The Cold is Coming On

November 25, 2013

'What is this?!?! A center for ants?!?!? This needs to be.....at least......10 times bigger than this!' 

'Uh, sir, my fingers hurt.' 'What's that? Well now your backs gonna hurt because you just pullled landscaping duty.'  

Hint, these quotes all come from one actor. Hopefully that helps. :) 

It's a Good Read!

Greetings and Salutations!

Alrighty all, this one may be short, but I'll include some pictures to make up for the shortness of it. We had an interesting week this week. We had programs, but most of them all decided to cancel a few minutes before the program or just straight up dog us. The first few we let slide, thinking that there wouldn't be any more of them for the rest of the week. But, to our sadness, the cancels just kept on coming. There were times were we felt to tell the person that canceled 'No! You're not allowed to cancel on us!' Ha ha, but we were able to enjoy the week still, even though it meant us having extra time finding. We walk so much! Our bikes have been broken for the past few weeks (due to our laziness of going to the bike shop and getting them fixed) so we have had to walk all over the place to go from place to place and we have come back every night slowly taking off our shoes so that they won't fall off. 

Oh the exhaustion!  Oh the DRAMA!

Also, the cold is coming in, which is just wonderful for missionaries. Snow hasn't come yet, but it's been raining quite a bit and it just makes the days seem more miserable than they really are. They also make us so much sleepier. Several times we would be having lunch and just want to curl back up in bed and just fall asleep and hibernate for the next few days, but we've been fighting it. Hopefully we'll stay triumphant, ha ha. :P 

That dazed look you get after a long day.

But this week wasn't too bad because we had some awesome programs with our progressing investigators. I love every single one of them and I look forward to each program with them. They are such incredible people and they all have a real desire to keep the commitments that we give them. For example, we just met with one of the couples that we are meeting with this morning and they were curious about my little lapel pin that I had on my suit that mom sent me a last week that had the Army of Helaman on it and they asked if they could read the story from the Book of Mormon about the 2000 Stripling Warriors.  So when we met with them today they said 'Oh, we read that chapter that you had us read and we liked it!' They're such a kewl couple and they love it every time we come over and meet with them. Today we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we gave them the commitment to ponder and pray about being baptized, to which they responded with 'We definitely want to pray about it.' Such an amazing couple. We also have other people that we have been meeting with, one being a 19 year old boy who we found streeting and has been open to everything that we have been teaching him. He has been reading from the Book of Mormon and loves it. He is just like a spiritual sponge and he even said in our prayer with him last week that he hopes to meet with us continually! It has been incredible to see the change and impact that the Gospel and Book of Mormon have on the people that we meet. I love them all! They are such great people and we are praying for them continually that they will continue to progress as well as they are. 

Autumn day in Eger

I apologize for opening up the wrapped gifts that were in the package. I didn't think that they were also included in the 'Don't open till Christmas' deal. I just thought 'Oh, how cute, mom wrapped stuff up. That's totally something mom would do.' I also didn't think I would get that package as soon as I did. It was just a coincidence that President Smith came down last weekend for the Branch Conference that we were having and brought with him all the mail for the city. I still have that little envelope that I have yet to open, so that will be my surprise for Christmas, along with Skyping you all. :) This, by the way, is crazy because it will be my last Skype! Weird, huh? And also, on Black Friday it will have been 2 years since I've had my mission call. Krazy! Time flies when you’re a missionary, more so if fun is included in it. 

Alrighty, now I'll answer some of the questions that have been requested. 

1. Hungarian Holiday Dish: Well there is a nasty pig jello called 'Korcsonya' (I believe that's how it's spelled, not sure). Weird fact is a lot of Hungarians like it. When I first heard about it, I was kind of disappointed with the decision that Hungary made of making that even a dish to eat. Just imagine it! Don't try too hard though, it may not be pretty.

2. Hungarians don't really decorate their houses. A good portion of the country is 5/10 story apartment buildings, so they really don't have much to decorate. But there are some people that are determined to do so, which is always nice to see the inner holiday spirit of the people. Usually the mall is pretty decorated. 

3. Oh do they have pets, especially dogs. My word Hungarians love their dogs. I'm pretty sure people take their dogs out on walks 3-4 times a day, because I swear I have seen the same person out with their dog at about 1-2 o'clock in the day and then around 6-7 coming back see them again out walking their dog. Sometimes they even walk their cats! No joke! The next time I see it, I'll try to sneak a picture. Funniest thing, ha ha! 

4. I guess the strangest encounter I've had is just tabling in Békéscsaba with Elder Channell and just watching people and then feeling something hit my leg, then looking down and seeing that a bird had just taken a crap on me. I think the worst part of that though was looking up and seeing the bird still up in the tree and just staring at me. I don't know what I must have done to make him mad at me, but I'm pretty sure it was an intentional shot. Birds...........

5. Dating is somewhat interesting here. It is similar in that fact that the just hang out with their date instead of going on an actual date. They also start dating, almost all the youth, around 12, sometimes even younger. Interesting culture. 

6. I would say that Grandparents normally live with the extended family, at least from what I've seen, or they just live by themselves. I've run into some really old couples where they probably should be in a retirement home, but they'd rather just be in their own apartment. Interesting, but, I guess if that's what you want, go with it. 

Basilica in Eger

Hopefully you enjoyed this week’s edition of 'Gettin Hungary with Elder Magda'. I hope all of you enjoy your Thanksgiving! (Which, by the way, here we will probably be having dinner with the senior couple here in Eger) Enjoy the holidays and have a couple of homemade rolls in my name!

Sok Szeretettel,

Magda Elder