Week 102 (April 21-28, 2014)

Boldog Szüli Napot--magamnak!

Birthday Adventures: Elder Tuttle treated me to a tour of Parliament today! It was awesome. We went through it in Hungarian and it was unbelievably cool. The tour lasted about an hour and it just gave me a taste of how massive Parliament really is. Awesome experience!

"I Have Good News for You Guys!": Those are always great words to hear from an investigator. We were informed on Sunday that one of our investigators gave up coffee after we had a special discussion with him on The Word of Wisdom. He said it was really hard the first couple days because he had really bad headaches. He told us that he endured the aches and now he feels great and doesn't drink coffee in the mornings at work with his co-workers. He said it was all thanks to us. We started to say, "don't thank us! We didn't do anything!" but he stopped us and said, "yea, yea, I know. I thank Heavenly Father for this... but I know you guys were the means by which he helped me."

Sajt [SHITE] Night: As a district, we held a Sajt night this past week. It's where you pretty much make some homemade mozzarella sticks. We bought and breaded 2 kilograms of cheese and deep fried it all. If you ever have the desire to destroy your stomach, this is a fast way to do it. Definitely just a once-in-a-while sort of thing.

Return of Matt (Elder) Cox: The wonderful man I served with in Miskolc is back here in Hungary for vacation. He came to church here in Pest this last Sunday and it was a real treat to get caught up with him. He gave some grand advice for going home--superb guy.

Red Porsche: A recent member, and good friend of mine, offered to show us his 1985 red Porsche. My word, it was so cool. I got to sit in the driver's seat. (Don't worry, I didn't drive it--but I really really wanted to.) I don't know a lot about cars, but do know that I like that car.

Linger Longer: We held a "Linger Longer" this week after our Thursday night English class. I did a mini piano concert with some arrangements of Hymns I came up with and I talked about the Church. Everyone seemed to really like it. Then we had some treats in the gym. Us missionaries and the members went and mingled with the people. Stellar time!

"Why Do You Want to be Baptized?": We were meeting with our little Hungarian brothers the other day and the member we brought with us asked them, "do you boys want to get baptized?" They both eagerly nodded their heads. The member then asked, "why?" The 9 year-old replied immediately with, "well, because I want to receive a new, clean life so I can better follow Christ." I wish I was that solid when I was 9 years old.

Searching for the Truth: We had one of those incredible lessons where, after teaching the Restoration, the investigator goes on about how they've been looking for the truth for a long time just like Joseph Smith did. Then they go on to say they have a feeling in their chest that is incredible and warm and they don't know why it's there. We proceed to explain to them what they are feeling is the Holy Ghost and it's telling them these things are true. With tears in their eyes they say, "I've found it... I've found what I've been looking for. God sent you boys to me as an answer to my prayers. I feel this is true." 

There's nothing quite like it.

Well, I love you all. All is perfect over here. It's going unbelievably great! 

If you want to celebrate the 29th of April. Read from The Book of Mormon. It's the best birthday gift you could give me.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

Good times.

Our Hungarian little brothers. (They are boxers.)

Great members from Pest.

Birthday Parliament Tour!

The inside was INCREDIBLE

Such a stunning place.

Kossuth Lajos Tér

It was a beautiful day by the river

The SICK red Porsche (sadly, I didn't drive it.)

Week 101 (April 15-21, 2014)

Kellemes Húsvétot!! 

Easter: Even though it's Monday, it's still Easter here!! This is the day where boys go around and spray girls with perfume or water and then the girls have to give them chocolate or money. I haven't the faintest idea how this tradition ever came to be, but I do know one thing: Hungarians have it right. Yesterday, however, one of the American families who live here in the city invited us over for an Easter meal. The last time I had dinner and hung out with an American family was two years ago! It was super fun and the food was amazing.

"Can I try?": So this morning, all of the Budapest missionaries got together to play some soccer in a big park in the city. It was super rad! Some Elders brought their whips and in between games we would all take turns trying to crack it. Some of us were good, some of us were learning. All of the sudden, a bácsi (really old man) slowly walks up to us with a cane and asks, "can I try..?" He was seriously really old but of course we let him try it. The next thing we know, he puts his cane down and starts whipping like nothing we have ever seen before. He was cracking it so loud that our ears started to hurt. He was doing tricks and just going absolutely nuts. It was awesome. After he finished we were all in awe and started clapping. He picked up his cane, returned the whip without a word and slowly walked away.

Paprikás Csirke: An awesome member made Elder Tuttle and myself some Paprikás Csirke for his birthday last week. It's by far my most favorite Hungarian cuisine. My word. It was incredible and I know Elder Tuttle enjoyed it just as much as I did.

Back to Buda: This past Saturday I was able to return to Buda for a baptism. The hot water wasn't working for the font so we tried to boil some water in some pans and pour it in but nothing was working. The water was freezing. We might as well have done it in a lake. The person being baptized asked me to give the talk about baptism. It was a really special experience and beautiful event.

Loving Life: I don't know how we got so lucky, but we seriously get to meet with incredible people all day everyday. We look forward to being able to talk to these people, teach them, and learn so much from them. I could sit here and try to type it all out to you, but I couldn't do it justice. The point is, we are loving it here with these amazing people. There's nothing better.

Well, I hope everyone's Easter was filled with family time, candy, and remembrance of the Savior. If you think about it, the fact that he conquered death is pretty significant. It's proof that this life is not the end. We need to live our lives knowing that there will be another stage after we die. We have the ability everyday to choose how it will be.

Wanna learn about the resurrection? Alma 40:23. Oh hey, look at that! It's found in The Book of Mormon.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

Having Elder Tuttle's Birthday lunch. (but he's not in the picture!)

Easter with an American family

This is the closest I've ever been to Parliament.

A different view from the river.

Week 100 (April 9-14, 2014)

Boldog születés napot a Tuttle Elder-nek!

I Love These People: My word. We have just met with so many incredible people lately, I can't even begin to tell you all what kind of miracles we are seeing everyday. Who would've thought that one had the capacity to love a strange land, people, culture, and language so deeply.

Getting Hit On: While tracting this week, we talked to an older lady at her door. During the duration of our discussion, every third sentence she said alluded to our attractiveness. She told us we were gorgeous young men, that we were beautiful, handsome--you name it, she said it. It wasn't until she said, "huh... If only I was younger." Then we kinda started to freak out.

Elder Tuttle's Birthday: Today was Elder Tuttle's birthday! He had new missionary training today, so I went out with some other missionaries and bought him a sweet puzzle box and I had his name engraved on it. He was pretty stoked about it! We then celebrated with some good mission buds at none other than good ol' Trofeas.

New Hungarian Siblings: So, we're meeting with a small family right now. It's a single mother and her three children. They are adorable and we've only met with them three times. They are the smartest and most well behaved 12 and nine year-olds on the planet. (The nine year-olds are twins.) The little girl drew us some pictures of Jesus and Bible stories. They love when we come over and talk about the gospel with them. Their father walked out on them a year ago and they've all been praying for help. Just when they were about to give up their faith, we knocked on their door. Last time, we told them that we will be their older brothers. Before we left, the nine year old said one of the most incredible prayers I have ever heard. He said, "we're so grateful you sent us our two new older brothers to us to help us." 

I would go into detail about this family... but I don't have that much time. All-in-all, they are incredible and we love them.

Bleh... Emailing is so stressful. I always come in with so many things to write about but the time is never enough.

Time is an interesting thing, isn't it? We seem to always have time to do the things we want to do. I can promise you, reading The Book of Mormon is the BEST way to use your time. Please, make time for it.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

Our P-day adventures took us to a beautiful cathedral in the heart of Pest.

Climbing up the stairs to the top.

The view from the top.

Lovin' life.

We went to the Hungarian Buffet today for Elder Tuttle's birthday. It was a blast!

Week 99 (April 1-8, 2014)

"Azért jajgatom mert faj a kezem!" --Random Néni

Oops: To my dismay, I failed to mention that I would be emailing on Tuesday this week. It was a mini-transfer (no changes for our companionship--halla!) so our Pday was moved to today.

Conference: It is possible NOT to love conference?? Geez. You know how some missionaries expect to come on a mission and have their whole life plan revealed to them? Yea, I thought I knew exactly how it would be after my missionbefore I even left. During conference, I was very unexpectedly given serious instruction that is contrary to my plans I've had for the past two years. The Lord works in mysterious ways BUT I trust this is the direction for my life.

6th Floor Rad Couple: We have continued to meet with the awesome couple we met on the 6th floor (from last week's adventures) and they LOVE to meet. The always tell us that we bring them happiness and hope. They want to learn how and where we get this source of happiness. (Which comes from none other than the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.) They're always ecstatic when we show up and bummed out when we have to leave. They're so great!

The Gift of Toungues: We had the opportunity to meet with a lot of incredible people this week. Let me tell you about one of the ones that stood out to me. While tracting, a young mother let us in. As we began to talk, we were quickly able to notice just how religious she is. She started to talk about how God has talked to her and how he has given her information. (Based on past experience, that's never a good thing for someone to start out with.) BUT she went on to explain that when she prays, she recieves answers through the Holy Ghost from God. Our ears perked right up when we heard that. She said, "yea, just last night I was wondering about the gift of tounges that the scriptures talk about. A lot of other churches interperet that as speaking a gibberish language when they feel the Holy Spirit. I didn't think that was right. I received an answer from God that it really means being able to preach the Gospel in a language that isn't your own! So, I think you two both have it, since Hungarian isn't your native langauge and you're preaching the Gospel!" The next words out of her mouth were: "I think want to join your church... how can I do that?"

Well, we have a busy day ahead of us. Back to the streets! All is perfect over here.

My mom is awesome and she finished The Book of Mormon this week. You should read it too.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

He loves animals

We had "Sweaters and Glasses Night" in the city and got some great pizza.

We we found a forest near our apartment that we run through in the mornings.

This is where we ran this morning.