First Week in Eger

This has been a busy week. I will have plenty to do this transfer here in Eger. We have a very small branch here, the branch President is a senior missionary, Elder Bailey (I served with the Baileys in Miskolc, now there are here to help out the branch), and I am the second counseler. The Baileys are in Romania right now because they also do auditing around easter Europe, and I still haven't met with the first counseler. On Sunday we had 13 people at church, I conducted, helped bless the sacrament, and gave a 25 minute talk. One of the sisters who just got here gave another long talk, played a musical number on the violin, and taught Sunday school. My goal for my time here in Eger is to get the branch up and going more so that the members are carrying the wait more by themselves. I am also hoping to work a lot with the inactive members this transfer, we have a lot, apparently a ton of people went inactive about a year back, so we are hoping to meet with as many of them as possible and get them back. The members I have met so far are great though.

My companion here is awesome, Elder Egan (funny because it sounds like Igen, Hungarian for yes). he has been here for 5 weeks so far, was just getting trained by Elder Hall, who Tom played basketball against back in high school. (Note to Tom - I think he told me to say hi to you from him my first day in the country but I forgot, so hi). He is great, loves to work. We don't have a lot of investigators here either so we are hoping to change that.

Eger is a beautiful city though, super European.

We had an awesome experience on the street last night, we met with a young guy from America, he is religious, knows the Bible and we had a super awesome talk. He had a super good definition of how grace and works, works isn't want saves us, only Christ does that, works is just a natural consequence of what we do because we are in awe of what Christ did for us. Super cool guy. We had a hard time explaining to him why our message is important though, because he doesn't really see a need for a church. We told him we'd try to formulate a better answer for him and meet up later this week, after we left I had one of those I really need to read the scriptures more moments.

I also just finished the Book of Mormon in Hungarian! I made it a goal to get it done by my year in the country mark, and finished a few days early. That book is true!

I'm out of time, but life is going great here! I love you all!

Elder Parkinson

Leaving Kaposvár

Wow, it was a long week. A lot has happened. We have a mini transfer going on due to a bunch of people going home, and so I will be going to Eger, a city between Budapest and Miskolc. It will be sad leaving here, but I heard that is a good place. And I will be serving with Elder Egan, who has only been in the country for 4 weeks, so that should be a blast.

We also got a new mission president this week, President Szabadkai! We had suprise Zone Conference on Thursday so we could meet him (we got a call about it the day before). The trains were down so we took buses, left at 11 and got back at 11:15 for a 1.5 hour conference. It was worth it though, super good. And the whole thing was in Hungarian! President Szabakai is also a math major! And he gave a great talk too, I'm looking forward to this next year under him.

I also got to meet with Uncle Tom this week! He drove down from Veszprém on Wednesday and we went to dinner with him, had a great chat. Super cool to get a visit. I also found out that when Hungarians say they invented the Atom Bomb and Microsoft they aren't entirely lying, there were some big Hungarian influences in both. I'm still skeptical about the Ford Model T though.

We had one really cool program this week with the guy we met last week that new us from South Park. He basically said he believed in God but the European religions didn't satisfy him, thought our church looked like it had some good stuff (thank you South Park). Super cool man and very smart. It was cool to just bear testimony that we know this will bless him and his family. Awesome. The program was also Sunday right before we were about to head home and break our fast, it was super hot, and we had just biked a lot. He asked if we wanted some water and we succesfully politely declined. Then 5 minutes later his girlfriend walked out with a pitcher of cold lemonade with lemons in it she had made for us. Yeah, we broke that fast early.

Also, I had multiple people this week talk to me about Hungarian history, they said the Hungarians started out in this area originally, then went out east, and then later came down from Russia to here. One lady said Hungarians are actually the Summarians and that Hungarian is 10000 years old. Basically, I'm convinced they're the lost tribes of Isreal (from here, went out east, came from the north, apparently they believed in the trinity before they hit Europe...).

Elder Lee and I made it in the paper. We were streeting one day and a man with a camera came up and said he was from the county paper and wanted to get a picture of us drinking out of a fountain. He then wrote an article in the paper complementing our summer style (I guess short sleeves with a tie is a no in Europe trends, but he said we looked good in it, shout out to David for the birthday tie).

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Also, happy 4th of July! We celebrated with an American Night at the Millers on Friday (a day early I know), a lot of members and investigators came and we had hot dogs and s'mores. A good send out for the Millers as well, they are on a plane right now back to America.

American Night​

Goodbye to the Millers​

​Goodbye to our Branch President

Well. that was a lot. Next week I will be emailing from Eger. I hope you all have a great week!

Love

Parkinson Elder

People are awesome!

We had an awesome week this week. I think the best part was just all of the people we were able to meet.

There was a man that met with the missionaries 2 transfers back that we were finally able to set up with. He started off by saying he respected our church but had doubts about it, but we had a really strong program about the Spirit, the Book of Mormon, the Saviour and forgiveness. He says he knows he felt the spirit when he watched the restoration film with the old Elders, really wants to just be a better person. Incredible man.

We then had a family that we tracted into a few weeks back and were finally able to meet again. They are having a super hard time in their family with lots of personal problems. We asked if they had read from the Book of Mormon and they said a little, the dad then flipped open to Alma 42, read a few verses, and started to comment on how well it explained things. So we switched up our lesson plans and taught the Plan of Salvation, awesome program.

We met an American on the street, journying through Europe with his guitar. On splits Elder Lee and Elder Winkel gave him a Book of Mormon and had a sweet talk with him, and we met him again the next day and had a good chat. He had read from it, left town that day but hopefully keeps reading.

Saturday night we were knocking on doors, as we were waiting at the gate a car pulled up, we told the man who we were and he told us to wait while he parked the car and he'd be out. It turns out he had heard of us from South Park, and we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and get his number, hopefully we can go back next week. Now imagine what will happen when Meet the Mormons comes out this summer.

The best thing about missionary work is the spirit, I have noticed that a lot this week, how when the spirit is with us we are happy. Even if we are just out knocking on doors for hours if the spirit is with us then we can do it with a smile on our face. Because we have sunshine in our souls.

President and Sister Smith go home this week and President and Sister Szabakai will come out. I'm sad to see the Smith's go home, but I'm excited for the changes that lie ahead.

Enjoy the heat wave back home. The weather here is gorgeous!

Sok Szeretettel,

Parkinson Elder

Happy Father's Day!

I hope you had a wonderful Father's day at home! I Love you Dad!

We had a baptism this week! That is always a high point. Her name is L., her mom is a already a member, but she just got baptized on Saturday, her dad come up from America to see it, it went super well. And then Elder Miller confirmed her in church.

We also had a sweet Zone Conference in Budapest, President Smith gave his final training, he talked about personal integrity, doing what is right despite what others think. It only matters what God thinks. That is something I have been thinking about a lot and trying to improve on. President Smith has been a great example in that, he has been an incredible mission president. As we sang the closing hymn (of course it was God be with you til we meet again) I started to tear up a little. I'm excited for President Szabakí to come in though.

We had a cool find this week tracting, we got a let in to a couple, and we taught them about the Book of Mormon and the restoration. They both loved it. At the end when we set up to come back we realized they weren't actually a couple, she was just a friend who was over to help out because his back was hurting. But they said they both want us all to meet together again, cool experience.

I think I found a couple of Kuvasz tracting, only one of them was confirmed though. The lady said she had had 4 break-ins and so bought the kuvasz, hasn't had a problem since. 

Tell Bjorn this is his cousin.

Near resort hotel where we went for baptism -- only place we could find a "font"

Also, we biked up to a local lake last P-day as a district, got a nice picture. In order me, Elder Winkel, Elder Cox, and Elder Lee.

That's about it, the weather cooled down thanks to some rain and so it is now perfect!

Love

Parkinson Elder

Rolling in the Heat

Summer is rolling around in full now, this week it was in the 30's and humid, luckily the city put up a misting thing on the main street, basically a big arch that sprays mist, a great way to cool off. The mayor just won my vote.

This week we had difficulty setting up with a lot of people. Our finding was super good though, we had a lot of people we talked to tracting and on the streets, the only problem is that we have had a hard time setting up with them again as well. And one man we had a super good talk with at the door and gave a Book of Mormon answered the phone yesterday saying super quickly that there was a misunderstanding and he doesn't want to meet. I suspect he Googled us and found some bad stuff.

We did have a really great streeting experience the other night, I started talking to a guy on the street, and following the idea from another Elder in the district I asked if I could share a favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon. Right when I finished a big bachlourette (no idea how to spell that) party walked up, from what I understood one of the girls told the guy he was supposed to eat the candy that was tied on a necklace around her neck, all the other people whipped out Iphones. At this point I'm thinking, well, there goes the spirit and now we're about to be all over facebook. Luckily he turned them down and asked if we could keep talking on a bench nearby. We had a great talk and were able to give his number to the Pest Elders (he lives in Pest).

We also had some great pinch hitting from the other Elders, Elder Winkel (same one with the scripture sharing idea) made a deal with one of our investigators that he wouldn't drink energy drinks or soda for the rest of the transfer if she wouldn't drink alchohol for the same amount of time.

J. is also officially in Switzerland now, at first we thought he wouldn't go, because his friend was having trouble leaving behing his pet king pythons, but I guess they worked it out, he called Sunday morning and said he was off. I hope he can continue to progress there.

I also finished the New Testament, now on to D&C. I love the scriptures.

Enjoy summer vacation back home! Stay classy!

Love,

Parkinson Elder

Been a While

The library didn't have internet last week, so we weren't able to email. I'm still alive. A lot has happened in the last two week, we had a mini transfer a week before the transfer and so I got put in a trio for a week, and now I am with Elder Lee, who is starting his second transfer.

Sad to hear that Elder Perry passed away. Our Branch President was out of town so Elder Miller was conducting church and announced it, I was translating for him when he said it, so it took me by suprise.

We had a big art festival in Kaposvár last weekend, booths lining the streets selling stuff and live music. It made for a lot of really good streeting time, the streets were packed all day, the only problem is we live a block from the main square and the music was still going strong at 10:30.

We had a fun last P-day last week, we went out biking through a little trail in a nearby forest, and founf a small lake a a natural spring to drink from (none of us brought water).

We had some good teaching moments as well this week. One sad moment was that J. will be moving to Switzerland in a week for work. It will be a big blessing for his family because he will make much better money, but I will miss him. He is planning to attend church still, and I know we have at least 2 Hungarians serving there so hopefully we can put them in contact with him.

We also had an investigator who finally read the Book of Mormon. I ask every time we meet and she always said no, but at the end of last program she said she would and called later saying she had read and liked it. That was sweet. She also fasted yesterday. I'm starting to not believe her claims to being athiest.

We had a couple great let in's while tracting, one was a lady who said she wasn't really interested, but offered us some water. We accepted so she let us in (she actually gave us apple juice). We talked with her and her husband for a little bit, and then he asked us what news we had brought. So we taught them a quick restoration. They said we could come back in the future, so well see how that goes. We also had another awesome one, after 3 long hours of tracting in the heat a lady let us in before we even said who we were. We met the husband and said we were missionaries, and so he asked what our message was. We shared the restoration and Book of Mormon with them, they loved it. She skimmed through the first 100 pages in the program, kept pointing out similarities to the Bible. I see lots of potential there.

That is about it summer has come around, it is starting to get hot. Luckily my companion is from California so he's good with the heat.

Congrats to Mike and Mindee on the wedding and to Ben on the mission call!

Love,

Parkinson Elder

Staying in Kaposvar

We didn't hear from Elder Parkinson this week.  The library computers were down so they called the Millers, the senior couple in the area, and asked them to tell us they'd email next week.

Transfer calls were this week.  Elder Parkinsons' companion is transferring to Szeged and he will get a new companion named Elder Lee.  Elder Parkinson will become the district leader in Kaposvar.

We are looking forward to more information next week.

Karen