Monday, 22 October
Transfer calls came this morning. Parts of my predictions
were right and some were wrong. I am indeed leaving and the other three Elders
here are staying. I will be going to Szolnok to serve with Elder Hunnicutt. I
will finally be near Hortobagy and have a chance to go there. Other changes are
that Elder Nabrotzky is going co-senior with Elder Forsyth (despite being in
their 5th and 10th transfers, respectively), Elder
Headrick is training, Elders Rosen and Snyder both became Zone Leaders, and
Elder Pendleton has been called as Secretary.
This afternoon, nearly everywhere was closed for the holiday tomorrow. I
called a couple members and investigators to say “good-bye.” In the evening we
had Family Home Evening with the K Family. My miracle is that during the past
week the K family went with a couple other Hungarian members to the Freiburg
Temple. It was important to the K family because, in preparation for his mission,
B was receiving his Endowments. While there, President Monson walked in. They
all had the opportunity to shake his hand, talk to him, hug him, or all three.
B spoke to him for a while and said he feels like that was a great confirmation
about his choice to serve a Mission. Tomorrow's my last day in Szombathely and
with Elder Nabrotzky! Crazy!
Tuesday, 23
October
Today is a National Holiday in celebration of the
revolution against the Soviet Union. This morning I listened to Elder Holland's
talk from this last conference. When he talked about the Apostles returning to
fishing after Christ's death, it made me think of the guy who yelled in my face
on Saturday. If the apostles weren't quite sure how to react to our Lord's
death, I guess it would only make sense that there are some people today who
just don't understand either. Anyhow, it was a really powerful talk. We met with both K's today. K fed us again
and we were able to spend 45 minutes just reading the scriptures with her since
she didn't read them on her own. We later visited with K and shared a spiritual
thought. Lastly, we swung by the Branch House so I could say “good-bye” to five
other members. My miracle today is that I'm leaving my first city as Senior,
and that the work gradually increased all three transfers that I was here. On
to Szolnok…!
Wednesday, 24
October
Transfers were today. I am now in Szolnok with Elder
Hunnicutt, but first, back to this morning. When we arrived at the Keleti Train
Station - looking around at the other Missionaries - I realized that out of the
18 of us there, I was the oldest! Later, two older Missionaries came, but that
was it. I'm getting old in the Mission. While waiting at the train station, I
spent quite a while talking to and getting to know Elders Hansen, Mullen, and
Hunnicutt, my new companion. Around
2:00, we all split up. Upon arriving in Szolnok, we dropped of my bags and went
straight to the Branch House. At Seminary I had a small chance to meet eight of
the members. When we returned I began cleaning, vacuuming, and unpacking. I
have everything unpacked, but still some cleaning and organizing to do. I am already beginning to like this city. We
have a good apartment, are close to a fair amount of things, and I have a good
companion. I'll write more about Elder Hunnicutt in a day or two (as usual).
He's already been more mature, and really nice to me. I look forward to serving
with him. On a miracle note, the Sisters here are on fire. They have two
baptisms arranged for this Saturday, and tonight they scheduled another for
December. Well done Sisters!
Thursday, 25
October
Couple things today. First, something I forgot to write
in the past is how well we got patriotic songs stuck into Elder Nabrotzky's
head. Every day for almost two weeks he would wake up with, and throughout the
day have, “God Bless the USA” stuck in his head. Today we went to a school and
joined a couple classes for 3 hours. The second class went really well. It was
the youngest group, but the most open and the only one I really look forward to
returning to. The last and oldest group was a joke and pretty disrespectful.
Afterwards we went streeting and tabling with C for several hours. My miracle today is my companion, Elder
Hunnicutt. He is in his 4th transfer, having served two in Erd with
Elder Runnells and Elder Swett, and two in Szolnok, one with Elder Pendleton
and now one with me. Elder Hunnicutt is super nice. He has two older brothers,
is from Texas (but also lived in California, Washington, and New York), says
“y'all,” and likes video games and card games. He also lived with his
grandparents for a couple years to help take care of them.
Friday, 26 October
Today I began working on the Ward List and the Area Book.
The Ward List is much smaller than Szombathely's, shrinking from 16 ½ pages to
1 ½ pages. Elder Hunnicutt made lunch for both of us today. He really enjoys
cooking. We had a program with C this afternoon and challenged him to read the
Book of Mormon straight through for his first time. We then went streeting with
him. In the evening we met with G and D.
I also planned out the agenda of District Meeting. My miracle today is that I
am getting to know many of the members, their faces and names, really quickly
here.
Saturday, 27 October
(500th Day as a Missionary)
This morning, following studies, I cleaned half of our
apartment. Elder Hunnicutt cooked lunch again. The main events of today were
two baptisms. A and Z, investigators of the Sisters here, were baptized in a hotel
in the city around 4:00 this afternoon. President and Sister Smith were there
and I had the opportunity to talk with them and ask President two thoughts on
my mind. After the baptisms and talks,
there was a linger longer at the Branch House. There we all talked, ate, and
visited, giving me more opportunities to get to meet members. Today's miracle
is that at both the baptism and linger longer, A and Z both seemed to be
welcomed, accepted, and fit right in alongside everyone. I'm tired. I'm glad
the clocks all fall back one hour tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that hour of
sleep. It will be heavenly.
Sunday, 28 October
This morning began with an early Ward Council Meeting. Following
the meeting, I pulled E aside and asked him to help me go through the lists of
active and inactive members I'd collected. That was a huge help. We then had
the rest of Church. Elder Pendleton came back from Buda to do A's confirmation. After Church, we came back to our apartment
and did all our studies, followed by scheduling and planning our week. I've
already called eight of the fourteen inactive members in the Branch. Two told
me to call back later and only one was willing to meet this week. In the
evening, I got to spend two hours on the phone fulfilling my District Leader
duties. Since I've gotten here to Szolnok, despite our lack of programs, things
have been so busy. This week has been one of the busiest weeks of my Mission. Once
again I walked into a dead companionship, and I have work to do to build up the
work. I'm sure tomorrow will also be a full and busy day. Today, the miracle is
that Elder Hunnicutt and I are already getting along well. We seem to be more
similar than either of us thought at first.
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