Finally in Hungary!

szervuzs csaladom

I made it to Hungary! It is so different here but I am getting used to it! Just a warning...the keyboards here are really weird so if i type anything weird its because of the keyboard. So it has been the craziest week ever! I cant believe it has almost been a week...it feels like a day. Unfortunately I got sick on the plane. Really sick! 5 minutes after we left Dallas I started throwing up and threw up fairly consistently til we landed in London. Then the 2 hour flight from London to Budapest is when I got REALLY sick! I pretty much stayed in the bathroom the whole time and my sweet companions were helping me. It was a long flight. I don't think I am ever going to leave Hungary because I am not getting back on a plane again. Some of the people in our group didn't get their luggage so we had a while to wait for their luggage to come. Just before we met the mission president and his wife I started to feel better. Then, knowing my luck, I threw up as soon as I am about to shake the mission presidents hand. It was so embarrassing. They were super nice about it though and took really good care of me. I was pretty exhausted that night so I just slept straight until the next morning so I missed a lot of the orientation but my companions got me all caught up!

I am in Buda which is a HUGE blessing! I was worried I would have to travel and get sick again. But i didn't have to. Since we have so many sisters, we are all in a tri companionship. My companionship is with Sister Kennedy and Sister Larsen. I knew sister Larsen from the MTC, she was in the group right before me and she is great! We get along really well. Our trainer sister kennedy has only been out for 9 months which is super early to be training! She is an awesome trainer though! She has only been in Buda for less than one transfer so we are still trying to figure our way around but it has been a fun adventure!

My first day here we taught 3 lessons and it was great! Every day since then we have had anywhere from 3 to 7 lessons planned but everyday EVERYONE "Dogs" or drops us. It has been super frustrating. We even had 2 people on date for baptism and they keep not showing up. hopefully we can meet with them though! We did have one lesson yesterday with a guy who lost his son a year ago. We met him street contacting. It was a good lesson. We taught him all about the restoration and everything was going really well...then at the end of the lesson he told us that he had seen a vision just like Joseph Smith and so he was wondering if he was a prophet. He still wants to meet but we will see where it goes.

Hungarian language is SO CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! People talk so fast here and they mumble a lot so its really hard to understand. The people in the ward here though are THE NICEST people I have ever met. Church was really different than I am used to...but it was great! A funny thing about here is EVERYONE is superstitious  One of their superstitions is that you can't leave your bags on the floor or else you will lose all your money. So all the chairs in church are filled with bags because no one will put them on the floor.  A lot of the people in Buda speak English and so everyone is the ward is really excited to teach me Hungarian. They really are the sweetest people! There is probably about thirty people or so who came to church...we have a lot of inactive members here so we are doing a lot of reactivating. One thing that is hard that we have to be careful about is people want to learn English. If they can learn English they are more likely to get a job. So a lot of people only meet so they can learn some English  We try not to use to much English but I guess that is one of the huge things that draw people to be interested in the church. Our companionship will teach English class on Thursday nights and i guess they get a HUGE turnout for that. We teach English for the first half and then teach the gospel the second half in Hungarian  So hopefully that will go good...our companionship doesn't really know what we are going to teach yet.

One of the greatest things about Hungary is the food....it is so yummy and definitely greasy! I don't think they have ever really heard of vegetables here but they sure know how to make good stuff. They have this stuff called túró and its this white stuff that kinda looks like cottage cheese but doesn't taste like it. They put it in everything and it is super delicious! They drink tons of tea here. There milk is the best...its not like the milk in America but it is delicious! They also eat sausage (aka grease) with EVERYTHING! It is so good but my body hasn't adjusted to so much grease. Their chocolate is the best. I will have to send some home. My favorite thing I have had so far is gűró - its chocolate with tűró and caramel in it. It is the best thing I have ever had! It has to be refrigerated though so I can't send it home.

All the missionaries here are way cool. We are the only sisters in Buda and we have 8 elders. They are all really nice. We have spent pretty much the whole week moving into a new apartment across the street and luckily the elders helped us move all the heavy stuff. We have been cleaning and getting things ready a lot this week so hopefully this next week we can actually teach people. I have been sick again too so hopefully I start feeling better. My companions are great and are so nice! We have really been put out of our comfort zone but that is the great thing about missionary work. I'm trying to work hard on learning the language but I don't have much time to study....we haven't had study time because we have been moving apartments. so hopefully i will get a little better at the language by next week!

Being on a mission is a lot different than I thought it would be - I know everyone says that but now I am actually experiencing it. It is definitely going to be so hard but I am glad it is that way because it makes me become stronger. This week I was studying about weaknesses in the scriptures and I am so glad that I have them! The Lord helps us become strong through our weaknesses. When we are weak we are strong because we rely on the Lord. I am so excited to be a missionary and to have these experiences to make me stronger. It definitely is the hardest and most exhausting thing I have ever done but it is a great experience! I love being in Hungary - the missionaries here are awesome and the ward is the coolest ward I have ever been in! The people here have such big hearts and are so willing to help anyone and everyone! I hope you are all doing well! Love you all and hope everything is going great!

Szeretettel

Falslev Nővér

Sister Larsen and I on a bridge close to the Parliament building. It has been really bad weather since we have got here. It is SO COLD!!!! I think that is why I am still sick - or according to Hungarian people - I wasn't wearing boots and a scarf so I got sick. The Parliament building is beautiful! And so big!

Sister Larsen and Sister Kennedy on one of the escalators. They are forever long. We go on them every time we take the metro somewhere. I heard they were the longest escalators in the world but I'm not sure if that is the truth or someone just saying that. they are pretty cool though!

Sisters Kennedy, Falslev, and Larsen

This is our shower. If you notice it does not have a shower curtain. People don't use shower curtains here. You have to have quite a bit of skill to take a shower - i am still working on that! 

This is the lever you use to flush the toilet. And all the ceilings in our apartment are super tall! We have the nicest apartment probably of all the missionaries! The toilet room is really small and is in a separate room from the sink. 

The mission home. The first level is the chapel. Second classrooms. Third mission home office.