Week One

Sziastok csaladom (Hello Family :))

I know that my letters I've written so far have been fairly scatter-shot, but that's because I wrote them mainly at 9:45, and I was exhausted and honestly just wanted to sleep! Haha! So, obviously the first few days are NOT fun. Heads up, Nick. I'm not going to sugar-coat it. When I walked away from you guys, they gave me my badge(!) all of my books (there are like 12, ALL in Hungarian!), and misc crap. You get an MTC card here that pretty much pays for everything that you do, and it has your picture on it :) you use it to open your doors everywhere, pay for food, pay for laudrey, etc. So they gave me that, then Elder Worthen took me to my residence, which is fairly crappy looking but it's MINE. Then, he took me to my classroom, which will be my HQ for the next 8 weeks (no longer 9, yay!). It's like...tiny. And there is ten of us, plus the teachers Grossen Teschver and Moody Nover, so we are fairly comfortable with each other by now! And now, I've been praying in Hungarain since like Sunday. Yeah for some reason I guess Heavenly Father wants me to know how to pray! Crazy how I learned so fast.

When I first walked in, Moody Nover just exploded in rapid fire Hungarian at me, and I honestly just wanted to cry! I had no idea what was going on and I wanted to just sit down and sleep! Obviously, things have changed since then, and now I can pull apart mostly what she is trying to say to us, along with Grossen Teshver. That's definitely a blessing.

It's hard to explain what has happened to me in the past week, but it's been very good. I have grown in so much, and I can feel the Lord molding me like clay, pushing my lumps and bumps around until I have become His vessel. We had a devotional yesterday on "yielding to the Lord", which I really need to work on. We also had a talk about "leaving YOU at the door of your house" when you come to the MTC. No offenense, I love you guys and miss you like CRAZY, but my time is the Lord's now, and what has been giving me anxiety and heartache those last few days has been me focusing on y'all instead of Him.

So, I love you all, but I'm going to forget about you all for a season. But honestly, I looked at myself in the mirror the other day and I looked...different. Neely Elder said something was up too with his reflection. We probably look like death since we are tired all the time, but our countenances shine. It's the Spirit, and it's AWESOME. Love this gospel!

What else what else....I got my shot the first day, mom. No worries. I am sending home a paper that includes all the insurance crap blah blah blah hopefully soon, I need to head over the the secretary sometime to get that. P Days are the best! It's such a laid back day and the temple was great! Awesome session. We are waiting for the driers to finish up our laundrey, then we get to go comfort the new missionaries that come in today! Yay! Poor kids, first day is way rough! But if we trust in the Lord, and just leave everything else behind, we will be OK.

Our investigator (Stephen) is Canadian-French but speaks Hungarian (yeah it's way weird) but we have had the first three discussions with him and he is eating it up! Baptism commitment is planned for this week sometime, whenver we can get ahold of him next. Yayyyyyyyy.

Hungarian is nasty, it sounds like you have a mouth full of mashed potatos while you are speaking (CHOM CHOM CHUM CHUMA CHOM). Literally it's the weirdest thing ever. And get this, instead of forming nice sentences with lots of words, they just tack on words to one word, so eventually you just get this massive huge death word that means "with God we can be happy" and it's like kasld;jfaiweofma;sdfka;sfjdajlwefawiof ....maybe an exaggeration, but it's cray cray.

Yeah, Godderidge Elder is our district leader, and is a spiritual giant! He always watches over our little district and makes sure we are all on the same page. The food is good, you just...have to let it settle haha ;)

Life is definitely changed for me, not just for a small season of two years, but forever. I'm so grateful for my Savior. They say that besides the temple, the Savior walks the halls of the MTC, because these are HIS servants going out to serve Him and their fellow man. I can definitely feel his presence besides me as I walk down this path to Hungary, always reaching out and supporting me when I stumble and get scared or frustrated. Today in the temple, in the celestial room there is this giant picture of Jesus with open arms and it occurred to me that WE have to have open arms as well, to receive him. Just like Him knocking on a door with no doorknob for him to open. WE need to let Him in, and that's when the miracles begin. I can't begin to explain the HALF of what I've experienced here in the MTC, especially when teaching Stephen with Neely Elder. When the Spirit takes over, it takes over!!! Like hardcore! Tears are flowing here nonstop.

Also, I got your package, and as much as I love it, could you refrain from sending me food? I have so MUCH food already, and the other Elders get crap too, so it kind of piles up...and gets smelly. Thankssss. But yeah, stamps and letters are good, and so is EYEDROPS. I know it sounds random, but my eyes are going CRAZY dry! Ummmm....I'll write you if I can think of anything else. My time is almost up.

I love you guys and miss you so so so so so so so so so much!!!! I pray for you everyday (in Hungarian ;) ) and I hope that my service is blessing our house. Two years is going to fly, and it makes me sad. The ussi (ancient) Hungarian sisters here are hilarious and they are our atyni (moms :) ), but they leave in two weeks! Ah! Then we get propped up and become the ussi! Crazyyyyy.

I had a testimony, but now, I am converted. I KNOW this gospel is true. Jesus Christ atonened for me, but most importantly, for YOU. Always remember that!

Szeretet!

Giacalone Elder :D