Sziasztok!
This week was pretty uneventful. So far almost everyone who has given me their number to meet again has given me a fake number. That is so disappointing. On the other hand, Zone Conference was pretty cool. President and Sister Baughman, our new mission president and his wife, are great! Sister Baughman gave a talk at Zone Conference about how we are so blessed to understand why there is adversity in life and why we have trials. So many people just curse God because they are having a hard time in life, but we know from the scriptures that we have trials to help our faith in God grow and to help us become better people. That was really simply put, but the point is there.
Zsuzsa and Gabriella are doing well. They came to church again and loved it. OH! And the Hungarian sister missionary came home to Pécs! She remembered me from when I met her during a visit to Temple Square in Salt Lake City with the Floyds last year. She has an American accent when she speaks Hungarian! Haha. Just not as bad as mine of course. It was really cool to see her again.
So the language is coming still slowly, but surely. Yesterday when I was on the bus, someone asked about angolóra (English class) and I could talk to her about it. It’s funny the way I understand people though. I was pretty sure she said something about whether the class was still being offered and so I told her that it was and where and when. And then she asked something about money so I assumed she wanted to know if she had to bring any and I told her the class it was free. I can understand the subject of what people are talking about so I can reply to what I think that they are asking. Haha. It’s interesting how you learn a new language.
I know that this church is true and that it contains the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Isn’t that awesome?! I think so.
Sok szeretettel,
~Anderson elder
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
A Button of Ice Cream
Sziasztok!
I don’t have a ton of time again today—our bus from Pécs to Komló leaves kind of soon—but I’ll try to write a good amount.
My Mom asked me about what we do for service. Right now we aren’t able to do a lot in Komló. Whenever we ask the people we are teaching if we can help them with yard work or fixing up their house or something like that, they always say there’s nothing to help with—just like everyone in the States says. We teach free English classes two hours every week so that is some service. Komló is a pretty poor city ever since the big coal mine closed down and there are a lot of poor people here, but there isn’t a food bank or anything like that here. We recently found out that a lady in the local Catholic Church is running a little program where she thinks of ways to help people and then does it. We don’t know much about it, but we told her that we would like to serve with her so that might turn out pretty good. So far we’ve barely found any opportunities to physically serve the people here. Hopefully we’ll find some soon. Our main goal is to serve people by teaching them about Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, but of course we try to serve the people in any way that we can.
Okay, let me say something about the language. It’s ridiculous. It’s probably almost as hard as Japanese. The grammar and word order are SO different from English. And you can’t translate Hungarian literally or directly because it makes absolutely no sense at all. Simple sentences are okay, but anything more than like six words is totally different. And apparently, the everyday, frequently used vocabulary in Hungarian is much larger than English. Basically I have to think completely differently in order to speak Hungarian. It’s way hard. It isn’t called one of the hardest languages in the world for English speakers to learn for nothing.
I know that this is going to sound boring, but people in Hungary are pretty much the same as everyone in America. They are a little standoffish when we meet at first, but when we get to know them they make great friends!
Zsuzsa and her daughter Gabriella are still interested in the church and we are still teaching them. They weren’t able to come to church this week, but they loved it last week. Other than them no one that we are teaching is progressing. It is very difficult to change bad habits and behaviors and try to follow Christ’s example. Many people have faith that God and Christ exist, but that is about it. The truth is that if we take that leap of faith and actually change a little bit and actually do what Christ taught us to do we will be blessed and will see the Lord helping us in our everyday lives. It is difficult to take that leap of faith and do something that is hard, but if we do we will experience the blessings that Jesus Christ promises in the scriptures.
Oh, I just remembered a funny language mistake I made. I never really learned the word for “scoop” like a scoop of ice cream, I just knew what it kind of sounded like and so when I bought some ice cream at a little street-side shop I said, “egy gombot kérek,” which actually means “one button please.” Haha. “Gombócot” is what I wanted to say. I’ve made that mistake like three times so far. Haha. This language is awesome. Hopefully, I’ll be able to speak somewhat correctly by next year. That would be sweet!
Being here is awesome. I love it! Thanks for the support! I love you all too! Sok szeretettel.
~Anderson elder
I don’t have a ton of time again today—our bus from Pécs to Komló leaves kind of soon—but I’ll try to write a good amount.
My Mom asked me about what we do for service. Right now we aren’t able to do a lot in Komló. Whenever we ask the people we are teaching if we can help them with yard work or fixing up their house or something like that, they always say there’s nothing to help with—just like everyone in the States says. We teach free English classes two hours every week so that is some service. Komló is a pretty poor city ever since the big coal mine closed down and there are a lot of poor people here, but there isn’t a food bank or anything like that here. We recently found out that a lady in the local Catholic Church is running a little program where she thinks of ways to help people and then does it. We don’t know much about it, but we told her that we would like to serve with her so that might turn out pretty good. So far we’ve barely found any opportunities to physically serve the people here. Hopefully we’ll find some soon. Our main goal is to serve people by teaching them about Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, but of course we try to serve the people in any way that we can.
Okay, let me say something about the language. It’s ridiculous. It’s probably almost as hard as Japanese. The grammar and word order are SO different from English. And you can’t translate Hungarian literally or directly because it makes absolutely no sense at all. Simple sentences are okay, but anything more than like six words is totally different. And apparently, the everyday, frequently used vocabulary in Hungarian is much larger than English. Basically I have to think completely differently in order to speak Hungarian. It’s way hard. It isn’t called one of the hardest languages in the world for English speakers to learn for nothing.
I know that this is going to sound boring, but people in Hungary are pretty much the same as everyone in America. They are a little standoffish when we meet at first, but when we get to know them they make great friends!
Zsuzsa and her daughter Gabriella are still interested in the church and we are still teaching them. They weren’t able to come to church this week, but they loved it last week. Other than them no one that we are teaching is progressing. It is very difficult to change bad habits and behaviors and try to follow Christ’s example. Many people have faith that God and Christ exist, but that is about it. The truth is that if we take that leap of faith and actually change a little bit and actually do what Christ taught us to do we will be blessed and will see the Lord helping us in our everyday lives. It is difficult to take that leap of faith and do something that is hard, but if we do we will experience the blessings that Jesus Christ promises in the scriptures.
Oh, I just remembered a funny language mistake I made. I never really learned the word for “scoop” like a scoop of ice cream, I just knew what it kind of sounded like and so when I bought some ice cream at a little street-side shop I said, “egy gombot kérek,” which actually means “one button please.” Haha. “Gombócot” is what I wanted to say. I’ve made that mistake like three times so far. Haha. This language is awesome. Hopefully, I’ll be able to speak somewhat correctly by next year. That would be sweet!
Being here is awesome. I love it! Thanks for the support! I love you all too! Sok szeretettel.
~Anderson elder
Monday, July 13, 2009
Disappearing Investigators
Sziasztok!
This week was pretty good. We had interviews with our new mission president. He is a pretty cool guy. I’m excited to see what he is going to change and stuff.
So Trevor got his mission call! To Ukraine! And his mission is right next to mine! How crazy is that!? We’re halfway across the world and yet we’ll be pretty close! So that was really cool to hear. (For those of you who don’t know him, Trevor Floyd is one of my best friends.)
Well the tons of investigators that we found a few weeks ago have been slowly dropping themselves. We either can’t get a hold of them, they aren’t interested anymore, or they just don’t want to do anything. It is really weird because with a lot of these people we had really powerful spiritual experiences finding them or teaching them the first lesson. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know that God has a plan for them and I’m glad that we were able to be a part of that plan at least for a little while. So this week was pretty hard, but at the same time it was good because Zsuzsa came to church again and her daughter Gabriella came too! And they loved it! So we are super excited for them.
I know that I’m not writing as much lately, sorry! De így van. (This is the way it is). I know that this gospel is true and I love seeing the blessings come into peoples lives who follow it! I love you all! Thanks!
~Anderson elder
This week was pretty good. We had interviews with our new mission president. He is a pretty cool guy. I’m excited to see what he is going to change and stuff.
So Trevor got his mission call! To Ukraine! And his mission is right next to mine! How crazy is that!? We’re halfway across the world and yet we’ll be pretty close! So that was really cool to hear. (For those of you who don’t know him, Trevor Floyd is one of my best friends.)
Well the tons of investigators that we found a few weeks ago have been slowly dropping themselves. We either can’t get a hold of them, they aren’t interested anymore, or they just don’t want to do anything. It is really weird because with a lot of these people we had really powerful spiritual experiences finding them or teaching them the first lesson. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know that God has a plan for them and I’m glad that we were able to be a part of that plan at least for a little while. So this week was pretty hard, but at the same time it was good because Zsuzsa came to church again and her daughter Gabriella came too! And they loved it! So we are super excited for them.
I know that I’m not writing as much lately, sorry! De így van. (This is the way it is). I know that this gospel is true and I love seeing the blessings come into peoples lives who follow it! I love you all! Thanks!
~Anderson elder
Monday, July 6, 2009
An Investigator at Church!
Hey Everybody!
I’m sorry this entry is going to be short again, but my companion and I have lots to do today.
This week was pretty good. We had an investigator finally come to church with us and it was great! She really enjoyed the meetings and hopefully will come back next week.
The rainy month is over and now the nasty, hot and humid weather has begun. I feel like I’m in a never-ending wrestling practice in our heated wrestling room back at Stanwood High School. It’s pretty sick! Haha. Even when the air doesn’t feel that hot your body feels really hot and you still sweat like crazy!
Something unexpected and really cool happened on the 4th of July. We met three Americans from Los Angeles! Crazy—we never see any other Americans in the little city of Komló. One of the guys was originally from Hungary and was visiting his sister who still lives in Komló. Getting to meet them was pretty cool. They waved us over when we were walking along the street because they thought that we would like talking to some Americans on the 4th. Haha. They were really cool. Also that day, we had a little celebration dinner at our apartment and I ate so much that all I could do was rest on the couch for a few minutes. What a way to celebrate the 4th!
Okay, I have lots more stuff to do so this’ll be it for now. Thanks for everything!
~Anderson elder
I’m sorry this entry is going to be short again, but my companion and I have lots to do today.
This week was pretty good. We had an investigator finally come to church with us and it was great! She really enjoyed the meetings and hopefully will come back next week.
The rainy month is over and now the nasty, hot and humid weather has begun. I feel like I’m in a never-ending wrestling practice in our heated wrestling room back at Stanwood High School. It’s pretty sick! Haha. Even when the air doesn’t feel that hot your body feels really hot and you still sweat like crazy!
Something unexpected and really cool happened on the 4th of July. We met three Americans from Los Angeles! Crazy—we never see any other Americans in the little city of Komló. One of the guys was originally from Hungary and was visiting his sister who still lives in Komló. Getting to meet them was pretty cool. They waved us over when we were walking along the street because they thought that we would like talking to some Americans on the 4th. Haha. They were really cool. Also that day, we had a little celebration dinner at our apartment and I ate so much that all I could do was rest on the couch for a few minutes. What a way to celebrate the 4th!Okay, I have lots more stuff to do so this’ll be it for now. Thanks for everything!
~Anderson elder
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