Week 84 & 85 (Dec. 21-Jan. 31)

Boldog Új Évet Kívánok!!

Christmas Celebrations: Christmas was fantastic here! I really enjoyed it. There wasn't a flake a snow, which didn't bother me one bit! On the 24th we went sightseeing around Buda and had a french toast party with all of the Elders. On the 25th we opened up our packages from home which was swell. We then drove the mission van with all of the missionaries from Buda to go to the stake president's house. We had a massive lunch there and walked through their extremely nice town to sing to five different families! We then came back and played some games with the family. We then went to a recent convert family for a big dinner and to skype! It was a superb day. Then, on the 26th, (still Christmas here) we went to another family and made gingerbread cookies with them and had a grand time. All-in-all it was a great way to celebrate the birth of the Savior!

Baptism in Kispest: I was able to return to Kispest to perform a baptism with one of the investigators I taught with Elder Ábrók. It was a beautiful service and it was fun to meet with everyone I love in Kispest again.

Randomness: My very good friend since childhood, Matthew Johnson, (currently serving in Indonesia) is the companion of Elder Headrick's little brother! Wild.

Surprise Visit to Miskolc: Elder Headrick and I went on splits with the zone leaders in Miskolc this past Friday. We made sure that they didn't tell any of the people there that we would be visiting. I was able to meet with a lot of people that I know and love. Their faces were priceless when they opened their doors. There was a lot of screaming... and tears. The one lady I was able to baptize while serving there told me that having me there was better than any Christmas present that she got. It was super sweet. It was really cool to be there and meet with people that I taught and who got baptized since I've been gone. It was a really neat experience to see everyone again.

Until Next Year: It looks like the next chance we're going to get to email will be on the 11th. So, until then, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! This is the year I'll be coming home... but that's gross--let's not talk about that.

Make a goal to finish The Book of Mormon this year. That is, of course, if you want to improve all aspects of your everyday life. Élj aszerint. 

I love you all!

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

The baptism in Kispest

Adventures in Buda

French Toast Party!

Delicious Christmas Lunch

The family who let us skype at their house.

We had fun :)

(No caption sent for this picture-sorry)

Week 83 (December 14-21, 2013)

BOLDOG KARÁCSONYT!!

Christmas Zone Conference(s): So all five of the Zone Conferences we held and trained at this week went absolutely wonderful! It was a real treat to be able to see everyone and catch up with old friends/companions. Being Santa was quite a unique experience but I actually really enjoyed it! Doing Musical Theater as a child was not in vain.

This is how our everyday went this week for the conference:

--Meet with the Zone Leaders and train them about leadership

--Give a training to the missionaries

--Hear from the Zone Leaders, Senior Couples, then from Sister and President Smith

--Big, delicious lunch (it was still amazing, even on the fifth day.)

--Watch the year's slideshow

--Take a picture with all of the missionaries

--Organize everyone into groups

--Get the games going

--White Elephant gift exchange

--Special guest--SANTA!

--Clean up

SO, as you can see, it was a pretty exciting week! There were some really awesome presents for the white elephant this year. After playing a few times, Elder Headrick and I ended up with some interesting/rad stuff!!

The Training: We really enjoyed giving our training each day. The missionaries have given us some great, positive feedback on it so far. We've been studying the attributes of Christ as a mission lately.  We focused on the the last sentence of the second paragraph on page 115 in Preach My Gospel which reads: "Just as vital as what you do however, is who you are." We focused on what our projections as people are based on. It's based on behavior (which is our actions and words) which comes from habit that originates from experiences and conditioning--all regulated by our thoughts. We talked about how to "reprogram" ourselves as people. We used the example of how after restarting a computer, a lot of programs will open and sign in automatically. We related it specifically to having to write a paper at home and having skype open and sign in automatically as well as the web browser with facebook as the homepage. We said that if we wanted to change such a thing, we need to use the settings. Settings on a computer make it possible to control how the computer operates and projects itself to the user. The "settings" button in our own life is the Atonement. Just like settings, the Atonement is always there and available--but we actually have to use it. We have to first know what we want to change. We then have to know what we want that to become (bad programming has to be replaced with good programming). Then we actually have to go in, give effort, and make the change. Then the most important part is the SAVE BUTTON!! Which is constantly keeping that change and not allowing ourselves to revert to old ways.

We then had the missionaries write a D.I.P. (Something I came up with a couple months ago in my pondering on existentialism.) It stands for Dissociative Identity Paper. It's basically a way to make a map or a plan on the person you want to become. That's why agency is important--it's the ability to choose, yes--BUT it's essentially the ability to BECOME. Anywho, so we had them imagine the perfect version of themselves, as well as all the different qualities and traits that go along with it. I told them to imagine the person their husband/wife deserve and the mother/father they need to be for their children. "The returned missionary that all the young women want to date and all the young men want to be like." Then we had them skim through the Attributes of Christ section in PMG, then they wrote their D.I.P. 

How does a D.I.P. work? Great question, here are the 3 rules:

1, You must write in the third person. (ex. he is, she is, he can, she can, etc.)

       --(it's in the third person because when we remove ourselves from ourselves, it's easier to write about ourselves.)

2, Everything must be in the present tense. (if you're always thinking in the future, why would your brain want to start making changes now?)

3, Every statement must be a positive one. (the subconscious mind cannot process negative words.)

My D.I.P. went through a lot of rough drafts. Now I have a final draft that I read everyday after I write in my journal. I like it because it's very personalized to me. I used the attributes that Christ had to help create my own perfect version of myself. Christ was his own person. We are our own people. At the top of my paper I have, "Who is Cameron Todd Alldredge?" then I have paragraphs full of different qualities I am striving to change or develop--all in the third person. I read about myself, then I am able to evaluate and judge myself (compared to MYself) to know where I stand and how I can specifically progress. I hope this is all making some sense. You know, the new year is coming up, the perfect time to give this a try. Trust me, it works.

What Should We Do?: We had this neat experience just this morning before coming here to email. We started tracting this morning to find out that because of the holidays, today is a regular work day! Bleh. We asked ourselves, "should we just go email right now instead of tract? We can just do it later when everyone gets home from work." After some thought, we felt that we should continue our tracting, so we continued. A few minutes later, a lady let us into her apartment and we began to talk to her and get to know her. We asked her the question, "if you could ask God one question, what would it be?" She got real quiet and said, "I would ask him which Church is true."

Well, I'm sure the story is pretty predictable from here. We taught about Joseph Smith as well as the Restoration and she invited us back to meet with her next week after Christmas. After all was said and done, we were so glad that we didn't pack up and come here to email like we had debated.

Tomorrow!: Tomorrow I will be going back to Kispest to baptize a lady whom Elder Ábrók and I taught while serving there. I'm super excited! It's going to be a really special day.

Well, I'll be honest, I have no idea when I will be able to email again. I'm going to be skyping on Christmas day but as far as emailing goes, it's a mystery. We're going to be spending this upcoming week with a lot of incredible families. I'm stoked! Until next time, have a very merry Christmas. I love you all!

Give the best gift to your Heavenly Father and read about His gift He gave to the world two thousand years ago. That same new star was also seen in the Americas--all for the sign of the birth of the Savior of the world. Read about all about it in The Book of Mormon.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

Getting ready to be Santa

Showtime!!!

President and Sister Smith with Santa

Santa and I

Elder Headrick's family sent him (and his awesome companion) some Christmas fun!

Video Link

Cameron mentioned this video in which a TV station did a story on Mormon missionaries in Hungary. They show the AP's at the time and their apartment, where Cameron is living now!
The story is all in Hungarian but you can 'see' what is happening with the missionaries there!
here is the link:
http://www.rtlklub.hu/musorok/fokuszplusz/videok/223011

Week 82 (December 10-14,2013)

Ilyen a Budai élet...

Goodbye Kispest: On our last day in Kispest, all of us missionaries went with a big group of members and investigators to go ice-skating. We skated right next to "Hero's Square" in Pest. It was a massive rink and it was incredibly fun. We skated around for a good 3-4 hours and had a blast. I then went back to Kispest on Thursday to go on splits with the zone leaders (so that the transition could go smoothly). So, I was there all day Thursday and I was able to say goodbye to a lot of great people. We then wentback to Kispest yesterday as well for the Christmas Concert. Elder Headrick and I had to sing in the choir so the ward members were pretty confused because everyone thought I stayed in Kispest.

Assistant-ship: My word. This whole AP thing is a completely different world. It. Is. So. Awesome. It was such a rad experience to be able to be with all of the missionaries who were going home. Three of them were my senior companion at one point. We were there with them at their little "goodbye dinner"/testimony meeting and then we drove them around Budapest at night and revisited all the places they saw on their first night in the country. Then 4:00am Thursday morning, we got up and ready and took them all to the airport. We then took Elder Ábrók... who is now just István... to the train station and saw him off.

Next week will be the Christmas Zone Conferences. We will be attending all five of them because we will be giving a training everyday. So, five Christmas parties!! Elder Headrick informed me yesterday that I have to dress up like Santa twice next week. They're going to stuff me with pillows and such. Good earth, I bet you never thought I would make a good Santa Claus someday, did ya?

Speaking of Elder Headrick: We have already hit it off famously. He's one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He comes from Ohio and he has a family of 13!! He's number 8 in line. He loves to play and watch basketball. He is an absolute wild man when it comes to the Hungarian language. He was actually an AP already at the beginning of this year but he broke his foot and had to go home for 3 months. When he arrived back in Hungary he was in the companionship that moved into our apartment with us in Miskolc for my last transfer there. So that's how we already knew about each other. He also shares the same love for Apple products--so we may or may not accidentally pass by an Apple store while shopping today... I sadly only get one transfer with him until he goes home. SO, I will be killing him as well. (Good earth, it'll be my third murder.) He only has till mid January to show me all the ropes. I'm sure it'll be great.

You Give Me A Book, I Give You A Book: We met with one of the coolest guys yesterday. He has lived a pretty rough life and he has been in jail for four years. He has totally turned his life around and he's really looking for God now in his life. We gave him a copy of The Book of Mormon yesterday and he insisted that he give us one too in return. He gave us a Scientologist book. So I guess we did two favors for him. Anywho, he was really excited about The Book of Mormon and I'm super excited to talk to him more.

Where am I?: So, I am now living in Buda. Our apartment is in the 3rd District. We're about a 20 minute drive from the mission home (where we attend church on Sundays).  It's so blasted nice. Heated floors and heated towel racks. We have huge closets and nice appliances. It's just all around incredible. The other nice thing is that we get to use the office computers for emailing. I don't have to pay to email anymore! Hotdog!

Until Next Time: Well, I just emailed a couple days ago so I don't have too much to say. I sent a couple pictures and I'm sure there will be lots more to send next week. (These computers rock at uploading stuff.) I am really really loving it here already. Everything is perfect. I hope all is well on your side of the waters!! I know that school will be winding down and finals will be finished. I wish you all the best of luck!

There is a book that you need to read,

It's much more useful than your newsfeed,

The Book of Mormon,
Won't leave you snorin',

It's exactly the thing that you need.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

Ábrók was a wild man on the ice.

Ice Skating

With my past three senior companions on their last night in the country!

Week 81 (December 3-10, 2013)

Nem hiszem el... Hogy lehet az, hogy minden transfer call ilyen őrült?

L.O.W. Week: So... We died last week. I crawled into my bed at 9:45 Sunday night and I have never slept better. We ended the week with 149 working hours. 78 of those hours were programs and the others were spent tracting. It. Was. Absolutely. Crazy. I must admit, it was a pretty great end to Elder Ábrók's mission.
To give some sort of calibration, the standard amount of working hours in a week is 25. Super Standard is 35. The most working hours I had gotten in one week until this was 70.

We started our week with the goal of tripling Super Standard in all categories. We had to work until the very last hour on Sunday to get it all--but we did indeed achieve our goal of triple Super Standard.

This week was actually really incredible as well. We were able to meet with a lot of new people and there are some who have really been prepared. For example we found a family who lived in Canada and they wanted to be baptized there but they had to suddenly move back to Hungary before it could happen and they haven't been able to find the Church here yet--so God let us to them.

Just a couple days ago we set another baptismal date with someone. They love coming to church and it isn't hard to see that the Lord has prepared them to receive the Gospel.

We also met with a lady just yesterday who was in tears as we started to teach her for the first time. We asked her simple questions to get to know her. One of our questions was, "do you think God answers your prayers?" To which she replied, "well, you two are here right now, aren't you? I know He sent you to me."

Transfer Update: Alright, so this is the crazy part. With Elder Ábrók leaving, I thought I was for sure going to stay here in Kispest. God had other things planned. I received the call this morning to be the new Assistant to the President.
What is an AP, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

There are two APs. They work closely with the mission president and collect all of the numbers from the zone leaders each week. They are the ones who pick up the new missionaries from the airport and take the dying ones to the airport to go home. They give trainings at the mission conferences. They assist the president in deciding transfers (which is super rad because I always stress about transfers but now I'll know everything that's going to happen.) They are also the ones who take all the new missionaries out streeting on their first day and... that's all that is really coming to mind right now.

Why this isn't rad: this means our companionship is being "white-washed". A white-wash is when both missionaries leave an area and two new missionaries come in an have to figure out everything. We are going to have to write EVERYthing down about where we've been, what we've taught, who lives where, what they need to do, etc. The good thing is that we have kept excellent records of everything--so it won't be too difficult.

Why this is rad: this now means that I get a car again!! The APs get to drive the newest car in the mission (it's just like Evalin, just newer) I think the car's name is Melinda if I remember correctly. The APs also live in the nicest apartment. I will have a dryer and a dishwasher!

Another cool thing is that I will be taking 3 of my former senior companions to the airport on Thursday. How wild is that?

My new companion will be Elder Headrick. I'm super stoked to work with him. I already served around him in Miskolc so we're already good friends.

It will be really really hard to leave everything Elder Ábrók and I did here. We had a blast and a half. The good news is that I'll just be on the other side of the Duna.

It looks like I'm going to be serving here in Budapest for a long long time. I've already been here since August and APs typically serve as AP until their second to last transfer. They then usually train in their very last transfer before they go home. We'll see what happens! I love serving here in Budapest though. It's gonna be great!!

Yikes: I'm trying to get all my thoughts together. I just keep thinking about all the stuff I have to do before I leave tomorrow... I still have to pack. Bleh. At least we're going to go ice skating with a big group of people today--so that'll be way fun!

One Last Thing: This is super important. The AP's Preparation Day is on Saturdays. So... I guess I will be emailing once again in a couple days!!

Until then, read lots from the The Book of Mormon. This time of year is always great for the Bible. (I would definitely suggest reading about Christ's birth, life, and especially His atonement.) Just don't forget to read The Book of Mormon as well!

Sok Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Week 80 (Nov.25-Dec.2, 2013)

Bolondulunk.

Bocsi: I appreciate all of your emails this week. This is Elder Ábrók's last full week for his mission and we've planned something insanely crazy for it. We've been planning for it for the last 3 weeks and we're going to work through our P-Day today. Also, in order to achieve this goal we calculated that we can only email for one hour. SO I did read all of your emails, and I will reply personally to them all next week. Which reminds me, next week is transfers. Therefore, I will be emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday. I had some good pictures to send today but we don't have enough time... They'll come soon--I swear.

I'll give more information about this "crazy week" next time I email. Elder Ábrók has called it the "LOW Week" Which stands for "Lord Of the Weeks". Part of our plan is to get over 100 working hours. Yea, it's gonna be nuts.

Hálaadás: Thanksgiving here was actually way rad!! Some of the other missionaries around the area and some Hungarians put on a little Thanksgiving party for everyone. It was a great turn out and we had some great food!! Not quite like home, but I loved it! By far the best Hungarian Thanksgiving I've ever had.

Mikulás: Mikulás is coming this Thursday night!! All of the children's shoes will be left out and Mikulás will be visiting with toys and treats. My English Class is putting on a little party this week for it. It's gonna be great!!

HEY!!: The inside of these apartment buildings that we often tract in are not the prettiest. They all look the exact same. Some people try to spice up their hallway a little bit with some pretty pictures. While tracting, we walked down the stairs and I saw a row of pictures. These pictures caught my attention because they looked like there were of Utah. So I said, "Hey! These look like Utah!" as I followed the pictures to the end of the row. Well, the last picture took Elder Ábrók and I for a spin as I exclaimed, "HEY!! IT'S THE SALT LAKE TEMPLE?!?" Seriously. As luck would have it, there were some pictures of the desert and of the mountains then randomly a picture of the SLC Temple. How random is that? Sadly, the people weren't home but we're really curious to who lives there. As far as we know, there aren't any members that live there. And we don't think it was the guy who lived further down the hall because he called the police on us with us standing there in front of him.

Neat, Unique Experience: The man I baptized while in Miskolc moved up to Budapest a few weeks ago for some new work. Since his baptism he has been ordained a priest. Yesterday, I was able to pass the sacrament and he was one of the ones who blessed it. It was awesome to work together with him--I just baptized him a couple months ago!!

Adorable Testimony: We've been making an extra effort to involve the ward in our work. We are always inviting the members to the programs. (It's awesome.) We had a deacon help us out over the weekend and yesterday during testimony meeting, he got up and shared an adorable testimony about how he loves when the missionaries invite him to programs and how he feels like he learns a lot when he teaches with them. So cute.

Meeting of a Lifetime: Yesterday we met with a blind man who was a referral from a lady we tracted into the other week. I've never really had an experience with a blind person but this was a real eye-opener. (No pun intended.) He was one of the happiest guys I have met in weeks. He was so excited to meet with us that he waited outside of the apartment building for us. I had talked to him a few times on the phone and he knew I was American. So when we met, he shook my hand and said, "Nice to see you!!" and then chuckled to himself. He escorted us up to his apartment (unlocking two doors, going up stairs, then an elevator, etc.) it was incredible to see how easily he was able to get around. When we got in, he forgot to turn on the light and his mother finally told him, "hey!! you need to turn on the light for your guests!!" He replied with "oh! Sorry boys. I always forget... you know, because it doesn't matter to me if the light is on or not." 

Ack. He was so rad. He cracked jokes the whole night and was a great conversationalist. He showed us how he uses a computer and his cellphone. It was mind blowing. He's coming to church with us next week and I we already love meeting with him. We learned a ton in just that one program--way more than we taught him. It was for sure an experience of a life time.

Well, I love you all. Maybe Mikulás will come to you if you leave your shoes out this Thursday night. If not, experience the best gift, that is, being enlightened through reading from The Book of Mormon.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

Week 79 (Nov.18-25, 2013)

Kellemes Hálaadás!!

I have my Christmas music ready to be played starting this Friday.

By the way...: While tracting, we were rejected by an older lady at the door. As we were waiting at the next apartment, she reopened her door and said, "by the way... you boys look really cute..."
It made our day.

Drunken-ness: I have had a lot of experiences that have taught me why the Word of Wisdom exists and why it's important. (Just from what I've seen not what I've done.) We had two occasions this week where drunk men have wandered into the branch house, seeking help, while we were there. One man came in during an RCLA so we sat him down with us and he seemed normal and interested then he started the conversation with, "I think... I am really really really really REALLY drunk..... and people are trying to kill me. Two men have been trying to kill me." We were able to talk to him for a while and taught him about prayer. I don't know if he remembered it the next day, but he seemed to really really like it while he was there with us. For sure one of the strangest programs of my life.

Satisfaction: With not much time to write in detail about my week, I decided to give you all a little snippit from the zone training we conducted this week. We talked a lot about satisfaction. Mostly in missionary work but it is also applicable in our everyday lives. I was thinking about what we could do/say to help these missionaries work more/more effectively/plan better. I realized that, if they are completely satisfied with the work they are doing right now, they won't want to change, because they wont feel the need to change, therefore, they won't change. So we had them think about if they were satisfied with the work that they do week by week. Would God be satisfied with the same performance? Would parents and family think that this is the best they could possibly do? (They know these missionaries better than we do.) Satisfaction is an interesting thing. If we meet our own standards, where ever they may be, we will be happy--right? The same is true in life: Are you satisfied? Are you satisfied with how you learn? Work? Associate with others? Love? Live? If not, you will be unhappy. The only person keeping yourself from being satisfied is yourself. Be sure to make sure your level of satisfaction is the same as your Heavenly Father's.

All is fantastic with me over here!! I love you all so much!

As you feast on Thanksgiving delights this week, be sure to feast even MORE on The Book of Mormon. It's delicious.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

The little sign on the little door says "the entrance is the other door"

Week 78 (Nov. 12-18, 2013)

Rohadt hideg van... és csak egyre rosszabb lesz innentől kezdve.

"...Do You Kayak?": Europeans are very... Touchy. We as Americans would think it pretty weird to kiss people we just barely met. Anywho, old ladies here like to stroke our arms. It's nothing new to us. While tracting the other day, I had a lady stroke my arm for a bit then she she squeezed it and said, "wow! You're so muscly!! ...Do you kayak?" 

Well, I don't think anyone has ever told me something like that seriously in my whole life. I thought it was hilarious and all I could do was let out a high-pitched giggle. Then I looked at her and realized that she was seriously asking if I kayak. I decided to play along (it's not everyday I get a chance like this) So I replied with, "nah, I don't really kayak. However, I do pump iron (I KNEW that word would be useful someday) everyday... that's probably what you're thinking of."

Good earth, I'm such a pill--but heck, I had fun with it.

Let Them In, They're Cool: While trying to get into an apartment building we were going to slip in while a lady was coming out. Sometimes they mind, sometimes they don't care. It doesn't matter to us--we always find a way in. This lady turned out to be one of those that mind. As we started to explain why we wanted to get into the building another lady walked by, saw the situation, looked at us closer then said, "hey! These boys are cool. You can let them in. They are Jesus Christs. (It's funnier in Hungarian because she called us Jesus Christs... Not Jesus Christ's) You can let them in, I usually don't let people like them in but I know these guys are cool because my girlfriend was telling me about them the other day. One of you is from Debrecen and the other is from America, right??"

"Yes, ma'am!" we replied as we walked peacefully into the building.

Would You Say the Prayer?: We often struggle when it comes to getting investigators to pray in front of us. We have a few that absolutely refuse to. We had an investigator in Sunday School for the first time yesterday. She had never prayed in front of us before. The room was full with about 15 people. The lesson was incredible and the teacher asked HER if she would say the closing prayer. To our great surprise, she totally did!! It. Was. Incredible. Don't worry, I'm sure baptism pictures are soon to come.

Truth-Seekers: We've had an insane amount of success lately in finding. A lot of people are searching for the truth. Heck, we had a program with a lady just before we came to email. She brought her sister because she knew she would also be interested in what we had to say. We got on the subject of baptism and the one lady said, "Jesus Christ was perfect, and HE was baptized!! That means I really need to be baptized!! But I don't think it's right that I was baptized as a baby... I didn't make the choice!! Where was my agency in that decision?"

Let me tell ya, the whole program was like this. Every time we brought up a point they would exclaim, "that's what I think TOO!! Finally someone else agrees!!"

For example, at the end as we were teaching about prayer I explained how we only pray to God, we use our own words, and we do it in the name of Jesus Christ. That got them the most excited. 

Just last night we had a great conversation with a lady while tracting. She said she has been searching for God and his truth for years. As we started to teach her about Jesus Christ's Church, she exclaimed how thankful she was that God had sent us to her.

Well, as you can see, (or read) things are great on my side of the waters. I love it here. Really, I do. Too much. Even though it's dark and cold outside. Time is going by way too extremely fast--I don't like it. Now I'm starting to ramble which means...

I need you to read from The Book of Mormon.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

Week 77 (November 4-12, 2013)

Meglepetés! Bizony, bizony.

Transfers: Much to our surprise, but to our great pleasure, all of the zone leaders stayed the same this transfer! This means I will actually be killing Elder Ábrók. He will be going home to Debrecen in four weeks. I have to be a murderer--again! We're pumped for it. At the end of this transfer, I will have served with Elder Ábrók for 20 weeks of my mission! I couldn't have picked a better Elder to serve with for this long.

"He's only 20 years old...?": So yesterday we tracted into a lady who is in her 90s and her hairdo reminded me of Albert Einstein's hair. As we spoke she said, "you sound funny! Where are you from!?" I replied with, "I'm from America."
She sat their silently for a moment then asked, "did you flee to America in '56??" I looked to Elder Ábrók and gave him that "I understood the words they said--but I don't think understood what they said" kind of look and he looked at her and said, "no... he's only 20 years old?" (So I did understand her correctly.) She looked at me for a while then said, "my dear goodness!! I thought you were older!! I can't see very well, nor hear very well. I think it was your nice suit and tie that threw me off."
If you think the camera adds 10 pounds, try the suit--it adds 40 years.

An Interesting First Lesson: The Law of Chastity isn't the first thing we usually teach to investigators but we had a program this week were we did just that. We were meeting with a girl who is actually really looking for the truth in her life. We taught her about the Restoration and she ate it up. She even came to church on Sunday and absolutely loved it. At the end of our very first meeting with her, she was curious about our standpoints on marriage and dating and all that jazz. I don't know how the Spirit did it--but we were able to teach about the Law of Chasity to a teenage girl that made her go, "wow... that is so beautiful!! I hope my husband has these same kind of standards." 

I don't remember a lot of detail about what we said. I just remember we said things like, "even though we don't know who our wife is yet, we love and respect her so much. To the point where we are willing to wait for her. She deserves all of us and the best of us. She deserves to be our first and we know things will work out because we will have a relationship that is deeper than a physical one. We know that if we live by this law, we will be able to show our wife we respect and love her and our relationship will be strong and we will be a happy family--for eternity" So on and so forth. I guess it does sound pretty cute when you put it like that---in reality, that's what it is.

(I think I messed up the correct English possession in this paragraph--obviously we won't have the same wife. I don't know, maybe it's correct. Whatever. You get the picture.)

Well, time has once again escaped me. You probably often feel like this too. I'm estimating that reading this blog entry took less than 5 minutes for you. If you spend just thatmuch time everyday reading from The Book of Mormon, you will find happiness and peace. Spiritual peace and happiness. (You know, the best kind.)

Cool, well, I love you all. I am loving my time here. I'm learning more and more each day and I. LOVE. THIS. COUNTRY. and I LOVE. THESE. PEOPLE.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

We were near the river for a program the other night.

So pretty.

We found 2 canes in a dumpster by our aparmtent. We've enjoyed them.

Week 76 (October 28-November 4, 2013)

Nagyserű hetem volt!

Monday: Is the day I will NOT be emailing next week. It's time for the big transfers so I will once again be emailing on Tuesday. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for me!

Zone Conference: We were pleased to be visited by President Teixeira this week for our zone conference. (You can look his picture up in a Conference Ensign.) The conference was wonderful. I learned a ton and I already see the advice working for our benefit in our everyday work!

The 10 Commandments: So we had a single, 32 year old woman investigator who loved to meet with us. We had our last program with her a couple days ago because she wasn't keeping any commitments and she was too stuck on the Catholic Church. We brought the Elder's Quorrum president with us to teach her the Law of Chasity (to kind of get her to drop us). It sounds awful but it was the perfect plan. She is what we would call here a "pláza cica" which literally means "mall kitty"... You get the picture. She was a super nice lady and she had great intentions. Anyway, when we finished teaching the Law of Chastity she just said, "wow... I am SO glad the Catholic Church does not have this commandment." We replied with, "well... you believe in the 10 commandments, right?" and she said, "well of COURSE I do!!" we replied with, "yea... well, this is part of the 10 commandments." She couldn't wrap her head around it and the program was ended with one of those, "I don't know when I'll have time again... I'll call you."

Hitch-hiking: It was raining, late, and cold. We were in the middle of who-knows-where and the bus wasn't coming. Elder Ábrók had the brilliant idea that we should just hitchhike our way to the main street. I thought he was kidding but he started holding his thumb out to the few cars that occasionally passed by. "You're CRAZY!!" I exclaimed. I was blasted cold so after three minutes, I joined in too.

"We're dressed in all black, no one will stop for us." I soon realized. So the next time we saw a car coming I stripped off my suit coat so that I was just in a white shirt and tie and sure enough a 25 year old guy stopped his car and told us to get in! I was amazed!! He took us to the main road (about a 3 minute drive) and we were able to get his contact information!! I think it should be a new mode of finding--it worked great.

Conversion Story: so President Smith read this to the whole mission during the conference. As he began to read this story I thought to myself, "wow, another missionary had a really similar experience to one of mine!!" Of course, President withheld our names as he read it. By the end I realized that this was the man I baptized right before I left Miskolc. I asked President after the conference and he assured me that this came from that same man! It is a beautiful story so President sent me a copy, here it is for you all:


My situation was hopeless, I was beset from every side and it was in this situation I began speaking with the Lord, asking that he would either call me home, or communicate with me so I might be able to even somewhat help him in his glory. I then opened the Bible and read the following: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Then, in reality, "knock, knock." I did not dare believe me ears. And neither did I believe me eyes once they caught sight of those two angels sent by Him who then gave me the pure source of the waters of life. The two angels by names, because they deserve it, were Elder Alldredge and the first occasion Elder cox--who was later switched with Elder Nabrotzky. I give thanks to our Heavenly Father for them.

When I was baptized, I felt as if all of the waste which was stuck to me was cast off from me. White and cleansed I emerged once again new, entrusted by the Good Lord with a sacred mission. At Confirmation, the Holy Ghost, with fire, burned into my soul a new chapter of my existence. I feel that I have received of him the requisite strength, faith, trust, hope, and love. And now, like a small child learning anew how to live and exist--following the way back to our one and only Heavenly Father. I know I can follow Jesus Christ's footsteps by serving him in the world amongst men.

If that's not incredible, I don't know what is.

Similar beauty can be found in The Book of Mormon. I know I probably don't need to remind to you to read it this week. At least, I hope I don't.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

In a phone booth to get out of the rain!

Week 75 (October 14-28, 2013)

Hát, az kínos... Rosszul betűztem a "tojás" szót múlt héten. De mindegy.

Are You the Guys from the TV!?: So the APs and a few other missionaries had a story done about them that was shown on a Hungarian TV show a couple weeks ago. Since then, a lot of people have recognized that we are from that same organization. Oh, you'd like to see it? Well, here it is!!
http://www.rtlklub.hu/musorok/fokuszplusz/videok/223011

It's called "What is possible to know about the Mormons?" Watch it! 

Stake Conference: So we had Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday. My word, it was great. We had a Scottish 70 there. His name sadly escapes me. Nonetheless, he was so great. It was super rad to see all my old friends. I got to see people I knew from Kecskemét, Pécs, Szombathely, and obviously from Kispest. It was a real treat to see all of those wonderful people again. They announced that 4 of the branches will now be added to the stake!! That was really exciting news for everyone! This new addition is just a preparation for organizing another stake here in Hungary!! Awesomeness!!

If That's What God Wants, Then That's What I'll Do: I'm having a blast teaching one of our investigators with a baptismal date. She has changed a lot since we started meeting with her. We taught the Word of Wisdom to her this week and she replied with, "well, I sometimes drink coffee... but if this is what God wants, then I won't drink it anymore." Then we taught her about keeping the Sabbath Day holy a couple of days ago and she replied with, "well I usually work on Sundays... but if this is what God wants, then I won't work anymore on Sundays." Wow, talk about a lot of faith, right?

Forgetting Your Keys = A Blessing??: We walked into an apartment complex this week to have a program with one of our investigators and we noticed that a key ring was left in one of the mail boxes. No one was around so we took the keys and went to the corresponding apartment to return them safely. No one was home. We wrote a little note explaining that we had the keys and stuck it to the mail box. After our program, the owner of the keys called us and we arranged to meet in the branch house so they could get them from us. While in the branch house, they asked all sorts of questions about us and the Church, so right then and there we set up a time to meet with them and they were pretty excited about it. We gave them a copy of The Book of Mormon and sent them on their way. We met with this person this morning actually and he had been reading--and he had lots of questions. Great questions.

Bus Route to Healing: On the way home last night, we had a half hour bus ride from our program back into the main city. A quiet lady sat in front of us. About five minutes into the trip, she turned around and asked if what church we were from. We said from the Church of Jesus Christ. Without delay, she randomly started to tell us about her health problems and about how she struggles with depression and some other mental hardships. She said, "sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you guys this." and I replied with, "no, no, don't worry! I studied Psychology in America before I came here to be a missionary." and she was shocked and said, "so you know a little bit about psychology!?" and I said, "well, yea, I'd like to think so." and she replied with, "I've actually been praying for God to help me find a Christian Psychologist to help me with my problems--I don't want to visit anymore doctors. I want to strengthen my faith and be healed through Christ." 

"...You chose the right bus to ride tonight! We can help you with exactly that!"

And then she started crying, gave us her phone number, and the rest will be a story soon to come.

Well, time is once again crunched. I guess it's good that I have so much to say, right? I thank you all for all of your love, support, and prayers.

.nomroM fo kooB ehT daer dna won thgir oG

.esaelP

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

We got free balloons from someone on the street.

Week 74 (October 14-22, 2013)

Hűha. Nincs időm.

Transfer Update: As we suspected, there was no change within our companionship for this 'mini transfer' which means another 3 weeks with my favorite Hungarian companion. :) Ábrók a király!!

Family Day: This week for English Class, we had family day!! Everyone had to bring pictures of their family and practice introducing them in the beloved language of English. They all really enjoyed it. Besides people always telling me how similar Brookie and Momma are to each other, I usually get mixed responses about Jordi and myself. Sometimes they say I look like Dad, sometimes like Momma, sometimes a mix. It's always a mystery. On this particular occasion they told me that I'm the "kakukk toljás" which is like "the black sheep" or "the odd one out". Interesting, no?

LOOK! I MADE THIS!: I love to write. This week I wrote a poem. It's about one of my favorite stories about the sun and the wind. It goes like this:

One day long ago, in Spring I recall,
The wind told the sun, "I'm the strongest of all!"
The sun didn't agrue, nor did he agree

The wind sensed his doubt and said, "come verse me, you'll see."

The sun simple chuckled and replied with, "okay."

Right then an old man passed them by on the way,
The wind said, "I'll take his coat right from his skin!
Then I'll be the strongest, I know I will win!"

The sun knew the wind would get really loud,

So he hid himself nicely behind a soft cloud.

The wind started to blow and made quite a raquet.

Which made the man clentch even more to his jacket.

He held on much tighter as the wind pushed and fought.

The wind finally gave up and said, "let's see what you've got."

All the sun did was come out and smile.
He made the air warm within a short while.
The man soon wiped drops of sweat from his head

And continued his walk in his T-shirt instead.

Gentle, patient, and kind was the sun.

He didn't get prideful although he had won.

He didn't laugh at the wind, nor make a mean face.
He just went down to rest and let the moon take his place.

Camera Cord: Yea, I forgot it...

Parkinson's: We tracted into a lady with Parkinson's disease. She could barely walk and move at all. She couldn't even zip up her own jacket. She rejected us at first but aswe walked away she opened the door again and invited us inside. She said, "I don't usually let people into my apartment, but I felt like I should let you two boys in." 

We began to explain why we are here and what we were doing. We began to talk about Christ and the Holy Ghost. During the first few minutes of our talking she was shaking uncontrolably. She couldn't function normally. It was really sad BUT to our great surprise, as we continued to talk about Christ and his Atonement, she completely stopped shaking. It got to the point where she sat there normally with no problems at all! She looked down at her hands and noticed she was still. She then asked us, "how did you two perform this miracle?! LOOK! I am still!! I can move normaly!! How is this possible??" We went on to explain more about God's love and the Holy Ghost. She functioned completely normal the rest of the meeting and she was absolutely amazed! I was too. It was an incredible testimony, heck a physical testimony about how the Spirit works as we teach. Wow!

I don't have a lot of time left on the computer. I wrote a lot longer "personal" emails than I usually do. I will save the rest of my stories for next week.

Read the BEST kind of stories and live according to them. You will never go wrong. Where are those stories found you ask? Well, no place else but The Book of Mormon.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

Week 73 (October 7-14, 2013)

Jaj de szépek a szinek ősszel, nem?

Vacak: Next week I will be emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday. Transfers have gotten a lot more complicated as of late. Missionaries don't go home the same time that new ones come in so we will be having these "mini transfers" for the next while. I'm pretty sure nothing will change within my companionship...but you can never be too sure about this whole transfer thing. I'm hoping all will stay the same.

Fixing of the Roof: We have an investigator whose husband isn't the biggest fan of the Church. She really wants to get baptized, her little daughter too, but the father won't allow it. SO, we set up with our investigator to help her husband fix their roof. It worked out that we were able to meet him and help him this last Thursday! We were able to talk with the guy for a good 4 hours while we took down all of his shingles and set them up again. We had a great discussion, yet his standpoint on the Church and allowing his family to be baptized has not changed. That's okay though. Things can only get better right? How much more rewarding will it be when they do get baptized and we are able to know that we had enough faith that the father would change his mind? That's right--so much more rewarding.

Zone Training: We had a super stellar zone training this week. Everyone was really engaged and seemed to really enjoy it. We talked a lot about fears--the kinds, why they are there, and how to overcome them. I relayed my story about how I struggle with my extreme and irrational fear of bees and then entwined it with a story from the book of Mosiah. For role plays we sent everyone out on the street and their assignment was to talk to a stranger on the street, teach them about prayer, then ask the person right then and there if they would pray with them. Talk about challenging, huh? But heck, if someone can do that, doing it in a program will be easy.

New Baptismal Candidate: We've been meeting with a lady who spent our whole first meeting just crying about how sad she was that she lost her husband who died over a year ago. When we first found her, she was a mess. So sad. We've meet with her often since that first time and the change has been dramatic. She told us the other day, "ever since you boys started coming and teaching me about God's plan, I only cry once a day!! I feel so much more comfort in my life and I feel so great when I meet with you boys." Needless to say, we explained the role of the Holy Ghost and told her that she can always feel that way if she keeps the commandments and makes a promise with God through baptism. She gladly accepted.

All is well on my side of the waters. I don't know if I have raved enough about the food here. I. LOVE. HUNGARIAN. FOOD. They came out with a new Turo Rudi (Hungarian thing)... It's the best chocolate to ever hit the face of this earth. Anywho, I love the food here so much.

Hé, ha magyar vagy és ezt a blogot találtad valahogyan, van információ ami neked való:

Istentisztelet:

XIX Budapest, Kossuth Lajos U. 2

Vasárnaponként 10:00-tól

Angol Óra pedig csütörtökönként 18:00-tól

Van kezdő, haladó, és profi.

JÖJJETEK!! 

I love you all!! Please read from The Book of Mormon, it will help you know how to live your life better. And trust me--it's possible.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

Translated:
Hey, if you are Hungarian and somehow found this blog, there is information for you:
Place of Worship:
XIX Budapest, Kossuth Lajos U. 2
Sundays, 10:00

English classes are on Thursdays from 18:00
There are beginner, advanced and professional.

Come!

we found a hedgehog

Week 72 (September 30-October 7, 2013)

Milyen csodálatos volt a Konferencía??

Poker Sticks: So you know those little poker sticks that the people use in the movies all the time while their outside picking up trash? Yea. We totally used some of those last week. It was empowering. It's a rush to stab trash. I enjoyed myself. Simple mind, simple pleasures.

Conference: I had to watch conference in Hungarian. I was able to understand it all but it's just not the same with a translator. Like when you can tell that President Eyring is tearing up but the translator's voice doesn't get all tender and raspy. Or when Elder Holland is just going at it but the translator is just straight and monotone. It's really just not the same. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it and I was thoroughly enlightened. Here's a scary thought: this was my 3/4 Conference for my mission.

Invitations to Conference: I spent a couple of hours making a bunch of little Conference invitations by hand this week. We wanted to give them to as many people as possible. I fancily wrote down all the times, the address, our number--everything. They looked great. We gave a ton of them out and lots of people told us they would come watch it. Well, the one person who came was a little old lady that we happened to meet with yesterday morning before the first session. I had run (ran?) out of the invitations by that time so we just wrote the Sunday times on a little sticky note. She ended up being the only one who came to watch it with us. I'm not going to tell you what I think of this... Rather, let it work within yourselves--interesting situation, isn't it?

4 Little Kittens: As we entered an apartment complex to start tracting the other day, we heard a strange noise. We looked into the "unwanted advertisement box" underneath the mail boxes and found 4 little kittens inside! We let them free and began to tract. When we came back down after we finished the building the little kittens were just running around the groundfloor having a great time. I don't know why I'm typing this story--it doesn't have much of a point. I guess the point is that it was super random. Who leaves 4 baby cats in an "unwanted advertisement box"??

McDonald's Girl: As a district, we all went to eat at McDonald's for lunch after a district meeting. There were a lot of us so we obviously turned some heads. The register girl who took my order was like:

"are you guys from some sort of school?"

And I was like, "no no, we're actually missionaries. We meet with people here and tell them about the Church of Jesus Christ."
And she was like, "oh wow, do you have some sort of book or pamphlet you could give me about your church?"

And I was like, " of course!! after I'm done eating I'll bring some things to you."

And she was like, "kay!"

So after I was done, I got a copy of The Book of Mormon, stuck a card in it with the Pest Elder's number on it (we were in their area), stood in line for a bit, and I gave it to her. Then I was like,

"here you go! This book is really special in our Church. It's like the Bible and it talks about Christ and his dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the American Continent!"

And she was like, "oh wow!! This is so great!! Thank you so much! How much do I have to pay for it?"

And I was like, "No no, it's totally free! But could I maybe get your name and number so that we could set up a time to meet and talk more about it?"

And she was like, "sure! here you go!"
And the rest is history. We'll see what comes of it. She's going to make a great church member though--I'll tell you that much.

Hey, I love you all. I feel great. The work here is great. The zone training we finished planning will be great on Wednesday and I think you are all great as well.

Read from The Book of Mormon. Please. It's great.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

Week 71 (September 23-30, 2013)

Fogalmam sincs, hogy mi legyen a mai magyar mondatom.

Pictures, and Lack of: We email at a library. This internet lacks the power to upload my pictures. I have a lot of great ones... but they remain on a list. I will see what I can do in weeks to come but it might be a while--please be patient.

Lehi: While tracting, we noticed that the name plates on one of the doors said "Lehi" for the last name. We found it rad, so we held out a copy of The Book of Mormon as we knocked on the door. When they answered, we said, "hello! We noticed that your last name is the name of one of the characters in this book of scripture that we often give to people and discuss with them--would you like to meet with us and learn more?"

"No."

Nonetheless, I thought it was an excellent idea. Maybe next time.

I Love Lamp: One of our investigators had a big lamp that she didn't want anymore and she asked if we would take it. Who wouldn't want a free lamp? It was a pretty tall lamp and we had to take it on the tram with us back home. We did just that... I'm telling this story because I have a rad picture of it. Yet, as you already know, there will be a famine of pictures for a while... Gáz!

Bakelit Party: On Saturday we had a ward activity. It was a retro party thing which actually turned out pretty great! We had zsíros kenyér... which is when they spread solid fat onto bread and put onions and peppers on top--sounds great for a party, right? It is actually really good despite how disgusting and unhealthy it sounds. But all unhealthy stuff tastes good, right? Anywho, they played a bunch of old records. 80's still sounds super 80's, even when sung in Hungarian. Everybody danced and we all had a great time.

*AH! I started uploading a picture an hour ago and it just finished! You lucky heads get a picture this week!!

Primary Program: Yesterday was the primary program. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my whole life. They even had the Elders sing one of the songs with them. There is a surprisingly large primary here and it was a real treat to have that yesterday. The song translations were actually really interesting to listen to as well.

Primary Program Reward: As a reward for doing such a great job in the program, the kids got a special treat--a WHOLE hour with Ábrók Elder and Alldredge Elder!! YAY! The teachers asked us to do an activity with them during the third hour. So, we read from the picture copy of The Book of Mormon about how Nephi built the boat and got tied up on and all that good stuff and then we acted it out with the kids. They built a boat with tables and chairs and we got some rope and tied up one of the kids who was Nephi. (We may, or may not have chosen the most obnoxious child to be Nephi... hehe) Anywho, the kids really loved it and I have a new found appreciation for all primary teachers of the world.

*Another picture just made its way! Maybe the internet is fine and it's just my lack of knowledge with the Windows operating system that is my obstacle.

That's about it from my side of the waters. Everything is swell for me. I love these people. I LOVE THEM.

Heck, if you need to act out things from The Book of Mormon to better understand them or to rekindle that desire to read--do it.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

The Kispest Elders

Primary activity with the Elders. This is the 'boat' the children made!

Week 69 this time! (Sept. 9-16, 2013)

Hűha... Múlt héten nem sikerült. Probáljuk még egyszer.

Drafts (1): I opened up my email account to find the draft of my last week's general email. Oops. I guess it didn't send before my computer logged out. So this week, you all get double!!

Curse You, Flyers: So we've been passing out hundreds and hundreds of flyers for English Class to people and dropping them in mail boxes... My personal cellphone number is listed for the information. Mind you, all of the information about the class is on the flyer--and I get called nonstop all day from people asking:
"so HOW much is this Engnlish Class??"

Me: "free."

"is it still going??"

Me: "yes, of course" (as if we would spent time and money on getting a flyer to people about something that is no longer available)

"well, where is it at and when!?"

Me: "it's at Kossuth Lajos Utca number 2 and it starts at 18:00" (just like it's printed on the little paper you're probably holding in your hands)

"do I need to pay???"

Me: "no... it's still free."

Etc. Etc. Good earth. Just in the time of emailing I've been called twice about it.

I Love You, Voice: So I was pretty sick last week--don't worry I'm totally fine now. But I completely lost my voice last Tuesday. I didn't realize how important my voice was especially in missionary work. I came to realize I LOVE my voice. It was interesting while tracting because Elder Ábrók was pretty sick too and we were just a mess at the door because I would try to talk but I sounded like a broken squeaker toy and Ábrók's nose was like a flowing river of snot and he would have to blow his nose after ever sentence. Makes for great memories though--right? Anywho, my beloved voice came back on Wednesday and I'll never take it for granted again--ever!

Néni Party: So this happened just this last Saturday. We were tracting along like, la la-la la laaa. Then we had an older lady answer the door and talk to us for a little bit. She thought we were pretty adorable so she yelled to the back room, "hey giiiirls!! come look at what we have!!" Her grandma girlfriends started to come to see who were were and she explained to us that she and her 'girls' were having a 'girl party'. As luck would have it, they invited us right in. So grandma parties are pretty much like how I pictured them being. They had little cups of juice, a bunch of little baked goodies everywhere and they were playing cards around a little table talking about their grandchildren. We joined right into the fun and they asked us all about ourselves and fed us lots of juice and cookies. Sadly none of them were interested. But heck, I can check "crash a grandma party" off my bucket list now.

Back and Kickin': So, since I've arrived here in Budapest, we have dropped more than half of our investigators and dropped 2 of our baptismal dates that were set. We've been dogged an outrageous amount of times the past couple weeks and I guess the average missionary would say that this is a "hard area" or "bad time of year". I'm extremely opposed to such thinking. But I must admit--bad thing, after bad thing, after dog, after drop, after bad thing has kinda been eating at me lately. I have been trying to stay positive and we really have been working our tails off lately--it just seemed like it's been ages since we had a super stellar and spiritual program with someone. UNTIL TODAY!! We met with a woman for the first time before coming here to email. It was extremely spiritual and we knew that she was feeling it too. We taught the Restoration (my favorite) and it went so smooth and she was loving it. She said, "wow, I love everything that you boys have said and I really want to find out for myself if all of these things are true." She said the closing prayer at the end of the program and it was incredible. Before we left we asked, "So do you want us to come back and teach you some more??" and she replied with, "Of course! I think I need a little time to think about all of this so... let's just meet in two months from now--okay?"

Bleh.

BUT that's okay. You know why? I'll tell you why. Because it was a great, spiritual experience for everyone and it's just what we needed.

I hope all is well on your side of the waters because everything is grand here.

if yew kin reid fis, den gew reid de buk af mormin. kuz iss prolly betir.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder