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

s 

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