#7 Debrecen: Road Trips with the Oakey's

I am looking forward to staying in Debrecen, it will be nice to stay somewhere and just get to work. I'll be getting Elder Seeley, he is also in the same group as Elders Fales and Gilson, on transfer ahead of me, which means he's been in Hungary 9 weeks longer than me. This week for us and the for the Zone was a more difficult one. I hope that this new transfer and some of the new companionships will be able to lengthen their strides and we can move the work along.

We started the week with P-day and an exchange with Elder Gilson and Elder Wrathall. We went to Hortobagy and Elder Gilson bought a whip from the whip master while we were there. Because we had to wait on the trains work out of Hortobagy we went to a little shop and got palacsinta, which are like crapes but they are filled with meat and served with cream sauce, they are one of my favorite things. After we got back to Debrecen with Edler Gilson and Wrathall, we finished up our p-day cleaning our apartment because we are getting ready to move into a new apartment.

On Tuesday Elder Wrathall and I worked together. We went along with the Oakey's to get their resident paperwork in. We meet with one of our investigators named Hossam, and we met with a new old investigator named Andi. Andi has met with the missionaries on and off for about 3 years now. She is in college right now. She is super solid, and reads out of the book of Mormon every day, and listens to conference talks all the time. I look forward to meeting with her more. 

On Wednesday we met with an investigator named Adam and had a good lesson and then we went and looked up some members. We had a good meeting with some older women in the branch and we had good visits with them and shared with them the power of the book of Mormon. Our other investigator family we have not been able to meet with this week. I hope we will be able to this week and that all is well with them.

On Thursday we went with the Oakey's to the southside of town to a retirement home because a member in the branch is the choir director for a choir that sings at the retirement home. The funny thing is that the choir director and the people in the choir are probably about the same age as the people in the retirement home, who are the same age as the Oakey's... so that was kind of funny because I was sitting in this room with 30 other people are realizing that everyone in the room, besides Elder Surdu, were easily 50 to 60 years older than me... even the Oakey's, because Elder Oakey is 80. So the healthier elderly were singing Hungarian folk songs to the less healthy elderly. The music was interesting. Hungarian folk songs are kind of melancholy and have a very different feel from American folk music. 

The reason we went so that we could translate for the Oakey's so they could talk to the senior manager of the retirement home to see if there was some kind of humanitarian project that we could do for them. There are times when I get a little frustrated with our excursions with the Oakey's because it takes us away from our other work longer than I'd like, but we love them. I was talking to Sister Oakey and she was talking about her childhood and it came out in the conversation that she got married to her husband... wait for it... 1959!! I was like, "Well, my grandma wasn't even 10 yet." She was like, "Wow, well I guess we're old enough to be your great-grandparents." I was like, "Yeah, my mom was born in 1978." And she said, "Wow, that's crazy!" It was a funny conversation. I love the Oakey's.

We did get some work done after we got back from the retirement home. We met with a nanny in our ward that night and she fed us lunch. She made Elder Surdu play the piano while she made dinner and we had a good talk about Jesus Christ and faith. We went to the branch house afterward and taught our English class. The Oakey's were there too. It was a good class.

Friday Morning we had district meeting at the Oakey's house, because it was Elder Surdu's last district meeting and the Oakey's wanted to feed us. We met up with Elder Gilson and Elder Wrathall so we could show them how to get there. We had a district meeting about the new Christmas initiative for this year and we talked about things we need to improve this next transfer. The Oakey's made us hamburgers with real ground beef, which is hard to come by in Hungary, and they were SUPER good!

After our district meeting the Oakey's drove us to Szolnok. Driving into Szolnok was kind of fun because we got a different view of the city and it had the feel of a Midwestern river town. We did another district meeting with Elder Barton, Elder Montoya, Elder Smith and Elder Williamson. Elder Montoya gave a good training and Elder Surdu gave one on the role of the Book of Mormon in conversion.

We had an exchange with Elder Barton and Elder Montoya in Szolnok. I was with Elder Barton. It was honestly one of the best exchanges I've ever had. I worked with Elder Barton and we talked about using the Book of Mormon in teaching and teach when you find and find when you teach. We worked hard, it was awesome! I love Elder Barton, he is a great missionary, I would really like serving with him in the future. We walked over this bridge, that goes over the tisza river and passed a water polo club which was pretty cool. We tracted in a neighborhood with lots of friendly dogs but the people weren't as friendly.

By the end of the week we were about 80% moved into our new apartment. It's in a building that was build in the early 2000's and it feels like a college dorm. It's nicer then our last but it's pretty small. So, even though I'm staying in Debrecen, I'm 7 for 8 for changing apartments every transfer.

On Sunday we left for church early because we went to the bus station to meet an American family from Alabama who is living in a tiny town outside Debrecen right now because the town has an orphanage there and they came to Hungary to adopt a four year old girl. They had their kids with them, a 13 year old and a 10 year old. The little Hungarian girl was so cute. She really liked us because we speak Hungarian, and her adoptive parents don't speak her language. At church everyone wanted to meet the American family and when they found out they were adopting the little Hungarian girl all the women in the ward immediately had the grandma instinct turn on and they were all talking to the little girl on her level and giving her hugs and kisses. This made the little girls super excited and happy... and of course that made her super cute and everyone thought she was the cutest things ever. -- The attention she got is accentuated by the fact that the branch has NO kids in it.

I continue to translate church meetings for the Oakey's, which is hard, but it's good for me.

This week I have been reading a lot in the book of Mormon from King Benjamin and I have been pondering on what it means to retain a remission of our sins. The gospel of repentance is not a one time event but rather is continual process, and it requires that we retain the progress that we have already achieved. For me among many things I need to keep doing the things I have been doing during my mission and continuing to work diligently. I need to get back into habit of looking for every opportunity to find and continue to have joy and cheer despite opposition and rejection. That is something I have had a hard time with this past couple of weeks, staying happy in spite of rejection and having the patience to wait for the miracles of the Lord. It will be great.

I love you all and miss you all.
Elder Morgan