#3 Kecskemét: Q&A
This week was a little difficult, so many of our appointments fell through and it was a harder week for the language. I don’t know, some days are awesome and other days speaking, or even understanding, this crazy language seems impossible. I just need to keep in mind that I have only been here 3 weeks. Thank you dad for praying for me that I will have the spiritual gift of tongues. I pray for that but also for the gift of interpretation of tongues. (Moroni 10:8-18)
We went to Budapest for training on Wednesday. We went with my MTC companion Elder Udy and his trainer to the "west end" so he could buy a new suit. The west end is a huge western style mall in Pest, and it pretty much proves that Budapest has integrated into the first world. It is the coolest mall ever. We had pear ice cream which is amazing.
Yesterday we met with one of the people we are teaching who has set a baptismal date. We went to his house for the first time (usually we meet up other places). Well his house is an old wooden soviet train car that he lives in. He is awesome and a super solid guy.He said that his house was small, but we could not have have imagined what it would really be like. He also has a makeshift jacuzzi on his roof. We love János!
Q: That brings something to mind, how are the families in Hungary? Are there large families, with lots of kids? Young families? lots of married couples? Is it a family centered culture?
A: I don't know. I think in general the families are small, maybe 3 kids at the max. We see lots of teenagers, and you will see families with little children. I notice more young families, however, it still feels like there are less than what would be typical in the U.S. Gypsies families tend to be larger. People in Kecskemét are nice.
Q: Are you sleeping well? Have you been sick at all? Are you homesick or feeling any depression or anxiety?
A: I sleep well because I get tired. I have had a cold the last few days but nothing to sever. As for emotional stuff, it’s mostly the demands of missionary life and dealing with the reality of Hungarian.
I’m doing well, it will be okay. I just love to read about you guys and see pictures. I miss you Dad, I think about you often and the example you have set for me. I think about what I can learn from your conversion.
I talked to this guy we teach who is in the Hungarian Army and he is probably 40. I told him about what you have done in the army and some of your story and about our family’s history in the military. He would say "az nagyon szép" or that is very beautiful. It was cool to be able to connect with him on that level. It’s the common appreciation and respect about the service of ones country that transcends political boundaries. It made me very proud of you and of my grand fathers and great grandfathers. It made me look forward to joining the Air Force and following in those boot prints.
I love you dad. I love you mom, I cant wait to hear and see more about what is going on.
I love you Charlie. I use the scriptures to learn how to read and write in Hungarian too, it’s very helpful. Keep working hard to learn to read, you need that as a missionary!
Love Ted
From Elder Martin's Mission Blog:
We went to a village again to do some tracting and met with a lady on the bus going there (we did splurge on a ticket for that trip) who in the end did not want to meet with us but who told us that Hungarian is the only language in the world that fuses perfectly the body and spirit. It's so funny, Hungarians are insanely proud of their crazy hard language. She also told us that an ambiguous "they" did a sort of study and found out that 60% of the words that God used while creating the world are Hungarian words. so there. another funny quirk, Hungarians are obsessed with the idea of "nagy magyarország" or big Hungary (like gross Deutschland) and many of them believe in this idea that Hungary in it's original glory will be restored once again, meaning that Slovakia, parts of Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and half of Romania will be restored together under the Hungarian crown, which they also believe has mystical powers (and a urim and thummim among other stones in the overlay) and whoever puts it on their head will have full power to reunite big Hungary but whoever is unworthy will be disintegrated (apparently ole' Ronald Reagan was tempted and that's why he gave it back to the Hungarians in the 50's). so yeah. also the appeal to nagy magyarország makes them believe that everyone is Hungarian. Dieter F. Uchtdorf? Hungarian, because at one time his birthplace was under Hungarian rule.
Training is a bit difficult because it is hard to balance speaking time when my companion is still getting the basics down. my voice often gets sore, but whenever he bears his testimony the spirit is SO strong. He's a worthy missionary with a lot ahead of him.
We taught a friend of one of our recent converts, Enikő, named András. He was so cool, and he loved our lesson on the restoration (visszaállitás). I really hope he will progress.
With a lack of cool stories I’m just going to answer the loads of questions my family sent me last week. Q & A, Here we go:
Questions about your life in Hungary:
Q: How about the food? I'd like to know about that. What was the picture of the bowl of soft white stuff? Cereal? Grits? Ice Cream? Mashed Potatoes? Charlie and I couldn't agree.
Questions about your life in Hungary:
Q: How about the food? I'd like to know about that. What was the picture of the bowl of soft white stuff? Cereal? Grits? Ice Cream? Mashed Potatoes? Charlie and I couldn't agree.
A: It’s called Madár Tej (bird milk). It’s like milk, but it’s egg based and tastes like tapioca pudding and they float marange on it. It’s good, but it also kind of weirds me out, like eggnog.
Q: Do you ever get asked over to church members’ houses for dinner?
A: We have lunch with this older lady (Néni) named Tardi Anna, every Monday. She loves the missionaries. We also had dinner with a family last week. We don’t get fed that often, but when we do its always good.
Q: Do you cook your own meals? How is that? Is it hard, easy? Are you hungry? Are their any western style foods there you like? Have you discovered any new foods you like?
A: We cook most of our own food, lots of sandwiches and eggs. We make some other foods, but our staples are Fanta, ground beef, onions, tomatoes, and bread. They have this sausage called Kolbász which is fantastic. We also eat paprika in copious amounts on everything. They have lots of really good flavors of Fanta too, my favorite is either mango or Bodza which is elderberry flower. We make this thing called stuffed paprika, which is stuffed peppers with beef, rice, onions and spices in tomato sauce, it is amazing. We also eat a lot of HP sauce, which is very British.
Q: How much do you bike each day? How far? Are you sore? How much do you walk and ride trains? When you ride trains to other towns can you take your bikes? Is getting around pretty easy?
A: We ride our bikes most everywhere. Kecskemét is completely flat so that makes it really easy. I don’t get sore. My bike has been in the shop this week so we have been walking and riding the bus more. I miss my bike! We walked probably 14 km yesterday. We take trains when we go to Budapest, or when we go to teach lessons in Nagykörős or Heténegyháza. We don’t take our bikes with us so we just walk around these small towns.
Q: Dad wanted to know more about the ward (our local congregation), the church members, the church building?
A: Our ward in Kecskemét has about 60 active members. There are 3 large extended families that make up most the ward. There are also a couple young families which is less common in wards in Hungary. The building is relatively new and small. It has a chapel, a Relief Society Room (the women’s organization in the LDS Church), a font, a kitchen, offices, and maybe 4 other class rooms. It is small but quite nice.
Q: Charlie wants to know about the clothing (styles) that Hungarian people wear? Do they look American?
A: I have yet to see any one in traditional Hungarian clothes. They look very western, and most people have nice fashionable clothes. The Gypsies are generally more poor and wear less nice clothes, but nothing out of the ordinary. They wear lots of blue jeans, most of them torn. Lots of the women have hair that is died this strange unnatural red color, but its very popular.
Q: Charlie wants to know what kind of diseases there are in Hungary :) :)
A: My companion has gotten Scavies and IBS, but that is from interacting with homeless people. I have a cold :)
Q: Charlie wants to know if they have Lego's in Hungary? Toy stores? And Kids?
A: We see a lot of kids around when school gets let out, and it’s not uncommon to see a young mother out with a stroller. They have very cool toys and game stores in the malls, it makes me wish they would have had them in American when i was a kid. They have lots of Lego's. You can by Settlers of Catan Board game in Hungarian.
Q: Do you ever get asked over to church members’ houses for dinner?
A: We have lunch with this older lady (Néni) named Tardi Anna, every Monday. She loves the missionaries. We also had dinner with a family last week. We don’t get fed that often, but when we do its always good.
Q: Do you cook your own meals? How is that? Is it hard, easy? Are you hungry? Are their any western style foods there you like? Have you discovered any new foods you like?
A: We cook most of our own food, lots of sandwiches and eggs. We make some other foods, but our staples are Fanta, ground beef, onions, tomatoes, and bread. They have this sausage called Kolbász which is fantastic. We also eat paprika in copious amounts on everything. They have lots of really good flavors of Fanta too, my favorite is either mango or Bodza which is elderberry flower. We make this thing called stuffed paprika, which is stuffed peppers with beef, rice, onions and spices in tomato sauce, it is amazing. We also eat a lot of HP sauce, which is very British.
Q: How much do you bike each day? How far? Are you sore? How much do you walk and ride trains? When you ride trains to other towns can you take your bikes? Is getting around pretty easy?
A: We ride our bikes most everywhere. Kecskemét is completely flat so that makes it really easy. I don’t get sore. My bike has been in the shop this week so we have been walking and riding the bus more. I miss my bike! We walked probably 14 km yesterday. We take trains when we go to Budapest, or when we go to teach lessons in Nagykörős or Heténegyháza. We don’t take our bikes with us so we just walk around these small towns.
Q: Dad wanted to know more about the ward (our local congregation), the church members, the church building?
A: Our ward in Kecskemét has about 60 active members. There are 3 large extended families that make up most the ward. There are also a couple young families which is less common in wards in Hungary. The building is relatively new and small. It has a chapel, a Relief Society Room (the women’s organization in the LDS Church), a font, a kitchen, offices, and maybe 4 other class rooms. It is small but quite nice.
Q: Charlie wants to know about the clothing (styles) that Hungarian people wear? Do they look American?
A: I have yet to see any one in traditional Hungarian clothes. They look very western, and most people have nice fashionable clothes. The Gypsies are generally more poor and wear less nice clothes, but nothing out of the ordinary. They wear lots of blue jeans, most of them torn. Lots of the women have hair that is died this strange unnatural red color, but its very popular.
Q: Charlie wants to know what kind of diseases there are in Hungary :) :)
A: My companion has gotten Scavies and IBS, but that is from interacting with homeless people. I have a cold :)
Q: Charlie wants to know if they have Lego's in Hungary? Toy stores? And Kids?
A: We see a lot of kids around when school gets let out, and it’s not uncommon to see a young mother out with a stroller. They have very cool toys and game stores in the malls, it makes me wish they would have had them in American when i was a kid. They have lots of Lego's. You can by Settlers of Catan Board game in Hungarian.
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| They even have Star Wars Here!! |
Q: That brings something to mind, how are the families in Hungary? Are there large families, with lots of kids? Young families? lots of married couples? Is it a family centered culture?
A: I don't know. I think in general the families are small, maybe 3 kids at the max. We see lots of teenagers, and you will see families with little children. I notice more young families, however, it still feels like there are less than what would be typical in the U.S. Gypsies families tend to be larger. People in Kecskemét are nice.
Q: Are you sleeping well? Have you been sick at all? Are you homesick or feeling any depression or anxiety?
A: I sleep well because I get tired. I have had a cold the last few days but nothing to sever. As for emotional stuff, it’s mostly the demands of missionary life and dealing with the reality of Hungarian.
I’m doing well, it will be okay. I just love to read about you guys and see pictures. I miss you Dad, I think about you often and the example you have set for me. I think about what I can learn from your conversion.
I talked to this guy we teach who is in the Hungarian Army and he is probably 40. I told him about what you have done in the army and some of your story and about our family’s history in the military. He would say "az nagyon szép" or that is very beautiful. It was cool to be able to connect with him on that level. It’s the common appreciation and respect about the service of ones country that transcends political boundaries. It made me very proud of you and of my grand fathers and great grandfathers. It made me look forward to joining the Air Force and following in those boot prints.
I love you dad. I love you mom, I cant wait to hear and see more about what is going on.
I love you Charlie. I use the scriptures to learn how to read and write in Hungarian too, it’s very helpful. Keep working hard to learn to read, you need that as a missionary!
Love Ted
From Elder Martin's Mission Blog:
We went to a village again to do some tracting and met with a lady on the bus going there (we did splurge on a ticket for that trip) who in the end did not want to meet with us but who told us that Hungarian is the only language in the world that fuses perfectly the body and spirit. It's so funny, Hungarians are insanely proud of their crazy hard language. She also told us that an ambiguous "they" did a sort of study and found out that 60% of the words that God used while creating the world are Hungarian words. so there. another funny quirk, Hungarians are obsessed with the idea of "nagy magyarország" or big Hungary (like gross Deutschland) and many of them believe in this idea that Hungary in it's original glory will be restored once again, meaning that Slovakia, parts of Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and half of Romania will be restored together under the Hungarian crown, which they also believe has mystical powers (and a urim and thummim among other stones in the overlay) and whoever puts it on their head will have full power to reunite big Hungary but whoever is unworthy will be disintegrated (apparently ole' Ronald Reagan was tempted and that's why he gave it back to the Hungarians in the 50's). so yeah. also the appeal to nagy magyarország makes them believe that everyone is Hungarian. Dieter F. Uchtdorf? Hungarian, because at one time his birthplace was under Hungarian rule.
Training is a bit difficult because it is hard to balance speaking time when my companion is still getting the basics down. my voice often gets sore, but whenever he bears his testimony the spirit is SO strong. He's a worthy missionary with a lot ahead of him.
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