Tuesday 12 July 2016

Week 5 in Pécs

Hi everybody,

Here in the mission field time is flying by so fast. I've already been in the country for over a month. We tracted every day this week. We talked to an old lady who was crying a lot over the deaths of several family members of hers. It was a unique feeling and I felt that God really does love this woman.

While Elder Fitzgerald and I tract, we sometimes talk about the doors and bells: which ones are cool and which ones are not. It's really funny and helps the time go by. We also met a drunk guy on the street who said that he's Jesus. Yeah, sure.

The weather right now is really hot. We were in Bányatelep, near Somogy, and we asked an old man for water and he let us in. We talked and he said that he used to be an officer in the army. A few doors down the road a couple gave us cold Coca Cola drinks. It was a really nice gesture and my challenge for you all is to do something nice to the missionaries back home. Lots of people on the street think that we are parking enforcement officers which is way funny.

Week 4 in Pécs

Hey!

This week went well and I will tell you some of the adventures that happened to us.

We knocked on a very old apartment and there were still Russian letters on the door! We talked through the door to a very old man who called us in for a moment to show his Bibles. We gave him a Book of Mormon for his collection. Outside, we talked to a group of older ladies and one said she had seen me there before. So I knew that she had definitely met Miguel! We found out that Miguel had given her a Book of Mormon when he served here about a year ago.

One day I decided that we should randomly take a bus and so we ended up in a small village near Pécs that is called Somogy. It is a very nice place, very rural and charming. A lot of dog barked at us, but we managed to talk to a lot of people.

Elder Fitzgerald and I cooked roast chicken with potatoes. We also made Hungarian crêpes (palacsinta). Many people invited us for lunch or dinner. One day we had four programs. :) The freezer in our apartment needed to be defrosted, so we melted the ice with a hairdryer.

Tuesday 5 July 2016

Captain Gonzalez reports!

Hey!

I am starting to get used to being a missionary in Pécs and it is has been going well. On Monday we tracted in the rain, so we focused on apartment buildings. The older people were really grumpy because 8 o’clock in the evening was already too late for them, haha. On Tuesday we taught 3 lessons! That doesn’t seem like too much in some other missions, but here in Hungary it is great. Just ask Miguel! My brother has been of a great help in getting appointments for us and meeting people here. One of the people we taught was a member called Éva whom Miguel asked us to visit. Csaba, another member of the branch, came to teach with us. We also met with an investigator called Marcsi. When I phoned her, I said to her that I’m Miguel’s brother and right away she wanted to meet with us! The third person was another investigator called László who had many questions on things like polygamy and raising from the dead but we read together from 2 Nephi 31 and ended up giving him a baptismal date of August 6. It may get pushed to a later day, but that’s the goal. :)

Wednesday was greenie training in Budapest, and it was good to meet with the other new missionaries who came in my group from the MTC. On Thursday we taught anoher lesson to János and at the end we talked about Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill. (Bud Spencer passed away recently.) We also talked about a lot of old TV series, movies, and books that I have watched and read in Hungarian with my family in Toronto. He was very happy about it. Thanks, mom, for the knowledge of Hungarian culture that you gave me!  Then we taught English class. I really enjoy teaching English and at times it’s a lot of fun. During streeting Elder Fitzgerald borrowed some teen's skateboard and I took a sick picture of him on it.