Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Szeged Week Eight (Week 57)

Another fun week down here in the Szegedlands. Thanks for the package, Mom and Steph! :D

We had a baptism!!! The man that I interviewed was baptized by the Branch President. It was so cool! We did it in a Adventist church, because we don't have a fount to use. It was a very pretty building and it went great!

Hungary had it's Stake Conference last week! There is only one Stake in Hungary which takes up the middle half of the country and the cities around Budapest, and the remaining six cities are on divided into two Districts: one is on the far western part of the country centered on the city of Szombathely (this includes the city of Sopron, where I served), and the other one is in the far east centered on the city of Miskolc (this includes the city of Debrecen, mentioned by Pres. Monson in one of his conference talks). Szeged, my current city, is part of the stake. Dang, don't you feel so informed right now? :) 

The Stake President has been in office for like eight years and he's rocking it. The common joke running throughout the members is that he is the "best Stake President ever", but then again, he's also the only Stake President. Ever. Lol. There were talks from members throughout the stake including youth speakers from Szeged, the new Branch President in Kaposvar (where I served!), and some really solid members from Buda, Pest, and Kispest, which are all parts of the city of Budapest. So yeah, the meeting was broadcasted to the Szeged branch house and we got to watch it on tv. So fun :) 

Because the Summer is here, all the ice cream stores are opening up in Hungary! Here there are two kinds that you can buy: "fagyi", which is like a gilato type soft-served ice cream, and "jég krém", which, directly translated, is "ice cream" or the kind you would get at Baskin Robbins. ALL of our investigators want to go get ice cream with us and then sit on a bench in a park and then talk about the gospel. We gladly did it! It's been great, I don't think I've had more ice cream in one week than this past one! The weather has been beautiful!

Last night, I realized that I now need a new planner. You know what that means? NEW TRANSFER. And it's next week! I cannot believe how fast these past nine weeks went! I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be a good one next week. That also means that I will be emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday, so just a heads up. 

Sweet moment of the week: Missionaries have been meeting with "A" since last Fall. He has had a few obstacles to his goal of baptism that he has been working on, and has been hesitant to set a date. This last week we met with him and talked about his scripture reading. Normally, it's a good thing if he read a verse or two, but when we met with him he had read EIGHT CHAPTERS. He looked different,too. Lots happier. Absolutely crazy. We (Elder Shoop and I) both felt it would be good to bring up baptism with him. We told him that we both felt it was time to set a date and to work out his problems. He looked at us, and then said it was time! So...August 4th! Woo! We're so excited! We also got to Skype at his house for Mother's Day, and so my family got to meet him! He loved seeing you all! :) 

I'm so grateful for my mission. I love it. I got to talk to dad on Skype for a few minutes after my mom had to go take all my brothers to church. He talked about making this last year count. I feel so tired nowadays, but it's a good tired! It's the kind of tired that makes me know I'm working my butt off! I'm excited for transfers next week. I have a feeling it will be a good one :) 

Have a great week! :) 

Sok Szeretettel,
Elder Giacalone

No comments:

Post a Comment