Transfer 9, Week 7....?

yeah, so this transfer is a week longer because of Christmas, that's why it's week 7.
so, transfers is next week....President has already informed us that we are both staying, due to the fact that the new office couple is now here to replace the Garners, and we need to help them get settled in. It's going to be super wierd without the Garners around, but the Bagozzis seem really fun, so i'm looking forward to getting to know them. Not too much else going on lately.....pretty normal in the office this week (well, as normal as it can be....). let's see...i had something i was going to talk about, but it's not coming to mind right now.......................................uh...............................................(awkward pause........).......................................hm. well, i guess that's it for this week then. bummer. well, if i can think of it during the week, i'll shoot you an email. (this is going to bug me so much until i think of it.......i'd hold off sending this until i thought of it, but then i'd just forget to send the email.)
Well, i hope you all have a great week anyway, let me know how everyone's doing! I love you all!
Elder Murray
Oh! I remembered what I wanted to share-----Well, this past month, a young single adult from the Kispest ward passed away. It was completely unexpected, she was at the New Year's party, and two days after that, she was taken to the hospital, and then she died a day later or something. It was a really hard time for a lot of the youth here, because she had been really involved with a lot of the activities--she used to be the YSA President here in Budapest. So, with her death and everything, i've been thinking a lot about the Plan of Salvation, kind of going back to what i mentioned a few weeks ago when i talked about hearing the departing missionaries on their last night. these friendships we make go so deep that they can't possibly be limited to this earthly life only. Sister Wade, one of the senior sisters who works at the Center for Young Adults, has been helping the youth here a lot--she talks a lot about her husband, who died a number of years ago. She said he called his death his "graduation from mortality", and Pres. Hinckley came and spoke at his funeral, and talked about "what a beautiful thing is death, really." I can't remember exactly how he said it, but something about how if we only knew what kind of experiences await those who go on to fulfill their calling on the other side of the Veil, we would not mourn their passing. she also has a lot of quotes about angels, and one of them is from Bishop H. David Burton, which talks about how the angels that the Lord sends to aid us in our lives are not strangers, but people we had known in life. They are friends and family and that is a comforting thought.

Transfer 9, Week 4

Hello everyone

Sorry it's taken so long to get a good email out, things have been crazy. We've been all over the place with Christmas and New Year's, but things are settled down now, so i have some time to report the goings-on.......let's see.....we've had a lot of trips to the hivatal lately, which weren't too difficult, just super long.........we are definitely never going there unless we get there when it opens. Let's see, other news.......Christmas was really fun, I still got to enjoy all the cookies and fudge from home, and we even had some puzzles and a game or two of phase 10 (wow, it seems like forever since i've done either of those......). oh, and on Christmas eve, we gathered up in the top room of the mission home with pres. and his wife and we sang christmas songs.....it was so much fun, it was such a great day!
New Year's Eve was super fun, Elder Hintze and I had to stay at the Center for Young Adults until 4 in the morning to supervise their party. Sister Steck was doing face painting, so i got a giant pokeball on my arm (i wanted her to paint the enterprise or the Star Trek insignia, but she didn't know what they looked like, and when i tried drawing them, i absolutely butchered them). So, lots of music, lots of wandering around the mission home trying to find something to do, and lots of juice. oh, sister wade made slush, so we had a giant bowl of soda with that, and it was sooo good! it took me right back to holidays at grandma's house with uncle bret's slush--it tasted just like his. and then, at midnight, everyone got some children's champagne (alcohol-free, of course), and sang the hungarian anthem. it was the first time i heard it, and it was absolutely amazing! It was really cool to hear it for the first time, with all of these hungarian youth singing it. ah, it was super awesome! then everyone was clinking there plastic cups together, "Boldog Új Évet!" super fun. the next day was super pday, so we slept in a lot (well, i slept in until about 8.30......i can't seem to sleep much later than that....) and we gathered at the mission home with the other missionaries. it was really fun, we got a lot of foosball playing in, and we just had a great time.

Lately, not tooo much has been going on........a lot of super hectic days, and a lot of super empty days....not too much in between. but, i'm having a good time here. you know, when we're not pulling our hair out worrying about backing up the computers (yeah, we just installed windows 7 and had to back up the computers..............super stressful, i'm glad all my hair didn't fall out) or wondering what's wrong with the internet today (yeah, no internet for about a week and half....and, each day, there was a different reason). so, things are going good.

I hope you all have a great week, and i'll talk to you all next week!

Elder Murray