The Synagogue in Hódmezovásárhely

Sziasztok!

Life in Hód is pretty swell! In fact, last week was great. On Wednesday Elder Roundy and I went to Budapest for a Zone Leader Council Meeting. (Elder Roundy, my companion, is a Zone Leader.) The meeting was really cool. We discussed mission policies and talked about what to change, what to keep the same, and how things are going in the mission. I found the meeting especially interesting because I got to see how and why mission policies are developed. A lot of times when policies are changed all the regular missionaries are told is that a change is being made, but they don’t get to hear the discussion behind the change. It’s tempting to think of a change as ridiculous or something if you don’t know its context. So it was cool to see how things work and to hear the discussions behind the policies, and to know that our leaders in the mission are really just trying their best like everyone else to be more effective missionaries. I now have more confidence that there are lots of good reasons for the mission’s various policies.

In Hód there isn’t much to see. It is a pretty small city and it’s not that pretty. There is, however, a really beautiful Jewish synagogue here that we visited today. One of the students in our English class is married to a Jewish man. He’s in charge of the synagogue and gave us a tour. It was way cool! I have a ton of respect for the Jews here in Europe. There are so few of them nowadays and that’s really sad. About a half million Hungarian Jews were murdered in World War II and now there are barely any left in the country. It was both wonderful and sad to see the synagogue today, sad because it is a big reminder of what has happened to the Jews in the past. I had planned to post some pictures of the synagogue to my blog but just found out that the computers in this Internet place won’t allow it. Lame.

We had the opportunity of going to Békéscsaba last week! Elder Roundy had to hold baptismal interviews for a couple there. The coolest thing was that this couple is the family that Elder Smith and I found in Doboz! Since I left, the husband started investigating the gospel and the family has been coming to church. Now they are getting baptized! It was so cool to see them again and I am so excited for them! It is way cool to be with the Zone Leader, especially since I have already served in this zone a bit.

Well I am going to go now. I love this gospel and I am so glad that I have the opportunity to teach it to others! So cool! I love you all!

~Anderson elder