Can I leave now?

Sziastok!

I hope all is well back at home. My MTC experience is winding down right now, all we do in class is review and practice teach in Hungarian. It's a nice break from trying to memorize all the crazy Hungarian grammar principles, but it's also pretty weird because it means that we will be in Hungary in like eleven days.

What.

Neely Elder and myself finished teaching our two beloved investigators this week, Edit and Viktor. Viktor is getting baptized(!) the week we leave and Edit is still uncertain, but we are pretty sure she will make the right decision. It was so sad saying goodbye to them and explaining that new missionaries would be taking over from us. When we told Viktor, he exclaimed "Micsoda? (What the miracle?), kind of their "What the crud?" We got a good laugh out of that. We'll miss teaching them, they were so much fun. Even if they corrected all of our Hungarian, all the time!

Well, advantages of living in the West MTC is the chance to visit Brigham's Landing on the south tip of campus. You can get Jamba Juice, Ice cream, there's a Great Harvest bread store and a yummy burger joint! It's super crazy though because when we walk down everyone sees our nametags and we have what we call mini "celebrity" moments. People want to take pictures with us, kids point to us and moms wave. At first it was super awkward, but now we just go with the flow. Hey, and Jamba Juice gives missionaries half off! Party on.

Well, we have officially begun our "consecration week". During this week, my whole district will be speaking only Hungarian to eachother and to everyone else. No English allowed. Along with that, we have personal goals that we have all set to help us come close to Christ. Just simple things to help us be more obedient. Mine are to fast tomorrow (Friday) and on next Wednesday, to abstain from junk food (BYU ice cream and donuts included...*tear), and to be positive. I have other ones, but I can't remember them off the top of my head right now.

We love having our new little "kici" missionaries around, they ask fun little questions like "How do you say 'sorry'"?  I remember being there, that's the funny thing! We have to speak Hungarian now all the time, so we are becoming masters of charades and name guessing with them as they struggle to figure out what the heck we are trying to say.

I appreciate all the prayers on my behalf, and please pray for my district and myself this next week and we strive to keep our week holy before the Lord.

On a more sad note, one of our beloved sisters went home this past week from the MTC. Our district was so sad to see her go, and if you don't mind, please include her in your prayers. We don't know why she left, it's between her and the Savior now. The night she left we had a testimony meeting type thing in our classroom. Usually at night the teachers leave and our district just studies at night alone, but they came back and lifted us back up. I gained a testimony that night of the power of teachers, they really do love us and care for us. I was amazed by their determination to fix what was wrong with us and help us get back to work.

I think sometimes that's how God works. I love to read in Alma 37 about how we should "counsel" with God in all our actions. It's not "lets have a simple chat with God", it's having a counsel. I like to think of that as when you counsel with your earthly father, or with a bishop, or a good friend. It's talking to someone who really cares about you. I know that God wants to counsel with us. Have you prayed to Him lately? If you haven't, please do so now. Tell Him about your day, your fears, your worries, your trials. Tell Him about things you aren't certain about, big choices in your life, or when you just need help. I know I'm just a 19 year old kid way in over his head right now with a huge responsibilty and a crazy language to learn, but I know that with God and with Jesus Christ, I can do this. There is no way one can fail with a perfect God on your side. It brings great comfort to me to know He is only a prayer away.

Our God is not a farway God.

I hope you have a fantastic week, and make sure you say your prayers tonight :)

Sok Szeretettel,

Giacalone Elder (11 days!)