42 napok!

Szervusztok!

This week was pretty good. I didn't speak only Hungarian the whole week, though. So next week I'm going all out and I'm not going to speak a single word of English!!! It's going to be crazy. I'll let you know how it's going next Wednesday.

So one night I got a little epiphany and came up with this. You should definitely check out the scriptures because they are really good.

1. We know that God exists (Alma 22:8 BoM)
2. We know that He is all-knowing, merciful, and loving (Alma 26:35 BoM, James 3:17 Bible, 2 Nephi 1:15 BoM)
3. We know that because He is all-knowing, He knows what is best for us and when (Matthew 6:8 Bible).
4. Because He is merciful and loving He will help us in ways and in times that are most beneficial to us if we have faith in Him (3 Nephi 14:11 BoM, D&C 90:24, Romans 8:28 Bible)
5. Therefore when we go through hard times we don't need to fear or worry or be angry at God because we know that if we believe in Him and follow His commandments He will be beside us every step of the way, helping us, comforting us, and strengthening our weaknesses (Isaiah 41:10 Bible, Isaiah 43:2 Bible). Of course we won't always understand why he allows some difficult trials in our lives to weigh us down (D&C 58:2-4). But it's ok because He does know (Proverbs 3:5-6 Bible, Isaiah 55:8-9 Bible). And if we follow His commandments and His Son Jesus Christ He will lift us up and bless us. He may not take the trial away, but He will comfort us and it will be for our good. We will all experience frequent difficult times but it's ok because God will help us through them all so that we can all enjoy life and be happy.

So if we have faith that God is our Father in Heaven (Acts 17:28-29 Bible, Hebrews 12:9 Bible) and that He can do anything (Alma 26:35 BoM, Jeremiah 32:17 Bible) and if we have faith that His Son Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and follow Christ's example (John 13:15 Bible, 3 Nephi 27:21 BoM, John 10:27 Bible) and God's commandments (John 14:12, 21 & 23 Bible) we will be able to get through every trail and hardship with optimistic attitudes and hearts full of joy, peace, hope, and love (1 John 4:18 Bible, 2 Nephi 31:20 BoM, Mosiah 2:41 BoM, Alma 31:31 BoM).

That was my thought one night, well actually two nights. It was pretty cool. Please check out those scriptures. They are way better than my bad English.

So we taught in Hungarian last Thursday and it was actually really cool!! It took forever to conjugate words and I'm positive that I sounded like a 4 year old, but the returned missionaries could understand what I was saying! At least the basic idea. Haha! It was really cool.

I have discovered the awesomeness of scripture study! I love studying the scriptures. If you approach it with the right attitude then it’s great! I have about 5 pages of notes just for the first 6 chapters of the Book of Mormon. Cool, no?

Well I've got to go! Sziasztok!

~Anderson Elder

35 Days Down

Hey Everybody!

This might be a short blog today, we'll see. This week has been pretty crazy—well as crazy as one can get in the MTC. For the past week or so I have had a cough, but not much else and then Sunday morning it went crazy on me and I had this cold/flu thingy. I felt terrible. So Recksiek Elder, my companion, gave me a blessing and the next day I got some medication and I felt almost completely normal that day! It was fantastic! After we do all we can do the Lord will make up for what you can't and BAM—I'm not sick at all now! Medicine alone can't do that. I love the Lord, and I know that He loves me too. And if He loves me then He definitely loves you all too!

So on Monday morning the Hungarian group ahead of us left for Magyarország (Hungary)!! It's so not fair! Haha. The more that I hear awesome, crazy stories from missionaries and our teachers about Hungary the more I want to go. I might just stuff myself in a package and mail myself there. Totally worth it. For instance, one of our teachers showed us an email from a missionary who is in Hungary right now and one of his funny stories for that week was that an older lady shouted, in Hungarian, out of her window to this missionary and his comp, "I have NO idea what you are saying!" Then she threw an orange at them! HAHAHA! Apparently their Hungarian isn't that great yet! I can't wait for random stories like that to happen to me. And of course to actually teach people about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! I just need to be patient.

This whole week we are supposed to only speak Hungarian. We've done pretty well. I'm sure we would sound like two year olds to Hungarians, but we can get our basic thoughts out. Sometimes it just gets so frustrating that we have to speak in English. But it's crazy that we can speak so much after just a few weeks. The Lord will help anyone who asks in faith and if it is His will.

The scary part of this week is that tomorrow we have to teach for a little over an hour ONLY IN HUNGARIAN! NO ENGLISH! Crazy. I don't have enough vocab memorized yet, so that will be a HUGE challenge! It'll work out.

Going on a mission improves your character SO MUCH it's almost insane. I can already notice that I'm becoming a little more humble and loving. Being stuck with someone 24/7 who can easily frustrate you really brings out your weaknesses. I can't have that "I'm always right" attitude, even if I am right, I can't always press my opinion because my comp and I would tear each other apart! This is forcing me to change and become more humble and kind and able to see situations from other people's points of view. Going on a mission is the quickest and best way to improve your character and become a better person. I have a LOOOONG LONG way to go, but I can see already that I'm improving. It's pretty cool! Well I'm just about out of time. Thanks for everything! I love you all! Sziasztok!

Anderson Elder

A Missionary Experience

Szervusz! Hogy Vagytok? (Hello! How are you all?)

I'm doing great! Last week's blog entry was pretty lame. I hope that my brain will work this time. So last week I got a package from Chris Huff and that was super exciting! He sent my comp. and I a pair of chopsticks each and some really tasty Japanese candy! It was great. Since everything is the same and kind of boring here I decided to use those chopsticks a lot. It was really weird, but fun! I bet it looked even more weird. A Hungarian eating lasagna with Japanese chopsticks. Haha

I love the RC! The Referral Center is the place where we get to talk to people who call about ads for free Bibles, free copies of The Book of Mormon or free videos about Jesus Christ or have questions about anything. I called this one lady to make sure that she had recieved the Bible that she had ordered and we talked for about 30 min! It was great! I taught her all about prophets, the apostasy, the restoration of Jesus Christ's church, the Book of Mormon, the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ's atonement, and eternal families! And about how God and Jesus Christ love each and everyone of us and will help us if we ask in faith and follow their commandments. She said that she was feeling really depressed before I called, but that I really helped her out. The Spirit was so strong it was awesome! I shared Galations 8:22 or 5:22, I can't remember exactly which one, and told her that that was what the Spirit of God feels like and she said that she was feeling His love for her. I also shared with her James 1:5 and Moroni 10:4-5 and told her that she needed to pray to God to know for herself if what I was telling her was true and she said that she would! It was so great! I actually felt like a missionary then! Helping people come to know and follow Jesus Christ is the best thing ever.

I can't believe that I've been here for 28 days already! It feels like I've been here forever, but it's going really fast at the same time. The Hungarians ahead of us are leaving on MONDAY!! It's so not fair! I wanna go right now!haha And when they leave we'll get a brand new group. That'll be exciting.

So next week we have to start teaching our lessons COMPLETELY IN HUNGARIAN! It's going to be insane. The Lord will continue to help me though. I'm sure of that. Hungarian is so crazy. Imadkozhatunk? (there is an accent above the a and an umlaut above the u) means: May we pray? Literally, imadkoz - to pray, hat - may, unk - conjugation for we. They think backwards compared to english. But it's making more sense every day.

Well I better get going now. Thanks for everything! Szeretlek titeket! I love you all!

Anderson Elder

My Mind is Blank

Ok, so I forgot my journal and this week went by really fast. I barely remember anything, so this blog entry is gonna be short.

For the record, my ear is fine! (I hurt an old high school wrestling injury while wrestling with some other missionaries during my first week at the MTC.) Apparently everyone on the face of the earth back home thinks that my ear is going to explode or something! (Haha!) So for anyone who's going on a mission, here's the lesson I learned: remember the rules and follow them. Even if you don't know that you're breakin the rules and you do, bad things will happen. Seriously.

My mind is completely blank. I can't remember anything I did this week. The Hungarian language is crazy! That's probably while I can't remember anything. Hungarian isn't as bad as some people think, though. You just have to work at it.

My zone leaders are so amazing! And crazy. We have a ton of fun with them. One of them is from Gig Harbor, WA. Cool, eh? (Haha!) One of the Elders in our district, Musters Elder, is from Canada. He's really funny too.

Oh boy, I'm still blank so I'm going to give up writing and go study.

I know that Jesus Christ lives and cares about us! Goodbye everybody! See ya next week, hopefully I'll remember more and have more to write. Szervusz!

Anderson Elder