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!!!