Trying to get the immigration handbook in order before my replacement comes

February 25, 2019

Jó reggelt mindenkinek,  (Good morning everyone)

Last week was pretty normal, unfortunately only 1 of our investigators was able to come to church. When we met with him this week, we talked about what it means that Jesus Christ's church was restored. So we talked about things that existed in Christ's church that can be found in the Bible and how they have been restored in the church today. We also shared with him the talk from Tad R Callister "The Blueprint of Christ's Church." What is the Blueprint of Christ's Church?  When we first started meeting with him he said he would never be baptized, but now he is considering and praying about it. We have been teaching another man who is about 35 years old. He says he is looking for something more in life and is planning on moving to Ireland later this year. We found him from our English class. We have taught him 3 times now on Thursday's before English class, and the lessons have been going good.    

English class has also been going good. I teach the beginner class. I wasn't able to be at the English class last week because Elder Sabin wanted to check our apartment, and our “students” were sad I wasn't there.

Last week on p-day we went to an escape room in Budapest. It was the second time that I have done an escape room and it was fun. It was a murder mystery inside of a hotel. 

The office work has been going good. I have been trying to make sure my handbook is in order before my replacement comes. There is no handbook on Romanian immigration so there is a lot of information that needs to be written down. I am happy I am here serving the Lord, and I hope you all have a good week. 

Üdvözlettel, (Best regards)

Udy Elder

We had a general authority in our apartment

February 18, 2019

Jó Reggelt!  (Good Morning!)

This past week L came to church as usual. We had a very good lesson with him earlier in the week. The first counselor in the bishopric was also there with us. We taught the Plan of Salvation while focusing on what we need to do to be exalted or "inherit the kingdom of God". Plan of Salvation link  We challenged him to be baptized, but we were unable to receive a solid commitment from him. But he noted that later he could be baptized, and said if God tells him to then he will. So we will pray for him. We will continue teaching him and help him realize why it is important to be baptized in our church instead of the Catholic Church. Other than that we had a really good lesson with "I" where we taught her about the plan of salvation. She has started to believe more in God ever since we have started to meet with her, and hopefully she will be accept a baptismal commitment in the next lesson.

There was a really cool thing that happened this week. The other elders in Buda found a young man from California who is 21 years old.  His dad is Hungarian, and a little while ago he and his dad moved here. He doesn't speak any Hungarian, just English, even though he has a Hungarian name.  He met with sister missionaries in California for a time.  He is really excited about the gospel, and he agreed to be baptized next month. He is a super cool and friendly, and I am excited for him. 

Last week on p-day we went to a Jewish synagogue in Budapest. Before World War II about 20% of Budapest was Jewish so they had a very big presence here. It is actually the largest synagogue in Europe and the 2nd largest synagogue in the world. It was really cool. We also got a little tour and we took it in Hungarian which was fun.

Dohány Street Synagogue the Great Synagogue (Nagy Zsinagóga) of Budapest

Elder Sabin

This past week Elder Sabin of the Quorum of the Seventy and also the 1st counselor in the Europe Area Presidency came and visited our mission. He talked to us about  life lessons he has learned, and also how we can better work with returning members and bring them back.  Elder Morgan and I also got chosen for an apartment check by Elder Sabin, probably because we live right across the street from the mission office. It was weird to have a general authority in our apartment, but thankfully our apartment was clean and in shape. 

Sok szeretettel, (Lots of Love)

Udy Elder

We have more investigators in our teaching pool

February 11, 2019

Szép jó reggelt!  (Good morning!)

Last week was really good and we were super busy as usual. Now that we have more investigators in our teaching pool, and we have been teaching some returning members, our schedule has been really busy with office and lessons, and we have not had too much time for anything else. This week we had 2 investigators in church "L", who regularly comes and then a new person we started teaching also came-- "J". That is 2 weeks in a row that we had a new individual at church for the first time. "J" is a referral from a recent convert from Eger. He was baptized in Eger last spring, I believe, and then he moved to Budapest. He has been inactive, but this week we managed to get in contact with him, and his friend "J" is also interested in our message. On Sunday they both were able to attend church. They are both in their late 20's.

We met with a cool new investigator this past week. He is from Peru but has lived in Hungary for over 30 years. He speaks fluent Hungarian. He is a physicist and a really smart man given that he can speak 5 different languages.  He was born Catholic but realizes that the Catholic church is most likely a fallen church. It set us up perfectly to teach a restoration lesson to him. He really liked it and is willing to get baptized when he knows for himself that it is true. He is a very open person and we are very excited to continue teaching him.

In the Buda ward a member of the Elders quorum presidency was finally assigned to work with the missionaries or rather missionary work in the ward. So now we have someone in the ward who we can work with very closely. We are excited to meet with him on a regular basis to discuss the needs of our investigators and also the goals for the ward. 

That is a lot of snow. I did not know it could snow that much in the tri-cities. Also I forgot to mention that there is a new missionary in Hungary that is from Richland. His name is Elder Brooks. There are a lot of people in Tri-cities so you probably don’t know him. 

Üdvözlettel (Best regards)

Udy Elder

The Ritz Carlton wants to supply its rooms with Books of Mormon

February 4, 2019

Jó reggelt! (Good morning)

The Warner's who were serving in the MTC with these missionaries came to Hungary for a visit

This past week one of our new investigators came to church. He is a 35 year old man who we found through English class. One of the people who regularly comes to English class invited him. It was his first time attending church this week. We taught him earlier in the week about the Restoration. He thinks deeply about religion and we have been providing answers to his questions.  But it turns out he lives on the other side of Budapest (The Pest side) across the river, so we will probably have to hand him over to other missionaries.

This past week we got a very big list from the Buda ward Bishopric of people we should reach out to and try to contact. I believe there are over 500 people on the ward list, and a lot of them are inactive, so there is a lot of work to be done.    

This past week I have had some fun emails to respond to while in the office. There is a Ritz Carlton hotel in Budapest that wants to supply all of its rooms with copies of the Book of Mormon. They are a subsidiary of Marriott.  I have been talking to them to work out the details and later we will have to go and deliver a couple hundred copies of the Book of Mormon to them. Also there is a school in Budapest that invited us to come and speak a little bit during "information day." 

In a couple weeks Elder Sabin will be coming to visit our mission. He is in the Quorum of the Seventy, and he was here in October when Elder Cook came and visited us. Elder Sabin also serves in the Europe Area Presidency.  This also means that we need to plan everyone's travel. He will be in Romania for a day and then he will be in Hungary. After he visits all of the missionaries in Romania and Hungary there will be a Mission Leadership meeting so some Romanian missionaries will need to travel to Hungary.  It will be good to hear from him and see what he has to say to us and our mission.  

We have been teaching English class every week. I have been teaching the beginner class. We usually answer all of their questions and try to teach them grammar principles and we help them practice the grammar principles during class. Happy Birthday Dad! If you haven’t already I think you need to buy 53 oysters to celebrate. I am sending something in the mail that I meant to send in December, but I never got around to it.

Sok szeretettel,

Udy Elder