Elder Cameron Alldredge's LDS Mission in Budapest, Hungary: Week 67 (August 26-September 2, 2013)

MEGLEPETÉS!!

Transfer Calls: So yes, this morning we received our transfer calls. I've always wanted to serve in Budapest and I've always wanted to serve with Elder Ábrók again. Well, let's just say that I got that all in one! It's not what I was expecting at all, but I am now going to be one of the Zone Leaders for Budapest and my companion will once again be the one and only Hungarian Elder here, Elder Ábrók!! It's funny because it was about this time last year that I got the call that I would be serving with him. Now here we are, one year later, doing it all over again!! This next transfer is actually going to be 10 weeks long. So after this transfer I will have served with him for 16 weeks! I'm so stoked--I love hanging out with Europeans! I will be serving in an area of Budapest called "Kispest" {KEY-SH-PESHT} which is a group of districts in the Pest side of Budapest.

Good News and Bad News: The good news is that I get to learn how to use the Budapest bus system, tram system, and metro system really well. The bad news is that my companionship doesn't get a car. Boo...

Called It!: As soon as I found out we would be housing 2 new Elders at the beginning of last transfer, I told Elder Nabrotzky, "I promise you they will not be moved into a new apartment by the end of the transfer." We were told they would move out in under a week... but without an apartment even picked out I knew the outcome would be something different. Sure enough, they will be moving into their new apartment tomorrow night--the day of transfers. But you know, I actually really enjoyed having them around. One of the Elders who stayed with us is actually the new assistant! He was assistant like, 5 months ago but he broke his foot and had to return home for a while. This was his first transfer back and now he's really to finish his assistant-ship. In the end, I really did love having two other Elders with us in our apartment.

A New Baptismal Date: For my last week in my Miskolc, we were blessed to be able to set up our 7th baptismal date. We've been meeting with this lady for a while and we finally hammered down and really committed her to pray about a date. She said that she prayed all night after we left and when she finished, she grabbed her calendar and a pen and wrote down that she would be baptized in October. She said that after she set the date for herself, she had an overwhelming sense of peace take over her that she's never felt before. She's so happy and excited about her baptism.

To The Temple: One of our recent converts who was in the group of 5 that got baptized in June is actually in Germany right now going to the temple for the first time. We got him started on his genealogy work and he was able to take about 14 names to the temple from his family to do baptisms and confirmations for. One of them being his own mother who passed away when he was younger. The whole trip was already very special even before he left because of how he got the money for it. The opportunity presented itself but it's obviously not cheap to travel to Germany and be there for a week. He prayed a lot about it and as luck would have it, he received a letter in the mail about his apartment. Instead of being a bill, it was just the opposite! (We still don't know why) The ending amount that he was getting was the same amount as the temple trip. Someone is definitely watching out for him.

Why That Building?: We were tracting. We had 30 minutes before our next program and we really felt like we needed to be somewhere specific. We walked into an open apartment complex that jumped out at us and began from the top floor. The rejections were a little more harsh than usual and I began to feel discouraged about our decision to tract out that certain building. With 5 minutes before our next program, we wanted to knock on just one more door. You know the drill. An older lady opens the door, smiles, and invites us right in. We get to know her and her husband and they seem really really nice. Afterwards, I didn't think much of it. "Okay yeah, we really met a nice old couple... but we felt way strong about that building... So what's the big deal?" I thought.
Sure enough, three days later we are going to one of our investigator families that we meet with weekly and that same old couple is sitting in their living room. Come to find out, they are the grandparents of that family! They were so happy to see us again and the older man went on to explain that, three days earlier, he had been praying all that day for God to send someone that he could talk to in order to help strengthen his faith. He told us, "I know God sent you two boys to us that day and that you were the answer to my prayers."

Farewell: Well, I have absolutely loved my time in Miskolc. I had some incredible companions, and I met a lot of incredible people. I have learned so much these last three transfers here and a lot of change has taken place. Miskolc will always be a very special place to me. We gotta jet now because I have to print out a bunch of pictures and then we're having a little goodbye party for our family night activity.

I love you all!

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

You thought I forgot, didn't you? NOPE! Hey all, read from The Book of Mormon--it will help you in your never ending conversion to Christ's one true Gospel.