We got here after they just sent out the last group of Hungarians but our district also includes the Albanians and the Finnish missionaries. The Albanians will be leaving this week so pretty soon we will be the ones introducing all the new missionaries. i think the only groups here longer than us are those learning Mandarin.
Learning Hungarian is pretty hard. they say its a lot more difficult then any of the other languages besides Mandarin. I haven't thought its been that bad though. the hardest part i think is learning the words. I understand how to put most sentences together but i just dont know the words to use. What i think is really cool is that they dont use transition words like the, it, they, we, to put a sentence together. they have a single word for example prayer: ima that they then conjugate to give more meaning. To pray: ImadkozNI, you pray: imadkozOD we pray: imadkozUNK. Can we pray imadkozHATunk. I think its pretty cool.
That picture of my class is only half the people going to Hungary. Less than half actually... the janitor just said to tell you hi... the other class has ten Elderek es Newverek (Elders and Sisters). They are all pretty great though. I am really enjoying the devotionals. the first Sunday night the director of the churches missionary program President Allen came and talked to us. He was an amazing speaker. My favorite part was when he quoted the scripture "reprove with sharpness but then show an increase in love"
Pres. Allen yelled "Cut it out!!!" as he slammed his fist on the pulpit! And then in a more soft kind voice said "and then show an increase in love, ... I love you!" he said with a smile.
He was pretty awesome and really funny! I asked one of the IT guys for a copy of the meeting but he told me i couldn't have one. I tried to push the issue but he said no... :(
Anyway mom i have indeed been using the extra pages in my preach my gospel book. And ive gotten all your letters and the treats (that i shared). The food isnt that great in fact it was a bit of a let down. the only consolation is the fact i get to eat as much of it as i want. The days here are packed! We have language classes for like 12 hours!
Tell Lizzy to go for it with the graphic design! that's awesome! Tell dad I never got Brother Stewarts email ask him to resend it and id double check the address. Tell Grammie and Grampie I said hi and happy B-day.
I love you guys so much! MOM I MISS YOU! IM GIVING YOU A BIG HUG and don't cry. :)
EMail you guys next P day im out of comp time
Your missionary Elder Oakes
PS tell drew to give me an email i want to talk to him. If he doesnt ill come back to make him Hahaha jk
The following is a letter and picture we got this week from Bro. Christensen at the MTC:
Dear Family and Friends:
This past Thursday the Ambassador to the United States for Hungary, visited the MTC. As part of his visit to the MTC, I took him to your missionary’s classroom. The Ambassador was very impressed with everything he saw here, but was especially impressed with the missionaries. I was told today that he mentioned his MTC experience several times as he met with members of the First Presidency last week.
Thank you for all you have done to assist your missionary!
