Thursday, June 30, 2016

Last Stop, Érd Hungary



So yeah, I'm in Érd now.  Great to be with Elder Ady from my group in the MTC and we'll be going home together! Things are actually going pretty well. The branch here is great, they were all super inviting and friendly and I already knew a few of them from Buda so that was cool!  And the city isn't too bad. The bus system is pretty obnoxious, but there are some cool places and lots of cool people!

That's awesome that you got to meet with Elder TD! He wrote me earlier and asked for your number, but I didn't think he was actually going to be able to make it up there! I'm super jealous now that he got to see you guys before I did! It's pretty surreal how close it is now! It's weird I really just feel like I'm going to see you guys tomorrow! 4 weeks seems like such a short time it's unbelievable! I'm glad that you had a good time with Zen and his family. Wish I could have been there, but soon enough...


Elder TD





















One of Andrew's mission companions (Elder Zen Tillemann-Dick) was visiting Bar Harbor with his family this past weekend and we had a fun impromptu get together in Agamont Park before they headed off to PEI.  






It's has been CRAZY HOT here the past couple days. Kind of been dying, but its alright! We will survive! And we don't have any AC or anything in our apartment, so it gets pretty toasty at night, but I suppose it could be worse! I don't know how those South American missionaries do it :P 

The Euro cup is happening right now, and Hungary actually ended up doing pretty decent and people were SOOOOOO excited about it. Even in tiny  Érd they had giant screens projecting the games and everyone was really excited about it. They won the group they were in, but unfortunately, lost last night to Belgium. But that was probably the best they had ever done! So understandable that they were so excited.

Things are still going well here in Érd! Earlier in the week, we went to a members house with another missionary who was coming back to visit. He went home before I got here, so I don't know him, but I had heard of him. It was just cool talking with him about the mission a few years ago and what hes' been doing at home and stuff. And the member is super sweet, so we had a good time! We visited a few other members too. We went to this one families house, and they were super awesome. But they live on top of a hill a little ways out from where we are, so we had to take a bus out and then walk up this hill. I know, that probably doesn't sound too bad, but remember, I said it was REALLY hot this week. So the 20 minute walk felt like days in the desert and we arrived at their house pretty much drenched in sweat. Luckily, they had AC so we were able to cool down and we had a good time with them! They have 3 little kids, so we pretty much just played with them the whole time. It was fun! And then on Saturday, we had sport nap, and that family and another family in the ward came and borught all their kids. It was a little different than usual, given that there were probably 7 young kids and then us, but it was a good time! Once again though, incredibly hot....

Other than that, nothing too interesting happened! We are wanting to meet with members a lot given we don't have a whole lot of time left, but there are some investigators we have too! There is one guy that we teach who just recently started coming back to church. He is a super cool guy and is really getting his life together. We have another guy too that we are teaching who wants to get baptized soon, so I guess we are going strong to the finish!

No big plans for p-day. There actually really isn't anything to do in the city.... So we are going to a members in a little bit and probably just hanging out at there place and playing games or something. So nothing too exciting going on :P Anyway, it was great hearing from you and have a great 4th of July weekend! Tell everyone that I say hi and miss you all lots!

Love,
Drew




Monday, June 6, 2016

A Trip to Eger

Heyyy!!!!




Things are going fine here! Kind of same old...but we did have a good adventure this week! We took a little road trip with the senior elder here in the office! One of the missionaries washing machines broke, and a neighboring city's branch house was out of internet, so we took a little road trip! We loaded up the big mission van with the washing machine we had here in the storage and drove to Eger which is on the East side of the country. It was actually the first time I have ever been to the east, so that was cool! So we had our road trip, and then dropped off my companion, Elder Krueger, with the Senior couple in Eger, so he could get working on the internet (because he is a computer genius). Then,  Elder Simkins and I drove to Miskolc, a relatively close by city to bring the washing machine. We ended up having to haul the thing up 4 flights of stairs. It wasn't the lightest washing machine, but we somehow managed to get it up there with the two of us and install it in the elders apartment. Miskolc wasn't super pretty, there were a few nice spots, but then we went back to Eger to meet up with everyone else. After a little bit, Krueger was able to fix the internet, so everyone was really happy there, and then we got to go get some lunch with the Petersons, the senior couple in Eger, the ones who know Jason! They are super nice and we talked with them for a little while. They are still in the same ward as Jason's parents I believe and they said they remembered when he was in young mens. Small world. We went to this palacsinta place (I feel like I have mentioned these before, but palacsintas are basically like crepes) which was super delicious. We also got to walk through the city a little bit which was really beautiful!!! I have a few pictures from the trip that I'll attach. We didn't end up getting back till about 6, and we left at 8 in the morning, so it was an all day excursion! Pretty exhausting, but it was fun! And cool to mix it up and get out of the office for a little bit.

Other than all that, everything was pretty much routine! Nothing too exciting, but tomorrow, we have this broadcast stake conference kind of thing at the stake center. I guess its just some sort of area broadcast, it's coming from Salt Lake. Not really sure what it's going to be or what it will be about, but it should be fun! Oh, and the sisters also have a baptism today, so we will be going to that! Should be good! But yeah, I really only have one more week in the office, which at this point, I am pretty excited about. I have liked it here, and am glad I had the opportunity, but it will be nice to get out at this point. After I get out of the office, I just have 5 weeks and then I'm on my way! Crazy stuff am I right?

 Anyway, hope you all have another great week  Happy summer!!!
Love to all,
Andrew




 This is from stake conference. On the way over, we found the one American school bus in all of Hungary!!! Not quite sure how they got it over here, but there it was!






 We actually got to see a little concert :) One of those big outdoor festivals that they always have in Hungary and actually, one of our investigators was playing at it, and invited us to go check it out. He's a drummer and actually wayyyy good. Super cool guy. It was this Elvis cover band that was actually surprisingly good!!!  It was hilarious though because all the everyone started swing dancing in the front and got way into it. Never knew Hungarians loved Elvis so much but I guess they do!  It was cool. Lots of people and beautiful weather!




 Here's the elvis show. Our friend is the one in the back playing the drums. Didn't really get a good picture of him but he was super glad we came!!!




 The entire hungarian army 

  

A few pics from the car. You might be able to kind of see a few mountains in the back. Yes, Hungary does kind of have a few mountains!!! 










The main square in Eger




























And our palacsintas. They usually arent quite that fancy, but we went to a pretty nice place!