hungarian group left a Mountain Dew Cooler, so I of course took it and stocked it with Mountain Dew. Now I will have to re-stock it and wait for the next time there is a cause for celebration. 

My Mountain Dew cooler

My 3 empty cans of Mountain Dew

We have a phone so we can contact the front desk if we need to and the front desk is able to contact us. If there is a missionary in the zone that needs to go to the front desk, they call us and then we let them know. They have had smart phones in some European missions. I think Switzerland has them, the Turkish missionaries get them, and I think the German missionaries will get them soon. But given that missionaries in Hungary don't even have tablets, I highly doubt we will get them-- but you never know.  

Sok Szeretettel,

        Udy Elder