Wheres the Email and Poetry???

Wow, we woke up Monday morning and checked the email -- nothing! Thought the young guy might have forgotten us or something, but it showed up Tuesday. Whew! We have said it before, but you get used to reading an email on Monday morning, not Tuesday morning. We have been conditioned! Well here you go....

3/4/08 (pt1)
haha hey dad,
Thanks for the package!! the snacks were very much needed and appreciated :) i am also glad for the crystal light!! i have been using this Bolero stuff that tastes really good, but then i heard stuff about it and i am not so sure i should drink it... i have to rememeber that i am in Europe and the health standards aren't as tight here as they are in the U.S... but the package was very much appreciated, i only got the one big one with contact stuff in it so far, i have interviews on wednesday, so i will see if anything else comes too...
also, thanks for the answers to questions. i am still interested in selling the scooter :) but the boat, i would like to use it a bit when i get back... but do what you gotta do i guess, but just know i would like to use it a bit... :)
zone conference was good, they have us missionaries do surprise talks and teachings sometimes, evryone had to teach a 2 minute lesson on commandments, the mission pres. just picked one and we had to give a lesson on the spot and extend commitments and use a scripture... just me and my comp... i can't remember what we taught, i think it was scripture study... but it was good.
we always get a nice long train ride to zone conference because it's in Miskolc :) and it's fun to think about the advice the speakers gave us on the way home. i have yet to come away from a zone conference without wanting to be a better missionary :)
you are right about seeing other missionaries and such, i got to see some of my friends from the mtc and such, that is always fun :)
we have interviews this next wednesday and those ought to be good too :)
health wise i think i am good, i take the mutlivitamin you gave me almost evry day (when i remember... :) ) and i also take a vitamin C dissolveable tablet every few days... all i've had is a runny nose, so it must work pretty good :) clothes are doin good, they are holdin up good so far :)
haha i did purchase a cheap cd player, for about 10 dollars and i got little speakers for 2 dollars :) so ya i have a way to listen to them :)
well, i have been reading the old testament, because i want to read straight through all the standrad works and i am somewhere in the middle of psalms and i don't know how someone can believe in just the bible... the people we talk to say they usually read the bible and usually go to church, but i don't see how someone can read that boring bible all the time! i am so grateful for the book of mormon! :) i don't know how people can only use the bible...
the new testament i haven't done yet, but the old testament is not the most exciting... i am just grateful that the lord gave Joseph smith the Book of mormon for our use too, not just for the entertainment, but it really is true and it really can bless people's lives more fully than just the bible. the tough part is getting people to see that!
a funny tracting story or two:
1. we tracted this street and an old man answerewd and after about 10 minutes of talking on the porch he invited us in, well, it turns out he is 91 years old!! and he can talk like nothing else! i jhave realised that about the hungarian older generation, you get them started and they don't stop! so after 2 1/2 hours of him talking non stop, j... said that we needed to go... well, it took us another hour to leave, becasue he gave us like 7 long poems to read and he gave us a picture of him and some language stuff**... everytime he pulled out a new poem he had to read the whole thing to us in his slow voice... he asked j... elder to read from this book, and j... said ok. well, the guy asked him to read 12 pages out loud!! and j... was like "ok, but before i read it, you should probably know that we are not hungarian, but american, so i can't read as well as a hungarian..." the old man was so surprised!!! he called us his american brethren! haha. but ya, in that 3 1/2 hours, i'll bet i sad 5 words and i think j... said maybe 50... it was an interesting experience. so now we have pictures of him and poems and old hungarian writing**...
**speaking of old hungarian writing, i am actually learning how to write in it, it is pretty cool :) it is a different alphabet and such, i will send ya a sample in the next letter home :) **
2. the next story, we went to teach a guy a second lesson, but he was sick and his wife and his father were at home, so we just talked to them instead... well, the dad is like 84 and he really slurs his words... and when i can't understand hungarian anyways, it makes it really difficult when he would talk to me... i would just sit there helplessly and j... would save me if the old guy ever talked to me. well, after a while, the wife said she was tired and was going to take a nap and so she said that the old guy would let us out... well... remember the other old man we tracted into and spent 3 1/2 hours there... well, it was smelling like a repeat... he pulled out some petöfi sándor poems and he could quote like all of them and he had 2 thick books of them!! he would telk to us for a while and then say, " and you know what petöfi says about this? ...... "and then he would quote some poem! after an hour, the old man finally took a breath and we were able to say we needed to go :)
so, special note, when tracting in hungary, beware of the old men!!!
well, i best be off for now, thanks for the emails and the packages and such!!
love ya tons, see ya later! sok szeretettel!
gaufin elder


3/4/08 (pt2)
hi dad!
...also, i don't know if uncle k... and aunt b... have told ya that their bishiop talked to them about serving a misison... if not, you didn't hear it form me :) but if they want to go somewhere away, hungary has openings, 4 senior couples are going homenext month and we are only getting 2 more to replace them... but i know uncle kent has health stuff and other factors that they may not want to go to hungary, but if they need an idea of somehwre cool to serve, i believe that hungary is open :)
if you see uncle l... or aunt c..., tell them thanks for me for the little package they sent me. i will try and get a letter to them again soon, but in the meantime if you see them, that would be great if you could tell them thanks!
and thank you for the package that i got, i will look for the others on wednesday at interviews. thanks so mnuch!!
love ya tons and thanks again!
gaufin elder


(3/4/08) Pt. 3
hey mom, thanks for t...'s address, i will be sure to send him a letter soon.
i did get your package, i got the big box with crystal light and stuff in it, the snack were very much appreciated!!! haha i have been enjoying this stuff called bolero, but then i heard "stuff"about it... and i'm afraid to drink it now... so the crystal light will be awesome! thanks!!
i have to rememebr i'm in europe and the health stuff isn't quite as tight as in the U.S., another thing to be thankful for over there!
you guys are getting into shape and getting ... haha way to be :) haha i've lost almost 30 pounds since i left the mtc... we'll see how that goes... the summer might shrink me even more, i'll have to see what i can do about that!
r... is getting her b.s.? haha she's a smarty pants. last i heard she wanted to go be in the FBI, not a doctor :) hmm... strange thigns are a-foot...
haha i did squeeze my elbow for you :) you better do the same to yourself and to dad also :)
well, things are going good, the baptism is still on for next saturday, and it should go through, but i will tell ya about it next week in my email.
have a good weeka nd i'll talk to ya next week!!
love ya tons, see ya later!
-gaufin elder