Győr is such a pretty city!

Hello everybody!!!!!!

Győr is such a pretty city! There are a couple rivers that converge here, and you can see rowing teams throughout the day going up and down the river. Sometimes there are two boats going pretty close to each other!

An investigator of ours is starting to really progress! I already mentioned her, she has been praying and reading the scriptures that we have given to her. 

We also have several potential investigators who are interested in meeting with us about the church from English Class. So that's super exciting!!! I can't wait for when their schedules work out so that we can meet with them!!!!!

I continue to like the erdei gyümölcs joghurt ice creamm!!!!!!!! And everything else!!! I'm so greatful to be here with an awesome companion and with an awesome ward also! 

Love yall tons!

Bunker Elder

Erdei Gyümölcs Joghurt

Hello!

Its me again!

Today, since we are pretty busy, we split our email session in two, since we had a little bit of time in the morning before we had lunch with the other elders and we have a little bit of time now after meeting with some members at the branch house.

As I said, Győr is a fantastic city. There is an ice cream place at every corner. Unfortunately for me, ice cream here is really cheap, and it's super easy to get a cone with loose change like everyyy dayyy. The best flavor I've had here is this Erdei Gyümölcs Joghurt , or forest fruit yoghurt. Unfortunately, I haven't had chocolate here as good as the chocolate in Debrecen.

Image from Random Google Search

There are some really cool members here. There are two guys who are twins but look nothing alike. One is smaller and has dark hair and one is tall and blonde. They are both filling out their mission papers right now and have several older siblings that have also served missions. There is also a member here, who is taking the temple prep class to go to the temple for the first time. Also another member has served a lot of mini-missions for the church here in Hungary. I'm super excited to get to know the other members here better.

Right now my district consists of Elder Whiting and Elder Meek, the zone leaders, Sister Martinaeu, and her greenie, Sister Adams, as well as me and Elder Kellogg. Me and Elder Kellogg are the only ones not from Utah (Iowa and Arizona). 

So hopefully we can get the work here up and running! We are meeting with several investigators, though so far I have only had a program with one of them. She is a Buddhist, who lived in New York City for at least ten years. She is a really cool person. Apparently, she has been taught a lot about the gospel. We had a great program with her and talked about prayer and the importance of it. 

I love you all a ton!

Sok szeretettel

Bunker Elder

What I heard through the grapevine....

Hello everybody!!!!! So excited to be here in Győr with Kellogg Elder! He is a really great guy that really likes to work! I served around him already for two months in Veszprém, so that was great!!!!

There is going to be a mini transfer in about five weeks, because one of the groups will be finishing up at a time not consistent with all the transfers. I heard it through the grapevine that that a lot of crazy things could happen that transfer, mainly because of the areas that all those missionaries are serving in!

Győr is a really pretty city full of pretty buildings. 

 Image from www.kpmgglobalfrontiers.com

Image from www.funzine.hu

There is also a ward here, which is pretty significant since I am pretty sure that there are only like five of those in Hungary. The others are in Buda, Pest, Kispest, and Kecskemét. So good times!!!!


Also, I met a member here that knew Elder Boody when he served here!!! I love you all! Good luck with everything!!

Bunker Elder

Győr is now home!

So big news this week! Elder Flake has finished his two years as a missionary, and his going home. I am going to miss him sooooo much!!! Speaking of coming and going, I am being transferred, too! I am going to Győr, and I am going to be serving with Kellogg Elder, who I served around in Veszprém. I'm going to miss Debrecen, but I am really excited to go to Győr -- I've heard a lot of good things about that place.

Yesterday we had a lesson with a family. The daughter is active but her mom is not .. they shared with us their conversion story. Apparently the missionaries knocked at their door just a couple minutes after she prayed for something to help her life. Her daughter at the same time was already interested in the church, and they were both eventually baptized!! 

We also went to the house again of the two ladies who were some of the first Hungarian members after the mission opened 25 years ago. They fed us this really good fried meat and vegetables, on rice, along with fruit soup, which is always delicious! 

Have a great week everybody!

Sok szeretettel,

Bunker Elder

It's getting warm!

Hello from Debrecen!

Yesterday was a holiday, so everything was closed, so today is our p-day!

This week was great! A highlight was President Smith coming to Debrecen to see the members here one last time before he and Sister Smith leave in July.

To see a picture of the Smith's, you can go here:  http://hungarymission.org/about-smiths

 He also came to a baptism of an investigator that has been meeting with the Sisters the day before. He was able to give several members first time temple recommend interviews, which was awesome for these members, who can now go to the temple. The closest temples are in Germany and Ukraine, so going to the temple is usually a really big sacrifice for a lot of Hungarians. 

Freiberg Germany Temple (image from lds.org)

Kyiv Ukraine Temple (image from lds.org)

A member who was baptized about six months ago in Debrecen recently came back from the UK this week to spend some time at home before he heads off to Norway (or Sweden?). He is an international chef, and a really cool guy. 

Two members in here are also about to go on missions. Szilvia, one member, just got her call to Canada, and Dori just had her final interview with the mission president. We are really excited for them!!

Transfers are coming up!!! I am pretty sure that I am staying here in Debrecen, but there is a possibility that I may be transferred... transfers are always a suprise! Lucky us, the weather has been great, but a couple days it has been too hot to be outside! These are the days the we tract the ten stories. I really like tracting, because we are guaranteed an opportunity to talk about the gospel with someone, if only for a couple of seconds. 

Sok szeretettel!

Bunker Elder

An Amazing Conversion Story

This week was a busy week!

On Tuesday we went up to Budapest for quarterly interviews with the mission president. I feels so crazy that I have already been here for almost six months!! Budapest is always so pretty! Of course, we never see much of it in the bus or subway ride in between the train station and the mission home, but what we do see is amazing.

On Thursday we had Zone training in Miskolc. The zone leaders, Elder Dellenbach and Elder Raymond, talked about learning on teaching and finding with the Spirit. Everyone left with a desire to seek out the Spirit at all times and in all places in order to better help the people of Hungary.

The highlight of the week was having dinner in an apartment where two ladies lived. They were baptised almost 25 years ago, when the church officially came into Hungary and opened up a mission. They fed us paprikás csirke, probably the best I've tasted, and some Hungarian-stlye pudding, served on a graham-cracker stlye crust and topped with strawberries, but the best part was their conversion story. Zsoka and Valéria lived together in the same apartment to save rent money, and they had a strong friendship and a love for the Bible. However, neither of them ever went to any specific church, even though they knew that it would be good to go to church from their study of the scriptures. Valéria said it was kind of like the feelings that Joseph Smith had, not knowing if any of the churches were true. One day Zsoka was in the bélvaros (downtown) doing some shopping. It was raining a little and she was in a little bit of a bad mood. She saw the missionaries across the square with a table set up with fliers and such. She walked briskly to avoid them, and came out a few minutes later with her shopping. By now she had forgotten the missionaries and was thinking about other things, when one of the missionaries stuck out a copy of Selections from the Book of Mormon in front of her and asked her "Ismered ezt a könyvét?" (or "are you familiar with this book?). She said that she wasn't familiar with the book, but then her eye caught the phrase "egy másik tanúbizonyság Jézus Krisztusról" (or "another testament of Jesus Christ) on the cover and said that she was, however, familiar with Jesus Christ. By the end of the conversation she invited the missionaries over to talk more about their message. As Zsoka and Valéria read the Book of Mormon (or the translated selections from it), they said so many of their questions were answered. They said that the missionaries had trouble keeping the lessons focused on the gospel discussions because of all the questions that they had for the missionaries. Eventually they were baptized, and became the first two Hungarian members of the Debrecen branch. Apparently, the mission president was thinking about closing the Debrecen area down, because it had been the only area in Hungary since the mission had been opened that had had no success. After they were baptized, the missionaries were able to find a lot more investigators in Debrecen, and the proselyting area in Debrecen remained open.

I hope you all have a great week!!!!!

Sok szeretettel,

Bunker Elder

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello everybody!!

The highlight of this week was MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!! It was so awesome to talk to my family!!! 

Church was great yesterday! Another less active member that we have been meeting with came to church! It was nice to see him and talk with him!

The weather is sooooo nice here right now! And all the flowers are in bloom, too! There are these fields of little yellow flowers that look really cool! I am going to have to try to get a picture of them some time!

We have recently been holding English class on Saturdays as well as Thursdays. Of course, it was a bit slow at first, but lucky for us three people came this last Saturday, so we actually were able to have English class.

We have also been meeting with this lady in the branch here who is in a wheelchair and can't use her hands. (I don't know if I have already mentioned her). She make paintings by painting with the paintbrush in her mouth! It is super cool!

I hope everyone has a greaaaat week!!!

Bunker Elder