Week 13 in Debrecen nem sok idő, hogy e-mailben

Hey!

I only have a few min today so I'll have to keep it short. I haven't gotten the package yet, but I should get it tonight. That was so awesome to see the picture of Ricky with his family that Amanda took. Try to work it out to have him email me. I would love to hear from him! Great coincidence that his sister worked with Amanda!

A Magyar nyelv nagyon nehez nekem de fogom tanulni végül...The Hungarian language is very difficult for me but I will learn eventually! I really want to communicate with people. The language barrier is a lot more of a barrier than I thought it would be.

Good week! Some ups and downs, but never a bad day. I got to go shoot at an archery range. Elder Whiting is a professional archer, he almost qualified for the Olympics. Elder Steel took us. It's kinda just out on a soccer practice field and is free. It was fun!

Jozsi and Ester are doing great! American Michael goes home on Tuesday. This is the last full week before transfers. I kinda think I'll be leaving Debrecen.

I'm sending some pictures. There is one of some hospital beds.

Another of the nicest floor of any 10 story Elder Whiting or I have ever seen here.

There is a picture of Elder Whiting and I with Atila, an investigator leaving to China.

Some pictures of an outdoor activity at the church.

Sorry I don't have more time! I'll write more next week!

Love ya, see ya, bye!
Elder Oakes,
Hungary Budapest Mission.

Week 12-Jozsi was Baptized!

Okay...

So, awesome, super long week, but I'll address your email first. I loved the pictures you guys sent of the garage. It looked super bad and now looks super awesome! And I did really like how you guys got in the picture three times on the panoramic. I am impressed.

I am super excited for the box! I am sorry it was kinda expensive but I really appreciate it! I can't wait to get it! Thank you!

We have a regular pday today, next week on the other hand, we will not. The 20th is Hungary's biggest holiday. It would be counter productive to try and work on that day so it is becoming pday. That's a Wednesday here, but because it's a holiday, everything will be closed, meaning no computer access. So we will be given 2 hours on Monday to email and shop. So on Monday, the 18, I will probably have less than an hour to email, if we can by some miracle find a computer on the 20th we may email some more then, but probably not gonna happen... anyway...

I am glad Sunday School class seems to be going well for you, mom. It's amazing to think about what we have back home! Here it's a struggle to find anyone willing to teach, who hasn't already got 6 other callings. Thanks for sharing your lesson with me. I have been trying to keep a journal here, but I always forget and have to play catch up. I think I am like 4 days behind right now. If I didn't have my planner it would be entirely hopeless. I'm glad you got the two planners I sent home in the purple envelope. There are lots of details of my day in there. I thought you might like that. I'ill probably end up doing that from now on.

The work is going great here. We dunked Jozsi last Saturday. In the pictures he is our investigator in a wheel chair. He has Muscular Dystrophy. He will only ever continue to get weaker for the rest of his life. He is 42 right now. 20 years ago he could walk and use his hands. Now he is wheelchair bound, can only lift one arm, can barley use his hands and needs help to do something as simple as shaving. But he never complains. He has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever seen and had a super strong desire to be baptized. We were really worried about the baptism because he has a subconscious reaction to water. If he were to fall in he can't get himself back out. Because of that he was really worried about going in the water. But the baptism went really good! He went under and back up in one try, no problems. As we pulled him out of the water he kissed us all. (we had to have 3 people to baptize him.)

After the baptism we had a meal at the church building upstairs

(This is from Sis. Schnoor's blog about the baptism) This week Jozsi was baptized, he is the elders investigator. He is in a wheelchair and can barely move his limbs, it was the neatest experience. Us missionaries sang "Come Thou Fount." He was crying and couldn't even wipe his own tears. He was beaming all day. Three people helped to baptize him, it was the neatest thing to see Elder Oakes all dressed in white carrying him into the baptismal font. When Jozsi came up out of the water, he just kissed the elders over and over on the cheek! So sweet! The Spirit was there so strong and I knew how proud the Lord was of him and the covenants he was making.

Now he is doing great, on Sunday we gave him the Gift of the Holy Ghost and next Sunday he will get the Aronic Priesthood. The guy is awesome and I love him to death!

I am pretty sure that picture at the basketball hoop was when I was jumping. The senior missionary on the other end was Elder Jensen, a senior missionary for Neareghaza. Loved making a sling shot! Elder Steel fell over during that party and hurt his sholder pretty good.

We learned how to make strudel from one of the members. Not sure I could make it on my own, but Elder Whiting and I experiment with different foods. I like this granola I've found here!

We went to a soccer game to cheer on a member's son who was playing. He was on the red team #8. That was fun!

We found some graffiti art of Fred and Barney Flinstone, so I jumped in for a picture :)

I really love Debrecen! The rain we have gotten makes everything super green.

Elder Whiting and I were with the Steele's looking for some less active members when we had a torrential downpour! Got some pics and video of that!

Got a haircut! She did a great job!

There were two pics I sent, one said "don't knock, ring" on the door, and the one at the door bell said "don't ring, knock" it was funny.

We started teaching someone new named Csaba. I'll let you know in future letters how that goes.
Elder Whiting and I are doing real well together! He is a super humble, great companion!

I got to go, love you!

Elder Oakes,
Hungary Budapest Mission

Week 11 in Debrecen-Humid and no AC

Hey mom,

Things are going really well here. The place we normally email from is closed today so I don't have wifi to send home pictures. It's been a really mild summer here. Our temperatures only maxed out the last two weeks. It rained yesterday too! We don't get 120 degrees like AZ, but it does get humid. I am having to just get used to sweating all the time. Hungarians don't believe in AC because they have a superstition that if cold air blows on you you get sick. So most of the time they just don't have AC. In places that do, like the branch house, they shut it off during church. I know, crazy!

"Call me maybe" is playing in the background right now. I think it's kinda funny. Hungarians listen to a lot of American music. Sometimes I forget I am on the other side of the world. I can remember singing this song at the top of my lungs with the girls in my car. That memory made me smile! I miss you guys a lot.

The girls are already back in school?! Holy crap! Time has been moving really fast since I have gotten here.

I am super sad I didn't get to put together that IKEA cabinet with dad! I love doing that kinda stuff. It makes me want to go build something. How are my tools doing by the way? They haven't been abused too bad since I have been gone, have they? Oh garage clean up!...sounds awesome! So sorry I won't be there to help! You should take some before and after pics to send me.

That's super awesome that Mallory's boyfriend got baptized! Glad to hear about the missionary work back home! We are so involved in the wards here. Members helping the missionary work is key! Gotta feed those missionaries some for me, it always means a lot to have members invite us over.

We have a few potential investigators, we are hoping to meet with more, but nothing big to report yet. Jozi gets baptized this Saturday. We are pretty excited for that! The Branch President will be baptizing him. Michael is in Taiwan and yes, we do miss him. We are having a transfer soon so I may not get to see him again. Transfers are 9 week cycles but they have missionaries who came into the mission on 6 week cycles, so they leave at different times then the now normal 9 weeks. We have mini transfers every other transfer until they all go home. This next one, in about three weeks, will have 10 elders leaving so it effects 20 companionships and there aren't new missionaries coming in so a lot is going to get changed around. If I get transferred I will be sad to go but I am kinda excited to go somewhere else too.

Last week my companion and I were walking home to do weekly planning when we saw some people working in their yard. They were cutting down trees chopping them up and putting them in a trailer. We decided that it would be a nice service project to help out. We ran home, changed, and ran back. For three hours we helped cut down, chop up, and clear trees. It was a ton of fun actually. That was probably the highlight of my week.

I feel like I am making more progress with the language.

You asked about Dori, I don't think she will be going on a mission for a while her dad is kinda against her quitting school to go on a mission right now.

Anyway, I love you all so much! Can't wait to see you all again! Sok szeretet

Elder Oakes, Hungary Budapest Mission

water party with the young single adults              
sling shot made by Elder Oakes :)

not sure what this was?

I got these pics off of one of the sisters' blog in Debrecen since Elder Oakes couldn't send any this week