Morgan Elder in Magyarország

This week was good. We have been focusing as a companionship to find new people to teach, specifically youth, for the last few weeks and this week we found 3 new investigators (people interested in learning about the gospel) under 20. It is always fun to find new people to teach. 2$ Cotton Candy bigger than my head, so amazing! János had his baptismal interview with the Zone leaders on Friday, and he did well. ***Before a person can be baptized into the church there is an interview with them to ask them about basic doctrines and principles they understand and guage whether they have a adequate understanding of what baptism and membership in the church will mean for them. I'm so excited for him and his baptism, he has grown so much in the last two months! it makes me happy to see him happier This week was very busy with normal missionary stuff but not very eventful when it comes to sickness or travel or weird stuff, therefore, a good week. We served at a Human Rehabilita...

Sziasztok Mindenki! (Hi Everybody!) This week was very busy. Last Monday we went to the Hivatal which is where you go to register for legal residency, and it is like the DMV, so supper fun. After drama, paperwork, and calls to the mission office secretaries I am now a legal resident of Hungary. On Tuesday the Zone leaders (Elder Smith and Elder Garrett) came to do splits with us. (explanation needed) *** Zone leaders are missionaries that have responsibility over a regional group of missionaries called a Zone. Our mission has 5 such zones. Our zone is the southeast one and has about 16 missionaries spread out over Kecskemét, Szolnok, Békéscsaba, and Szeged. Once a month or so the zone leaders will go to an area and help train and work with the missionaries in that area for 24 hours. So for 24 hours I had Elder Smith as my companion, that's why we call it "splits," because my regular companionship is split up and our zone leaders are our companions for the da...

Winter is pretty much here! It snowed yesterday for the first time and the temperatures are in the 30s now. (Don't worry Charlie, you'll get your snow.) Last Preparation day we had a bonfire with some recent converts and ate some good Hungarian campfire food. We also went to a cool World War One traveling exhibit. This week we had some lessons, but we spent a lot of time streeting and tracting. We used the whiteboard in the town square (explanation from Elder Martin's blog below). I hope some of the contacts will bear fruit this week. We were going to have splits with the zone leaders on Friday and Saturday, but we got sick instead. From Thursday night through Sunday we've had a really weird stomach flu, because of that we stayed in the apartment and had a lot of time to rest, study, and plan for next week. Sick days in my former life were sometimes fun, but sick days as a missionary are horrible. I did however have time to watch 17 Miracles (a movie ab...

It's been a good week. My wrists are feeling better, they are still a little weak though. Last Monday we went to the állatkert (animal garden, or zoo). It was very cool. They had lions, tigers, goats, and ostriches. The funniest part was that in this Hungarian zoo they displayed the rare North American raccoon. lol! The rest of the week was filled with lessons, tracking and streeting. On Wednesday we went up to Budapest for zone conference (We are the south-east zone, or area, in the Budapest mission. We meet as a zone for training.) which was focused on teaching youth and the church's new Christmas initiative. ( https://www.jezuskrisztusegyhaza.hu/legy-a-vilag-vilagossaga-video-2017 ) I'm really excited to use it this Christmas initiative to help us find more people to teach and to help others serve during this Christmas season. A Karácsony időszak is here! We went to a Christmas market in Pest afterward. It was so cool! It's fun to be in Europe at Christma...

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 ...

This week has been absolutely crazy... But busy and awesome! Let's start with the thing most on my mind. Yesterday was stake conference (regional conference for members of the church in Hungary) and on the way to the train station my bike tire blew out while I took a corner and I sprained my right wrist. Honestly its the worst! I've had a sprained ankle a few times but the wrist is much worse because you use your right hand for literally everything! After stake conference in Budapest we rode back to Kecskemét. It hurt so much and it was so swollen we wanted to see if it was broken. Let me start by saying that Eastern European hospitals are terrifying! They kind of look like slaughter houses, and next to the iron maidens they have scary signs in Hungarian (it also turns out that Dracula would have spoken Hungarian, so yeah!). Okay it wasn't that bad but it was still stereotypical post soviet. They took and x-ray and it was not broken, so they prescribed some o...

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 soo...

Elder Morgan and his district left SLC airport Monday, October 30th, and arrived in Budapest on Tuesday October 31st. The Mission President kept parents updated on Facebook. "Dear parents waiting for the information about your missionaries arriving today to Hungary. There was a delay, so they could just check in a later flight leaving from Amsterdam for Hungary around 2 PM and they will be here in Budapest at 4:15 PM. We will keep you informed." Posted 8:45 am, Oct 31st. So after a considerable delay in SLC they finally made there flight to Amsterdam and then to Budapest and were met by their wonderful Mission parents. President Szabadkai József and Szabadkai Lánytestvér have kept us well informed and posted lots of wonderful pictures. I appreciate this so much. Arrival in Hungary Budapest Dinner at the mission home after arrival This nice comment posted by President Szabadkai The new missionaries with their trainers Ted with his trainer, Elder...

Brother and Sister Morgan, I am pleased to report that Elder Morgan has arrived safely in Hungary! Sister Szabadkai and I welcomed his group at the airport and found all the new missionaries excited and eager to begin their service in the Hungary Budapest Mission. We look forward to getting to know each of them personally and know we will love Elder Morgan as deeply as we love all the missionaries in our care. Within the next 24 hours Elder Morgan will be assigned to a proselyting area with a dedicated Senior Companion and Trainer that has been prayerfully selected to serve in this vital roll. Together they will participate in a brief training meeting at the mission office and then depart immediately to their designated area. Over the past while, there has been much in the news about trouble and turmoil in many parts of the world. Terrorist attacks have put all of Europe on heightened alert. Immigration issues continue to cause controversy. Under the direction of Church Headqua...

This was a good week. On Friday, we got our flight plans! So we will leave the MTC at about 10 am on the 30th, and then driving to Salt Lake City. We will board the airplane at 3 pm and fly for 10 hours to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. We will arrive at 8 am local time, and then after a 2 hour layover we will have a 2 hour flight to Budapest, and then real mission life will start. In other news, we had Matt Holland come speak to us Sunday night, he is the son of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (An apostle) and he is the president of UVU, so that's pretty cool. Last week was good because we had a lot of lessons with our "investigators" where we mostly taught about the Restoration, the Gospel of Christ, and the Plan of Salvation. All the lessons went really well, and Udy Elder and I were able to speak, and answer questions pretty much with out help from notes.  In the MTC you learn a whole bunch of Hungarian Grammar, and how to talk in depth about a very specific set ...

This has been a very busy week. I've been doing good. It's been a better week. I've been learning to counsel with the Lord about my goals and expectations of myself, and I've seen blessings come from that. I look forward to moving out of the MTC (this "Pre-existence") and go to (the Mortal life) Hungary. The first big news has been the New MTC buildings were dedicated on Friday. Dedications of buildings is a special ceremony that places a special priesthood blessing upon the building, it's purposes, and those people who work and serve in that place. We stood in line to be able to get a seat in the room where the dedication happened, most of the MTC watched it on broadcast in the big meeting room, but we watched it live! View from the MTC, the temple in the fall Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson ,  Bishop Gérald Caussé , Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Henry B. Eyring  (of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) were there. It was so cool! President Eyring ...

I caught Ted online this morning while he was writing emails and got to chat a little with him. Sounds like he’s a little stir crazy and is hoping these last weeks fly by quickly, he’s excited to get to Hungary. He said, “It’s fun to go to the temple or the field because you can leave the MTC campus and wave good by to the guards. The other day I caught my self singing that song from the Hunchback of Notre Dame while looking out the window at the valley.” FYI: These are the lyrics to the song he was singing while looking out on the world outside the MTC. Out There: Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone Gazing at the people down below me All my life I watch them as I hide up here alone Hungry for the histories they show me All my life I memorize their faces Knowing them as they will never know me All my life I wonder how it feels to pass a day Not above them But part of them And out there Living in the sun Give me one day out there All I ask is on...

Fall has come! The leaves have been turning on the mountains for 2 weeks now but the trees in the valley have finally caught up. Thursdays Elder Udy and I "bumped" into (more like saw from 10 feet way) the prince of Ethiopia. Apparently President and Sister Martino were giving him a tour of the MTC.  Sunday was my birthday. Sunday, which is always fun and one of the better days at the MTC, was even better because it was my birthday and the Sisters in my district threw a 5 minute party with 2 balloons, and they gave me a MTC t-shirt and some snacks. It was great! My principal from BYU Independent High School, Joseph Roberson, sent me a big box with pie, and brownies and such, it made the elders in the zone very happy! This week our teacher shared with us a really long Hungarian word: megszentsegtelenithetettensegestejeseitekert.  (YES, one word!! Take that Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!) I don't remember exactly what it means, but I think it had som...

Something cool happened on Facebook today. I posted some of Elder Morgan's mission photos this week to the missionary photo album on Facebook. And Olga Campora, a member of our Columbia Maryland stake (and former ward member) picked up on the picture of Elder Morgan and Elder Kvasnička, and she shared the photo with this story: "You know great things have happened in the Czech Republic when you get surprised with a photo like this one. Elder Kvasnička (...on the left... and heading to serve in Germany 🇩🇪) comes from my beloved hometown Uherské Hradiště {UH} where I was the very first member who joined the church. At the MTC, he "bumped" into Elder Ted Morgan (...on the right... who's heading to Hungary 🇭🇺). Elder Morgan is from my home Columbia Stake in Maryland. How cool is that? Elder Kvasnicka's mom is my very best Czech friend whom I was privileged to introduce the gospel, prepare her for a baptism and the rest is a history.... Both of these youn...