The Book of Mormon 21 day challenge

August 27, 2018

Szervusztok mindenkinek,

The church in Europe has a Book of Mormon initiative called the “Book of Mormon 21 day challenge.”  Each day has a question like “Is there a god?” or “How can I be a better person?” or “How does God communicate with us today?” and then along with each question there are scripture references from the Book of Mormon that help answer the question. To help better implement this into our missionary work, we made a Zone plan to give a Book of Mormon to every family or individual member at church along with the 21-day calendar. And then it is their challenge to give the Book of Mormon to one of their friends or neighbors and read it with them. Also next Sunday during fast Sunday we will fast and pray as a congregation for opportunities to share the gospel with those around us. We are really looking forward to this, and we can't wait to see the blessings and the miracles that can come from reading the Book of Mormon.  To learn more about the Book of Mormon and obtain your free copy click here

We still have been super busy with cleaning the other apartment and being the only companionship in Szeged.  On top of that, I just moved into an apartment where we have killed a couple of hundred hornets since I've moved in. Somehow there is a hornets’ nest in the door frame of the front door and there is a hole where they can escape, but we have used a ton of spray to kill them and it always seems that more dead hornets show up on the ground. Hopefully we can get it fixed this week. 

Also we had a really cool experience at church with one of our investigators. This past week during the lesson he said that he will be baptized and he knows this is the right way, but it is very difficult to commit him to a date. After sacrament meeting and Sunday school one of the members had the impression to talk to him and ask him why he isn't a member yet. They ended up talking for and hour and our investigator received a blessing from the member to help him receive his answer about baptism. And he committed to pray sincerely about baptism and when he should be baptized. It was really cool to see the Spirit work through the member and then he acted based on the prompting he received.  

Also you probably already know but whips are a very big thing here in Hungary.  They are just like bull whips and I have tried it out a couple times.  I was wondering if I were to purchase one would you two be willing to chip in? 

Szeretettel ölel, 

Udy Elder

I come home one year from today

August 22, 2018

Sziasztok, 

This week has been really busy. My new companion is Elder Smith. He is from Utah and has been on his mission 2 months longer than me, so a little bit over a year.

Smith and Udy Elders

Since there is only 1 companionship is Szeged, we are super busy because the apartment I was in last transfer needs to be closed down. It is on the fifth floor of a building with no elevator and we have to take almost everything out, and after being a missionary apartment for many years there is a lot of junk that needs to be thrown out. Also we have to clean it really good. On top of that we have a ton of investigators now since there is just one companionship in Szeged, and we have to find time to meet with all of them. 

Also this week we had Missionary Leadership Council in Budapest. All of the missionary leaders from Romania attended, and they flew into Budapest for it. 

Missionary Leadership Council

Lunch at MLC meeting

The meeting was on Tuesday, but on Monday we went to Budapest and we just got to walk around Budapest doing a scavenger hunt. We saw all the cool sites. I'll attach some pictures. 

Hungarian Parliament Building

Statue of Ronald Reagan

Statue of George Washington

Scavenger Hunt team

City Street

It was fun because it was the first time I got to spend a day in Budapest looking at all the sights.  Monday was also a holiday celebrating Hungarian’s independence from the Soviet Union and Communism.  The meeting was good, we are going to try and come up with some goals/initiatives for our Zone this week. 

I also found out that my release date is not actually August 29th but August 22nd. So a year from today my mission ends. They moved it up a week so the people going home wouldn't have any problems with going to school. So if you guys want, you can probably pick me up now. 

Szeretettel ölel, 

Udy Elder

I find joy and happiness in this work

August 14, 2018

Sziasztok, 

Today was transfer call day. I will be staying here in Szeged as a Zone Leader and Elder Willes is going home to California. Elder Smith who is actually already serving here will be my companion. We get along really well, so it should be a fun time. Again the mission got a lot smaller this transfer. 6 Elder companionships  had to be taken out of Hungary and 1 companionship got taken out of Szeged so we will have the entire city to ourselves next transfer, a city of 250,000 people. But hopefully sometime in the future more missionaries come in. 

There is a really old, big Jewish synagogue that is right next to our church meeting house, so on p-day we went and visited it. It is the 2nd largest synagogue in Hungary and actually the 4th largest one in the World so it was pretty cool to see. When we went in they gave us 2 instructions. 1)  Put on a Yamaka 2) Take pictures. So that is what we did. Also there was a little tour so we went on that too. 

Szeged Synagogue

This past week we also translated an article from English to Hungarian about members of the church and playing professionals sports on Sunday, because one of our investigators who is 11 years old doesn't want to get baptized because he said in the future his soccer matches will be on Sunday when he is professional. We went to a little village to deliver the article but there were 3 bus stops in the town and we weren't sure which one to get off at. Of Course we got off at the wrong one and we were a few kilometers away from where we were supposed to be. But luckily Hungarians in the small towns are super nice and we were able to get a ride from a stranger which was nice. Hopefully the article helped him resolve his concern.  I find joy and happiness in this work and I am excited to see what the next transfer brings. 

That fire in Kennewick looks baaaadddd. Good thing we didn't buy that house that got burned down. I remember touring it and liking it, but at least you still have a house that isn't in flames. Also I got the package from Lon and Carleen, and it was good to eat all of those Butterfingers for breakfast. 

Sok szeretettel,     

Udy Elder

We introduced him to the 15-step program to stop smoking

August 7, 2018

Szervusztok,

This past week was another good one. Last week on p-day we went to the Tisza River which runs through Szeged. We did a little fishing but the only problem is that the Tisza is more like a dump than a river. The water was straight brown. I don't think I have ever seen a dirtier river.

Tisza River

On p-day we also went whipping which means that we had a Hungarian whip and we just threw it around and made a lot of really loud noise. 

Yesterday we had our first interviews with President Hettinger. It was weird to talk to the Mission President in English. It felt so much different from the previous interviews I have had with the mission President.  It was really nice to be with him and Sister Hettinger. He is always using slang and cracking jokes and asking for the perspectives of missionaries on topics. He is a really good leader and we are lucky to have him as our mission President. 

The Hettinger's

One of our investigators, who has a baptismal date for September 15^th, smokes a lot--which really isn't a weird thing here. It is a normal thing to see a bunch of young teenagers smoking in this country. So we introduced him to the classic 15- step program to help him quit smoking because he only has 1 month to quit. The program is really good because it combines scientific ways that have been proven to help people stop smoking with faith.  Info on 15 step program to stop smoking

Also again this week Izabela Geambasu came to Szeged. She is a church member from Romania who sings really well and is doing a tour around Hungary. I already saw her once in Székesfehérvár, but I got to see her one more time here in Szeged. To promote the event we went into a bunch of businesses and put fliers up and also passed out a ton of them. 

Izabela Geambasu singing "I Know That My Reedemer Lives"

This is also the last week of the transfer. It has flown by probably because it was only 5 weeks instead of 9. But we'll see what is in store for me and what changes come next week.

Sok szeretettel,

Udy Elder