Morgan Elder in Magyarország

(Today Ted didn't have time to write a very long email... so you are getting excerpts from his daily audio journals that he uploads each week. Enjoy!) A dog I feel in love with while tracting. My new favorite breed. 01-22-2018 We had lunch with Tartiana. She made meatloaf with whole boiled eggs in it so you get whole cross sections of the eggs with the meat and you eat it with mashed potatoes, It’s really really really good! She shared a spiritual thought, she compared the gospel to music. How we act on the principles of the gospel is like how we dance to the music; of course we have to hear the music and take it in first and that is like studying the words of Christ and learning what we are supposed to do so that we can learn the dance. The music is good on its own but if we dance that is even better. That was really profound. We had family home evening with the oldest member of the church in Hungary, he’s 93, because he’s 93 and lives all by himself he cooks really...

Kedves Mindenki! It was a good week. Tuesday it snowed about 2 inches, we also had interviews with President Szabadkai. I love interviews with him, he has so much love and peace about him. This week we focused on hunting down former investigators. Most of them had moved, we made a few appointments to try back next week, but one couple let us in and we had a wonderful conversation, and now we have a new investigator! We were in the right place at the right time, and I know it was a miracle. Saturday decided to go to a building that Elder Martin and I tracted last transfer to see if we could make contact with someone we had set an appointment up with but we had not ended up meeting with. When we were at the building looking at the building directory for the name and apartment # -- right at that moment a man and a woman came and put in their code so they could get into the building and we were able to get into the apartment that way – we started talking to the man and woman who let us...

This week was pretty normal. I had some very busy days this week, which are the best days when you are missionary. The highlight of the week was that the Zone leaders, now Elder Garrett and Elder Biesinger, came from Szeged for splits this past Friday and Saturday. It is always a lot of fun. Elder Biesinger is new as a zone leader this transfer. He is the great-great grandson of the first missionary sent to Hungary in the 1880's, cools stuff. He also served with my trainer Elder Martin in Kispest last summer, so it it was cool to have that in common, both serving with Elder Martin. Elder Garrett and I spent the day doing studies, and lots of tracting, we worked on streeting approches, and found some cool potential people to teach. That evening we went over to a members house to watch President Monson's Funeral. I loved that the common theme of the speakers was that President Monson, like Christ, went about doing good in everything he did. He is a really good example t...

This week was the end of my first transfer in Hungary, and the beginning of my second. **Usually LDS missionaries get transferred, moved or paired with new companions, every 6 weeks throughout their missions, but in the Hungarian mission we are transferred every 9 weeks to coincide with the 9 week MTC (mission training center) training schedule. Wednesday, we went up to the mission home in Budapest to go to the transfer meeting. It was cool to see almost all of the missionaries in the mission all in one place. I got to meet Elder Stringham who was my trainers trainer, meaning Elder Martin's trainer. Elder Stringham is my grandfather, which is the funny mission way of saying my trainers trainer. Elder Stringham returned home after transfers this week, so he is home now and I hope he is doing well. Elder Stringham and Me I met up with my new companion Elder Phillips, and Sister Jensen, who has been serving with us in Kecskemét this last transfer found her n...

Sziasztok! So much has happened and it's only been 2 weeks since I've sent an email.  The highlights of the last two weeks: I went to Szeged for the day for splits with the zone leaders... ... then we rode with them up to Budapest for the Christmas zone conference. It was lots of fun. I got a flu shot, ate good food, lots of fun talents at the zone conference talent show. Christmas here was awesome, we had meals with members, and celebrated Christmas day with them. I got to skype home which was awesome! 40 minuets is so short!! It was so good to see all of you on skype and to watch that video my family made for me of Christmas greetings. I miss you all!! The highlight of this last week and this transfer was a baptism on the 30th, our investigator János Attila was baptized. It was wonderful! János was spiritually prepared and the baptism was very special. The spirit was super strong. The next morning in sacrament meeting he was confirmed a member of ...

A Christmas Call with Elder Morgan... Well, at least most of it!

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...