Wow!!! It's been 5 weeks here in the MTC with only a little more than 3 left to go!!! I don't know how it's felt for all of you, but it has really felt like it's flown by! The missionaries going to Finland in my zone are leaving this week and it is going to be really sad seeing them go! They're all super cool and it's going to be especially weird because that will be me 3 weeks from now!!! It's starting to hit in a little more that we're actually leaving so soon, because I'm starting to get a little bit more nervous about the language. I feel like everything is coming along really well, and I love doing our language study, but then I think -will I be ready to talk to actual Hungarian people 3 weeks from now and I definitely get kind of nervous. But don't get me wrong, I am way more excited than I am worried!!! I am definitely counting down the days till I get on that plane and go off to a totally new world!!!
So to answer a few questions my mom had: I did get to welcome the new missionaries coming into the MTC again yesterday. It was super fun (especially because we get to miss class for a couple of hours) and awesome to meet different people going lots of cool different places. I actually got to host one Elder who was going to Boston for his mission, so I was able to assure him that New England is the best place to be by far and that he was totally going to love it. It seems like just yesterday I was like them, coming in here for the first time and really having absolutely no idea what was going on or how to say anything in this crazy language that I'm studying. We got the new group of Finns that are here to replace the old ones, but it really won't be the same. There is one friend of mine from BYU who came in so it was really cool to see her and she didn't even realize I was in her zone when I was talking to her. Gym time is still always the best. I’ve been playing a lot of basketball and it is some definite needed exercise after sitting in a classroom for 3-4 hours at a time. The BYU Fall semester hasn't started yet, but it will pretty soon, which is going to be super weird. I can't quite see the campus from the MTC, but I can hear the bell tower go off at the hour pretty frequently, and it's basically just a block down the road. Kind of strange to think about that though, so I try and imagine I'm not a five minute walk from my old apartment.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot of other stuff that goes on here. We kind of just go to class all day, speak Hungarian, and teach lessons, so I'm sorry all blog followers, but my life is not all that exciting right now. Yesterday we found out that our favorite teacher is being moved to the other Hungarian class, and although it is only next door, it feels like she is leaving us forever. She was definitely my favorite teacher and we were all super bummed to hear that she was leaving, and she was super bummed about it too. I like the new teacher coming in, but Christensen Nővér is the one who tells us all the awesome stories from Hungary and she is super hilarious and definitely helps us get through the late night class periods when we are all just EXHAUSTED!!! It's going to be sad if she has to leave our class, but she said she is going to try and still pick up at least a couple of shifts with us.
I'm not sure if you remember when I was sick a few weeks ago, but there's a funny thing that happens when 7 people are crammed in a small room together for 16 hours a day. Yeah, I got everyone in my district sick (including my teachers) so our classroom kind of sounds like some sort of quarantine section. Luckily, it's not the flu or anything, but one of our teachers and a couple of the other Missionaries got it SUPER bad and really did not sound good at all. Luckily I think they are all almost over it now, but it was a rough week for everyone else.
Things with the language are definitely ramping up over here though. This week we really hit it hard, and have been trying to speak Hungarian a lot more. Our teachers are cracking down on us just speaking Hungarian in the class room, and we also have two SYL Days (Speak Your Language) where we have to try and speak Hungarian the entire day. We can use some english if we really have no idea how to say something, but on Wednesday and Friday, we have to speak just Hungarian, and it is definitely not easy. Yesterday was the first time we did it, and we probably only got through 3/4 of the day, but we did a lot better than I thought we would. It is always cool to see how much you progress and I have definitely progressed SO MUCH!!!
Well I don't have a whole lot of time, and there is not a lot else that happened this week, but I definitely love being out here! I miss you all back home, but it is awesome to be getting ready to help people in need and see an entirely different way of life. I absolutely love my mission and I am SOOOO excited to go to Hungary. Feel free to email me if you have any questions about what I am going to be doing on my mission or if you just want to tell me a funny story. I hope things are great back home and I love all the support I am getting from everyone! Thank you all so much and I will talk to you next week!!!
Sziasztok!!!
Dalton Elder
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