Week 6

Szíastok!

Hello everyone! I hope you are all well. This past week has been super cray, we've been very busy with lots and lots of stuff. In classroom instruction, we are just reviewing everything we've learned and we are learning small grammar principles that "aren't that important but we have nothing else critical to really teach you", to quote one of my teachers. I love them haha! With the Summer coming, and the massive influx of new missionaries coming with it, the MTC is hiring new teachers like it's nobody's business. We got two new Hungarian teachers, which is HUGE. We have had the same three for the past six weeks, so it was a big deal to almost double our numbers with teachers.

The biggest change of all is that I am now officially a missionary at the West MTC Campus in Wyview! I'm one of the first 100 missionaries to "settle" this area! It's so nice! Our rooms are brand new, and I have gone from sharing a room the size of my kitchen back at home with six elders, to my own room with just my companion and myself! We have our own kitchen, bathroom, and WE HAVE A FRIDGE. REPEAT. WE HAVE A FRIDGE. SEND THE MOUNTAIN DEW ASAP.

Um...so Wyview! I am part of the first 100 missionaries to come here, they expect about 2,000 here by July! How exciting is this?!

Since I have been here for so long, I got to host new missionaries yesterday as they arrived! I didn't get to host my new "kici" Hungarians, but I saw them! They looked terrified, but who isn't the first day? It's a roller coaster. I think I've forgotten about how hard it was to say goodbye to my family, because as I hosted my new elders, their moms were just bawling into their shoulders- I saw one mother literally weeping for her son! All I could do was give my new missionary a hug and tell him it was going to be OK. I felt all my elder's pain as they said goodbye to their moms, but the best is yet to come for them! What an awesome work we are a part of, they are going to love West campus!

So in WMTC we live in the Wyview buildings (practically brand new, and they have a sand volleyball pit :) ) and our classrooms are in the RainTree buildings. It's a little weird, our "classroom" is in a former living room of an apartment. We store our books and papers in what was the pantry of the kitchen, and our progressing investigator's room is in a former bedroom. At first it was weird teaching in there, but the Spirit can dwell anywhere if we invite it to come. The entire MTC Presidency visited us a couple days ago on our first night at the campus-they really do care about us! And on Tuesday night devotional, the main campus recognized us and showed a live-stream of our small little group of missionaries in the Wyview Chapel to all 4,000 missionaries in the other campus. It was pretty cool.

My baby Hungarians have finally arrived! Yesterday morning, my entire district wrote letters for each missionary in the district and wished them all well, and "Nem Svabad Feladni!" Never give up! They were absolutely terrified, I can relate! But those first few days are among the most humbling I think we will ever experience in our mission. They teach us to rely on God. That first night sucked. You don't know anyone, you don't understand the language, and you don't think you can do it anymore. You miss your family and friends, and you just want a hug. It's times like these where kneeling trumps standing. I promise that as we pour our hearts out to God, He will bless us in ways we cannot comprehend. I don't think that an entity of absolute perfection and love would let one lone missionary, who is scared and afraid of his/her future, feel alone. He is NOT a faraway God. He's sitting next to us in class when our fears and frustrations get to us, He's sitting on the couch next to us in discussions when we don't understand anything the investigator is saying, and He watches over our tear-streaked faces as we try to get sleep. I testify that Jesus is the Christ, He is my Savior. He knows our hearts, and He will never let us walk alone.

"Happy day! All is Well!"

And, all WILL be well!

Nem Svabad Feladni!

Giacalone Elder