Elder Levi Neely's Mission: May 23, 2013

Sziasztok!

Holy cow! Week five! Or is it four? I don't know. Time doesn't really exist in the MTC. It is more like...just...I don't even know. It's weird. But I love it here! Things are going super well. Oh I have so much to tell you!
Okay so Unit member #3 did arrive safely at the MTC! I got to see Brittany-excuse me, Sister Mecham-at her first dinner. We chatted for a while (in Hungarian..it was another one of my SYL days. Charades are fun! But really I just broke down into English after a while ha ha) and it was so great to see her! She will be a great missionary as will Sister Harris and as will Tanner! I love them with my whole heart. And I love you with my whole heart! I am so excited to talk to you guys in a couple of weeks when I get to call you at the airport! It will be great!
So earlier this week I got a call on the intercom at like 9:45 pm ( that is way late her BTW). They told me to proceed to talk on the red phone. In the hallway we have a legit red phone that looks like only the Prophet should use if he needs to call one of the twelve or something. It is super intense looking. So I picked it up and someone just told me to come to the front desk. So Giacalone Elder and I went to the front desk expecting a note that I was called by the Prophet to part the Atlantic Ocean or something, but instead it was just a note from a Sister that needed an accompanist. HOWEVER this was not just any Sister, this was a Sister that had arrived one day before from Spain. She had two companions: one from Thailand and one from somewhere like Tonga or Samoa. They all spoke about 40% English. Let me tell you, it was pretty crazy. The nice thing from this experience? I realized that is exactly how I am going to be in Hungary. Woot! Yay for charades and not very good language proficiency!
Every week we go to TRC. It is where a bunch of volunteers from around come and act as investigators for us. Us being Hungarian speaking and all, we usually get RM's that went to Hungary. This week though, we got a native Hungarian! She was so nice! And she talked SUPER FAST. It was crazy, but it was so cool at the same time. She was visiting one of the first Sister Missionaries that had ever gone to Hungary when it first opened. We got to talk with both of them. It was such an amazing experience. It was also awesome just to see how excited she was for us to be learning Hungarian. She loved it! It was a real confidence booster and really made me excited for Hungary.
This week I got to play for a musical number in Relief Society. That was crazy. It was awkward being the only elders among an absolute ocean of sisters. Furcsa. However, the musical number was so cool! I played with Megumi Gas and she did amazing. It was awesome.
So whenever we do SYL days there are often times words I don't know how to say. So I got into the habit of saying the word and adding a common Hungarian ending "sag". For example:" Szuksegem van mint-sag-re." That translates to: "I need a mint." I didn't know the word for mint so I just tacked that on the end. It isn't the best habit. I have to punch the flag alot for that (BTW We made a little Hungarian flag out of a 3x5 index card and everytime we say something in English on SYL days, we have to hole-punch it. Ergo: punch the flag).
This is the last week that the Estonians will be with us. They are leaving for their mission in t-minus 4 days. It is weird. The Estonian Elders have been our zone leaders and they have made us feel very welcome and loved. The Estonian Sisters are so dang funny and we have had a great time getting to know them and becoming friends with them. That might be one thing that kind of surprised me about the MTC. I didn't think I would find so many great people and gain so many close friends. It has been a marvelous experience.
There is a bird nest in the tree outside our class window.
Okay so you know how the Behunin's have a niece in Hungary? Okay so Giacalone Elder was watching the MTC choir sing Praise To The Man on the Mormon Channel on YouTube and he paused it for something and he saw a name tag for a sister that said Nover. Guess what the name was? Behunin. It was so cool!
This last week our choir song was Jesus Once of Humble Birth. I love that song. The song talks about Jesus' life and more so how it will be when He returns. We start out very softly and gently as we talk about His birth. The Spirit was so strong when, at the end, we burst into beautiful unison in saying: "Once forsaken, left alone. Now exalted to a throne. Once all pains He meekly bore. But He now will bear no more. But He now will bear no more." I would not have been surprised if He walked in that very second. The Spirit was burning, engulfing, testifying that He lives. He lives! I know He does. I know He loves us all. I know He loves us.
I hope everything is well and that everyone is doing well!
Tell everyone that I love them and I pray for each of you everyday! I love you!
Sok szeretettel!
Neely Elder

P.S. On the 23rd of June (my first Sunday in Hungary) President Monson is giving an address to announce something to all missionaries world wide. WOW!