Elder Josh McKim, Budapest Hungary Mission: 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