Morgan Elder in Magyarország

It didn't add up in my cerebrals that zone conference would push back p-day, but it did. So happy Tuesday P-day! This past week was also pretty good. p-day last the 16th we went to this labyrinths underneath Buda castle. The Buda Castle is in a walled part of the city, under it is a labyrinth, which are natural caves that were linked by tunnels that in the medieval times it was used as torture chambers and prisons. During World War II they hid in the tunnels and caves. It was pretty cool. According to the people who commercialize this place, another claim to fame is that Dracula (Vlad the Impaler to his friends) was imprisoned there for a year. It was a nice cool, damp, tuberculosis filled maze. Pretty fun! Elder Gabel on cried twice.  We also walked around Szent Matthias cathedral, and fisherman's bastion, it was cool to go back because the only other time I went was my first night in Hungary. It was a really pretty walk in the spring. I took lots of pictures. ...

Last P-day we went to up to the Erzsébet kilátó (Elizabeth look out point) which is a little castle on top of one of the really big hills in Buda, you could see the whole city from the top, and the walk through the woods up to it was pretty. Spring in Budapest is really beautiful. We also had interviews with President Szabadkai on Monday, and I love interviews with him.  I also got my package from home, thank you so much, the plan of salvation teaching set is wonderful! I love the seasonings, I've already used the old bay and taco seasonings. This week has been one of the best yet. we went to the middle school and talked about Denmark (because my companion is Danish) with the kids in English.  On Friday we were asked by President Szabadkai to go to a service project that was organized by the senior couple (Russel elder and nővér) who are over the YSA (Young Single Adults) in the stake. We went down to Csepel which is this big island in the Danube, and we ...

Howdy y'all, Things are good our here in Magyarország. Last P-day we went to the Hungarian national museum "Magyar Nemzeti Muzeum," because P-day was on Tuesday we had a lot more options because the big museums are closed on Monday's here. It was really cool, they have 3 big exhibits, one about the Hungary from 5000 BCE to 1000 CE and then from 1000 CE to 1600 CE and then from 1600 CE to 1990 CE. it was a wild ride, cavemen to Celts to Romans, to barbarians to franks to Magyars and then all of the crazy with the Turks and the Austrians, revolutions, 2 world wars, communism, and then freedom, it was quite the trip. I am just blown away every day how pretty European cities are. Spring is here, and the trees this week have been making leaves and some have been blossoming. It's really pretty. one week left of suit season! (We can wear slacks and short sleeve dress shirts during the spring and summer) We had some really good lessons this week about The law of ...

This week was certainly a good one. This week we had the opportunity of teaching quite a few lessons. We have been helping our progressing investigator quit smoking and he has been making really great progress. We also did service again in a near by school, and taught the kids about the water cycle and other water related topics in English, it was a lot of fun. Budapest is infiltrated by Scots. The Scottish soccer team is playing Hungary so there are loads of drunk Scots in kilts everywhere! We had a funny encounter with some Scott's and their bagpipes on the subway, but that's all I'm going to say about that. I also had the opportunity to go on a split with Elder Graham, who is one of the zone leaders in Pest. I went up there and his companion elder Durney went to Kispest with Elder Gabel. It was a good split, we taught a mother and daughter who just recently joined the church and we taught a couple about spiritual experiences. Also, I think more people would wan...

Jó napot! Remélem hogy minden jó veletek. Döntettem hogy magyarul egy annyira nehéz nyelv és érezem sokszor hogy, lehetetlen lesz. The work: This week we taught 9 lessons which is pretty good for here in Hungary. The most I've ever taught in one week is 11, but in an the average week it's about 6 lessons per week; so with tracting, meetings, traveling the city, and our lessons, and other activities, it was a busy and fast paced week, and honestly it flew by. We had an interesting experience while tracking. Most of the people we met some pretty hostile, but at one building we went to the man who answered the intercom was gruff with us, but after asking “WHAT DO YOU WANT,” we explained that we were missionaries and what we were there for and he said, “Well everyone’s downstairs right now on the first floor, you can come in and talk to us all at one time.” We came in and there were a dozen and a half people because they were having a building meeting and so we talk...

Well its winter again, but I look forward to return of the spring (catch my Starwars reference) I'm doing good. It's been a busy week and good first full week is Kispest. On P-day we went to the Basilica, which are really big Catholic Cathedral, it was really ornate on the inside. In a case in an ornate box is the hand of St. Stephen, the first Christian King of Hungary, he was born in the late 900’s AD. It is sacred to Catholics. We went to the very top of the Basilica to see a view of the city. It was beautiful! We went to the Parliament building but we didn’t go inside because it’s expensive to go inside. The outside was super beautiful. The walking path around it goes by the Danube and into a place called Freedom Square. In freedom square they have a statue of Ronald Reagan, Hungarians love Ronald Reagan and Americans. One reason they often talk about it because sometime at the end of World War II and before the Soviets had complete control of Hungary, the Ame...

I'm writing this email from a library built in the French Renaissance style in the middle of Budapest. This place is so cool!! On the Monday before transfers, our last full day of missionary work in Kecskemét we had some interesting experiences while streeting with the sisters. We were in the town square getting ready to go steeting and then there was a guy walking by playing music on his phone, which was nothing unusual, and all of the sudden I got this strange butter-flies in my stomach feeling and I looked at Sister Jensen and she looked at me and said, “Do you feel that?” – And in an instant of glances between the sisters and my companion we all knew we all felt it and then without hesitation we instantly knew that we needed to walk away and find another spot, and we acted immediately upon the impression. We don’t know what happened or if anything would have happened, but we all knew that the spirit gave each of us the exact same immediate impression to leave that area and ...

SZIASZTOK!!! I got lots of news so buckle up. First they finally released the announcement related to my mission. Starting on July 1 2018, a new mission will be formed called the Hungary-Romania Budapest mission, which will contain the countries of Hungary and Romania, with Hungarian and Romanian being spoken, and the new mission president will be Hettinger Elnök and he will move from Bucharest to Budapest. The mission will extend from the foothills of the Austrian alps to the black sea, might as well be called the Trans-Danube Mission. Other piece of news, This morning we got our transfer calls, and I will be moving from Kecskemét, to Kispest! Kispest (key-sh-pesht) is the southern portion of the Pest side of Budapest. It is urban, I hear that the area is the largest by population in the city, will roughly 700,000 people. It also takes in downtown Pest and all of the cool city stuff like the cathedrals, and the Országház on the eastern side of the Danube. Also, it was Elder...

Dear Family and Friends, I've just got the news: "The Church has recently announced that, effective July 1, 2018, the countries of Hungary and Romania will consolidate into a single mission headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. President and Sister Hettinger, currently assigned to the Romania/Moldova mission, will move to Budapest where they will assume responsibilities for the newly consolidated mission upon the regularly scheduled release of President and Sister Szabadkai. The name of the new mission will be Hungary Romania Budapest Mission. In addition, the Church has announced that the country of Moldova will be combined with the Ukraine, Kiev mission on the same date." President and Sister Hettinger are great people, the combined mission will be a powerful source of many blessings for our missionaries and for our peoples. :) President and Sister Szabadkai *** We don’t know yet how this change will impact missionaries in Hungary, whether they will serve i...

Sziasztok! It was a good week, and winter has finally come! We woke up early to go to ward council Sunday morning, but our bike locks were frozen solid. So we went to take the bus… but it didn’t come, so we walked to church and we missed ward council. It’s been bitterly cold. SO WINTER IS HERE! I guess winter is just this little part right here. This week it snowed for some period of time Monday through Saturday, and today and yesterday have been clear and sunny, but windy and really cold. Not supper fun to be outside, but somebody's got to do it, this next week will be very cold and snowy too. Because of that, we will be riding the train up to Budapest tomorrow for interviews so Szabadkai elnök doesn't have to drive on icy roads. I love going up to Budapest, and next week we will get to go up again for transfers! Crazy! Because of our 9 week transfer schedule it will be my 3rd transfer but I guess if I was in a normal mission it would be 4th. Can't wait to see w...

Szervusztok! It was a good week, we had lots of good work, and we were able to find 3 new investigators this week which is always awesome!! Numbers wise it may be one of the most productive weeks of my mission thus far. My language skills are progressing quickly now, I’m at a place in Hungarian where it’s easier for me to pick up new words so I’m making flash cards to help me increase my vocabulary. This week we went to Hetényegyháza, twice, to look for inactive members of the ward. On P-day we went to a traveling national history exhibit at the city museum and saw the Sevso Treasure . The treasure is roman silver serving platters with beautiful artistry from the 300 A.D. It was pretty cool. We went to a fun priesthood activity at the branch building and it was really fun. We played ping pong and ate hot dogs and talked. It was really simple but a lot of fun. Tuesday, was one of the coolest days of my mission. Wow! Buckle up. We had an early morning lesson with an old invest...

Kedves Barátaim, Jó volt múlt hét. I'm frustrated with this winter. I was expecting more, but is has basically been a Maryland winter, 20s and 30s, occasional snow, that melts in 2 days, its been good for working outside, but it was disappointing, maybe it will get its act together in the next few weeks before march. ***Ted hopes for a much colder and more snowy winter, yes it's strange.*** Any ways, we received some cool zone goals for the next few weeks, this last week was to talk to people who we normal wouldn't. On Tuesday we saw this old man with no legs in a wheel chair and we decided to talk to him and push him for a while. It turned out to be like an hour and we probably walked a good 4 km. I had know idea where we were. At one point we asked him how much farther it was to get to his house, and he said, "Oh, another 5 km that way." We got him over the overpass, and we stopped him in front of a restaurant where there was a guy that new him. So we ...

This week was my 5 month anniversary of being a missionary! This was another week of travel. On Tuesday we went on splits in Szeged. I love Szeged, it is absolutely beautiful, and I like the bigger more urban feel. Elder Biesinger and I had two lessons which was awesome! One of them I shared a scripture and the lady cried, good tears, it was a new experience for my mission. She then gave us 10 kilos of apples, they were the best apples I've had in Hungary. We also had a lesson with one of their investigators, about how precious the gospel is in our lives. I shared with her the parable of the pearl of great price. We also talked about Lehi's dream. It was fun. We went to the lesson with Robi, an awesome member in Szeged that I met last time at their branch Christmas activity. We had lunch at Burger King, and It was so good, but we ate way to much. Robi was astonished at how much American boys can eat and how big the hamburgers were. Yeah, we Americans eat way too much. ...