HOME

Mit csinálok most? Jó kérdés.

Home: Well yes, I am home. I flew from Budapest to Paris, then from Paris on to SLC. I had a little TV in front of me on the ten hour flight from Paris. When I was about to turn it on and watch a movie like everyone else was on the plane, I remembered that I hadn't been released yet and that it's still not allowed for me to watch movies! Lame. So I just watch the little plane make its way to SLC the whole time.

Woah: It was super strange to be back in America. From free refills, to massive cars and roads, and everyone speaking to me in English. It was pretty crazy to be in my house again.

What's It Like?: The adjustment hasn't been too bad. I've just tried to have a positive outlook on being home and getting into the next stage of my life. The idea of dating is a little scary but I'm hoping that feeling will go away soon. I've enjoyed being able to play guitar, drums, and soccer since being back. Life is great!

Now What?: Great question. Next week I will be helping out at my stake's youth conference. We will actually be returning to Hungary as a family in about three weeks! After that, I'm hoping to be able to work at efy. (church youth summer camp.) In August I will be returning to school. I will be attending Southern Utah University. If things go as planned, I will have all of my general studies finished by the end of the fall semester. After that... well, I haven't planned that far yet.

I loved my mission. I will only be able to look back on it with love and happiness. Now here comes the next stage of life.

Read The Book of Mormon. I'm doing it... Everyone is doing it.

Sok Szeretettel,

Cameron Alldredge

**If you've enjoyed reading this blog, and I don't know who you are, I'd love to get to know you! Just add me on facebook: Cameron Todd Alldredge

Or my normal email is now: cam.alldredge@gmail.com

Momma couldn't wait to hug me first

sisters were so excited to see me

momma can't let me go!

My family at the airport!

I am home!

With my family at home, before church and my homecoming talk

Week 105 last week (May 12-20, 2014)

Az Utolsó:

Transfer Calls: After much anxiety and anticipation, Elder Tuttle and I received our transfer calls this morning! I will be moving to the American Fork area and my companion is yet to be determined. Elder Tuttle, however, will be staying in Pest and he will be serving with a really stellar Elder who I like a lot. At least it's comforting to know he'll be in good hands. In other news, my first born son, Elder Bennet, will be a father!! (He is going to train.) Which makes ME a grandpa! They grow up so fast... Yay for mission genealogy!

The Opera: This morning, all of the missionaries from Budapest were going to get together for a big basketball tournament here at the stake center. I was invited last night to go to an Opera at that same time with two other missionaries who also lack in basketball skills. SO, I went to that instead. My word, it was just like the movies. The whole thing was in German and they just belted out with a vocal vibrato for the loooonnnggest time. Not only were we pretty much the only males in the whole venue, but we were also the only ones under the age of 55. We shared a booth with two sweet old women. We couldn't see the subtitles so we had absolutely no idea what was going on. After the first hour an a half, the curtains went down and everyone started clapping. We got up to leave and the lady who gave us the tickets said, "don't go too far! That was only the first part out of three!!" We just about died. Luckily we all had other programs and things we needed to go to. So, we had to slip out. It was, however, super cool to experience a real live Opera. Especially in that incredible Opera house--but that was definitely a once in a lifetime thing.

Búcsú Étkezések: We were fed both lunch and dinner for the past week an a half! It was crazy! We just about died. Literally. These Hungarians know how to cook and dang, do they do it well. They don't mess around either with proportion sizes. Hungarian food, you will be missed.

BYU Orchestra: Hungary was visited this week by the BYU Orchestra. They came to our church services this Sunday which doubled our sacrament meeting attendance. Being surrounded by a bunch of Americans helped the thought of going home sink in a little more. Of course they came on the day that us Pest missionaries sang a special musical number (Nearer My God to Thee). Having two times more people than expected just made it that much more nerve racking. I love singing that song in Hungarian so for me, I had a great experience. Sunday evening they put on a big concert and we had a LOT of people there. They did an incredible arrangement of "A Child's Prayer". I loved it!

Baptisms: Elder Tuttle and I had the wonderful opportunity of baptizing our two "little brothers" this past Saturday. They've been soooo excited for their baptism. It was absolutely incredible. (I know I say that about every baptism, but it's true!!) When planning the whole thing, they both really wanted to give the closing and opening prayers. Good earth, if only you could hear these boys pray. Each of them had the congregation in tears. Their sincerity is clear and you really feel like they are speaking with their Father in Heaven. I baptized the younger brother and Elder Tuttle baptized the older one. They were so happy and afterward they told us, "I feel so light and clean!" It was the ideal way to end my service.

The End: I couldn't have imagined a better way to finish these best two years. The love was just flowing in from all sides--it was overwhelming. Goodbyes are so SO stinking hard. Especially these kind. Saying goodbye to friends and family for two years is one thing, this hurts my heart in a different way. Before coming here to email, I had my very last program as a missionary with an investigator. That was a rough thought on the bus ride back. I had the first 19 years of my life to prepare for these two years and I'll now have eternity to reflect on them. I love these people, this culture, these weird customs, the food, the language--everything. At the same time, I'm ready. I'm ready to go home. I'm ready to attend school, get a job, start a family, etc. I'm not afraid, I'm not nervous, I'm not depressed, I'm not ecstatic--just ready.

Well, I'll tell you the rest of my stories in person. This will suffice for now. (Momma, can you put a little information about my homecoming here? Thanks! I love you!)

HOMECOMING TALK: Sunday, May 25 at 1:00 PM at the LDS church located on the corner of 150 West 1120 North, American Fork, Utah. 

Dessert at our house after his talk!!

This Gospel is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is his Church. He leads it today through the living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. God's Priesthood power has been restored to the earth enabling us to participate in ordinances essential for salvation. I know this, not because I received this knowledge from another person. No. I know it because God brought me to this understanding through the Holy Ghost. If we strive to live a pure life and live according to all the commandments we will be blessed and we will be happy. The Book of Mormon is true. I know it's true because I've read it and there's no doubt in my mind that it's not true. I would not have voluntarily come here if I didn't know these things were true. Man's perception of Truth is various--but God's Truth is one and it is eternal, just like the family.

Sok Szeretettel,
Alldredge Elder

Last English Class. (One of the ladies gave me the flag.)

I learned a lot more from this man than I feel I taught him. (Besides how to box.)

The best way to end a mission.

It was a beautiful event.

Opera!

Week 104 (May 6-12, 2014)

Na, akkor most már kell írnom ezt az emailt.

Mother's Day: Skyping (skypeing?) yesterday was great. Everyone looked so good! Happy mothers day to all of you wives, mothers, and mother figures! Here's a special shoutout to my wonderful momma and my rad grandmas. Oh, and also to my future wife--I don't know you yet, but I love you!

Stake Conference: Yesterday and Saturday was Stake Conference. It was rad to see old friends, members, and investigators from Budapest and from other cities in the country. Everyone keeps asking me how it feels to be going home in a week. I honestly don't know how it feels. My brain doesn't comprehend the end.

Hospital Visit: Don't worry, no one got hurt. We just went with the Humanitarian couple to help present a donation to one of the local hospitals. The Church donated an expensive machine to the hospital and the doctors explained they were going to use it in the Children's Intensive Care Unit within the Burn Center. They then took us there and showed us where it was going to be used. (We didn't know that was going to happen.) Yikes, it was not a happy experience. It was, however, good to know that the Church was able to help these doctors.

Crazy Encounter: On our way to the conference yesterday, an older lady stopped us on the street and asked, "do you know where the Mormon Church is located?" I responded with, "well, we're going there right now--come with us!" We got talking as we walked. She told me that she is investigating right now in the Kispest ward. I told her that it's a great place and that I used to serve there. She then asked me if I knew someone from that ward. (One of the men I baptized while I was serving in Miskolc.) I replied with, "of course!! I baptized him not too long ago!" She stopped there on the street and asked, "are you Alldredge??" Apparently her brother (the one that I baptized) had talked a lot about me to her and she was really wanting to meet me sometime. I replied with, "yep! I am Alldredge." We were able to walk to the branch house and get to know each other. Kinda crazy how those things work out!

New Melchizedek Priesthood Holders: During the conference, I was able to raise my hand to sustain that two men that I've had the opportunity to help baptize while being here should receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. If that's not an amazing experience, I don't know what is. (And if "Melchizedek" isn't a hard word to spell, I don't know what is.)

The Two Angels: Elder Tuttle and I were called "the two angels" this week by three different people. Strange. One was when one of our investigators was telling us how she feels that The Book of Mormon is true and she wants to get baptized so she can be sealed to her husband and do work for the dead within her family. She said we were the "two angels" sent from God to bring this to her. The other occasion was with one of our investigators who writes books about having faith in God. She said she wants to write her next book about the "two angels" that knocked on her door and brought the full, true Gospel to her family. The third time was last night while meeting with a part member family. The husband has been investigating on and off for a couple years now. The wife related the experience of when we first walked through their door. She said we were like two angels and they both felt like "these are the Elders we've been waiting for."

It's a shame we can't take any credit for such thing. We both know that they just feel and see the Spirit.

Well, we're going to head out and hit the city. I love you all. Everything is perfect on my side of the waters.

As my dear, Californian companion Elder Tuttle would say: You just gotta charge The Book of Mormon! I think by that he means you should read it. A lot.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

We love these people!

Cutest kids.

Beautiful.

The two newest Melchizedek Priesthood holders.

Week 103 (April 28-May 5, 2014)

Nekem nagyon kell pisilnem, de biztos, hogy nem fogom használni ezeket a vécéket.

CHICKENS!: While tracting this week, we found a random group of like, 10 chickens. They were just roaming around in streets and we didn't want them to get hit by a car or something so we tracted the house we thought they belonged to. An old lady with only three teeth came out and we asked, "are these your chickens?" She looked over at them for a second and said (in hick accent), "yea. You boys want one?? They're always comin' and goin' I ain't been able to cetch 'em. They'll come back here in the evenin' to sleep. I'll tell ya what, if you boys can catch one, you can take it home."

It's a shame we can't have pets...

May 1st: So May 1st here is a huge holiday. I had a couple people try to explain to me why exactly it's celebrated. Apparently back in the day, all the workers took a strike because they were working too much. So now, every May 1st is no school and no work. As we went through the city to find and teach, we noticed there were HUGE festivals going on everywhere. It was quite the holiday! It was good, however, to see a lot of Hungarians all in one place just enjoying life.

Taking Lead: I had Elder Tuttle take the lead in all our programs this week. He did stellar! His language skills are off the charts. Everyone loved learning from him. We're having such a great time. Our investigators love us and we love them!

So. Much. Food.: A really nice member fed us lunch this week. It was an unbelievable large amount of rolls, bean soup, bread, and palacsintas. After barely being able to finish the first pot of soup, he left us at the table saying, "okay, I'll bring out the next pot of soup!" (Elder Tuttle got a picture of my reaction, you can scroll down to see it.) He then insisted that we eat all of that one as well. Elder Tuttle ate a LOT more than I was able to. (I still don't know how he did it.) Whatever we didn't finish, the member packed up and sent us home with. Hungarians don't mess around.

Priesthood Blessing: Just after getting off the phone with one of our investigators, (She called to tell us that she really hurt her spine and she didn't know if we would be able to meet the next day.) I strongly felt that I needed to immediately call her back and offer her a priesthood blessing. When she answered the phone she said, "I had a feeling you were going to call me back!" She gladly accepted the offer and we were at her doorstep within 10 minutes. She could hardly walk around or sit and she looked like she was in awful pain. We explained to her how blessings work and then gave her a healing blessing. After the blessing she said, "wow, that was the most incredible thing I have ever experienced! I felt a warmth coming from your hands flowing into my body. I know you hold the priesthood of God." She then proceeded to stretch and stand up. Her face was absolutely priceless everytime she would move or stretch in a new direction just to notice the pain had subsided. It was such a neat experience.

Well, I'd love to stay and chat but we gotta get back to work. I'll be skyping this Sunday! It'll be like, "oh yea... hey... I'll see you like in a week... cool..."

HA! I love it here. I'm staying on this climax till I board that plane.

Sok Szeretettel,

Alldredge Elder

Good ol' tracting

Sometimes people are late to meet with us.

Chocolate milk--in a bag! (So good.)

Taking a break from tracting.

CHICKENS!

We got caught in a rainstorm. Bleh.

Festival!

"I'll bring out the next pot of soup!"

Massive garbage day!

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.