week 98 (March 24-31, 2014)

Kedves János...

Fun Times: A handfull of good mission buddies came up to Budapest today for new missionary training so we all got together and hit the city. We went to a super sketchy market that the missionaries call the "Chinese Piac" and it was so awesome! Wow. We were all in our suits and we all got starred at like never before. We all bought some pretty cool, cheap stuff though. Can't argue with that! We then went together to some running sushi and we all just about died after an hour of that. It was amazing.

Pro Boxer: We found and met with a less active man this week who is originally from the U.S. He used to be a professional boxer and studied all sorts of karate stuff. He made us some incredible PB&Js. It was so rad to hear his stories and get to know him. At the end, he took us to one of the rooms he has with a punching bag and taught us some useful punching stuff. (Hey, you never know in the city.) It was quite the adventure.

Sport Nap: We went to our ward's sport's day this week. We played soccer with the members and investigators. It was awesome and these Europeans sure know what they're doing when it comes to soccer! Elder Tuttle and I were like, "dang... we gotta practice!" But we had a blast.

Joe: We've been meeting with a Cuban man for the past couple weeks. His nickname is Joe. (His real name is insanely hard to say.) My word, he has figured something out. I swear, he teaches us far more than we teach him when we meet. He's all about having a clear, positive perspective. It's been fun to get some good vibes. We usually take notes on the wise things that he tells us. It's great!

"We Have to Go Back": So, here's how the story goes. A couple days ago we left our apartment in the morning to go tracting. As we were walking to the place I had previously appointed to tract, Elder Tuttle slowed down next to a building and said, "how about we try this one...?"

Me, being the dummy I sometimes am, said,"nah... those buildings are pretty hard to get into and then you have to ring the doorbell into each hallway, we can pick up where we left off yesterday." (big mistake)

As I was trying to ring into the scheduled buildings, Elder Tuttle turned to me and said, "hey, we have to go back to that one building. I just feel we really need to." So we went back. Upon arriving, the entry door was wide open. (very rare) We then got in the elevator and I pushed to go to the 10th floor. (we usually start at the top) Elder Tuttle reached over and pushed the button for the sixth floor and said, "that's where we need to be." So we step out of the elevator and to our surprise, the hallway door is wide open. (also very rare) We walked down the hall and a lady came out of her apartment carrying some trash. We told her what we were doing and she invited us right in. We were able to talk to her for a while and give her a lot of help and hope in her sad situation. She loved having us there and we were able to bless her and her family in a humble prayer before leaving. It doesn't end there, we were able to help 2 more people within a few hours in that same building. They were all extremely greatful that we were there to help them.

THEN the next day we were out tracting and I felt we needed to go to a certain building. For some reason I too felt like the sixth floor is where we needed to be. We tried to ring into the building but everyone told us to talk to the landlord. Well, the landlord told us to get lost so we decided to walk down the street and go tracting before our next appointment. About five minutes into the trip, I realized that I felt good about the sixth floor and I was talking to people on the tenth floor out of habit to try to get in. So we turned back around and to our surprise, when we got there, the entry door was WIDE open. We went straight to the sixth floor and the first people we talked to was a young couple who have been really searching for an answer to why in the world we are living here on earth... and to what is the purpose of this life. We went back the very next day, they loved meeting with us and are excited to continue to meet. Az nem semmi.

Well, it's about time we get back to work... Which we love! We come home exhausted every night and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Well, as always, read from The Book of Mormon. It will change your life. I promise.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

P-day adventures.

I love this city!

Today is the last day for suit coats. The weather is beautiful.

Fine dinning in the city after a long day of work!

We found this strudel that was left in the feezer. It wasn't half bad!

We went with a group to running sushi today. It was a blast!

I enjoyed it--a lot.

Week 97 1/2 (March 15-24, 2014)

Hű.. Hihetetlenül gettó ez az internet hely. De szeretem!

Goodbye Buda, Hello Pest!: So, as you have already realized, I have been released as an assistant. Like in all areas, it was hard to say goodbye. I have come to love a lot of people in that city. Yet, the incredible city of Budapest wasn't able to get rid of me that easily because I have just crossed back over the Duna to the PEST area. It's insanely beautiful here. Spring has started to make its way out and I am LOVIN' it here!

"Gnarly!": My new and last companion is Elder Tuttle!! I will be training him for the next nine weeks. He comes from Laguna Beach, California. We are having wayyy too much fun together. It was awesome to be able to say, "Elder, I have less transfers than you have years." (I'm a pill.) Since we've gotten together we are constantly saying, "no way! Me too!!" because we have so much in common. For example, he also drummed in a band, plays bass, loves to golf, loves music, and is into psychology--like me!! I think God was just looking out for us, that's for sure. He's a stellar Elder and we've been working super hard. It doesn't even feel like work because we're having so much fun doing it! We've been able to help a lot of people just within these couple days of being together.

City Runs: We live right next to the city center of Pest. (Extremely beautiful place.) We go running everyday throughout the city and it is unreal. It's such a fun trip and we get some good exercise too!

Wedding: There was a wedding in the ward this week. The bride and groom decided to be awesome and they made it a good finding opportunity for us missionaries. They showed the little Restoration film and had us get up and explain why we're here and what we do as missionaries. It turned out to be really nice. Just goes to show you how much the members love the church here. We were also able to learn a traditional Hungarian group dance sort of thing. It was a  blast!

The Néni Next Door: So we live on the first floor of a ten-story apartment building. We live next to an adorable old néni. On our first morning together, I was getting out of the shower and drying off when I heard an old ladies voice INside our apartment. "What on earth?" I thought. It sounded like she wasn't too happy and she was talking with Elder Tuttle. I couldn't come out to save him and see what she wanted. Later, I went over to see what was wrong and it turns out we didn't know we had to lock the hallway door. So she took us to the door and showed us how to lock it for like 8 minutes. She's a funny, funny lady.

Well, we have some work we're going to go do! Trust me, you don't have to worry about us. We're having the times of our lives here. Everything is superb!

If you wanna feel good like me, you gotta read out of The Book of Mormon. It'll give you a kick of happiness.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

His first bird milk. (He loved it.)

He's photogenic.

Making some Hungarian cuisines.

Tracting! (with a cat in the hall!)

Elder Tuttle and I

Spring is in the air.

We love it here.

This is where it's at.

Mmmm wedding food.

Classic.

Week 96 (March 8-15, 2014)

Üdvözlök benneteket!

Zone Conferences: As I mentioned last week, we had the wonderful Elder and Sister Dyches here on a mission tour. The conferences went great and we had the pleasure to meet with him a few times separately. The conferences were uplifting, insightful, and motivating! Lucky for us, we got to go to all of them!

Transfers: I had wayyy too much fun this week messing with people about their transfer calls. Everyone loves coming up to the APs to try to get some information out of them. I got a kick out of it. Which brings me to another point. I may or may not be finishing my mission as an assistant. If I remain as an assistant, I will be emailing again next Saturday. If I am released as an assistant, my P-Days will go back to Monday and I will be able to email once again on the 25th. Who knows what's gonna happen..? Oh wait, I do!

It's True, I Feel It's True: We have continued to meet with the awesome couple I've been talking about lately. The husband already finished The Book of Mormon. We asked if they felt it was true. They responded that they did. We asked if they felt the Church was true. They responded that they did. We then asked them, "so what do you think the next step is?" They responded, "well, if the Spirit tells us that we need to be baptized, then that will be the next step."

We all know that that is exactly what the Spirit is going to tell them.

Miracles for Everyone!: It all seemed to come at once this week. We were able to pick up a whole bunch of solid families and people who are interested in the Church. We visited a part member family this week where the mother was the only non-member. They hadn't met with missionaries for a year and after we started teaching, it didn't take long for baptism to be brought up. She said, "I now have a testimony, and I want to be baptized." As we were leaving we noticed she had already written, "get baptized" on her goal board. How stellar is that?

Well, I don't have too much time today to tell you about my other adventures. Truth be told, there were a lot. I see this fit to be enough for today. All is fantastic on my side of the waters. Great things are happening, and great things are going to happen.

If you were dissatisfied with my email this week and its lack of contents, you can read some even better stories from the one and only, Book of Mormon.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

The Klinger family

Week 95 (March 1-8, 2014)

Na sziasztok! Boldog Nők Napja!

"Oh! Hello Elders!': We went streeting last night in the rain. We stopped a mother and her child as they were going down the sidewalk and we said, "hello! Can we talk to you for a moment?" She looked up and replied (in English) with, "Oh! Hello Elders! Wow! Who do we have here? ...We have Elder Alldredge, and... Elder Miller! How are you guys doing?" And we were like, O_o ...what? Come to find out, she joined the church here in Hungary 20 years ago. (Making her one of the first members.) She has been living in Holland for quite some time now and she attends church there. She was just in Budapest for a couple days visiting before heading back. It was way cool to meet her and talk with her. She was really happy to see us and a surprise member on the street is always a great experience for us as well.

Transfers: We met with President quite frequently this past week regarding transfers. They will be in a week and a half! Transfers have never ceased to fascinate me. Once a good companionship or change is made, the Spirit is so prevalent and we all have a unanimous peaceful feeling.

Zone Conference: Next week Elder Dyches will be visiting our mission and will hold trainings for the whole mission. We will have a busy week! We will attend both conferences on Wednesday and Thursday. We will then have a Mission Leadership Council meeting on Friday. We're going to be spiritually stuffed!

YSA: We were able to work with the YSA last night and hold a little "mission prep" class with them. We talked about streeting and some techniques to try if they go with the missionaries. We showed them the dos and don'ts and they got a good kick out of that. We then did some practices with them and it got them all really excited about missionary work! Next month when they invite us back, we will take them all out streeting for real! They're stoked.

A Sweet Phonecall:  Thursday evening we received a call from one of our investigators that we met with just a few hours prior to the call. (This is the hair-cutting lady, she's progressing like a champ.) She said, "Elder Alldredge, my husband and I feel SO good and happy every time you boys come here and meet with us. We can't stop smiling and we love this! Is this the Holy Ghost that we're feeling? It is the best feeling in the world! It's almost like a drug. Heck, it's better than drugs! We never want this feeling to leave!" If that's not rad, I don't know what is. It just goes to show how powerful the Spirit is.

Today is Woman's Day in Hungary. You too can celebrate Women's Day today by treating yourself to a good read from The Book of Mormon. Women, this can be a little gift to yourself. Men, this can be a little gift to your woman.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

The city of Szentendre

Week 94 (Feb.23-March 1, 2014)

Kaland volt a mai nap és kalandos is lesz.

P-Day Adventures: Elder Miller and I drove up to Esztergom this morning. My word, it was incredible. The weather was perfect and we went to the famous Basilica on the hill. It was insanely massive. We were able to walk around inside of it then climb the infinite spiral staircase to the very top of the dome. The view was incredible. This city is near the border so you could see Slovakia from the top. It was fantastic. We then drove back down through a city called Visegrad. It's famous for having a massive castle at the top of a "mountain". We were able to drive up there and walk around the ruins. It was an awesome day full of some amazing sights.

Down South: We had the opportunity to travel down to Pécs this week to perform some business. It was awesome to be in that beautiful city once again. During the day, we met with a bunch of people I met with often exactly a year ago! It was fun to see them all again and catch up on life. Everyone down there is doing superb.

Haircut?: We found an older lady the other week while tracting and we gave her a copy of The Book of Mormon. The next time we went there, she informed us that her daughter had taken the book we gave her! She told us that her daughter has been reading from it here and there. We asked if she would possibly be interesting in meeting and she replied with, "uh... I don't think so." The next time we went over she informed us that her daughter was reading from the book more and more and her husband started to read it as well. We said, "wow, that's great! Can we maybe get her phone number so we can talk about it with her? Or maybe her address?" She informed us that she doesn't give that information out to people. Then, just this week we met with her again and she told us that her daughter is now constantly reading from the book. She told us, "she is always has it in her hands! Her husband is already half way through!!" She later brought up that her daughter is a hair-cutter. (Is that the proper title?? I don't know.) So I said, "OH! I really need my haircut.. could you maybe give us her phone number so that we can call her and set up an appointment?" She gladly gave it to us AND her address. (Old people are so funny sometimes. The funny thing is, my hair isn't even that long at all.) Anywho, so I called her up and we set up an appointment for next Tuesday. Yesterday evening we got a call from her and she said, "I've been reading the book you gave to my mother. I love it. I'm reading right now about the when the prophet is talking about the life after death. I can't stop reading. I want to meet to talk about this book... NOW." We were busy the rest of the night, so we're going to visit her and her husband in about 35 minutes. Incredible? Why yes, yes it is.

Miracles are happening. It's so neat to be wrapped up in it all. God is using us to move his work forward and reach out to his children. Unbelievable.

Well, I'll let you get back to your reading of The Book of Mormon. I'm sure that's what you were doing before reading this blog entry. If you weren't, now you totally can!

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

He put on an older lady's glasses while she went in the other room to get something. If this doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what would.

After being found and taught over a year ago, she is still an amazing, active member!

Back in Pécs.

Esztergom

As I mentioned, this place is massive.

Inside the church.

From the top.

The Castle in Visegrad. Another incredible view!