Progression...

Jó napot!

Another exciting week full of adventures and shenanigans have come and past, which somehow brings us to being already over halfway through this transfer which is pretty crazy, the time is flying by super quick. 

  Monday wasn't anything too exciting other than the fact that there was a HUGE rain storm right when we had to head to a lesson in the middle of p-day. We got super soaked. Then the guy didn't even let us, but we did set up again for the next day. So it was still kind of a success.

  Tuesday mornings for us always start with a nice call from President Szabadkai so we can discuss a little about the zone and how things are going, but this one was a little different because it ended with President telling us to go on an emergency split with one of the companionships in our zone on friday, but still a great time. We also had like 4 lessons planned for tuesday and we got dogged twice, which was wonderful, one person that we taught did give us huge watermelons to eat while we chatted so that nice.

  Wednesday was one of my favourite times of every transfer, MLC, and it made it even more special because we only get one of them transfer. We talked about a lot of things, such as, faith, Christ-like attributes, leadership, finding and technology. It was a super good meeting and I was able to catch up with a lot of old friends, including Elder Hughes and a few people from my MTC group.

  Thursday was pretty normal, we just had our district meeting on commitments and met with a few people, nothing too crazy happened from memory.

  Friday was a crazy day. We started with two baptismal interviews (for Eszter and Ildikó) and they both passed, so it was super great. Due to the fact that I'm both the district and zone leader here, we had to have both President Szabadkai and the assistants come down for the interviews, so it was a good little time. We also gave the assistants some lunch on the way out and then I ripped my pants getting out of their car (pants die so often as a missionary...). Immediately after that we had to head out on our emergency exchange, which was actually really pleasant.

  I got to spend the exchange with an elder that I've worked with a few times in my mission and it was actually a really cool experience. He has had a bit of reputation of being troublesome earlier in his mission and hasn't been the most diligent but this time I got to see a huge change in him, he actually really wanted to work and he was a lot happier than he used to be. Times are still a little hard for him and we're working on his companion, but it was really cool to see him improving.

  The rest of our weeks was mainly spent planning so it wasn't too exciting but it was still great.

Hope you all have a wonderful week and try not to freak out as much as I am about how tomorrow is August haha.

Sok szeretettel,

McKim Elder

P.S I would send pictures but the computer won't accept my card, sorry...

A cauldron, car and Keresztelő

Szervusztok!

The weeks are still flying just as quick as ever and the adventures are still continuing on this quest for the salvation of souls!

  We started off this week with a wonderful trip to one of, if not, the prettiest cities in this country and also the home of my mission president, Pécs. I was also able to spend the time with one of my favourite elders in the mission, Elder Sharp, so it was a pretty great time. Elder Sharp's faith is incredible, we headed out tracting on tuesday night and before we start he turns to me and says "McKim Elder, Elder Willes and I picked this street because we felt like we would get a let-in within the first couple doors", needless to say door number 4 lets us in. Elder Sharp definitely strengthened my testimony of the "Developing the faith to find" section of preach my gospel. 

  Wednesday I was able to do a bit more fantastic finding with Elder Sharp before we jumped back in the car and headed back up to Dunaújváros. We were able to meet with one of our investigators who is baptismal date and then Elder Terry and I made a huge pot of rakott krumpli, that is literally still in or fridge because it was so big.

  Thursday we were able to have our district meeting on planning and then head out to do service at the disabled people home before getting dogged by our two lessons for the day, but it was still good times.

  Friday we planned for a long time, met with our investigator on baptismal date and ran throught the interview questions with them, met with one of our recent converts and then went home teaching to our branch presidents house, where they fed us some delicious food and we helped them put up a tent.

  Saturday we were able to have a baptism because a family who used to live here in Duna decided to come back here from England to baptise their daughter. So we got to participate in that and afterwards we got to go to our branch presidents house for a little bit too where they were having a "Bogrács", where they basically just cook a giant pot of gulyás (stew) in a cauldron over a fire and then everyone eats it. It was super delicious. We also were able to meet with our other investigator who is on baptismal date and review the questions with her, so that was also exciting.

Well that was about all for interesting things this week. I hope you all have a great week!

Viszlát!

- McKim Elder

PICS!

              We found this graffiti on a church that says "Jesus lives", (Jézuz él) and we couldn't resist.                                

                                                   Elder Sharp and I in Pécs' main square

                                   

Solid week

Szervusztok!

Well the weeks are still flying by here and somehow I've already been in Dunaújváros for 3 weeks, but I'm still loving it and it's terrifying to see it fly before my eyes so fast haha.

  Our week started with interviews with President Szabadkai. It was kind of weird having interviews two weeks into the transfer but they changed the system now and instead of having interviews every 9 weeks we're going to have them either every 6 weeks or every month, I'm not completely sure. It's always great though, I love my chats with President Szabadkai. We then had exchanges with the Veszprém elders immediately after and although I didn't get to work with him it meant I got to actually spend a bit of time with Elder Rohner, the only other Australian missionary in Hungary. I was able to work with Elder Biesinger though and we got to spend a lot of time tracting and we taught one of our investigators about tithing so it was pretty cool.

  The next day we dropped off the Veszprém elders and then Elder Terry and I had the opportunity of teaching our other investigator on baptismal date about tithing. Both of the people that we taught tithing to this week were so excited to pay it, it was super cool. We also met with another one of our investigator families and had a nice long discussion about who Jehova is, good times.

  Thursday was super busy. We had district meeting about the importance of the restoration, did service at the disabled peoples home, taught both of our investigators who are on baptismal date and moved both of the baptisms to the 12th of August as well as meeting with one of our recent converts. It was a fun day though.

  Friday we were able to do our weekly planning and then head down to the branch house for MCM. When we got there though we realised that one of the lights on our car was out and we had to get it fixed, but we also had to drive up to Budapest right after the meeting and couldn't be late. We had our branch mission leader in a taxi lead us to a place that would replace it but on the way somehow the light just fixed itself and we were able to make it Budapest on time. So moral of the story, miracles are real, people. But we were able to head up to Budapest for another exchange, this time with the assistants. 

  I spent most of the exchange out finding but Elder Fitzgerald and I were able to have so many crazy experiences that in the end we didn't even have to stop that many people. We seriously saw so many crazy miracles together and came out of it with multiple potential investigators, a container of káposztás tészta (cabbage pasta(?) ) and a weird pencil with a bear on top of it (because the woman who gave it to us' name has the hungarian word for bear in it...). So all in all it was pretty sweet. I also taught the law of chastity for like the second time in my whole mission when we came back from Budapest, so that was also fun, but it all went well.

Well that was my week, hope you all have a great on too!

Sok szeretettel

McKim Elder

Road trip time

Üdvözlök!

Well my first full week has passed in this great little city of Dunaújváros. The time is still flying and things are going as great as ever.

  On monday we went bowling together as a district. It's practically the only thing that this city has to do so we might struggle for more fun P-day ideas but I'm sure we'll find cool things to do here. If we don't we'll probably be playing a lot of bowling in my time here. We also got prank called like 3 times and got dogged, it was good fun.

  On tuesday we were able to give service at the disabled peoples home which is always super fun. We were also able to meet with both of our main investigators, Ildikó and Eszter. The lesson with Ildikó went super well and she's super excited to be baptised but we might have to push it back to the middle of August to make sure that we can teach everything. We were also able to give Eszter a baptismal date and if all goes well then she should be baptised on the 19th of August, which is pretty exciting, so hopefully we'll be able to have 2 baptisms here this transfer.

  Wednesday was another day of teaching, we got to go out to a little village a bit out of the city though to meet with a recent convert. She wanted one of the members to give a blessing on her house since she just moved in and so we got to help in that too. It was a pretty good day.

  Thursday wasn't anything too crazy but we did have district meeting which was pretty good, we talked about the importance of the area book and recording keeping, which isn't the most interesting of topics but it's still fun times being together. I also found out on thursday that one of the investigators that I taught while I was in Kaposvár is going to be baptised in Pécs in about 2 months, so that was pretty exciting, doesn't happen every day. 

  On friday we got to head down to Kaposvár to hold exchanges with the elders there and it was super weird because it was like going back home. I was only there for 2 months but I still remembered everything about that city, so it was really cool to be back there. I got to meet with one of the members from there which was cool and I was working with my old companion Elder Stringham, so it was pretty crazy. There was also a random sport tournament for like 12 year olds while we were there and so the city was full of 12 year olds from a bunch of different countries all around the world.

  Saturday wasn't anything too crazy, we just did a bunch of finding in Kaposvár and then Elder Terry and I had a pizza party in the car on the way home.

  Sunday was also pretty normal. I really like the branch here though, the members are all super cool and super friendly, so it's a fun place to be. We also had 5 new baptismal dates in our zone this week which brough our total up to 8 and one of the cities had a baptism on saturday, so the work is doing pretty well in this zone, it's super exciting.

Hope you all have a great week!

- McKim Elder

PICS!

                                                      A picture I took of Kaposvár's main square

New Beginnings

Üdvözlök!

Well I'm here in my brand new city of Dunaújváros. It's a really interesting place and a lot different from my past cities. As a little bit of background the city is only about 65 years old and was basically just built so people could work in the giant steel factory that is on the edge of the city. It was also originally called "Sztálinváros" (Stalin city) after the russian leader but they changed the name after the revolution, now it meant "Duna (Danube river) new city". It's also pretty small with only about 50,000 people but it still has plenty of those communist 10 story buildings, which is always great.

  Tuesday we basically just spent saying really sad farewells to some of the members in Szeged that we got really close to. Everyone was super confused as to why I was leaving and not Elder Hughes, but hey, sometimes the Lord has other plans for us. I got some really cute notes and treats from some of the members though so it was a nice way to go out.

  Wednesday we had transfers which is always fun because you get to catch up with most people. I got to see my trainer for the last time before he jumped on a plane back to America this week. Unfortunately I only ever got a picture with him and one of my sons, but he served well and he deserves his time back home now. Elder Terry and I then headed out in our CAR back to Dunaújváros which was just totally insane, but it's super nice and makes it way more convenient to get to other cities. We then spent the rest of the day doing a bit of finding and meeting with the branch president here.

  Thursday we had district meeting, but the funny thing was that no one thought to tell me that I'm actually the district leader here, so we had a good get to know you time with the district, it was fun. We also did service at a home for disabled people, along with meeting with two of our investigators and teaching english class, so we were pretty busy.

  Friday we had to head out to another city called Székesfehérvár (it's a mouthful, I know. We usually just call is Székes) so we could get registered with the government. We had time to come back and meet with one of our investigators and then we went and helped one of the members move a bunch of wood into his backyard, it felt super manly. The investigator we met with is on baptismal date and she's so prepared, her husband is a less active member and two of their family members are members in the branch here, they also have this really cute 1 and a half year old son. She's planning on being baptised on the 28th of july if all goes well so we're super excited.

  Saturday we got to help someone move and then spent most of the rest of the day planning and in meetings, but it was still fun.

  Yesterday was my first church here and it was great. I've always heard a lot about the branch here and how great they are and from what I've seen so far it seems pretty true. There are so many really cool and interesting people here and they're super willing to help us, so I'm excited to be able to work with the members here a lot.

This week should be fun, we get to head back down to Kaposvár already, so I'm super excited to see that place again, it should be great.

Jó hetet!

- McKim Elder

                                          3 generations on my dad's (Elder Jensen) last day

                                                            Elder Terry and me

                                   Elder Hughes and I got really wet after Zone Conference

Moving on

Szervusztok!

Well another week is done and so is another transfer, which unfortunately brings to an end this insanely long time that I got to spend with Elder Hughes. We had a super good run and it's sad for it to come to an end, but you know all good things must come to an end. I've joined a very small group of people in this mission who have come to a city after their companion stayed there for 4 months and then left before their companion, because by some miracle Elder Hughes has been allowed to stay here for another 2 months bringing his total to 8. I am going to be heading off to a city called Dunaújváros (good luck saying that everyone haha) and my new companion will be Elder Terry. There's going to be a lot of crazy things about it, like Elder Terry having a car as well as some other things but I'll talk about them more when everything is worked out. I'm super excited though, I'll get to visit Kaposvár again on splits and also Pécs, so it'll be a great time, I'm super excited.

This week was interesting as is the last week of every transfer it seems. We were able to teach a bunch of lessons this week and we're finally starting to see some good progression in a few of our investigators. We finally got two of them to agree to come to church this sunday and although I won't be there to see them, I'm super excited for them because I think they'll be able to start progressing really well now.

We also had our Zone Conference this week which was a really good experience. We gave a training with our Sister Training Leaders on teaching skills and I think it went really well. We had to get up super early though because they are always messing with the train lines and we didn't want to be late so we had to get up at 3:45am to make sure that we made it on time and didn't get back until 7pm but I guess that's the price you pay for living in such a beautiful city that's forever away from Budapest.

We got fed a tonne of times this week. Firstly we went to help a member pick currents in her huge garden on Friday and she gave us a bunch of sandwiches made out of the fresh stuff that she grows in her garden. We then got fed at a Less actives house on saturday. Then right after that another less active fed us some Hungarian pörkölt (basically just meat chunks covered in paprika and onions) and gave us a giant bag of paprika. Another member had us over on sunday to teach us how to make túró gombóc (I have no good explanation for this one) and they were really delicious. We also went out to a fancy restaurant last night to celebrate the time that we had together, so it was fun.

There was definitely more this week but my email is already super long, so have wonderful week!

- McKim Elder

Kalandozás

Hellosztok!

Well I'm officially entering my last week to be spent with Elder Hughes (we already asked to stay together one more and it got shut down :( ... ), but it's okay because I'm sure my next companion is going to be great, whoever it is. It's just going to be super weird to actually change this time haha, but it'll all work out.

  Last monday for P-day we headed up into the trees to go adventuring! That's literally the translation of what we did, but it was super sweet, it's basically just a huge ropes course up in a bunch of trees with a some zip-lines and stuff, definitely recommend it if anyone ever finds one. It was super tiring though!

  Tuesday was a pretty normal day we just taught a bunch of lessons and had our apartment inspected to make sure that we're keeping it clean. We passed with flying colours, Elder Hughes has been stress cleaning so much because of the transfers that there wasn't a single spot of dust haha.

  Wednesday we headed up to Kecskemét to do splits with the elders there. The splits were good, nothing too interesting happened but we did have a really good district meeting with them where we talked about resolving peoples concerns and Elder Gonzalez prepared a bunch of concerns and we did role plays where we had 2 minutes to find our what it was and resolve it, it was really fun.

  Thursday we went straight from Kecskemét to Budapest for MLC, but what seems to be the usual for us these days, something happened to our train and it arrived over 20 minutes late, making us run through Budapest in our suit coats in the boiling heat to make it there on time. We made it though. It was a good meeting and we had the stake leaders come at the end to discuss how they could help us by improving the church experience for investigators. The problem was that the meeting ended pretty late and so we didn't get back to our apartment until 11pm , but you know things happen.

  The rest of our week was basically filled with splits with the Békéscsaba Elders. They were super fun, we always look forward to our splits with them. We did have the unfortunate situation though of a ticket checker not accepting the bus ticket that Elder Pulsipher bought though and fining him 7,000ft, which really sucked, but we're going to split the fine and it's a funny story in the end, so what can you do about it?...

Well that was another week from the beautiful land of Magyarország.

További szép hetet. 

-McKim Elder