August 28, 2016

Hello Everyone!!!
It has been another wonderful week here in Kecskemét. I may have forgotten to mention this before, but in Hungarian "Kescke" means "goat." So I'm serving in the land of the goat. The town symbol has a goat on it too which is fun.
We had some fun experiences this week. One time, when we were tracting, this néni got really mad at us, because "trying to go to people houses and teach them is a serious thing." And she told us not to tract there. Two days later, we felt like we should go back there, and we met a cool a family. After that, we actually tracted into that néni, and she started yelling at us really loudly and threatened to call the police. So she kicked us off the street again. After that happened we were wandering around and we found this kid in a park and we went and talked to him. He told us that his dad had died and we were able to share with him some scriptures and our testimonies about the restoration. It was a really cool experience, and it might not have happened if the néni hadn't kicked us out of the street. So we don't know where our experiences will lead us. Even the people that are mean to us can direct us to where we need to be.
We also tracted in this really cool area near Kecskemét called Ballószög. It's really pretty there and we met some nice people. Fun stuff. I've got some pictures of it.
It's crazy to think that I've been here for 2 weeks already. I'm kinda getting used to Hungary, but it's still weird. Also, Elder Seamons tells me that our apartment is really American. It's kinda big for Hungary, which is nice.
The food here is pretty good. I haven't had any real Hungarian food yet, because things have been crazy getting used to the area, but we have a few appointments with members this week, so we'll see what happens.
Anyway, things are great here in Kecskemét. Also, "great" and "Kesckemét" rhyme. Just so you know.
This week, I've been reading a lot of talks from the last General conference. Reading the words of the Prophet and apostles is awesome. I encourage all of you to study General Conference throughout the year.
I love you all. Have a great week.
Elder Terry

Elder Seamons

park in Kecskemét

First email from Hungary!

Hello everyone!!!!
It's crazy here in Hungary. Things are so awesome here.
Here's some good informations really quick:
My trainer is Elder Seamons. He's from Tremonton, Utah. He's been a missionary for about a year, and he's been in hungary for around 10 months.
We are serving in Kecskemét. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure where it is in Hungary. I think it's Southeast of Budapest. (According to Wikipedia it is southeast of Budapest, halfway between Budapest and Szeged. It is the 8th largest city in the country with an airport and a university. It is also equidistant between the Danube and Tisza rivers.) We were "whitewashed" here, which is missionary speak. It means that both of us are new to the area, so we've been having a fun time getting to know the city and the people here. It's been interesting.
First of all, The flight here was forever long. We flew to Amsterdam and then to Budapest. I mostly slept on both flights, so I haven't been super jet lagged, but it's still hard sometimes.
When we got here, the Assistants to the President and President and Sister Szabadkai picked us up, along the with senior couple that works in the mission home. We had to go get pictures for random documents, like bus passes and other stuff. We talked to people on the way there and back. That was fun, but difficult. A lot of the people were in a hurry and didn't want to talk to us, or they didn't understand anything I said. That was less fun.
We got to stay in a hotel our first night. Then we went back to the Mission home and met our trainers in a fun meeting. President Szabadkai announced them one by one, and Elder Seamons and I were the last announced, so we were waiting and just noticed that we were the only one's left. Then we took the hour and a half train ride to Kecskemét. Things have been really fun here. Church yesterday was a fun experience. I got to bear my testimony and the other Elders new to the area spoke. It was a lot of fun to hear so much Hungarian. I didn't understand most of it, but it was fun to here people speak about the gospel.

It's been really good to be here in Keckemét. I have a few pictures to send. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Some of them are just of cool things. One is of the District here. It's me, Elder Seamons, Elder Veres (The District Leader), and Elder Stephens. I'm not sure what order they are. Elder Veres has lighter hair. He's on the left. I think Elder Seamons is the furthest one to the right in the front.

Anyways, Things are great here, I'm having a great time. Being a missionary is awesome.

Love,

Elder Terry

Some additional things he shared in his email to me:
My favorite food so far has been a random roll I got in a Pékség. It was really delicious, and cheap. In dollars it cost around 75 cents. It was around 190 forint, so you can check me.
We mostly get around our area by walking, but we have bus passes. The church is out of our area, so it would take a while to walk there. We have a ward here. It's awesome.

Elders Veres, Terry, Stephens, Seamons

Letter from Mission President

I am pleased to report that Elder Terry has arrived safely in Hungary! Sister Szabadkai and I welcomed his group at the airport and found all the new missionaries excited and eager to begin their service in the Hungary Budapest Mission. We look forward to getting to know each of them personally and know we will love Elder Terry as deeply as we love all the missionaries in our care.

Within the next 24 hours Elder Terry will be assigned to a proselyting area with a dedicated Senior Companion and Trainer that has been prayerfully selected to serve in this vital roll. Together they will participate in a brief training meeting at the mission office and then depart immediately to their designated area.

Over the past several months, there has been much in the news about trouble and turmoil in many parts of the world. Terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels have put all of Europe on heightened alert. Immigration issues continue to cause controversy. Under the direction of Church Headquarters and the European Area Presidency, we have taken and will continue to take measures to ensure that all of our missionaries are safe and kept from harm's way. At the present time, I can assure you that Hungary is secure and that our missionaries can safely perform the work they've been called to do.

Thank you for your sacrifice and support of these wonderful young people as they share the light of the Gospel and testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, with the people of Hungary.

Szeretettel,

Szabadkai elnök

Hungary Budapest Mission

Pictures that I pulled off the mission facebook page:

Airport!

Elders Terry and Seamons

new missionaries

Leaving to Budapest

We're leaving later today!!! That's crazy. I can't believe our stay in the MTC has already come to an end.
Here are some pictures with some folks. The first two are of Leavitt Elder and I. I've talked about Leavitt Elder. People mix us up a lot when they first come in. It's really funny. Even our branch president did. Fun story, everyone in My district except me spoke while in the MTC and Leavitt Elder is the only one in his district that spoke, so my theory is that they mixed the two of us up and I was supposed to speak.
After those pictures, there's two of Elder Hunter and I. He's going to Belgium, but his call is Spanish. He's fluent in Spanish, so he's just learning Dutch in the MTC. He's pretty cool.
The next three are of us and an Albanian Trio. The Order is Motra (That means Sister) Dunn, Motra Suckow, and Motra Haggard, and then the three of us.
This week has been awesome. We've been getting ready to head out into the Field and it's been crazy. It got harder to focus as today drew closer, but It's hard to believe we're heading out in a few hours!
The next time I email will be from Hungary!!!!


Love,
Terry Elder

Elders Terry and Leavitt

Elders Hunter and Terry

Sisters (Motra) Dunn, Suckow, Haggard and Elders Biesinger, Gajdos and Terry

Elder Terry, Gajdos, Biesinger, and their teacher, Feil Nővér

Elder Terry's direct quote "We lined up for group pictures, and the person with Biesinger Elder's camera took this gem."

  

2016. augusztus 8-a

The subject line is how they write dates in Hungarian. It's super weird but it's fun.
This week has been a really good one. We're starting to get ready to leave the MTC now. It's crazy. We head out to Hungary next week! It's crazy.
This week we've had a lot of growing experiences. We've been teaching a lot of lessons, and some of them have been better than others. In one of them, we were teaching about eternal families, and Biesinger Elder said that "In the celestial kingdom, we can live with your family forever" He meant to say our families. We were pretty tired, and it was late in the day so we just kept laughing. It took us a few minutes to calm down. It was a little rough, but we got better.
This Sunday was fast Sunday and it was super awesome. Fast and Testimony meetings in the MTC are the best. And the Mission Conference was really good too. We got a new second counselor in the MTC presidency, President Snow. The other second counselor has been sick or something so he was released.
The Sunday devotional was awesome. Matthew Holland spoke (President of UVU) and he talked about Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith lived a crazy life, and it was a very hard one. He was a great example of sticking with the truth. I read JS-History this week, and there's a part where he compares himself to Paul before King Agrippa. He says that no matter what people said, they couldn't destroy the reality of Paul's vision. That's how it is with the First Vision. It happened, and nothing people say could destroy the reality of it.
The Sunday evening movie was Ephraim's Rescue, and it was super awesome. It was really cool to watch. It's an awesome movie. Ephraim was a great example of being obedient and doing whatever he was asked to do. As long as we do our best, the Lord can use us and make us better.
I hope you all are doing great. Have a great week!
-Terry Elder

July 31, 2016

There's only 2 weeks left!!!!! That's crazy. I feel like we've been in the MTC forever, but at the same time, it doesn't feel like it's been that long. It's so weird. I can't believe it's already August. I feel like it should still be June.
This week has been really good. We had our first Skype TRC. That means that we skyped a member in Hungary and taught them through Skype. It was really cool. It was really hard to understand, but it was a great experience and I'm so excited to get out there and teach the people in person.
The MTC is really great. I've been kinda sick this week, and that sucks, but it's good anyways. The work moves forward.
It was really cool to see Elder Hale in the MTC. He's awesome, and I know he's going to do great. He's such a great person.
Here's some highlights for this week:
We do a lot of roleplays to practice teaching, and they are honestly the weirdest experience. When I'm pretending to the investigator, I feel the Spirit so strongly, even though it's all practice. For example, this week, I was being an investigator, and one of the sisters in our district was teaching me and when she prayed for me (using the fake investigator name) I felt the Spirit so strongly. It's crazy because she wasn't really praying for me or teaching me, I was pretending to be someone else, but I could still feel the Spirit. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences I've had in the MTC so far.
I've also been studying the Pearl of Great Price this week, and there's some really cool stuff in there. I really like Enoch in Moses 6 and 7. In Moses 6, the Lord calls Enoch, and this is what happens:
"31 And when Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?"
Enoch points out his problems. People don't like him, he's slow of speech. How could he serve the Lord. But in Moses 7:
"13 And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him."
He's gone from being a lad with slow speech to someone with great power, and it was all because of God. Sometimes we worry too much about whether we can do what the Lord wants us to do, but He doesn't call us to fail. We can do anything if we turn to and follow Him. He will qualify us and improve us. So turn to the Lord!
Love,
Terry Elder