Week 6:
Crazy week!
All of the new mission presidents were here this week. It has been hectic. The cafeteria is usually very very crowded normally but this week they crammed all of the missionaries into just one half of it. So there have been some 30 minute long lines to get food. It was like Disneyland minus the Disney... We were only getting food.
BUT I did get to meet my mission president! He is so incredible! I am so excited to be in the group of his first missionaries as president! He was telling us all of these cool things about when Hungary was dedicated for missionary work and I guess the Hungary mission has only been open since 1990! So it's pretty new! Anyway, he told us what to expect to do on the first day that we get there. We are going to tour around Budapest, then hike to an outlook point to see the whole city across the river. And then we are given a Book of Mormon and we have to place it with someone before we can go back to the mission home. Sounds like a blast and a half! He also showed us some pictures of the mission home and it's right in the middle of the city. It looks so nice and I can't believe I'm going to be there in a little over a month! Talking with him just made me that more excited to leave to Hungary!
I have gained even more weight since being here. I am loving it! Another 8 pounds. This is great.
During the TRC this week, Becker Elder and I had an interesting experience. So for our TRC, the situation is supposed to be that we are teaching someone who is already a member of the church. (So it's more like Home Teaching all in Hungarian) So we were just going along with our lesson plan and it was about the importance of attending church. Becker Elder asked the volunteer if he would share his testimony about attending church with us. The volunteer gave us a long answer in Hungarian but ended in a "no"... I was able to catch enough of what he said to understand that he said something along the lines of, "I have never attended your church... so I don't have a testimony about it." Becker Elder just thought that he was uncomfortable with sharing that with us so he just moved on to the next thing while the volunteer and I exchanged very puzzled looks. Come to find out, the volunteer thought he was supposed to act as an investigator. Haha Becker Elder and I got a kick out of that and decided to listen closer to the answers that people give us to our questions.
My district has decided to do a lot of "District Unity" activities this week. We wore the same color tie everyday... and on Friday night we challenged another district in our zone to a kickball game. We didn't keep score because we're not allowed... but if we did (which we totally didn't) it was something around 23 to 5. We had a blast because we all wore our Hungary shirts that we bought. (Pictures soon to come) And we just yelled, cheered, and went crazy the whole time.
Another thing we had to do this week is create "Investigator Profiles" so that we could teach each other in our district as different people. So we had to write down a bio of people who we really know who could be real investigators of the church. And then when being taught, we have to act/talk/respond like they would. My "easy/golden" investigator I chose to be is Sebastian Pozgan. And my "more difficult" investigator is Otto Kaltner. It was fun to describe myself as these fine young men. My favorite thing to say as Otto is, "MIERT?" (WHY?) and, "szeretem alkohol" (I'm sure you can figure out what that means. And Otto, if you're reading this, you know I love you!)
The devotional last night was incredible! We had 10 out of the 12 apostles there. (Everyone except for Packer and Hales) It was SO amazing to see all of them. We heard a great talk from Elder L. Tom Perry. There was an incredible spirit in the room. The best part was when all of the apostles were leaving, Elder Holland turned to all of us in the crowd and blew a kiss to us. I got a kick out that.
I love this work that I am in and I can't imagine doing anything better right now. Know that I love you all but the Lord loves you more! Rely on him and he will never let you down. If you haven't read The Book of Mormon today--Do it.
Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder
