Week 35 - 8th Week in Tatabanya

To one and all

So, now I am officially 20. Yeah! Whoo! My birthday was actually really good. Lala and Niké threw a "surprise" B day party for me that unfortunately because of how we have to schedule I knew about. But it was super good and I really enjoyed it. Lala made me a cake and there was a firework in it for a candle. Niké decorated and put a lot of effort into helping to organize it. Hopefully I can return the favor.

But I got both of the boxes for my Birthday as well. Holly crap, you're right mom, Sister Staggie did way too much (BUT THANK YOU!!!!!!!!) Mom, thanks so much for the jeans the socks and the shirt! And Amanda, I LOVE THE NERF GUNS. The back scratcher is super cool as well as the scripture marking pen. I don't remember everything in the boxes but here is a shout out to all who contributed. THANK YOU! It means a lot to know I am not forgotten here in Hungary.

You may have noticed (if you have already seen the pictures Lala posted) that we have sister missionaries here in Tatabanya. That was not the case as of a week ago. Last week Cannon and I had a meeting with the Branch President about missionary work. He mentioned it would be nice to have sisters here. Elder Cannon and I both agreed as well, and Elder Cannon even mentioned it in his weekly email to president. Two days later we were sitting on the couch in our apartment doing studies and the phone rings. I pick it up and look at the caller ID to find President Smith was giving us a ring.

For those who are a little less obedient this situation might cause alarm. But, while I could not remember anything specific I had done, I was still a bit nervous answering the phone. So I picked it up and the conversation went a little like this...

"Hello?"
"Hey there this is President Smith, am I talking to Elder Oakes?"
"Hey there President this is Elder Oakes"
"Perfect just who I wanted to talk to (Dang! what did I do...) You still have a free apartment there in Tatabanya right (WaHOO! not me somebody else)"
"Yes, we sure do. Why do you ask?" (what happened this time?)
"Well, we have some sister missionaries we were thinking of moving in there, Elder Cannon mentioned something about the Branch President asking for sister missionaries so we thought we might try to get some over there. (Oh, whew! So this isn't an emergency then)
"Wow that's great so when will they be coming?"
"Tomorrow probably if everything works out." (OH it is an emergency then!)

So he went on to inform us that the Baggozies (A senior couple) would be bringing them down, and since they would already be there they would go ahead and do apartment checks then. He also mentioned it would be good if we went over and got the other apartment ready for them as well.

After explaining the situation to my companion we looked around at our apartment. I then tried to remember what kind of condition the other apartment was in. Then we got to work. The next 24 hours were interesting to say the least. We did some frantic cleaning, rescheduled some appointments, and tried to still get in some decent working hours.

So they came here. We helped them get their work and area established and began to go back to the normal weekly process. Which brings us back to my surprise birthday party with sisters being there.

On Sunday I gave a talk as well that I am quite proud to say went very well. We also got a baptismal date to one of our investigators and organized a whole intervention for her to start the stop smoking program that she needs to go through. And as for today we went and hiked the mountain with the sisters and our investigator Gréta.

So that's been my week so far. Things sound pretty interesting back at home with the family. The pool is done! I am super jealous, I wish I could jump in a hot tub right now. Other than that, things sound pretty run of the mill. Can't wait to see the whole backyard when its done!

Love you mom, love ya dad, love ya family! Love all my friends too!

Elder Oakes, Hungary Budapest Mission

Week 34 - 7th Week in Tatabanya...Happy Birthday Elder Oakes!

Okay okay okay,

The time has come! This week I will be turning Buda da da da da da da! 20! WOOHOOOOooo.... Do you know what I will be doing for my birthday? WORKING!!!! YEAH!!!!!!! That's about all the birthday hype I am feeling. It just seems to matter less once you get older. But it was super great to see all the birthday wishes from everyone back home! That's honestly probably the best gift I could have asked for was all of those pictures from home! I love you all and miss you all so much.

This last week has been pretty good. Elder Cannon and I are now the only missionaries here in our town. So when we aren't working there isn't a whole lot else to do in a small town by ourselves. So, we just decided to work more! We did our 20 hours of finding on top of our other 14 working hours. Pretty dang good week!

We are planning on inviting two of our investigators this next week to be baptised. We feel fairly confident they will accept. I am pretty stoked for that! One of them is Anna a nice lady with a smoking problem. She was taught in the past and and started coming to church again on her own and that really made us excited. She is a smoker and we are going to be helping her with that, so it's not going to just happen soon but I am thinking she is well on her way.

The other one is an investigator who is practically a member already and just is waiting to turn 18 to be baptised. When we sent out a reminder text to our investigators (including her) about church she responded "I am going to be there like EVERY Sunday" so that was pretty funny as well.

As for the rest of the week, it has not been very eventful. We had one dinner appointment with an investigator. Her name is Évi.

It's always super good to hear from back home. The pool is coming along really nice! I am kinda sad that I can't be there to watch that all get put together. But the pictures are the next best thing.

SO, grandpa is getting better? That's pretty good! Tell him I said to keep on it so he can be on his feet in the airport when I get home. Tell him I said that was a challenge and I will be praying for it!

I haven't heard anything about the box being stuck in customs. So, if nothing has been said to me about it I will look into it.

Shout out to all the people that I just haven't had a chance to email in a little while. You're not forgotten, I promise! There often is just not enough time to send good emails to everyone and my mom gets a little upset when I don't send her a good one :P (Drew, Karah, Michael, Brandon, Lizzy, Becca, Naomi, Amanda, Josh etc...)

I didn't take any pictures this week, sorry! We were super busy and I just forgot to take pics. I will do better this week. We got to get going, I love you mom!

Elder Oakes, Hungary Budapest Mission

Week 33 - 6th Week in Tatabanya!

Okay

So, this last week started with Elder Gonzalez and I having a normal work day on Monday since there were transfers, our pday was switched to Tuesday. We got some good programs in. On Tuesday we got calls while we were walking to our email place (and it was snowing). I was slightly surprised by the calls, we were with the other Elders at the time. They got shut down, and Gonzalez got transferred to Nyereghaza. It was just little old me who ended up staying here in Tatabanya. Even more surprising I was told I was getting my MTC comp as well!

We ended up finishing out the day packing and early in the morning everyone headed out. I stayed though because Elder Cannon was coming out of a threesome. So they just dropped him off before turning around and heading back. That was the 31st by the way. We spent the rest of the day getting settled in, which happened really early because we had a lot more time then we normally do and then we got to bed on time, only to be woken up at 12 by calls from all of the members who were sure we would be partying life away for New Year's Eve. The next day though was an extended Pday on the 1st because of New Years Day. So we had even more time to get settled in. Needless to say, we were both pretty settled in by Friday and kinda ready to get some work done! And so that's what we did! We got some work done. We have been teaching the gospel to a member's girlfriend. His name is Andras. I will let you know how that goes.

So this last week we had almost 22 working hours with three days off and three hour of studies in our other working days. I was pretty dang proud of ourselves. And that would now find us here on this Pday morning with the snow falling like crazy outside. The ward here is doing pretty good. We have members we love (Lala and Niké) and we see them fairly often because they help us all the time and make our lives a lot easier.

I am super glad things are kinda stabilizing back at home. How is Grandpa doing? The pictures of the pool look super cool. I can't wait to get back and be able to use it! Right now I am thinking of that hot tub! That would be pretty nice! Things are pretty frosty right now. The temp has been going back and forth. This morning almost all the snow had finally melted off, but right now it's hitting pretty hard. I still have the coat I bought but honestly, I think I wasted my money. There are about three of those things in every missionary apartment here in Hungary. They are big and baggy and don't hug you tight enough to keep warm. But that's whatever.

I am excited for the new year. I have already learned a lot on my mission and I think I am ready to not be young anymore. At this point I want to start working pretty hard and I am glad I am with Elder Cannon because I know we can do that. But anyway, things will be good. My 20th birthday will be kinda another day for me and my comp at least. I am excited to get the stuff you guys are sending(Sister staggie you're awesome!). But right now I am just excited to get to work.

I am sending the pictures and video of Christmas and making our dinner. It's funny when you combine the efforts of four hungry teens what can happen! We did some research about how to cook the turkey. I use that cookbook you sent me too!

I Have to go now though. I love you mom and I'll chat with you next week!

Love you all back home!

love Elder Oakes, Hungary Budapest Mission