#6 Debrecen: All Saints Day in Hungary

This week was a busy one but also a good one. Monday we went on a surprise adventure to Szeged for a baptismal interview. It went well and it was good to see how the elders in Szeged are doing. Tuesday and Wednesday we had exchanges with the elders from Miskolc. It was really good, Elder VanDuyse and I worked on using the Book of Mormon in finding and teaching and how to make language study more meaningful. We had a lesson with an new investigator named Jusztin, He said he wasn't very interested in faith or religion but he had a lot of really good questions about the plan of salvation and we had a good discussion with him about the purpose of life. It was a really good meeting.

Wednesday was All Saints Day (Halloween), which is a day that they remember their ancestor and go to the cemetery and place candles and flowers, which is really cool. We spent the day traveling to Budapest for a doctors appointment. We went to lunch and then had two hours to burn before the appointment and so we just walked for awhile and went to the mission home to pick up letters and packages; talked to the office Elders... Elder Udy was there, so that was fun. Then after our appointment we took another 3 hour train ride... that night we walked around and joined into the holiday, it is the 3rd biggest religious holiday in Hungary behind Christmas and Easter, and what they commemorate fits so well into the gospel message, so we tried to talked to people as they were out for the holiday but most people weren't interested in talking.

Walking around talking to people on All Saints Day was one of the first things I did one year ago when I got to Hungary. It brought back lots of memories.

A picture from All Saints Day
The rest of the week we spent finding and began teaching two new people. We also were able to meet with another person we are teaching that we met last week. We had a good but short lesson about how we can find spiritual knowledge and the importance of prayer. It was wonderful. Sunday we met with the Branch President and His wife and with the Bradshaw's to talk about the new English class program and what we can do to get it started here in Debrecen. It looks like it will be a really good way to make our English class more effective.

I picked up two cats this week, that was fun. I love macska dobás. This week we will be getting the keys to our new apartment so we will start the moving process, we will also be going to szolnok on splits. So, now I just have to go to Békéscsaba and I will have gone to every city on this side of the Danube. I have yet to cross it except for Buda. Maybe one day. I'm running out of places to go in the east, but who knows, I just hope I stay in Debrecen for a good while. I haven't had a lot of that yet. Transfers will be in 9 days, and Elder Surdu will go home, I'll miss him but he needs to move on, he is ready to go. It will be good.

I've been on my mission for 14 months, and that's 12 months in country... I have 10 months left which is super weird. I still don't feel like I'm fluent in the language; but apparently, Hungarian missionaries really don't get fluent in the language even after two years. It's a tough language. At this point I can read the scriptures in Hungarian and any church publications... it's hard to translate it back. I understand the majority of what people say... and if I can't then I usually can figure it out. When it comes to gospel stuff and day to day stuff I can communicate pretty well; so I get by, but I don't think I speak fluently. It's for the best. It keeps me humble.

I love you all and hope you have a good week.

Morgan Elder.

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