Tuesday, June 28, 2016

June 27, 2016



Hey, Everyone!

Another quick email with just the summaries for today, because time is incredible short and the library where we're emailing closes soon!

We spent the majority of the week doing lots of missionary work here in Szombathely--walking around and trying to meet new people on the streets and knocking on front doors of apartment buildings and little homes on the outskirts of the town. On Wednesday, however, we woke up early and headed to Budapest for our zone conference that took place at Hajnóczy. We came back later on Wednesday evening, and then had another normal day on Thursday. Friday, we had district meeting with the elders here in Szombathely, then headed out to take another train from here to Tatabánya, another town in the Hungarian countryside about two hours away from here, but closer to Budapest. We had splits with Elders Dixon and Miller there, and they were great! I had time to work with Elder Dixon, and we had a fun time knocking on more doors and trying to find people to talk to! In the morning, he even decided to go on a run up to the top of the hill next to the town with me! We took a train back on Saturday afternoon, finished off our day here in Szombathely, and then had church yesterday.

Those are the main highlights of our week! The weather's been INCREDIBLY hot here--not sure how hot, because there's no thermometers anywhere, but I'd have to guess that it's somewere around 40 degrees Celcius with huge humidity factors also playing in. We've been trying to survive by taking two cold showers a day, but the sweat literally never leaves our bodies.

Other than that we're doing good though! Love you and hope you're having a good week! :)




A few of the older, cool buildings here in Szombathely
















Cropduster dropping chemicals over the city to
kill mosquitos after it rained earlier this week.















Splits with Elder Dixon! Can't really tell, but
there's a cool Hungarian statue in the back.














Sunset while on splits with the elders in Tatabánya Friday night












Went for morning runs this week with Elder Heaps
 over by the lake here in Szombathely--super pretty place!

















Train station at Tatabánya--lots of long frieght trains!















Cool little Catholic church not far from where we live















This is what tracting in Hungary looks like! Little tiny gardens with 
green metal fences and doorbells on the outside in front of the streets.

















A massive eagle statue overlooks the city of Tatabánya 
from the top of a nearby hill, which Elder Dixon and
I ran to the top of for our morning workout!




















Selfie from the top! This mangy wolf-dog followed us the
whole way up and down but was really nice to us!

















Found this English grafiti while on splits in Tatabánya...








Wednesday, June 22, 2016

June 20, 2016


Hey, everyone!

Quick email for today, because we don't have much time left today! We're doing good here in Szombathely,and I'm starting to get a little bit used to the new city! It's still strange for me to be somewhere other than Budapest, and I honestly went through some big city withdrawals up until now, but Szombathely is growing on me!

The members here are so nice, and the branch was really welcoming! Elder Heaps and I were even invited to go to primary so that we can help with the piano playing there, which was a blast. On Saturday evening, the branch president and a few of the other families from here in Szombathely invited us over to have a Szalonna cookout--basically where they roast pieces of fat over a fire and drip the grease onto bread with onions and peppers on top. Definitely not the healthiest of things to eat, but for the Hungarians, it's a summertime favorite.

We've got a busy week ahead of us, since we're going back up to Budapest on Wednesday for a zone conference, and then we're following that up on Friday with a trip to Tatabánya for splits with the elders there. The trains are pretty long and the travel can be exhausting, but the trips are for sure worth it!

Excited to meet more new people here and get to know the city a little better. These are some of the pictures from our adventures so far this week!

Love y'all lots and I'll talk to ya more next time! :)





Szalonna!














Taking a drink from the spring water fountain at the
Gellért baths in Budapest on Friday when we went up for MLC!


















Back in the big city again!



















Down at one of the metro stops in the Budapest subways
















Welcome to Szombathely!



















Cooking the pig fat (szalonna) over the fire Saturday night!







Sunday, June 19, 2016

June 14, 2016


Hey, Everyone!

Quick email for today, because I don't have too much time! Transfer calls came in this morning, and we've been finishing packing everything up again! Looks like my time's up here in the big city--I'm going to a much smaller town near the Austrian border called "Szombathely" (English translation="Saturday-Place"). Elder Martineau's got his bags packed to go to Pécs, and he seems pretty excited about the news! He's been here in Pest for about eight months now, so a change is about due for him. I was hoping to have some more time here in this city, but I guess after a year of being in Budapest it's time to move on now! It should be a good change!

The Clark family left midweek to head back to their home in California. We haven't received too much news about how they're doing except for the fact that they arrived safely in America, which is good news! Hopefully, Brother Clark's condition continues to improve, because he and his family really are the nicest kind of people, and it was the best part of our transfer here to get to visit them in the hospital every day!

A lot of the pictures sent home this week explain the adventures that we stumbled upon while in the city. Just walking around the downtown area, we found a ton of neat people and just as many incredible sights. Now, we're just getting everything ready for the big day tomorrow!

That's all the news for today--we've gotta go soon! Love you all, have another great week! :)






Beautiful sunset here in Pest over the entrance to an 
abandoned factory as we were walking around!














Train tracks













Fast cars outside beautiful buildings--welcome to Budapest!



















The following are some of the coolest buildings in Pest! (Opera House)
















We went to a little shop in downtown Pest that sells
American groceries and found some Ben and Jerry's! 
Took a lunch break and ate some super good ice cream 
on the edge of the Duna River! ;)















(Parliament)
















(St. Stephen's Basillica)















(and the Hunyadi Castle in Pest!)

















(Random little Catholic church)














(Cathedral)















Only in Europe do you walk around the city 
and run into crazy hotels that are palaces!















(Gellért Hegy)















(the Buda Palace)
















(the Buda Castle)
















(Another Catholic church on the river)







Tuesday, June 7, 2016

June 6, 2016


Hey!

This week was a lot like the last one! We were a little more mobile than we were in the past little bit, because we went to the doctor and they gave Elder Martineau the "OK" to put a little bit of pressure on his ankle again. He was pretty happy about that, especially because the doctors said that the MRI shows that surgery and a cast is unneccessary, although the recovery process is probably going to be a long one. We visited our friends, the Clarks, in the hospital again as much as we could, and we're excited for them to be able to go home soon!

They've got it worked out so that Brother Clark can fly back to California via air-ambulance this week, so that he'll be able to go back home and continue getting better at a hospital in America. We've loved getting to visit them and try to help them a little bit while they've been here in Hungary, and we're going to miss them once they leave!

We hosted a "Sport Nap" on Tuesday, where we had an American basketball game with some Hungarians who like to play. The church building here in Pest is really nice and even has a cultural hall with a basketball court, and we had a blast watching the Hungarians play and getting to play with them as well! I think Elder Martineau would have also loved to play, but we're hoping that maybe by the next time we're in charge of Sport Nap, his leg will be much better.

Sunday was another stake conference, because the churches in the Europe area had an additional broadcast with leaders from Salt Lake and Germany, which was cool to attend! It was also really nice to see my friends from Érd and Buda again! Laci, Attila, Klára, János, Béla, Andi, Sándor, Anikó, and a whole lot of other people also came out for the broadcast, and we had a fun time visiting for the few minutes that we had after the conference!

We had apartment cleaning checks earlier this morning, and we passed! The Peterson senior couple came over from Eger to bring us some really good, American-style cookies and check up on us, and we passed! Now, we're just emailing before heading over to Buda to have interviews with President Szabadkai, and that'll be most of our day!

The highlight of the week was Saturday, because the other elders here in Pest had a good friend who decided to be baptised this week! Márton's a really nice young man, and he was so excited to be a member of the church. He's even going to serve a mini.mission this summer! We're all excited to see him grow!

I think that's all for now! Talk more next time! Love you and hope the week's good! :)







We went by the Hungarian State Opera House in Pest, 
and ran into Attila from Érd just right after taking this picture!
















Back courtyard of a building in Pest













Inside a small little synagogue in downtown Pest