#1 Kecskemét: The City of Goat

I'm alive! So so much has happened!

The rest of the MTC was good, I don't remember much of what happened. Monday morning we rode the train up to the airport in Salt Lake. We were supposed to leave at 3 for Amsterdam but the plane was broken so we had to wait around for them to get another plane, it took 5 hours. While we waited we ate at Cafe Rio and we talked to some people in the airport about missionaries and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked with a man form India, a woman from Hungary, a woman from Romania, and a man from Holland. We also gave out some pass along cards. 

The flight to Amsterdam was very long and I didn't sleep well, not a surprise. We landed in the Amsterdam airport which is huge and very cool. We had to move quickly to catch our flight to Budapest. We flew to Budapest on KLM, which is a dutch airline. We arrived in Budapest at about 4 pm and the sun was already setting. Hungary is about the same latitude as Maine so it gets dark a lot sooner than I'm used to. 

When we arrived the airline had lost all of our bags, so we had to get the paper work we needed to get them back, the problem was that the clerks didn't really speak English, and we don't speak Hungarian, but we got what we needed because they delivered our baggage to the mission home the next morning.

We left baggage claim and we meet up with President and Sister Szabadkai, Brother and Sister Bogazzi, and the Mission President's assistants: Elder Gentry and Elder Ballard. It was good to meet President and Sister Sabadkai in person, they are so kind and so loving. The APs (Assistants to the Presidents) drove Udy Elder and I to the mission home. It was cool to see the city at night.

We arrived at the mission home and we had dinner with the Szabadkaiék and we ate a chicken dish and fruit soup. I had an interview with president Szabadkai and we talked about me, and him, and the language, and peace. It was so good. We stayed that night in a hotel. 

The next morning we had some meetings, and then we met our trainers. (Trainers are more senior missionaries who will help us learn the language and the mission) My trainer is named Elder Martin. He has been here for 1 year. He is from Saint Louis and he is very nice. I'm excited to learn and work with him. After the meeting we went to get some lunch with the other sisters in our district. Sister Jensen and Sister Towne who are also the sister training leaders. We then walked to the train station in Pest. The train cars are like the ones in Harry Potter. It was very cool. 

We rode on the train for an hour and a half and passed lots of squash fields, and then we arrived in Kecskemét. Kecske means goat, thus Kecskemét is the city of goat. The city is south east of Budapest and is about 110,000 people. In the center of the city there are four or five big churches, some catholic, others Lutheran and another Greek Catholic. There is also a big old synagogue (Kecskemét used to have a large Jewish population but then Nazis happened. Sad.) The synagogue is now a community business center. 

We walked to our apartment which Elder Martin tells me is very nice compared to most of the ones in Hungary that the missionaries lived in. It is above this yoga studio by the mall. Kecskemét has a ward and a nice branch building. Since Wednesday we had 6 lessons with investigators (people taking the missionary lessons) and 5 with lessactives (recent converts). I got just here after two baptisms and we currently have 8 investigators and the first day here we found another one. We also have 2 investigators that have scheduled either a baptismal date or an interview date (bishop interviews are done before baptism dates are scheduled) while I have been here. Its awesome!!

The members and recent converts that we have meet or taught with have been so cool. We have had opportunities to go tracking (knocking on doors), and street contacting. We do this thing called Csengőing which is where you go to an old soviet style ten or five story apartment building and ring all the door bells hoping that some one will let us in so you can get in the building. 

We went grocery shopping today we will go shopping for a coat for me. We ride bikes around a lot. On Wednesday night was All Saints Day and we went to a cemetery. They celebrate by honoring their ancestors. They place candles and flowers on the graves. It is very beautiful. 

I can't speak hardly any Hungarian, but in lessons I can bear testimony and teach basic principles of the gospel. I've been working on talking to people on the street, to start a conversation so Martin Elder can take over. It has amazed me how much I've improved in understanding in the last few days. At first I understood nothing, now I can kind of, sort of, pick up on the general topic of a conversation so I can sort of follow, but not really understand specifics. It's hard but I know that I've only been here 5 days and that I'll learn. Elder Martin is a good teacher. I'm happy here.

From Elder Martin's Mission Blog:

After the trainer meeting the the Szabadkai's I met my new missionary, Elder Morgan from Omaha, Nebraska!! Something cool, in the MTC he was in the same zone as the ASL elders and he met Tyler Goekretz (so sorry about the spelling) one of my second cousins! The world is small, and even smaller when it comes to Mormons.

We came back to Kecskemét and got right to work! No unpacking or any of those shenanigans, we planned our day, had companionship study, and headed straight to a lesson with a member, Tardi Anna. Unfortunately, he did not show up to our lesson, so right off the bat Morgan elder got a real taste of what missionary work is usually like!

After that we planned on going streeting at a cemetery, because it was All-Saints Day, a big holiday in Hungary where they all go to visit their ancestor's graves and put candles around them. It was a beautiful sight, and after that we went to go tracting for a little bit. At the fifth intercom button, and man started laughing and LET US IN!! First night, first let in!!! Woo-hoo!! I waited about 4 weeks before my first let-in. We taught Sándor, who has a LOT of questions and ended up being a new investigator! First night, first let-in, first investigator!!! It was awesome.

We had so many meetings this week, about 2 a day, sometimes three, we invited three investigators to baptism, and one accepted, János Attila, who will be baptized on January 6th! Second Day, first investigator put on Baptismal date! (János Attila also said during that lesson:" making my Solar powered water bus" when I asked him "what is important to you?") Morgan elder was an absolute champ and and invited all of them. Hungarian is no cinch and he is handling the whole affair with patience and charm. His first week was essentially a non-stop teaching week, with some streeting and tracting squeezed in here and there (we had ELEVEN lessons since Wednesday) and he was saying "yeah I'm like really surprised because I thought the work was supposed to be slow here" hahaha NOT ANYMORE, BUDDY!!! We make a great team and I am SO excited for what the Lord has in store for us this transfer.