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.

We went to a small mining village called Petőfi akna and I'm pretty sure that we were the first missionaries there. We met a lady who got angry at us because she thought that we evict people from their homes, but once we told her that were missionaries, she smiled. Another lady in Somogy said that were daring. The branch mission leader, Brother István, took us on his mini bus around the city which was really fun. The weather got cold and rainy for a few days. (The weather changes here in Pécs are crazy. I heard that we are in a Mediterranean climate zone.)

On Sunday I gave a talk on the doctrine of Christ. It felt like 5 minutes but it was really 20. I also encouraged the members to work together with the missionaries. I thought it went well and hopefully it will help the work here in Pécs. I also taught the Gospel Principles class and said the closing prayer in elders quorum, so I was on triple duty. We also taught a few less actives this week and gave away 7 copies of the Book of Mormon. Our investigator dogged us (that's missionary slang for didn't show up for the lesson). On P-day we are going to visit a big Roman Catholic cathedral in the downtown area.

Thank you for the many emails you send me and I wish all of you a great week. Lots of love,

Elder Gonzalez

P.S. Answers to some questions from the family:

1. I exercise everyday.  I mostly do chin ups, pushups, and planks. No weights unfortunately but I'm improving. I haven't lost or gained weight so far.
2. Talking to strangers in the street gets easier the more you do it, but it's still a nervous experience.
3. My Hungarian vocabulary is definitely better. I don't know if my pronunciation is improving. We have language study from 10 to 11 in the morning. There are some grammar books and lots of Liahona magazines.
4. I have elders Fitzgerald, Lawrence, and Martineau, as well as sisters Hawker and Peterson in my district. They're all great!
5. The last baptism in Pécs was 3 months ago.

Havihegy, a picturesque city district on the hillside of Pécs.

Cold drinks on a hot summer day given to us by complete strangers!

View of the sunset from our apartment window.

Going on a bus ride with our branch mission leader, Brother István. Cool!

Trabant