Morgan Elder in Magyarország

Brother and Sister Morgan, I am pleased to report that Elder Morgan has arrived safely in Hungary! Sister Szabadkai and I welcomed his group at the airport and found all the new missionaries excited and eager to begin their service in the Hungary Budapest Mission. We look forward to getting to know each of them personally and know we will love Elder Morgan as deeply as we love all the missionaries in our care. Within the next 24 hours Elder Morgan will be assigned to a proselyting area with a dedicated Senior Companion and Trainer that has been prayerfully selected to serve in this vital roll. Together they will participate in a brief training meeting at the mission office and then depart immediately to their designated area. Over the past while, there has been much in the news about trouble and turmoil in many parts of the world. Terrorist attacks have put all of Europe on heightened alert. Immigration issues continue to cause controversy. Under the direction of Church Headqua...

This was a good week. On Friday, we got our flight plans! So we will leave the MTC at about 10 am on the 30th, and then driving to Salt Lake City. We will board the airplane at 3 pm and fly for 10 hours to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. We will arrive at 8 am local time, and then after a 2 hour layover we will have a 2 hour flight to Budapest, and then real mission life will start. In other news, we had Matt Holland come speak to us Sunday night, he is the son of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (An apostle) and he is the president of UVU, so that's pretty cool. Last week was good because we had a lot of lessons with our "investigators" where we mostly taught about the Restoration, the Gospel of Christ, and the Plan of Salvation. All the lessons went really well, and Udy Elder and I were able to speak, and answer questions pretty much with out help from notes.  In the MTC you learn a whole bunch of Hungarian Grammar, and how to talk in depth about a very specific set ...

This has been a very busy week. I've been doing good. It's been a better week. I've been learning to counsel with the Lord about my goals and expectations of myself, and I've seen blessings come from that. I look forward to moving out of the MTC (this "Pre-existence") and go to (the Mortal life) Hungary. The first big news has been the New MTC buildings were dedicated on Friday. Dedications of buildings is a special ceremony that places a special priesthood blessing upon the building, it's purposes, and those people who work and serve in that place. We stood in line to be able to get a seat in the room where the dedication happened, most of the MTC watched it on broadcast in the big meeting room, but we watched it live! View from the MTC, the temple in the fall Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson ,  Bishop Gérald Caussé , Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Henry B. Eyring  (of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) were there. It was so cool! President Eyring ...

I caught Ted online this morning while he was writing emails and got to chat a little with him. Sounds like he’s a little stir crazy and is hoping these last weeks fly by quickly, he’s excited to get to Hungary. He said, “It’s fun to go to the temple or the field because you can leave the MTC campus and wave good by to the guards. The other day I caught my self singing that song from the Hunchback of Notre Dame while looking out the window at the valley.” FYI: These are the lyrics to the song he was singing while looking out on the world outside the MTC. Out There: Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone Gazing at the people down below me All my life I watch them as I hide up here alone Hungry for the histories they show me All my life I memorize their faces Knowing them as they will never know me All my life I wonder how it feels to pass a day Not above them But part of them And out there Living in the sun Give me one day out there All I ask is on...

Fall has come! The leaves have been turning on the mountains for 2 weeks now but the trees in the valley have finally caught up. Thursdays Elder Udy and I "bumped" into (more like saw from 10 feet way) the prince of Ethiopia. Apparently President and Sister Martino were giving him a tour of the MTC.  Sunday was my birthday. Sunday, which is always fun and one of the better days at the MTC, was even better because it was my birthday and the Sisters in my district threw a 5 minute party with 2 balloons, and they gave me a MTC t-shirt and some snacks. It was great! My principal from BYU Independent High School, Joseph Roberson, sent me a big box with pie, and brownies and such, it made the elders in the zone very happy! This week our teacher shared with us a really long Hungarian word: megszentsegtelenithetettensegestejeseitekert.  (YES, one word!! Take that Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!) I don't remember exactly what it means, but I think it had som...

Something cool happened on Facebook today. I posted some of Elder Morgan's mission photos this week to the missionary photo album on Facebook. And Olga Campora, a member of our Columbia Maryland stake (and former ward member) picked up on the picture of Elder Morgan and Elder Kvasnička, and she shared the photo with this story: "You know great things have happened in the Czech Republic when you get surprised with a photo like this one. Elder Kvasnička (...on the left... and heading to serve in Germany 🇩🇪) comes from my beloved hometown Uherské Hradiště {UH} where I was the very first member who joined the church. At the MTC, he "bumped" into Elder Ted Morgan (...on the right... who's heading to Hungary 🇭🇺). Elder Morgan is from my home Columbia Stake in Maryland. How cool is that? Elder Kvasnicka's mom is my very best Czech friend whom I was privileged to introduce the gospel, prepare her for a baptism and the rest is a history.... Both of these youn...

This week as been fairly good. I'm thrilled that you have a house, and it looks really cool. Its about 5 minuets from the Theobalds, in Papillion. I'm doing well. This week we got 3 new Turkish speaking elders, and tonight we will get 4 German speaking elders and 15 sisters. My favorite part of p-day (preparation day) is to go to the temple. First, I get to leave the MTC, but also because it is just the best place on earth and the view is amazing. Last week the sun shone through the clouds and hit Utah lake, it was so beautiful. God is real Alma 30:44. általános Konferencia was Tok Jo! I loved that we got to watch all of General Conference (Our church holds a worldwide conference every six months and the talks from general authorities of the church are broadcast throughout the world. It's a spiritual feast on the words of the Christ) and that I was able to take notes. So many good talks. I think my favorite was from President Uchtdorf's about light and spiritu...

There’s a funny story about Ted in this blog post from his companions mission blog . Here’s what his companion wrote: “Also this week, I got a mission long sleeve T-shirt that says 'Hungary, Budapest Mission" and it has a map of Hungary in the middle. My companion ordered the same one but the one that came said "I heart my Missionary." It was funny because instead of just sending it to his mom to wear or something he just crossed out "ary" with a sharpie marker and now he gets a lot of funny looks when he wears it.”

I love modern technology! I got this picture and text yesterday from a person my son, Elder Theodore L. Morgan , taught at the MTC: “Hello! I got taught by your missionary today! He is doing great and it was wonderful!" I asked the person how his Hungarian was and he replied: "He is doing excellently! I was really impressed!” — That made my day!!