It's going to be a Pápa Christmas!

So yes, transfers are tomorrow and the big news is..... I am staying in Pápa for Christmas!!! And I am getting a new comp! Elder Stanley! I am way pumped about it because we served around eachother in Pest! He was Wilcox's greenie! So it is going to be awesome and we are stoked! Should be a good Pápa Christmas! No need to feel sorry for us. Christmas was awesome last year and it is going to be a great one this year too! 

Things in Pápa are going really well!  I could have sworn I mentioned  the hike! It happened a couple of weeks ago. If I didn't... then we went on a hike, and it was really nice and pretty and we saw a castle!  Went with the branch, so that was cool!!! 

 We do have bikes! And I crashed on it the other day :P You know my history with bikes! I don't know why I am so bad on them! It wasn't bad at all, I didn't even get scrapped up or bleed anywhere, but I did mess the bike up a little bit. I hit the curb and it threw the tire crooked and then flipped me over it. Nothing bad, just embarassing... It was in the middle of a big intersection. But pretty comical! Other than that everything is normal. We had a pretty average week. 

Oh, I FINALLY got to watch Meet the Mormons. They put it out in Hungarian a couple weeks ago and we watched it with the branch (in Hungarian, so not quite the same, but I got most of it) and it is really good! I liked it a lot! Really cool stories about the people! And I got a little sad too when they were talking about the missionary.... I didn't cry (like some people...) but I do miss you guys a lot! 

The weather has been way nice here too! We had a day where it was like, probably 50 or so degrees out, and people were still complaining about it, and I was like, for December this is amazing! Back home we go swimming in this weather!!!! Christmas time is absolutely gorgeous here in Hungary. Pápa is pretty nice, but we went to Gyor for splits again this past week and it was amazing! They had lights all over the city and they had big stands set up every where, a skating rink in the square, and the town hall was all decked out with lights! The lights and all the stands are really awesome!!! 

Anyway, some interesting stuff for the week: First of all, we went to a members house this week, and ate what is commonly referred to as pig jello. So basically, they take all the left over parts of the pig (ears, legs, etc.) and get all the fat and juices out of them, and then turn it into a gelatine. Then they put some meat in the middle of this jello, and put it in the fridge. I normally like most things, well it wasn't quite as bad as it may sound... This past week was the Hungarian St. Nicholas day! (Mikulás Napja) I probably said this last year, but just as a reminder, here in Hungary, Santa doesn't bring the presents, but the baby Jesus does! So they celebrate Santa on the 6th! And so we were in Győr on Friday and went to a Mikulas party there and then back in Pápa on Saturday for the party there! So that was lots of fun!!! Other than that, things are pretty much normal! We got my bike fixed so everything is now going smoothly! 

We have also been using some new Christmas cards that we got and it is great now! A lot more people are open to the message of Christ in the Christmas season! The Savior is born!!! A Savior is Born   Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Only a couple more weeks and then it's Christmas!

Love Andrew

The English class we teach 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey there! 

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorite days of the year! Plans for us are currently none.   Sadly, it won't be like last year with the Turkey bowl, since it's just us, but we are hoping that we will get to go somewhere for dinner or something and have a good time. But it looks like we might be having a pretty  normal day for Thanksgiving out here! But hope you all have a great time!  Family, food and football? Where could you possible go wrong?

My comp and I are doing well. Same old same old. We have a lot more programs for the next week, so the work is actually going really well! This week we had a guy randomly call us and say he wants to learn more about our church which was super awesome! Believe me, that RARELY happens, so you gotta take those tender mercies where you can! And I just ended up talking to another guy here at the library for a while and we are going to meet with him sometime as well!  So we are pretty excited about stuff coming up! 

 We were pretty busy (relative to Pápa) with a lot of stuff going on. Also, my bike tire blew up at a rather inconvenient time, so we were walking around a little bit more than usual. But everything was good through out the week. We had a zone conference in Győr which was cool. Got to see some mission friends and a few more people from Győr (including Janka, which was great!) Other than that it was just kind of the normal stuff! I know that's probably not what you like to hear, but sometimes (most of the time) there just isn't that much interesting stuff that is going on! 

K, gotta run now,  hope that everyone has a great week! Go Pats!

Love,

Drew

Some pictures from our hike.

Working in Pápa

We're already almost half way through November and then it will be Christmas time!  Exciting!  The sun has been out the past couple of days and you wouldn't even need a coat or anything. Pretty weird in the middle of November!  I'm sure the cold and the snow will be coming soon.  This week we had a baptism which was super awesome!  The woman's name is Kriszta and she is the wife of one of the members here in Pápa and has been waiting a long time to get baptized and has finally been able to. There was only a few of us there, because we have to go down to Győr for it, but afterwards we went back to Pápa for a little branch party! The members had decorations and a bunch of snacks and treats and it was a lot of fun! The branch is awesome and they were super welcoming-it was great to see them being so loving. 

We also may have a stalker.....  trying to avoid that situation. More updates later. Other than that things are going well here! It is a lot of fun going to visit  the kids over at the school and I think we are going to be doing something with them for Christmas, so more updates on that later. As for the orphans, we weren't able to go over there this past week, but we are hoping to next week! I think they enjoy it! It's pretty hard for them and they are pretty troubled. Some kids 12 years old and already smoking. Pretty sad, but they don't have a strong family, which makes it harder! Really grateful for having such an awesome family. This week my Dad asked me  what I typically eat so in case anyone else is interested...as far as what we eat at the apartment it's mostly pretty basic stuff. You will have to wait till I get back to EXPERIENCE Hungarian food, but it's actually really good!!! We usually don't do anything special just sandwiches, pasta, meat, throw stuff together and see what comes up. But some of my favorite Hungarian foods are fruit soup (basically like a smoothie you eat out of a bowl with whole chunks of fruit in it), rakott krumpli (stacked potatoes. it's like, layers of potatoe, kolbász, hard boiled eggs, cheese and tejföl (kind of like a sour cream thing, but not that sour), and paprikás csirke (chicken in a peppered tomato sauce). There's a lot more good stuff, but those are my personal favorites! 

 I'm grateful to be out here in Hungary serving a people that I have really grown to love! It's a real blessing for me to be out here and I know that the Lord watches over us and loves us. I have definitely come to love the Book of Mormon and the Bible a lot more on my mission and really enjoy the opportunities that I have to study and think about the people, the stories, and what it all means!  I am also thankful for all of the thoughts and prayers from back home and all the support. I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Elder Dalton

Reunion in Győr!

Wassup!

Pápa life is going well, despite not having the most successful week of all time. We went out tracting a lot, which is always kind of a bummer, but there was some cool stuff that happened! 

We got to go to Győr this week for a Zone Conference, so not only was I able to meet with some of my friends from around the mission, but I also got to visit with a lot of my friends from Győr! After the conference, we went on splits with the Zone Leaders for the day, so we met up with Janka, and a couple of the other people from the English class here, and had a good time with them! Kellogg (my old companion from Győr) was also at the conference and he stayed after as well to meet with them so it was really just like old times!!! Then we spent some time with Erik, one of the kids, and in the evening went over to Éva's. I was super excited to see all those people and we had a really good time meeting with them and seeing old friends!

There is some cool stuff going on here in Pápa though! We actually go to this school for mentally disabled kids every week and teach them English.  They all are super enthusiastic and really fun and they love having us over! Really great to do stuff like that! And then this week we also found this house for orphan teenage kids and talked with them, and planned to go visit them too and teach some English and play some games or soccer with them. I always love doing things like this to help people who have so little in their lives. It is always an amazing feeling to be a part of something bigger than yourself and help make other people happier! 

Other than that, things are pretty normal. We had Branch conference on Sunday, leaders from the district presidency came, and even the mission president and his wife came to the little branch here in Pápa!  We had some really great meetings with them! Also, there is a NATO base close to Pápa (dont know if I mentioned that or not) so we actually run into quite a few people who speak English. An American Mormon family just got to Pápa and were at church on Sunday, and will be living here for the next two years, which will definitely be cool having them around! 

Anyway, things are good here in Magyarország and I hope everything is going well with all of you back home! Love you all and wish you the best! Oh and happy Halloween! They dont have that here... kind of sad, so enjoy it for me! Love you all and have a great week!

Love,

Elder Andrew Dalton

#mustache

Transfer to Pápa

Well, it has been a few weeks since I have been able to post anything. Sorry for missing so much, but things have been busy over here. Hoping to be better about it soon. But anyway, here's a little update on what's new:

We're coming up on 2 weeks here in Pápa now. It was pretty sad leaving Kispest, as that was definitely one of my favorite areas so far, but I'm just about settled in over here now. This past week was interesting I guess. We got dogged a lot (when we plan a program with someone, and then they just don't show up or aren't home or something) which was pretty frustrating... And that also means that we spent a lot of time tracting, but we tried to make the most of it and had a good time! But we also met with some pretty cool people this week. There is this one guy named Marcel that we met with who is from South Africa and is married to a Hungarian. He is a super cool dude and probably is one of the most jacked people that I have ever seen. Elder Jensen and I would both get distracted sometimes in the program looking at how huge his arms were.... But a really cool dude.

There is also a NATO base here in Pápa, so there are some random areas where there are big groups of Americans and people from other countries who speak English perfectly. We found this one guy from Sweden and talked with him for a while. He said they can feel some animosity from the people in Pápa as they are kind of seen as outsiders. But we're hoping to run into some more Americans next week, it's always nice to take a Hungarian break...

Other than that, not too much exciting happened. Things are going well and we're actually looking at having a baptism in the next couple of weeks. The wife of one of the members of the church here in Pápa. I guess we will see how that goes.

Hope that everyone is doing well back home! Always enjoy hearing form people and how life is back in the states! Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Dalton

Knives + cups = magic

Here's some pictures from Pápa

And from our last P day in Pest with the gang.

Went to the top of the Bazilika.

Cigánykodunk.

Another Awesome Week in Kispest!

What's good everyone!

Another awesome week here in Kispest! My new companion is super awesome and we get along really well!  Still always kind of weird having to adjust, but he is really chill, so things are going well. As for the week, it was pretty normal. We spent A LOT of time cleaning our apartment (yes, it was quite messy before) and now it looks really good. Other than that, English class started back up again this week which was fun. Good to see some of the people again and I actually always enjoy teaching the class. Just fun to tell lots of jokes and have fun with it and all the old nénis love it.
 There is lots of crazy stuff with all the refugees and what not, but we honestly just hear about it. All the train stations are totally full, but we don't really have to go that way too

 much, so we don't see much of it. But we did see 5 cops in full swat gear walking near one of the train stations. But really other than that, just EVERYONE talks about it. Every program we go to or every person always asks us what we think about all the refugees, and we're always like, well it's sad, but we don't really know anything about it.

 Yesterday for P-day we had a lot of fun! So we went to the zoo with all the other missionaries from Pest, and actually the zoo was pretty lame. You would think the Budapest zoo would be a lot cooler, but there weren't even that many animals. But it was still a lot of fun. But anyway, the best part was that they combined the zoo with this old amusement park and we went to a fun house. Which was way lame. BUT at the end, they had this giant barrel thing that you go in, and then you run up the side and it spins around. Not sure if you know what I'm talking about, but anyway, it was way fun. Somehow, you just get dizzy trying to run up it, and then you totally eat it and it keeps spinning around just tossing you all over the place. So we had a good time.  
THEN, after that we were heading back home, and in one of the metro stations, we heard some people playing music, so we go in and find another Christian group just trying to spread some joy. So we hung out for a little and listened to the music, and then we asked them if we could maybe play a little bit with them, so we struck a deal. Me and one of the Elders could play some songs (he's really good at guitar and singing, and I just hit a little box) but we had to do the cupid shuffle with them. So imagine 8 missionaries plus a bunch more Americans doing a big group dance in the middle of a Hungarian metro station. It was honestly super fun! 

Anyway, things are going good over here! Hope everything is great back home! Love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Dalton

Summer in KIspest

Sorry that I haven't been as great about making blog posts the past couple of weeks, and no promises that this one is going to be much better than nothing, because I still don't have a lot of time, but everything is still great out here in the nagy falu of Budapest! Really, the work is just going really well out here. We have a good number of programs, and have found a few pretty cool people as well! We also had yet ANOTHER crazy storm. This wasn’t quite as bad as the first one of the transfer, there wasn't a ton of lightning, but literally just crazy down pours. The roads were totally flooded and we got soaked and we were totally drenched coming home, wading through water calf high on the street. So that was fun, and luckily everything was actually dry in our apartment, despite having only a blanket for one of our windows. 

 Things are going well with all the people that we are meeting with.  We met a few new people. There was this one family that we met eating ice cream on the steps of the branch house that we talked to and they invited us over for dinner sometime in September, so that was really cool. And we met some people tracting and streeting and what not, but one thing, is that for about ever 50 potentials,  we maybe meet with one, and if they end up being legit, that is really a miracle. but things are going really well with the work actually. We had this really sweet old Catholic lady come to church this week which was good, and this one family that we are meeting with, the daughter, about age 17 is really considering baptism, and we're hoping the rest of her family can start thinking about it seriously as well. We have a few more people that are working towards baptism, which would be super great!

For P day we had a lot of programs and stuff, but when we had free time, we just went around town a little bit seeing some sites.   I have basically seen all the good sites by this point, but I still get amazed every time I walk past the parliament building even though that's just an everyday sight for us now.   Hope that you all are doing well back home and surviving the summer months better than I am out here. Miss you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Dalton

Two Weeks in Kispest

     Things in Kispest are going well. To answer some of your questions, we actually play basketball with the other guys almost every morning, and with some of our investigators too, which is pretty good exercise, but I'm definitely not in the best shape of my life.
       It's kind of weird not having English class, but it's good. We have more time to focus on other thigns, so we will see how it works!  We have made some progress with some of the people we meet with, a few families, which is totally awesome, but other than that we are still just plugging along trying to get the people we are teaching moving along. We are actually teaching some really cool families right now! There is one mom with three little kids that we teach. Another is a mom and son (around 18) who are super cool. We go play bball with the son sometimes. He's really good and a super nice kid. Then there is another family that we teach, Mom and Dad and two kids who are progressing really well. They just came to church for the first time yesterday and really seem to be enjoying it! Other than that we have just a few single people that we meet with, all really cool!
Scripture study is going well. Just mostly trying to get through the Book of Mormon in Hungarian. Pretty easy to get distracted reading other stuff that's in English and more understandable, but I can just about understand most things now, which is pretty cool, and I'm hoping I can finish it some time in the near future. We have also been focusing on using scriptures in our lessons more effectively, so I've really been trying to focus more on what programs we have for the day and what they need, as opposed to just reading through. 
Yeah, Hungarian is definitely a lot more manageable now, but don't get me wrong, it is still incredibly hard... I still sometimes have no idea what people are saying. Actually, yesterday in church, there was a guy from New Hampshire! He said he knew Justin Millis really well and that he had been up to Ellsworth before and been to church. I can't remember his name though... sorry always bad at that.  I had to translate for him in sacrament meeting, and it is incredibly hard to do that, especially in church. 

Anyway, really great to hear about all the fun things everyone's doing back home!  Have a great week! Love you!

Elder Dalton

  Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

Moroni 10:32

Some pictures from back in Sopron

 P-day in Kispest

First Year on the Mission

One year, check!  So as of last Thursday, I have officially been a missionary for an entire calender year. Almost impossible to imagine that it has actually been that long, but it has been an amazing journey!  I am so grateful for this time that I have been able to spend here serving the people of Hungary! I have now been able to travel to 4 different cities (and now seen almost all of BP) and make lots of amazing friends that have really impacted who I am.  Most of all, I have had the chance of helping, at least a few people, find a better and happier life. I would first like to thank all of you at home who are supporting me and watching out for my family! I know that I have lots of people who are following my adventures out here and wishing me the best. I appreciate and am grateful for all of your love even if I don't always have time to express it as I wish I could. But thank you! Especially to all those back home in the Ellsworth Branch! I'm thankful for all the support and all the prayers that I receive from all of you! Keep being awesome and keep growing! There really is nothing greater then sharing the love of God with those you care about! So keep working!!! 

Next, thank you to all the amazing people that I have met out here in Hungary. Missionaries and more importantly the Magyarok themselves. I have learned a lot from this people and really feel connected with them. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve them and come closer to the people, lifestyle and culture (and food.... it's so good). Hungarian is quite a tough language, but I have learned to love it, as it has helped me understand the Hungarian people more fully. I thank you all for being the amazing people that you are! It has been a pleasure to spend time with all of you and I am excited to spend another year with you!

Sorry, I don't have enough time to upload any pictures, but hopefully in the coming weeks! Love you all and hope you have a great week! Keep it real and enjoy the summer! Love you lots

Elder Dalton

Back in the City

Hey, so unfortunately I don't have a lot of time. But things are going super well in Kispest! Kind of weird going to a new area, but love the people here. Also, there was a massive storm that we got caught in and all of our windows broke in our apartment because there were such crazy winds. So that was a pretty decent first day coming home to an apartment filled with glass. We still haven't been able to get it all because we have no vacuum, but we got most of the big stuff and put some blankets on our now empty windows.  

So other than that, things are super awesome over here! Cool to be in the big city again, but there are also a lot more homeless people trying to bother us, which I got pretty used to not having in some of my other cities, but you get used to it pretty fast again. We're also playing a lot of basketball recently which is pretty awesome. 

Yeah, really no time, my computer is about to shut down, but more updates next week! The work is great here, we are meeting with some awesome people. Really miss everyone in Sopron, but this is where I need to be, so I guess that's good! 
Love you all and hope you have a great week. Talk to you next time
Love,

Elder Dalton

Moving on AGAIN!

     Hey, so we had transfers today, and I guess I'm getting transfered. So after 5 weeks in Sopron, unfortunately, I have to leave. But I will be going to Kispest, which is in BP which will be super cool to be back in the big city again. Kind of sucks to leave after such a short time though, but all well, it will be good!!! 

     But anyway, we had a super awesome (last) week in Sopron. So to start off, we got our new mission president this week! We had a surprise conference in Győr on Thursday, but before we get to that, there was some exciting events the night before. So we were back in our apartment, it was getting pretty late, and then I get a call from the other elders here in Sopron, and SOME RANDOM GUY BROKE INTO THEIR APARTMENT!!! They were both in bed, and then they heard the door open, and the light turn on. They run out and see this totally random guy just standing in the door way. They make (rather awkward) eye contact, and then the guy runs downstairs. The other elders actually live in the branch house, so they went to make sure all the doors were locked, and a couple bathroom doors were open. So then we had to come over to help them make sure he isn't hiding in one of the stalls trying to murder us or something. So if you can imagine 4 Elders all standing around with knives at 10 o'clock at night, busting down bathroom stalls. So it was a pretty eventful night.

So then the next day, we got to go to Győr for our first conference with our new mission president, Pres. Szabadkai, and it was awesome. Firstly, it was ALL in Hungarian, which was super awesome. And he is a super great guy, and it was really great talking to him. And it was in Hungarian!!! So we're all super excited about it. 

We had a little 4th of July party at Tibors house and it was awesome. We had sausage in the morning (real Austrian sausage and it was FANTASTIC) then we cooked Gulyas soup, and topped it off with some s'mores!!! No we don't have hersheys or graham crackers, but we made it work. I'll try and send some pictures next week because I forgot my card reader. But it was a super awesome time!!! 

Alright, I don't have a whole lot of time, but hope you all have a great week! Next week I will let you all know how things are going in Kispest! Wish me the best of luck!
 Miss you and love you all! 

Elder Dalton

Summer in Sopron

     So yeah, things in Sopron are good. The Volt festival is going to be HUGE! Really, like, people tell us that the streets are just going to be packed and the whole city is going to explode, so that will be cool, and I would think that during concert festivals and stuff, people are more willing to chat on the street. So we're excited about that! Other than that, our week was pretty normal. Actually, interesting story, the other day, we were coming back to our apartment, and we heard a bunch of music coming from the Főtér (like, the main square) and we swung through to check out some more festivities going on getting ready for the big festivals. Well, we were walking through, and then we sat down for a minute to watch some stuff, and then this little girl fell off a statue right behind us and hit her head on the concrete. It wasn't super high, but it was a big fall.  We ran over, and it took like, a minute or so before her Mom finally noticed and ran over, but I didn't really know how to react. Kind of tougher in a foreign country as a missionary being able act in those situations, but they took her to the ambulance parked by, and she ended up being fine. But it was kind of freaky.

We met with a few more new people, trying to build up some work, that have some solid promise. There is one lady that used to meet with the missionaries and was almost baptized, but then she didn't and stopped meeting.  We went to her house and met with her and her daughter, and she seemed interested in learning about the church again, so that would be cool! We also met with this guy who used to be a pro basketball player in Pécs, and he is super cool. Single dad with two daughters, and he wants to come back to church, just a lot of tough things going on in his life. But a way cool guy. Also the district presidency came to church this week, and we met with them brainstorming ideas for how to help the branch, so we have a lot of hope that things are going to be good over here! I really appreciate the support though because there are definitely some days that I need it. And it helps me to know that you are all supporting me and loving me back home! 

I have met the new mission president! He is from Pécs and the whole family is totally awesome. He is a really good guy and I think he is going to do a really good job getting stuff going here in hungary. We're all excited to see what kinds of changes he makes and how things will work. Exciting stuff! 


 Thanks for all the support back home and hope you all have a HAPPY 4th of July!!! 
 HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!! 

Another week in Sopron!

What's up everyone!!! Another week here in Sopron and things are awesome! This city is beautiful and there is a lot of super awesome people!!! So first off, there are a bunch of festivals and stuff going on right now across town, which is super fun! We actually live right in the middle of town, and just down the road they have the main square where all these stands and music and stuff is. That one picture is actually of some traditional hungarian dance. It's basically a bunch of stomping and slapping your shoes and stuff. Kind of what you would imagine traditional folk dance to be like, but google it if you're curious! But it's always a lot of fun with all the stands up and in a few weeks there is the Volt Festival, which is the huge concert festival (and yes, I do wish I was going) so the streets are going to be packed! I think it's sometime in July.

We also got the chance to go to Budapest on Wednesday, which was a lot of fun. Well, some of it. We did have to get up around 4:30 to catch our 6 o'clock train, and didn't get back to Sopron till about 9, but other than that it was incredibly long, it was fun! I got to see a lot of friends from around the mission, and had to say goodbye to a few people, including the mission president! Kind of weird, but also exciting to see the change. I'm excited  to see what it's like to have a Hungarian mission president, so that will be a lot of fun.  I also had to say goodbye to my trainer, Elder Robinson, because he leaves in a few weeks and I probably won't get to see him again. So weird how people go home, but I guess the time comes for everyone eventually. Speaking of which, in 1 month, I will officially have been out for a year! Can't believe it's already gone by so fast! 

Anyway, other than that, there really isn't too much exciting stuff going on. This was kind of a tougher week, because we got dogged a lot, but it's ok, because as you can see we're getting creative and going out with some sweet guitar tunes and GIANT Book of Mormons. So hopefully we can find some more really cool people!

  Hopefully you are all enjoying yourselves back home and that the warm weather is coming soon! 

Love you all lots and have a great week!

Elder Dalton

First week in Sopron!

Transfers are past and we’re still getting settled in Sopron!  Always weird going to new cities, but Sopron is gorgeous and I will still get to go back to Győr a few times for meetings and stuff, so that will be nice.
 Leaving Győr was kind of sad. Lot’s of cool people over there that I miss. For the last day, I had my last english class with the group, and they brought me a card and a couple small gifts, which was super awesome. Going to miss that group a ton because there aren’t many English classes like them!!! And then we went out to ice cream with some people and the kids for the last time, and said goodbye to all of them. 

Saying Good-bye in Győr

So on to Sopron...after an 80 degree train ride up to Budapest and back to Sopron, we finally made it here. We had to call a member to come pick us up with all of our luggage, but finally, at the end of the day, made it to our (rather small) apartment in the attic of someone else’s house. I’ve had worse places though, so I’m not complaining.  It's honestly almost like living at camp.  The ceilings are quite low, there are big wooden beams, and we only have a stove top and a toaster, no microwave, no oven... But it's nice! There's a big square nearby and lots of churches and bells and stuff. Kind of annoying though, because they go off all night... But it's an awesome city! Really feels old European! First off, it’s right on the Austrian border, so almost everybody in the city lives here, and then goes to work in Vienna, which means that a ton of people speak German. Kind of weird hearing German on the street almost as much as we hear Hungarian, and it’s on all the signs too.  Unfortunately, I haven't gotten a chance to take pictures of the city yet, but hopefully I can for next time. Sopron is super cool though!

As for things going on in Sopron, still working on figuring out the city. So the Branch (congregation) is extremely small. There are about 10-15 active members so I guess it's definitely a small branch. We do have English class there, the church is renting a space in some business place next to a hotel. On the first floor, there is an insurance company, 2nd floor is the chapel, 3rd floor is all the class rooms, and the 4th floor is the other Elder's apartment! So kind of interesting, but cool!  We called a ton of people and are meeting with a lot of the members, so we have a lot of stuff to do, but the work is kind of tough over here. Not a whole lot of people that we meet with, but hopefully we can find some cool people soon! We did have to bike up a mountain to go visit one family that we are teaching English to, and let me just say I am no longer in the best shape of my life. So we walked into our program with this family and we were  just drenched in sweat after biking straight uphill, and of course no AC, so it was even hotter inside. But the family was way cool and politely gave us paper towels so we could wipe down our faces. The weather is getting hot  (I don’t know how those South American missionaries do it) so we’re struggling to stay cool sometimes, but the warm weather is pretty great most of the time. 

Anyways, not a whole lot else from here. Miss you all back home and hope you are all enjoying the summer break.  Talk to you next week. 

Elder Dalton

                                           One last pic of Győr. The Város Háza

Last week in Győr

 Transfers are in, and I am officially leaving Győr and heading off to Sopron which is a very small, old, but pretty city right on the border of Austria. The branch is super small, probably 8-10 active members so it is definitely going to be interesting!  Hopefully I can help the people over there, because they are struggling quite a bit.  My new comps name is Martindale and I don't know him at all, so we will see how it all goes!!! I'm excited about it though! It's going to be pretty sad leaving everyone here in Győr, but I guess stuff like this has to happen right?  I've got all the final goodbyes tonight and then tomorrow morning we're off to Budapest then back to Sop!

Anyway, we had quite a busy week, with tons of stuff going on. Don't remember all that much that happened at the beginning of the week, probably mostly preparing for the baptism and everything.  Saturday was probably one of the busiest days of my whole mission so far. To start it off we had sport nap in the morning (as my family pointed out this can easily be read as playing sports and sleeping, but nap = day in Hungarian. Sometimes forget that you guys don't speak this crazy language) so we played soccer for a couple of hours, and then had to rush home, change and meet a guy from English class (János, way cool) to go pick up the grill at his friend's house. After loading everything up, we made our way over to the park where we had a TRUE AMERICAN COOK-OUT with our English class. Kellogg and I cooked hamburgers and hotdogs. Somehow, they actually ended up being pretty good. It was a really fun time and I think everyone enjoyed it. After which, we tried to play kickball, but it didn't work too great. It was fun, but for some reason Europeans have an incredibly hard time understanding the rules of baseball. But they still liked the slice of American culture. We cooked some s'mores to top off the all American BBQ. 

Then, right after that we had to hurry over to the church building, quick change and get ready for Jankas baptism, which was great by the way! She was so excited and absolutely loved every minute of it. It was awesome to see her grow so much in her faith and in the gospel and see how it changed her life and how she has found more happiness because of it. This was a really really awesome experience!!

So that marks the end of my days in Győr and it's off to Sopron! Thanks for all the support from back home, I love you guys lots and hope everything's good. Talk to you next week from the new city!

Love,

Elder Andrew Dalton

Rooftop View

 What's up everyone! Only a couple more weeks left in the transfer and probably Győr, so that's pretty hard to believe!  I do have some exciting news this week! Janka decided that she is going to be baptized!  May 30th, which is great because then I will be able to be there for her! How it happened, is basically, we walked into a program one day, and she said, hey guys, I've decided that I'm ready to get baptised and I want it to be this month.  She is so awesome and I am super happy that I got the chance to know her.  She has amazing faith in God and in Jesus Christ. So that is really exciting! 

That was the really big news for the week, and we are working with her now, figuring out the details, but that's going to be a really amazing experience! 

 We had interviews with our mission president this past week which was good. Got to talk to him a little bit, and I got to see some of my friends in the mission up in Budapest and go out to lunch with them, so that was a lot of fun.

Last night, we also went to one of the members house, and deep fried some cheese and had a big party/picnic on the roof. I have some pictures I'll attach, and they will probably post some more on facebook that you can see. 

It's such a great opportunity for me to be out here in Hungary, and help people make a change in their lives and find happiness. It's definitely tough sometimes, but totally worth it to help people overcome a lot of their problems and issues, and help them really figure out what it is that they need in their life so that they can be happy. I would also just like to say that I'm really grateful for this gospel.  I'm grateful for my Father in Heaven, and I'm thankful for my family. Families really are the most important part of what we teach people, and that we can find joy with them, and live with them for eternity after this life. 

Hope you are all doing good back home and I miss you all tons! Love you lots and have a great week.

Love,

Elder Dalton

p.s. This picture is a pretty good description of Hungary. Some nice parks and views, surrounded by communist ten story buildings that all look the same. Kind of interesting.

Mother's Day Skype

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful mothers out there!!! Thanks for all you do and for always loving us!!! I got to Skype with my family this week, as I'm sure most of you have already seen the picture, but it was really amazing to be able to see and talk with my awesome family. Love being out here, but I do wish they could be out here with me! It's gonna be a long wait till Christmas! Anyway, that was kind of the big event of the week, talking with them, but I don't really know what else to say about it. I'm sure you can all imagine how great it is to see your family after such a long time. 

As far as other stuff, we also had an old missionary come back to visit with his family. His name is (I guess, was) Elder Carter, and he was one of my friends from when I was in Buda. Most of you probably saw on facebook already, but we went to a big cookout in a park nearby (same place we whipped. not a bad spot) and cooked bacon, hot dogs, and REAL American s'mores. Couldn't believe how much I missed those until I had one! But that was a lot of fun! Carter actually just got engaged too, so that was weird talking to him about that, But none of you get too worried, you will all probably have to wait a while after I get home before anything like that happens.

Other stuff, work is still going well. Still working with the people we're meeting with, and working to find a few more people that we can teach, but not a whole lot of success recently. Lots of doors and lots of people, but I still love the work and the great people we get to meet with, We're heading up to Budapest tomorrow for interviews with Pres. Smith, so that will also be exciting I guess, That's about it from here.  Love this work and love being out here doing it! Love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Dalton

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Mission Ninja's

Hey there! Another week gone by in Győr and it’s already May, which is pretty ridiculous!!... In just a couple of months I will be at my one year mark!!! Can you even believe that? It really does fly by! Especially when you’re doing the work of the Lord!

So first off, last P day, we just had a little picnic with the other missionaries, and went whipping and even did some American Ninja Warrior challenges (aka, climbing across the top of the swings). The pic isn’t exactly how the whips are supposed to be used, but they are actually super fun and super loud. Apparently Hungary is known for having really good whips, so who knew? I will definitely be bringing one of those home.

Teaching is going good but this week was kind of tough... A lot of people couldn’t meet this week, I actually feel kind of bad because people always talk about these amazing miracles and experiences that they have on their missions, but honestly, Hungary is just a little bit tougher. I have still seen lots of miracles on my mission, but it’s just kind of different... The Lord's work always goes forward, so we still find people, but it’s usually more like, 1 or 2 a transfer. I’ve gotten pretty used to not having much success, so it really doesn’t bother me all that much. I’ve learned to focus on the little success we do have and to rejoice in those! 
We just started working with this super awesome 20 year old guy who was a referral  from one of the members. He’s a super cool guy, studying to be a police officer, and hopefully we can give him a Book of Mormon next time we meet! He seems to really like being with us, so that’s good! The work really is even more amazing when the members are involved.  
Also, we had a fantastic program with one of our investigators.We had a big talk about what a testimony actually is, what she actually believes, and told her that is her testimony. Testimonies don’t have to be big, but can be small too, it’s really what we believe and hold dear.  It was one of the most spiritual programs I had ever been in.. Anyway, running out of time, but love you all and hope you have a great week. 

Peace
Elder Dalton