Tuesday, March 24, 2015

March 23, 2015



Hi, everyone!

Another busy day, it seems like it's just never going to stop! That's a very good problem to have, though, we're totally okay with that. :)

This week, we've been very blessed to be able to visit with so many kind people. I keep being impressed first by how little some people have, and then secondly by how much they are so willing to give to a stranger on the street.

One of the members of the branch here, Margit, is an old lady living with just her sister in a big, old, run down house that used to be her parents'. We went to go visit her the other day with the sister missionaries, and she had made us a beautiful meal with deli meats from the market and fresh-made bread and butter, and she insisted that we bring home all of the leftovers with us so that we wouldn't be hungry, even though we assured her that we have plenty of food. She then proceeded to give us lots of little Easter candies and trinkets so that we would have the closest thing to an Easter at home as possible. Even though it's a few weeks early, this Easter has already been awesome because of how kind this little old neni was to us. We went back today to bring her some flowers to thank her for how kind she was to us, and she was ecstatic that someone had thought of her and taken the time to bring her a gift. Truly Christlike.

Each of our friends here that we teach are also very kind to us. Many love to come to church because it helps them feel peace in their heart, and they genuinely just see the sincere happiness that Elder Gonzalez and I have, and they want to be like that. There's a fresh start for everyone who wants one. Whether we help people get to that fresh, new start by helping them learn English, Spanish, or French, by helping them fix family relationships, or by helping them fix their relationships with themselves, we all together become very good friends, like a family here in Hungary.

I miss you all and love you lots! Looking forward to keep hearing from you next week, y'all be good and do something to make the world a better place! :)






Here's Margit with Gonzalez and the Sisters in Nyiregyhaza!













Margit Neni, an old lady in our branch, gave us
some little "Farsang" masks, basically like a mix
of Groundhog's Day and Halloween. Super nice lady.












So one of our investigators is a traditional Hungarian
 suit maker in a little artisan crafts shop,
 and she made us some sweet
Hungarian suits! Pretty cool stuff!:)











Zone Conferences were held in Budapest on
March 11, 12 and 13. Elder Kearon, first counselor
in the Europe Area Presidency, presided at the
Conferences. Elder Kearon presented wonderful
 messages to us. We were inspired and motivated.




Thursday, March 19, 2015

March 16, 2015



Hey, everyone!

Once again, not much time to sit and write emails today because we're getting busier and busier with people to visit every week! I hope you are all very happy wherever you are all at right now, and that you are enjoying everything in your path right now! :) I could write novels about all of the experiences that we're having every day, and for all of the incredible people that we've met, but at the end of the day there's still really only one thing that matters! Jesus loves us all and wants to help us to be as happy as we can be. With that simple thought in mind, let Him help you to be happy this week and give all you have to the life you're living! :) I love you all and will try to write more next week:)

Be good,

Priest Elder










Went to Tokaj today for P-day... Tokaj is the wine 
growing area of Hungary, super famous for it's
one mountain---the only one on the big 
great plain of eastern Hungary. Pretty little
town and fun hike in the forest above 
the winefields. (Pronounced toe-kae)















Hungarian sunset 














This week was Hungary's memorial day equivalent
for all of the many past wars that they have had
 over the years. One of our branch members worked
 at the museum and took us for a tour of a special
soldiers exhibit that they had. Pretty cool stuff!













Us chilling outside a Hungarian house. The bench says "spirit".





Monday, March 9, 2015

March 9, 2015


Hi!

We seriously have no time today to email because our train coming back into Nyiregyhaza broke down in the middle of nowhere and we've only got a few minutes until we're running to go do "csaladi est", --family night-- with the people here. But just wanted to write and let everyone know that everything's going really well here! We're safe, happy, and super busy... We've been waking up at 6:30 and leaving the apartment by 8, and we usually get back sometime around 9:30 or so. Lots of appointments every day, and we're having such a fun time while doing it. Love you all and I'll have to write some more next week! Szeretlek!:)





Teaching Spanish to some people in Nyiregyhaza!!
They literally just came up to us and asked if we 
could teach them Spanish. We were like, uhhh.... yes!
We've found three Spanish speakers on the street this week! Crazy!!












One of our investigators makes cool 
Hungarian suits and is making some for us! Sweet!!















Fun adventure finding our way back into town by following 
the train tracks! We got lost and ended up 10 km
out of town when a member dropped us off in the
middle of nowhere, thinking it was where our 
program was at. That was an adventure.



Monday, March 2, 2015

March 2, 2015



Hey!

Wanted to drop a quick email your way and let ya know how everything's going! :]

Hungary's great, even when the weather's not. We've been having a lot of cloudy, rainy days lately, which the Hungarian people tend to really not like. I think it's great! People ask why I like the rain so much, and I just say "a sivatagbol jottem." (ah she-vah-tahg-bowl-yo-tehm... I'm from the desert) and they just kind of laugh. They think Arizona is like Egypt.

We found someone who speaks Spanish this week! That's probably the biggest thing I can talk about, that was SO cool. It's pretty hard sometimes to communicate with the people here since I'm still not very strong with the Hungarian language, but speaking Spanish was right up my alley and made me feel like a fish put back into water. The guy we met with, Tolido, is actually one of Elder Gonzalez's dad's best friends, who fled Cuba with Gonzalez's dad during the 80's when stuff got crazy down there. Tolido's been living in Hungary ever since--married a Hungarian girl and studied at a university in Debrecen. Now he's living in Nyiregyhaza, and we were able to arrange to meet with him! We had a great program with him and his wife, talking about how he's been doing and what he thought of his whole experience. Tolido isn't a Mormon, but he made sure that we knew how much he loves God and how grateful he is to have the opportunities that he does. We ended up having a great time speaking Spanish for a while, eating some Hungarian food made by a Cuban, and I even got to play his piano in his house! It couldn't have really been better at all. Very happy that we got to use our Spanish, and very happy that we made a new friend with Tolido. :)

With that happy thought in mind, I hope it's another great week in Arizona! Keep me updated if any more llamas are running rampant through the city. Szeretlek titeket! Jo legyetek!






This is us with Tolido, a Cubano who fled the
country and sought asylum here in Hungary
while studying in the 80's. Speaks fluent Spanish and Hungarian,
and some English, but we ended up having a
 Spanish night at his house for a program!
Pretty cool that we found that .1% of the
population that actually speaks Spanish











Typical day in the square