Big Things Have Been Happening This Week!

October 28, 2013

Why helllloooooooo! 

For the above welcome, if anyone is familiar with The Office, the episode where Stanly has a heart attack and Michael has a 'Stress Management' hour and Stanly has a little stress management beeper to alert him when his stress his picking up and Michael walks up to him and is like 'Helllloooooooo!' and the beeper goes off. Ha ha ha ha ha ha, I don't know if anyone knows which episode I am referring to, but that's what's stuck in my head right now. I know Alisha will get it if no one else does. :) 

Big things have been happening this week. Well, at least one big thing, which is that we were able to put one of our investigators on bap date for December 28th! Kewl, right? We were sure thrilled when it happened. The person that we gave it to is freaking awesome! I love this person to bits! She is somewhere in her 40's, I think, but has the personality of someone who would be in their mid-20's. Every time we go over there she knows how to put a smile on our faces. And, in fact, she has said that we also have the same effect on her. She has told us countless of times that whenever we come over to visit her that the problems or concerns that she has in life seem to just evaporate when we are with her and she always looks forward to us meeting with her.

We have been meeting with her for a little more than 2 months I believe and she has been progressing wonderfully.   Last week we specifically talked about the Spirit and recognizing it in our lives and how we can have it with us always. This week we decided to talk more about baptism, since we already had before some weeks ago, and decided to bring one of the members with us. Before I go into this, this is the first program where I felt really comfortable with everything, mostly language wise. As we started the program she brought up a few things that she was going through in her life that made me and my companion think of taking it a different direction and talking about something else. But as my companion was offering the prayer, I had this strong confirmation that we were meant to talk about baptism. I love those feelings! So we continued to talk about baptism and the member who we brought was perfect! She explained some of the doctrines super well! Better than I could have in Hungarian, that's for sure. As the program was going, she straight up said 'You know, I never said I wasn't willing to be baptized.' Shocked, I had to have her repeat what she said. After her clarifying what she said, I was just like 'Well, is this something that you are wanting to do' 'Yeah' 'So will you be baptized as Christ was?' She said,'Yeah!' Then the date came for December 28th and she accepted it! Pretty kewl, right? I thought so. Both my companion and I were super stoked after the program. Hopefully the member wasn't weireded out by our big grins. :) 

Besides that, we have had some good times getting lost, biking up huge hills that exhausted me to death almost and running into people who tell you that Americans are bad people. But, hey, nothing could bring us down after having a terrific program this week. :) 

Unfortunately this email is going to be cut short because I had some internet troubles earlier which took up some of my time. But I at least wanted to tell you about the program that we had this week. My word though, Trunk or Treat sounds like it was fantastic! Along with World War Z party. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing that when I get home, along with some other movies that I have missed ha ha.

Alrighty, enjoy your week this week and let the spirit guide! 

Sincerely,
Magda Elder

What's Up?

October 22, 2013

Csákánysztok! 

The translation for the above welcoming will probably be weird in Google translate, but they use it as slang for 'what's up' apparently. Go figure. :P 

Sorry for this email being a day late. We had a mini transfer this week (don't know if I mentioned that in any of my emails before) so our p day was moved to today for this week. For yeerrr alls information, nothin's happen to me or Elder Shoop, which we were kind of hoping with the work going as well as it is. But there will be an official transfer in 3 weeks, so we'll probably get switched up during that one. Unfortunately though, the other companionship had a change. Elder Sterri has been transferred to Kecskemét and another newer missionary is coming in his stead. We were super bummed to hear that! We all love Sterri and we all wanted Eger to stay the same at least till the official transfer. My Sacramento buddy is moving on. Sad :( But he's going to be getting a kewl companion there, who is actually from Placerville, so that'll be neat for him. 

That stinks that the video was having some troubles. I'm glad that you are able to see it though! It was super weird having that happen because I thought to myself 'Hey, I've acted plenty of times and had to stand in front of an entire audience and give monologues and stuff. This should be cake!' Then when they put the camera in front of me, it dawned on me that this was in Hungarian and all of that theater experience drained away ha ha. Tell Granddad for me that I've been working hard specifically for when I come home so that we can have our 'secret conversations' in our 'secret language' Heh heh heh, senki nem fogja megérteni, amit mondunk buahahahaha. (No one will understand what we are saying buahahahaha!) Oh, and Mr. Ruggles is a little teddy bear that Elder Sterri found in his apartment and it is now his little buddy that he carries around with him everywhere. He's our district mascot ha ha! But since Sterri is leaving, that also means Mr. Ruggles is leaving too. Mer :( Sad sad day. This time I actually went and had someone do it. I hate cutting my own hair! It always looks gross after I do it! I've fallen into the same mistake of doing it 3 times since I've been here because I didn't want to pay for a haircut and they are for sure going down as part of the worst decisions of my life. I mean, go back and look at those pictures again from when I did it myself. Felháboritóan nézett ki! (It looks outrageous!) Poor life decisions right there. 

Alright, for some things that happened this week. First off, it is official as of this past Tuesday, October 15, that we are to wear suits every day until April 15. Definitely no smile came from this guy right here when that was announced. It's still hot! Secondly, October 15 was also Elder Headrick's birthday! Weird, huh? It's been a year! His group of elders that he came with on his mission is actually going home this week, but since he had to come home and have surgery and then come back a few months later he won't be going with them. He's kewl about it though. Thirdly, work this week didn't go as great as we planned it to be, but it still went pretty well. Found some kewl people from streeting in the park and this week seems to look like an upswing from this last week. That'll be nice. :) And fourthly, this is the story that I've been waiting to tell you all about. 

Do any of you remember the email I sent you from when I was serving in Békéscsaba and a downpour came and I got drenched? Well a similar story happened, except more miserable. Wednesday I went on splits with Elder Vanderpool and we had the day planned to be outside most of the day streeting and stuff. When we woke up it sounded like it was raining a little bit outside. To our horror, as we opened the blinds, it was a downpour. And this is one wasn't one that let up. What made it even more depressing was that I was at Elder Vanderpool's apartment instead of mine, meaning all my stuff was at my place, and I didn't prepare for it to rain....Luckily I found a jacket that someone left behind which I threw on and crossed my fingers that it would last me for the day. I quickly realized that crossing fingers is a big hoax. The jacket that I wore, which said was 'water proof', quickly became 'Water proof: if sprinkled on for 5 minutes'. No wonder the elder who had it left it behind. By the end of the day, both me and Vanderpool were absolutely drenched! And the worse part about it was that it was like that for the entire day! Unlike in Békéscsaba where it was a storm that came out of nowhere and stopped after a few hours, this one just kept going and going and going. Rain is not missionaries’ best friend. Both of us agreed that we would rather have it snow than rain, since snow will bounce off of you or just stick on the outside rather than just seep through all of your clothes. Thanks időjárás! (weather) But it was fun nonetheless. It definitely made for a memorable day.

That was my week mostly. Alisha's talk sounded like it must have been fun to listen to. I would have loved to have been there! Heather D. is getting married?!?! I don't remember this! That's crazy! I remember us being in primary and her and me always arguing with one another. Dang, that's way weird. Tell her that I congratulate her and hope that everything goes for the best for them. Megan's going to New York?! Whaaaat?! That's intense! When does she leave?? Tell her I say congrats! Dad got Battlefield 4?!?! AAAHHHHHH!!! He's gotta tell me all about it! I've heard here and there about some of the stuff that was being put in it and I can't wait to try it when I get home. And the 49ers are rockin it! Yeah! Keep it up! I know this is random, but give Ricky a shout out for me, will you? I thought about him this week for some reason and I've only gotten a little letter from him when he was at home with you guys and they were writing letters for me. Tell him he should email me some time! I'd love to hear how he's doing. 

Alrighty, that's all I have for this week. Tell the dogs I tell them to behave and that I love 'em. I love you all and I'm loving it out here. Thank you for all of your support and love. Keep on having a great week! 

A nagy kutyától.  (The BIG DOG)

Magda Elder

Hey! I'm on TV!!!!

Elder Magda and Elder Sterri on splits!  Notice all of the toiletries.  At least they are clean and fresh!

October 14, 2013

Tényleg? Már hétfő van? Hű, ezt nem hiszem el! (Really? Already Monday?  Wow I can’t believe it!)

Hi, I'm Elder Magda and I have a short message that I would like to share with you all. It's not very long, maybe 5 minutes, but I know it will bring a smile to your face and can change your life. In fact, this message is on a video that I would like to share with you. Would you have a few minutes to spare? Awesome! Here it is!

http://www.rtlklub.hu/musorok/fokuszplusz/videok/223011 

(This is his mom.  I have had quite some trouble getting this link to play more than 55 seconds of the 5 minute news story.  I downloaded “Safari for Windows” (as this is an Apple computer search engine, I think) and was finally able to watch the whole clip.  Blake is shown about halfway into the story teaching an English class.  He is also interviewed and talks about his grandfather being from Hungary and how much his mission in that country means to him.  He rattles off in Hungarian like a PRO!!!)

So if you havn't gone to the above link yet, you should. Why? Because this guy was on TV last Saturday around the whooooollllleeee country! That's right! Totally being humble about it! But, seriously, it was such a surprise to hear from the members of the branch yesterday 'Hey! You were on TV last night!' Took me by total surprise because I had forgot that I had done that and I thought it would have been aired already. Kewl thing is that it also has Christensen in the video streeting, studying and playing basketball! Totally sick! It was way kewl that they put us up on national TV. Hopefully it'll encourage people to be more willing to talk to us. :) 

Eating some pék from a pékség (rolls from the bakery)

Basically, this week has been filled with work! We have been working our butts off and loving it! We have had quite a bit of people that have been progressing and are taking the lessons really well and a lot more that are re setting up with us and are willing to talk to us. And, even then, we are having a blast talking to people even if they slam the door in our face. Just throw in a little smile in there right before they close it, ha ha. From this last week we are looking forward to this week being better and busier. One of our investigators has a bap date for November and has been progressing really well. Right now we are teaching her about some of the commandments and she has been really accepting. She also loves coming to church and enjoying the talks and lessons that are given there. Super sweet investigator! We also had a kewl experience tracting this week. We went to look up someone from the area book in a 10 story building and it turned out that the person wasn't home. But we felt like we should just do the whole building since we had a lot of time. Well, we got 1 new investigator, 2 referrals AND a program set up from just us talking at the door! Gold mine!! It definitely made our day that's for sure.  Things have been turning up and the work is just getting brighter and brighter. 

Caught eating some gyros and having some Ginger Beer. So good!Oh, and the teddy bear in the picture is Mr Ruggles. He's our little travel buddy. :)

 

 Found someone with our last name! Didn't open the door though...

For a little report from last week’s járvany (epidemic….I think he meant “infestation”….) with the bugs, things have been getting a little better. Dead bugs haven’t littered our floor so much as it has in the past. But, I will tell you though, there was one day that I got up and got ready for the morning and came back to my bed and I wanted to check the far side of it because sometimes I may find a few dead bugs that had turned over and perished during the night. No joke, the biggest cockroach of my life was lying dead on its back on the side of my bed. I just thought to myself 'Glad it didn't crawl up on my bed and died on me I guess' ha ha. Isn't this apartment just so grand?! But seriously, I love it. It makes for some interesting experiences and memories, especially after having been stuck in it for 4 days. 

I do want to thank Alisha for the letters that she sent. I just got them this week. I cannot tell you how humbled I was to get the notepad of letters that you had done. I should be sending a letter to you this week, along with Ash as well. They'll be getting a letter in the mail. :) And I would also like to thank Sister Marshall for the package of Reese's and Peanut Butter that she sent. I loved it! I was so surprised to get that in the mail. Thank you so much! It was just what I needed.

So I hope the video uplink that I included takes up a good portion of what you would be reading on this page, because I'm gonna cut this short. Just in short: Things are picking up, the works moving forward, the apartment is being cleansed of kritters and I'm loving this last part of my mission. I'm at my best and I'm goin’ out there! 

 

 Eating some palacsintas!  Again, "Mr. Ruggles" (the teddy bear) joins them.

Sok szeretettel, (Lots of Love,)

Magda Elder

Confinement, Cleaning, and Crispy Kritters

Pertyful Eger

October 7, 2013

To one and for all!

My week actually took an interesting spin this week. Last week, as I told you before, we had to go to Budapest for Elder Shoop to go to the doctor’s office to solve the problem that he has been dealing with for the past 2 weeks. Well, we found out what it was, it's called clostridium difficile, or, in short, some sort of stomach disease that is supposedly contagious. We didn't find that out till the next day when we were back home and out working the whole day. Then, that night, we got the call from President informing us of the situation of what he had and he told us that we were to stay in our apartment and to go nowhere from Tuesday night till Saturday night and that he would be sending him some pills that the doctor gave him with the Zone Leaders and to have him take them for the next 10 days. A total of 4 days!! Just imagine staying in the house for 4 days as a missionary. You're main job is to go outside and be outside ALL DAY, which was taken away from us for 4 days. Ha ha, quite an interesting change for the life of a missionary. I've experienced the difference in schedule as a secretary and now a week where I'm in the apartment all day. Funny. So basically this week wasn't entirely filled with lots of experiences, but I will try to think of some stuff that we did in the apartment together.

Eger Elders: Magda, Shoop, Sterri, Vanderpool

First off, we found plenty of time to clean and rearrange the apartment. This apartment, I think, is one of the oldest apartments I have ever been in, and just walking in it gives me this old feeling as though I was walking into a 1930's apartment. It’s as if I am in the wrong era. But, with the time that we did have, we were able to rearrange some of the furniture and make it look a lot nicer than it did before. We also re did the kitchen a little bit and made things more orderly and now it doesn't look half bad. I think that was the main project we had for the apartment. We do have another problem though, which is: cockroaches. That's right; we have a nice bug infestation. Luckily they only come out at night, but that's also the worst part, because if you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you have to wear shoes in case you may step on a cockroach, and you don't want that between your toes. It's especially sketchy in the bathroom, because the floor has lots of black specks within the artwork. That means you gotta check if it's a cockroach or a tile piece just in case. Ha ha, it's been quite an adventure. The good thing is that we had a bug guy visit us this week (someone from the outer world!) and he checked the problem and sprayed around the place with bug stuff. The funny thing though was the next day, we woke finding 15 dead cockroaches on the floor, and not all of them were just tiny ones. There were a few that were a little bigger than the size of my thumb. We're surviving though, no need to panic. :)

We also went through both of our area books with former and potential investigators. Go tell a missionary that and let me know what their reaction was. Because in all of my previous areas, we would go through the area book and just do maybe half of it with some of the time we had. But here, we went through both of our huge area books and called all of the people in it and also found people that we are going to hit up and visit these next few weeks. We were able to set up a few programs from it, but the fact of the matter is, we went all the way back to records that were made in 2003! I don't know how it is in other missions, but for here, that's crazy! 

We were able to go to conference, which was a weird thing at first because we hadn't been outside our apartment before that, so it was like we were stepping out into a whole new world! Ha ha, but conference was great. We did listen to it in Hungarian, but the kewl thing was that this time I could understand mostly everything that the speakers talked about! Do you know how incredible that is?!?! I LOVE THIS LANGUAGE!!!! I can't even express mennyire szeretek magyarul beszélni. (how much I like to speak it in English.) :D And also I heard Elder Runnells translate I think for the first session of conference. It was way kewl to hear! I hope it wasn't Abram that was translating in the first session, because if it was, then I feel bad that I couldn't recognize his voice anymore. But I'm pretty sure I wasn't. And just a little shout out for him, you stud! 

Elder Magda with Eger sunset in background

Anyways, things are good here and this week we are liberated from our confinement and can go out and my companion is feeling better! I have pictures to send, so I hope that makes up for it. :) ANNNNNdddddddd, last but not least. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!! And that's the last time I'm going to say it as a missionary! Crazy, right?!?! I just hit my 3/4 mark on Thursdays. Only 6 more months! 

 

Elder Sterri and Elder Magda on the railroad tracks

Some quick replies: I did solve my pillow problem, I got one from the other elder’s apartment that I was using while I was with them for 5 days and they allowed me to keep it. So much better! My bank card issue is solved. I was able to use it, so that means it's good now, I think. And for Christmas, I would just love some American candy. That would be the greatest present of all time! With Zours, if that would be possible. :) And congrats to TNT for getting first at Improv! That's way sick! And also for Matthew going AP! I was pretty sure he would be one in his mission. I just emailed him and congratulated him :) 

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my pictures! 

Love,

Magda Elder