Well the past few days have been probably the most stressful and intense of my life!! I am sure glad it is p-day!
On transfer day a senior couple drove us from the mission home with all our bags to Érd and showed us all around. They used to serve in Érd and we live in the house they used to live in while they were here. It was really nice to be with them for a few hours and I was really grateful for their help. I even asked for a priesthood blessing before they left and it was a big comfort to me.
The landlord is really nice and his mother, who lives behind us is super nice. (She also has two adorable puppies that we can play with whenever we want.) We went over to borrow eggs from her and she invited us right on in, had her son who speaks English talk with us and gave us some tök főzelék which was delicious! The people who live above us are also really nice, and even introduced themselves to us when we ran into them on the pathway. And the elders here are really nice and extremely helpful and considerate. We were also able to get a few telephone numbers in our first few hours of streeting so our first impression of Érd was pretty fantastic.
It is really challenging because we are literally starting from scratch. We didn't even have a phone or an area book or anything. We had no supplies and the apartment didn't have everything that we needed. The people are different than in Pápa, so that's taking some getting used to. The area is HUGE. Just figuring out where we are or where to go and what train or what bus and what times we need is a battle all of itself. We both speak well enough, but it is different to be on our own. I am used to having someone next to me all the time who can understand so there's a lot of pressure to pay attention becuase if I miss something I can't be sure she understood. Between the two of us we can always work it out though. I think I will improve a lot this transfer by necessity. I have already had to make tons of phone calls and everything and it is getting a little easier (I always hated making phone calls, even in English.) Yesterday was church and I was soooo nervous but it ended up okay. At first the church members were really hard to understand and I just wanted to cry because I felt so inadequate but by the end I had gotten used to their voices and I could communicate with them just fine. They also probably figured out to talk a little slower and more simply.
Tracting here isn't nearly as successful as in Pápa. Some people were mean, a few were nice, and one happened to be a nun. We rang the doorbell and she came out in full-out nun garb and I was like, "Oh, boy, this is awkward!" So I just brightly told her all about free English class. I guess if I had had more faith I could have gone for it and testified about the Restoration (I mean, the baptismal interview questions don't include "Have you ever been a nun?") but I was tired and just wanted to move on. For the record, she was really nice.
Tomorrow we have our first real teaching program set up with an older man from the street. I approached him and started talking with him and asked him if he believed in God, to which he said no. We kept talking and then he started complaining about something and I didn't the brain power to keep trying to understand so I just waited for him to pause and asked, "Do you think that if there was a god, He could help?". I expected him to just keep rambling, but he stopped, sighed, and then answered "yes." I then asked him if he would like to meet and he said he would and gave us his number!! I thought for sure it wouldn't pan out and I was worried about understanding him on the phone but when I called I could understand really clearly and he still wanted to meet! So our first number and our first program. I am praying that it goes through.
So that's about it. It's been super intense trying to work really hard to make up for the time we lost due to transfers and trying to figure everything out. I hope it will get easier as we start to get used to things and get all the details of everything worked out.
I hope you are all having a wonderful summer and enjoying the break.
Lots of love,
Naegle nővér
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