#1 Buda: In the Office Now

Ted was moved into the mission office with the duty to manage the Romanian mission travel for missionaries in Romania. They were very busy the week before Christmas because it was a big travel week. The Romanian A.P.'s and all the Romanian missionaries who were going home came to Budapest on Monday, December 19th, which was P-day. The office missionaries (Ted and his companion Elder Udy) went with the Romanian A.P.'s to the Christmas markets in Budapest and Ted bought a few things for himself for Christmas. They really enjoyed that.

On Tuesday the 20th, 10 new missionaries came in fresh from the MTC, and that kept Elder Morgan and Elder Udy very busy. After doing orientation meetings with the new missionaries they went up to castle hill, the traditional Buda site they take the new missionaries too, and they got to hang out with the new missionaries; sing Christmas carols and talk Hungarian with them. The Hettinger's came up with all the departing missionaries. Ted took pictures for them all with the Hettinger's and got to chat with many missionaries who he'd been able to work with throughout his mission before they headed home. He said it was really special though it was sad to say goodbye to that group.

Ted said that is was cool to be with the new missionaries and it made him really want to be a trainer, which he hasn't done. The next day, Wednesday he saw all the new missionaries off with their trainers. He felt kind of sad because he really wished he had been able to train. He said because they had so many missionaries come in this transfer most everyone in his group got were called to be trainers, but because of his assignment in the office he was feeling a little left out and he worries that he may not get that chance on his mission and that makes him sad.

The office work has a steep learning curve and Ted mentioned that he made a few mistakes and it was pretty stressful on travel stuff. I think it's been tough. He said it was really pretty stressful. He and Elder Udy weren't able to get out of the office and do missionary work which made it harder. Ted is hoping that after Christmas the work load will calm down and it will be better.

Ted is really loving serving with the Hinckely's in the office. They are a couple from Omaha, Nebraska. They know a lot of friends of our family. They know the Mangrum's and the Dallon's our family friends. Ted really likes Sister Hinckely. In our Christmas video chat with Ted he said that being in the office had it's upsides and downsides. One upside is all the food they get from the senior couples... the downside of that is they sit around all day at desks and drive in the car more, so he's worried he may gain some weight in this assignment.

On Saturday, the office Elders get to work outside the office. So Ted and Elder Udy did an exchange with the AP's and Ted got to do an exchange with Elder Fales, a former companion of his... one that he gets along with well. I could tell from what Ted said that the exchange was a high note for his week. He loves missionary work, he loves talking to people and teaching people. At the end of the day the four of them drove up into the Buda hills, a really nice part of the city that is very beautiful. Ted says it feels like the Appalachian mountains and you can see wonderful views of the city. In the late afternoon after finishing some office paperwork he and Elder Fales went out to eat and streeted the rest of the evening, walking from the mission home to the river and past the parliamentary buildings with all the beautiful Christmas lights. The whole day was very refreshing for him.