District Meeting

2/25/12

Yesterday we traveled about 30 minutes to Veszprem for a district meeting and saw some pretty countryside. We'll be anxious to go back there on a p-day, as it's listed as one of the most scenic parts of Hungary.
The district missionary meeting was so sweet. There were eight of us in a simple starter-chapel. It began with a hymn, (If You Could Hi To Koalob!) and I was so touched to hear those strong, male voices singing in Hungarian. The first thing on the agenda was language instruction which had been assigned to one of the elders. He did a great job and then each of the elders talked about some part of the language they had learned or needed help with. The district leader has been out for over a year and still has a tough time with the language. His companion has been out 6 months and is way ahead of the D.L. Everybody learns differently, but it was so obvious that they were all really working to learn this hard language. One missionary is from Hungary and has been assigned to the Washington D.C. mission but hasn't gotten his visa yet; so he's serving an hour from his home town until he can go to the MTC in Provo. He was struggling to learn English and the rest of the elders were helping him. He had been assigned the spiritual thought and when he had a scripture, they gave him their English set and had him read those. It took him some time but he could do it. I was so impressed! We probably won't be able to read Hungarian as well as he did the English set, when we are ready to go home! Then they talked about investigators and the Hungarian elder had some valuable insight about what Hungarians need to learn and do before they are ready to commit and stay faithful in the gospel. Elder Sabo shared some good insight from a Hungarian's point of view, about the need to study the gospel for a solid conversion to take place. He sited some statistics about converts who took years to convert and are still active 20 yrs. later. Afterwards, we took them to lunch in the mall across the street and as I looked around at the shoppers, and then at these young men serving the Lord, so far away from home; I felt such gratitude that I am able to serve with them.
When we got back, we attended the free English class that the missionaries teach.This particular class is the highest one, and there are about 9-12 members who attend regularly. At the beginning, we were asked to introduce ourselves and then the class could ask us questions. They were very open, friendly and curious. Then we asked them some questions. Each one told us how long they had studied English and how much of an opportunity they had to practice it. They'd all studied 7+ years, and none of them had a chance to practice the language. The "lesson" was an activity which involved dividing the class into a boys and girls team. Then, the missionary would give them a word in Hungarian and a member from each team would have to write the word on the board. I was amazed at their spelling, but I was disappointed that it didn't involve any speaking. All of the chatter was in Hungarian.
After the lesson, the missionaries give a spiritual thought. It is optional as to whether or not the class members stay for this portion, but everyone did. They showed a short Mormon Message by Elder Holland and then asked two of the class members, who are members of the branch, if they would bear their testimonies. There was a wonderful spirit and one of the members had brought a Book of Mormon to give to another class member who had previously had some questions about the book. It was great to see the service the missionaries give with the free classes, and with sharing the gospel. It reminded me of our setting apart as missionaries by our Stake President. Before the ordination, he taught us about service from the book of Alma, where Ammon chose to serve King Lamoni rather than become his son-in-law. Ammon's service softened the king's heart and gave him a desire to be taught by Ammon. Several of the conversions in Hungary last year were referrals that came from English classes. The principle that service to others is an avenue for the Lord's word and love to be felt by those served, is a true principle and is sweet to see in action here.