The most I've eaten in Hungary

July 30, 2018

Sziasztok, 

Last week was a busy one because we were in Buda for 2 days and we had to do a bunch of planning, but it was good. Last Monday we went over to a member’s house for lunch. It definitely was the most I have eaten in Hungary. The meal started with a meat soup, and then came fruit soup, and then the potatoes, a little salad, chicken, and turkey. After that we had some beef, which was followed by some cake. And after that we had some watermelon which was then finished off by some ice cream. It took us about 2 1/2 hours just to eat all of the food. It's nice to have actual Hungarian food every once in a while. It was really good, and I probably will go back a couple more times because he loves to cook for the missionaries.

Meat Soup

Fruit Soup

Potatoes, Salad, Chicken and Turkey

Cake

Watermelon

This week we also had Zone Conference in Buda. We gave a training on finding through members. When President Hettinger came into the mission, I think he was a little shocked by how much tracting we do in this mission. So he is trying to change that a little bit by setting goals and making plans to work with members. After Zone Conference we went on splits with the APs in Buda which was cool. I have never spent more than just a few hours in Budapest so it was nice to stay for at least one day. We went to a Young Single Adult activity and just chilled and played ping-pong and stuff and talked to the non-members who were there. 

AP- Spencer Elder with Udy Elder

I also figured out my release date. As of right now, I am set to end my mission August 29, 2019. So I will have about 4 days back until the start of classes at BYU. So I could end up like one of those people that go straight to school from the airport. It will be interesting to see how it works out that’s for sure. 

Sok szeretettel,

Udy Elder 

The Dragon Boat World Championship was held in Szeged this week

July 23, 2018

Sziasztok,

This past week was busy because we went on two different splits. But sadly, since this transfer is only 5 weeks we aren't traveling to the other cities in the Zone-- everyone just comes to us instead. I got to spend a day with Elder Barton who is a new missionary who has only been here for a week. It is always nice to be around new missionaries and relive the struggles everyone goes through. 

Elders Willes, Barton, Huber, and Udy

This last week in Szeged was packed with a ton of foreigners. The Dragon Boat World Championship was held in Szeged this past week. I had no idea what it was before. It is basically just people racing giant Viking size canoes and also at the front of the canoe there is a guy with a drum. There were 6,000 competitors in it and they just flooded the streets. Whenever we went downtown to talk to people It was about a 50/50 shot that the person we talked to was going to understand Hungarian. But it was cool because we met a ton of people from America, Canada, England, Australia, and other places in the world. And we even met a couple church members.  (The following pictures were found online of the dragon boat races in Szeged)

This week we had a couple investigators come to church which was nice. Now we just have to try and get them to accept some baptismal dates. Also this week we have Zone Conference so that will be good to look forward to. 

Votive Church of Szeged--4th largest building in Hungary

This church serves as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Szeged-Csanád

The Southeast Zone is definitely the smallest one in Hungary. There are only four cities and 17 missionaries. As zone Leaders we only hold baptismal interviews for investigators taught by the district leaders in the Zone. And there are only 2 district leader companionships. As of now I think we have one interview that we have to do in a few weeks.  I still don’t know my release date, but that would be good to know soon. 

Sok szeretettel, 

Udy Elder

I moved to Szeged--on the border of Serbia and Romania

July 16, 2018

Sziasztok,

Last week was a really good one. I left Székesfehérvár and moved to Szeged. Szeged is in South East Hungary right next to the border of Serbia and Romania. Szeged is also the 3rd biggest city in Hungary. It is a lot bigger then the other cities I have served in.

They also speak with a little accent over here in Szeged. A lot of the times they replace the vowel "e" with "ö" so even though the pre-verb "fel" , which means "up" is spelled like that, they pronounce it like "föl", but I have already pretty much gotten used to it.

My companion is Elder Willes he has been on his mission for almost 2 years and he is going home after this transfer in 5 weeks. Also he has been in Szeged two separate times on his mission, so he has spent almost a year in this city, and he knows everything about it. He is the first old companion I’ve had, so he speaks really good Hungarian and I can learn a lot from him. He is going to BYU when he gets back and he will be on the Lacrosse team. And last transfer there was an elder and sister companionship in this city but now there are just 2 elder companionships so everything is just lining up perfectly here. We will be able to do a bunch of finding activities with them and stuff on p-day so I am really looking forward to it. 

The branch or congregation here is a lot bigger and friendlier that the other ones I have served in. The meeting house is also super big and nice. There are about 50 people that come to church on Sunday and they are actually really supportive of missionary work which is fantastic.  Also the apartment I'm in is the biggest and nicest one I have been in so far which isn't saying much, but it is still good. And now that I am a Zone Leader in the SouthEast Zone, and somehow I skipped being a district leader, I get to go on 1 or 2 splits every week which will be very fun and exciting.  Right now we have a lot of people we are teaching and working with, so hopefully we can have a few baptisms here in the next couple months. 

I don’t have any pictures this week, but I'll be sure to get some next week. Tell Tyler I said “happy birthday.”

Szeretettel ölel,

Udy Elder

Baptism, transfers, and zone leader

July 10, 2018

Sziasztok, 

This week was a really good one to finish off the transfer. 

This morning we received our transfer our calls. Now that we are a new mission the transfers will no longer be 9 weeks but they will be like most other missions in the world and be 6 week transfers, but this upcoming transfer is only going to be 5 weeks in order to get on the same schedule as Romania. So it is going to feel really short and fly by. I have enjoyed my opportunity to train and I will be leaving Székesfehérvár and be going to Szeged. Unfortunately I got called as a Zone Leader so that means I have to worry about other stuff too. But the good thing is, I think I will be able to go on a split almost every week so it should be good to see all the diffrent cities. 

Last week was also the first week with President Hettinger as the Mission President. Which meant there are now a handful of new rules and standards in the mission. He wants us to hold our weekly district meeting in Hungarian and only talk to other missionaries in Hungarian. It seems kind of ironic to me that when we had a Hungarian mission president he didn't care as much if we spoke English at district meeting, but the rule change doesn't matter much to me though. 

This week our investigator Éva was baptized. We went to the a local indoor pool because there is no baptismal font in our building. Her family came which was great. She has 2 daughters and a Jewish husband, but he is totally fine with her getting baptized. Elder Montoya performed the baptism and I performed the confirmation in sacrament meeting. 

Also the same day as the baptism there was a music concert/devotional from a Romanian woman named  Izabela Geambasu in Székesfehérvár. She is a church member from Romania, but she also knows Hungarian, and she a doing a tour around the country where she sings a bunch of songs. That was really cool to see. (Here's a link to Izabela singing "If the Savior Stood Beside Me")

Also this week we met with some Brazilians and gave them a Portuguese Book of Mormon. It was weird because it was the first lesson in my whole mission that we taught in English. They also fed us Brazilian food, and now I have almost been fed more Brazilian food than Hungarian food here. It was good. I thought Jackson and Tyler might think it was funny that we taught Brazilians in Hungary. 

Kenneweek looks like it was good. Noah looks really good with the MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat. It suits him well.  

That is it for this week. I am excited to move to a new city and experience new people, places, and friends.  

Sok szeretettel, 

 Udy Elder

New mission president

July 3, 2018

Sziasztok,

This past week has been a very exciting one with teaching lots of lessons, finding new investigators, and getting a new mission and a new mission president. Today we went up to Budapest and met with the new mission president, President Hettinger. He has been the mission President for Romania for the last year but now the countries are combined into one mission. He is a really funny and upbeat guy, and I think he can bring a lot of positive energy into the mission. He also has a law degree from Columbia University so he also must be a pretty smart man. It should be exciting to serve under him during this next year. Also I got 2 more greatly appreciated packages for my birthday, I don't think I am going to run out of peanut butter any time soon.

And possibly the best thing that happened was the church increased the amount of money we Hungarian missionaries receive every month for food and other expenses. It went from about 55,000 forint to about 70,000 forint which is great since we never get fed and that means we have to spend a lot of money on food ourselves, now I no longer will have to live off of bread and potatoes for the last week of every month. 

This week will be a good last week of the transfer. The baptism for our investigator will be on Saturday. She is in her low 50s and she first met with missionaries on the street. We have been teaching here for about 3 months, and she has come to church just about every week. It has been great to watch her live the gospel and gain a testimony of it. 

We haven't gotten a new call letter yet, but maybe we will--that would be cool. The Bradshaw's came and kept saying how clean our apartment is, maybe I get the standard of cleaning from always having a clean house growing up. Kenneweek looks like it is fun with Noah and Bird dog hanging out together. Too bad you have to rent a truck all the way in Portland. Anyways that is all for this week. 

Sok szeretettel,

Udy Elder