Elder Giacalone in Hungary

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Kaposvar Week 9 Pic

Sunset in Kaposvár

Pretty farms :)

Counselor in the Branch Pres., he's a great guy!

Last day tracting in Kaposvar

Tracting in Kaposvar

My "dark shirt" and my "dark" look

Elder Gould and his shirt

WOW. So transfers. Lots of weirdness happened. We got our phone call fairly late in the morning, so we spent our early ours pacing and sweating around our apartment. Then, the call came: Gould is staying. I, on the other hand, am leaving. Surprise! I'll be heading out to a city called Kecskemét! I actually have been there a few times on splits from when I served in Szolnok, so it will be a blast from the past.

I will be serving with Elder D'Angina! I've heard lots of good things about him, and so I'm very excited! I've heard that we have the hardest last names in the mission, so yay! Fun other facts about transfers: my trainer, Elder Miller, went AP. He will do a great job!

Fun other things that happened this week: Gould and I bought companionship t-shirts from a shop that was actually entitled "Dark Shop". Fun stuff! Our shirts are all about Hungary rising again from the ashes of post-WW1 and reclaiming lost land-so positive! Yay! My shirt actually says "Justice to Hungary". Alrighty...

We also were able to visit a smaller, but still fairly large, city called Dombovár. We went out with the Colledge's to look for two members that supposedly lived out there. Turned out they live in England. Awkward. Still, a fun little excursion to that city.

It's been a CRAZY week. One of the weirdest on my mission. I'm super sad to be leaving Kaposvár: I've really grown to love this city, and I will definitely come back in the future sometime. I actually connected with my investigators here, met some amazing people, and had great companions. I cannot believe how fast my mission is going, I'm going onto my fourth city! Absolutely crazy.

Fun last spiritual story: "J", my investigator that had no faith and didn't belive in anything at the beginning of our meetings, he says prayers with us now :) I know that he is on the way for baptism. I think that maybe this is how my mission will go: planting seeds, and nurturing them but not necessarily seeing the outcome. My two bapdates are still on track, but I won't see them. But, nonetheless, I am happy. :D I know that I need to be in Kecskemet, and I am so excited to serve the Lord there.

I love you all!
Sok Szeretettel,
Giacalone Elder

Monday, January 6, 2014

Kaposvar Week 8 pics

Sunset in Kaposvar

"Sajt Nite" with the other elders. We just deep fry blocks of cheese and eat them :)

Went out to cut trees for a member's family, this was our scenery!

Gould and I playing with some dogs!

Ok, so when we tract, sometimes people look out their windows to see what we are all about. I thought this was funny that someone had put a car reflector window on the outside so they didn't have to strain their head. Super weird!

Kaposvár Week 8

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Yay! 2014 is here!

New year, new start, new everything!

That's what we have been emphasizing with all of our investigators: you can change and be a whole new YOU this year! We've had a lot of stop-smoking, moving out, and starting to pray lessons with people. It's been great!

New Years in Hungary was kind of crazy-the day after, there was quite a lot of drunk people all over the place, and they would leave some pretty nasty stuff on the ground too...ew. Quite different from a Utah New Years! Another different thing: it's been like 50 degrees out here, daily! The Hungarians are all freaking out. I'm not complaining: I haven't had to wear my heavy winter jacket in like a week! Super nice.

Transfers are next week! I really hope I stay here in Kapos. There is so much going on and we are super busy! I love it!

Fun story: So there is this family in the branch that lives out in this small village called Alsobogát, like a 45 minute drive from Kapos. They needed help cutting wood for the rest of the winter, so us four elders and the branch clerk all headed out to go help. I got to connect with my inner-lumberjack! We spent four hours out there hauling wood and chopping it up. Super fun time, and I was sooo sore afterward! I've never done something like that before! Quite the experience. Unfortunately, my whole "soreness" thing turned into a cold, which left me kind of messed up for the next few days. Ugh. I HATE being sick!

Cool story of the week! So, we've been meeting with "J", one of my favorite investigators. He continues to claim that he has no faith, but he loves to meet with us and we try to help him sort out his life. Usually, it ends with us feeling like we're forcing upon him something that he doesn't even want. That's not how it's supposed to be! He's very honest, and when we ask if he prays, he says yes. Then we ask him if he felt like he's been receiving answers. He says "No, I don't want to lie to you guys." Ok then! After the end of a particulary weird lesson, as we were wrapping up and I was asking if we could say a prayer, he stopped and said: "Guys, I want to say thank you for all you do. I know that these meetings have been helping me"-and, then my favorite part "I am beginning to feel." I told him that we all walk with baby steps in this life, and that baby steps definitely take us somewhere.

Sometimes, I feel like that is how the Lord is with us. He sees us make wrong decisions that cause pain and sorrow in our lives, and desires us to make the baby steps that we need to make to bring our lives in harmony with His. I know that He is the source of all peace, good, and light. I know that He is willing to forgive us of our faults and shortcomings.

There's a quote from C.S. Lewis that I found in the other Elder's apartment:

"(God) has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the world."

I sure hope you all remember that. I love that quote, and I actually glued it onto my planner for this next transfer coming up! I'm so happy for where I am right now, who I am with, and where I'm going. I feel like everyday it gets more and more clear what my purpose is out here. I was a little unsure at first, but now I know. Missions are hard. If they were easy, then people would slack-off. I'm learning so much, it's insane. I'm so grateful to be out here right now.

I love it :)

Have a great week! Be safe!

Sok Szeretettel,

Elder Giacalone

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Kaposvar Week 7

Old church in Hungary

Sometimes I like to street roadkill

Typical Hungarian "family house". Windows face the street, gate leads to a front door on the side

One of our bapdates made each of us a cool package of cookies!

"meat goods house", or a butcher shop

"Raise your arm if you'd like to learn about the gospel!"

Monday, December 30, 2013

Kaposvár Week 7

Sziasztok mindenki!

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas- I sure did! We had a great Christmas dinner at the Colledge's consisting of ham, mashed potatos, and lots of cake! Yummy! Super grateful for a super cool senior couple, gotta love the Colledges!

Skype was a super fun time! Super weird seeing everybody after nine months (since when did Vincent's voice change?!) but I loved it! Following Christmas, a couple days later Elder Gould and I went out to M's house for lunch. She said that she made some fish for us. It was really good, and I asked her, jokingly, if she liked to fish. "Of course", she replied, "I was a professional sports fisherwoman." This, my friends, is why I love hanging out with this lady. She never ceases to amaze me. After our lunch, we went into her living room. Turns out it was her mother's birthday, who had recently just passed away. She asked us all if we could say a prayer "within ourselves" for her mother. She was sad, but there was a difference: she was hopeful. She knew that her mother still lived, just not with a body. A month or two ago, she would've been a wreck on this day, and now she just sat in her big Lazy boy chair and smiled. She knows it will be ok.

Best feeling ever. (I know I say that a lot, but this one really was the best).

Now, let's talk about Sunday. Oh. My. Gosh. SUNDAY.

First off, we have three investigators at church that day, including both our bapdates, that's awesome! After a short program with M, we make our way to the chapel, where there is a LOT of commotion. Turns out that 41 people showed up to church. You guys, that's INSANE. Not normal AT ALL for Kapos. That's huge! The room was PACKED. You think this is the end? Nope. So, there is this couple in the branch that are originally from Germany, and the husband only speaks German, so he can't really do a whole lot within the branch without his wife's help, and she speaks only German and English, so the guy needs his wife, and then a missionary to translate if he wants to speak to a Hungarian. You following me? Super crazy. Anyway, he wanted to bless the sacrament. So, he totally did it. In a thick German accent, he read the blessing in Hungarian. Incredible spirit. It was a super special moment for that family, who hadn't really been able to contribute much because of the language barrier. Awesome. Next thing, there was an actual baby blessing in the Kaposvár branch! A return missionary that now lives in the city did the blessing, and it was beautiful! Afterward, he came and sat by me and he just said over and over to his brand new baby boy: "We did it, buddy. We did it!" Super great Spirit! And THEN, there was a total of like 15 kids there because some of the families came back, and it was actually a LOUD Sacrament meeting! Weird to say, but I've been used to dead quiet meetings with just adults for the past little bit, and this past meeting actually reminded me of Utah! Good times.

So yeah, that was MY Sunday. Absolutely crazy! I loved it.

Well, that's about it from my side of the woods. It's been like super warm lately, and all the Hungarian's are saying it's super weird. I'm ok with it. Transfers are less than two weeks. Ew...I wanna stay here, but we'll see what happens.

I hope you have a great new year! Make awesome goals, and STICK with them! My goal is to read all the Standard Works by December 31st, 2014. I think I can do it! Motivating emails and letters will hope though ;)

I love you all SO much! Have a great week! :D

Sok Szeretettel és Boldog Új Évet Kívánok nektek!

Elder Giacalone