Monday, July 15, 2013

Month Mark!!!

Hey everyone! 
It's my month mark in Hungary! Super weird...feels like I just got here like last week. Well, we had a busy week. Lots of fun people we talked to, lots of Hungarian that I have learned. We've had some fun. We had a programme with a lady and I showed her pictures of my family and she kept saying "How old is your sister?", which was really confusing to me. When I asked her who she was talking about, she pointed to the only girl in the picture, which turned out to be my mom! Awkward explaining that to her, but we got a kick out of it! So Mom, I guess the Hungarians think you are really, really young looking!

We got to go down to the city of Szeged this past week for zone conference! It's like a three hour train ride from Szolnok, so we got to talk to our sisters in the train ride down and pass the time. Super fun ride! Szeged is the biggest city in our zone, and it is absolutely gorgeous! However, the Hungarians refer to it as the (roughly translated) the "hick" area of Hungary, because they pronounce their vowels super weird, so they all sound messed up. Super funny listening to them! I got to eat Fruit Soup down there for the first time...it's so yummy! It's like a cold, thick soup with chunks of fruit in it-really nice on hot Summer days!
So we've had a few rough days where we didn't get a whole lot accomplished we felt, but we had a few miracles towards the end of the week that made up for it :) One of them was after our Angol Ora class and we met with this super classy guy and his wife. We watched the Restoration film with them, and a really cool spirit filled the room. Afterward, they were really interested in what we had to say to them, and my companion and one of the branch members started to talk to them in really rapid Hungarian, kind of leaving me in the dust. When there was a lull in the talking, I told them that I would like to share my testimony with them about what we had talked about. They looked at me, and I had the stage for a good five minutes in Hungarian. Literally I don't remember what I said, but the Spirit was so strong there, and at the end we committed to baptism the wife. First lesson, too. Tender mercy!
Miracle Number 2- We were tracting and ran into a lady that gave us that "I'll listen but I'm not really interested in what you have to say" kind of face. I said (literally) like a ten second prayer in my heart, and I watched this ladie's complexion literally melt away and she let us in! We are going back to teach her in a week :)
Hungarian is coming along slowly, I'm picking up more and more as time goes on. It seems like that Eastern European language that you see on James Bond movies, it really is! We actually got to see a Hungarian wedding this past week (we had permission from the President), it was so neat! It was very elegant. Also, I had a branch member come up to me on Sunday and say how cool it was that I was on YouTube-DANG IT THEY FOUND ME! They all thought it was way cool, but I was a little embarassed!
Also, Hungarians like to tattoo English sayings to their arms because they seriously love America over here. However, sometimes I don't think they realize what it says: for example, I saw a big guy on the bus one day with "Listen to your heart" tattooed to his right arm...um...little bit cray.
For my thought today, I've been reading a lot in those teachings of the presidents of the church books, and I found this cool quote from Joseph Smith: "...let what will, come; don't deny the faith, and all will be well." Love this quote! I think it's so neat to know that I know that Heavenly Father has my life known, and He knows what is best for me!
Well, that's about it. It's still humid here, but it hasn't been boiling hot. So that's good. The rain is nice, it's been raining for like a couple days. Szolnok is gearing up for a big wine festival down the street, we might go checkout the fagylalt (Hungarian ice cream, it's kind of like a gelato) stands. So yummy!
Well, that's about it for now. I hope you all have a great week, and I send lots of love from Hungary!
Sok Szeretettel,
Giacalone Elder

yummy pekseg!!!  I love them!!!

Szeged!

Szeged!

This happens a lot...oh sisters...gotta love Sister Oberhansley and Sister Grigg!

A cool statue right by our apartment. Szolnok is full of them.

This statue actually talks about how Hungary was conquered by the Turks so....not quite sure why it's still here....

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