Who knew our English class could be a matchmaking place

June 25, 2018

Sziasztok,

This past week was good. Our investigator Éva had her interview and the baptism will be on July 7th, the last Saturday of the transfer. It will be good to end the transfer on a high note. Also while tracting this week, we found a family who actually first met each other at our English class 5 years ago, and then they got married 3 years ago. Who knew that our English class could be a matchmaking place. So they were excited to see missionaries again. 

The new mission president, President Hettinger comes this week, and the Romania and Hungary missions will officially form the Hungary Romania Budapest Mission. So that will be exciting. It was a little sad writing my e-mail to the mission president today because it was the last chance I have to write my mission president in Hungarian. But having an American Mission President will be nice. Also today we went to Bory Vár, the castle I went and visited probably about 16 weeks ago. 

Bory Vár Castle

The dictionary has been really good to learn the different uses of words. And this week we have cleaning checks so maybe I could get my package then, but if not we will be in Budapest next week to meet the new mission president.  Also next week the library will be closed so I think I will email on Tuesday. And I think Hungary didn't qualify for the World Cup. To qualify they had to place first or second in the pre-qualifying round with all the Europeans countries. And Portugal and Switzerland were in the same group as Hungary, so they got 1st and 2nd and Hungary got 3rd and did not get to go to the World Cup. 

Sok szeretettel,

Udy Elder

Yesterday was my birthday

June 18, 2018

Sziasztok, 

Yesterday was my birthday. It is crazy to think that I turned 20 years old. We didn't do too much to celebrate, but I did manage to make some American brownies and blow out 20 candles.

20th birthday brownies

I also decided to buy myself a birthday gift which was just a dictionary. But a really good dictionary.  Sometimes I would write down a word I heard and go look it up, but it wouldn’t be in the dictionary. So I decided I needed a bigger one. It has 3 times the amount of words as the dictionary they gave us in the MTC.  In Hungarian there are over 18 different cases that can be put on the end of a noun and sometimes it is hard to know exactly what specific case is used for a specific verb.  And this dictionary tells you the cases to use and when, and it provides examples. It cost $32, and I only bought the Hungarian to English because it is a lot more useful for me. 

My new dictionary

The new mission president is coming on July 1st and it will be exciting to see all the changes. Apparently he negotiated to shorten the Hungarian MTC stay to 6 weeks instead of 9 weeks so we can be on 6-week transfers like Romania--which is kind of ridiculous because Hungarian speakers used to spend 12 weeks in the MTC and now it is only going to be 6, they are really not going to know anything when they come here. Also this week is the Baptismal Interview for our Investigator, which will be good to look forward to.  

Now you two are grandparents and have no teen-age kids, just another milestone of being old, haha. That looks like you are both having fun traveling around Canada and the Rockies and the rodeos. That would be fun to travel the vast Canadian wilderness sometime. Ginger emailed me and asked if she can take us out to dinner, but sadly I won’t be going to Budapest this week.  But I am looking forward to my second package. And happy father's day dad even though it was yesterday, I have been using the pen you sent me everyday and I have gotten a few comments from people saying how nice of a pen it is. 

Sok szeretettel,

Udy Elder

Baptismal date and referral

June 11, 2018

Szervusztok,

Last week we traveled to Budapest for zone conference. It was the third Wednesday in a row we had something in Budapest. I made the mistake of sitting next to a senior missionary couple so I had to translate, but only when President Szabadkai talked because everyone else just speaks English during the meeting. We learned about working with Ward and Stake leaders which was good to learn because it has probably been the hardest thing to incorporate during my mission.  

We also taught a lesson to one of our investigators, who has been to church a few times, and now she has a baptismal date for July 7-- the last Saturday of the transfer.  She said she wants to get baptized in a river so we have to start searching for a river around here.  Also at church there was an American family with 3 teenage boys which was really cool. They are taking a trip around Eastern Europe and decided to stop in for church.

This past week we also received a media referral which means that someone was on the internet and was interested in receiving a free Book of Mormon and meeting with missionaries. This almost never happens here, so it was really cool when it did.  We contacted him, and we are meeting with him in a village outside Székesfehérvár this week. 

Today for p-day we visited an old palace called, Károlyi Kastély with a church member. I have a few pictures of it. It served as a home for a wealthy Hungarian family in the 19th century. But now part of it is a hotel and a restaurant so maybe next year we can stay a night at it. 

Károlyi Kastély

I have Montoya Elder lead most of the lessons and make a lot of phone calls because the more you talk the better the language becomes. Hopefully I will have more pictures next week and I can manage to make the brownies for my birthday. 

Sok szeretettel,

 Udy Elder

Birthday package, Mountain Dew floats, and More

June 5, 2018

Sziasztok,

In our city the library is closed the first Monday of every month, so that is why I am emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday. This past week we did a lot of traveling. We went to the mission home in Buda for new missionary training. That was really nice because I got to pick up an early birthday package. Then we went to Veszprém for splits. And there we celebrated my birthday a little bit and opened up all of the stuff in the package. It took awhile because every little thing including all the small butterfingers were wrapped. But I will probably wait to make the brownies with the candles until my actual birthday, and also we made Mountain Dew floats with citrus ice cream. 

Some contents of the birthday package

Udy Elder and Jameson Elder

Since fruit season is starting to come around and there are a lot of cherry trees in the residential neighborhoods, we have been eating a lot of cherries while tracting. It provides a nice treat for us, and I'm excited to see what other kind of fruit trees I can find later. 

Also this last Sunday was a Western Europe Stake Conference Broadcast, which meant we watched a broadcast from Pest for 30 minutes where the stake president spoke and then we watched a broadcast from Germany where Elder Uchtdorf spoke and Elder Patrick Kearon and some other people. It was really good to hear from them. But the person who usually sets up the technical stuff for the branch had to be in Pest because he is the stake technician, so the responsibility eventually got passed down to us missionaries. Luckily everything worked out, and I was able to get everything running with the projector and the computer. 

As for how the branch works with the missionaries, there could be a little more involvement. There is no branch council, and the branch mission leader and the branch president don’t speak to each other about the work. It is really hard to get members to come with us to lessons. I think this is why the stake president visits here often. Anyways, Happy Birthday Mom. I hope you have a good trip to Oregon! 

Sok szeretettel,

Udy Elder

Highlight of the week was Zone Day

May 28, 2018

Sziasztok, 

The highlight of this week was the Zone Day we had. This week was interviews and since it was the last interview with President Szabadkai, he decided to throw a "Zone Day" for all the zones which meant on Wednesday we went up to Pest as the West zone and met at the Stake Center. It was a nice day of relaxation because all we did was play games, watch a movie, and eat for the entire day. I got to play basketball for the first time in over 6 months so it was great.

Right before my interview I had been playing basketball for over and hour so my face got really red like it always does when I exercise. So when I went into my interview President Szabadkai thought I had a really bad sunburn, haha.

It was kind of sad because it was the last interview with him and the last interview I will have with my mission president in Hungarian (since our new mission president doesn’t speak Hungarian). He gave everyone a CD of some women singing a bunch of church songs in Hungarian which was nice. 

President and Sister Szabadkaí

Other than that nothing else really exciting happened this past week. We met with a lot of investigators, especially older people we found through tracting. 

Church in Veszprém we travel to every week for district meeting

That is really good that I get 2 packages. I will be going to the mission home on Wednesday, so hopefully I will get the first package then. If not, I will be there the following Wednesday too.

Sok szeretettel, 

Udy Elder

Transfers will be every 12 weeks

May 22, 2018

Szervusztok, 

Yesterday was another Hungarian holiday where no one worked and all of the stores were closed. It seems like one of these happens just about every other week. But this time it was Pünkösd, or Pentecost.   

Nothing too exciting happened this past week. It has been a change of pace being a trainer and having to do most of the talking during lessons. We have one investigator who has come to church a few times, and we asked her to be baptized. She said she will, but she doesn't feel prepared yet, so we will have to work on that and hopefully there will be a baptismal date for her sometime in the near future.  We learned that there is going to be about a 2 month break for all of the English classes we teach as missionaries at the end of the transfer before the new mission president comes in. I don’t know why, maybe they will try and restructure it and try and make it a more effective finding tool. 

The elevator in our 10-story communist apartment building

Also we found out that after this transfer when we combine with the Romania mission our transfers in Hungary will go from 9 weeks to 12 weeks. Since Romania is on 6-week transfers and we are on 9-week transfers, due to the longer MTC language training, when the missions combine they need to be on the same transfer cycle. So we will change to 12 week transfers and the Romanian mission will stay at 6 week transfers. I am a little upset about it because that means we will most likely stay in an area for a really long time. The norm will be to stay in an area for 24 weeks or almost 6 months. 

I already have the Missionary's Little Book of Teaching Tools. I think it might have been Tyler’s. But that is really good that you are sending 2 packages for my birthday. It is also good you won the 4 rounds of golf, and you got the new lawn mower.

Sok Szeretettel,

Udy Elder

This week has been a big change with me becoming a trainer and senior companion

May 14, 2018

Sziasztok, 

This week has been a big change with me becoming a trainer. It is my first time being the senior companion yet alone the trainer, so I have to make a lot of the decisions and teach my companion the ropes of missionary work. My companion's name is Montoya Elder and he is from Layton, Utah so my 4 for 4 run of not having a companion from Utah has come to an end. Luckily he knows how to play the piano, so when we hold our piano class I don’t have to pretend to know what I am talking about. We held our piano class after church and 8 members came. It’s great to see they have a desire to learn. Hopefully one of them can become good enough to play during church. 

Montoya and Udy Elder

Also there was a 22-year old man from England who visited our church Sunday. He is Hungarian but works in England and was baptized about a year ago. He came to visit his mom, and it was his first time going to a church in Hungary. He said he didn’t expect to find a congregation because his whole life he had never heard of Mormons. It was cool to talk to him. Also a week ago while talking to people on the street, we met this guy named Tallár, who is a somewhat famous singer. His friend showed us a video of him on You Tube with over 140,000 views, and he also sang us a little song. I guess I can say I met a somewhat famous Hungarian singer.

I made the wings last night. I usually make them twice a week and they are always goooood. Here are pictures from the castle we went to week before last...

Castle in Csókakó we visited last week

View from castle of Csókakó

Csókakó Castle

Udy Elder at Csókakó Castle

Sok szeretettel, 

Udy Elder