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