Stop the Cycle of Poverty

The following post contains a power point that we prepared for our area humanitarian supervisors.  Each project that we are involved with needs to be submitted to the area supervisors for their approval.  After thorough research, we write up the project in the Church Humanitarian Service (CHaS) program.  We do a short summary of the project, list goals and outcomes, financial needs and key players and contacts.

We have been researching this project for several weeks so that we can convince the area supervisors that this is not the typical "chicken project" that they have heard about from other countries.  In this project, 20 disadvantaged families are chosen.  Each family will receive 300 chickens (50 chickens at a time).  Some are for eating and some for egg production.  In typical "chicken projects" the chickens are used only for egg production.  They do not eat the chickens and only receive 10 - 20 chickens per family.

So you ask, why so many chickens in this project?  The answer lies in the fact that this project's main goal is to strengthen the family and keep the family together.  In Hungary, if a family can't feed their children, the government takes the children away and puts them into the foster care system.  The families in this program will be receiving chickens to eat because they are unable to buy enough food to feed their families and are thus in danger of having their children taken away.  In addition, the families receive financial and psychological counseling, and tutoring for the children.  SOS (the NGO that we are working with) also provides weekly activities for the families and helps the women organize a women's group where they work on crafts together.  SOS provides child care during this time.  They also provide a family vacation during the summer.  For some of the families, this is the first time they have had the opportunity to leave the small village of Battonya.  During this vacation they participate in many family strengthening activities as well as group counseling.

By the end of the first year, it is hoped that most of the families will be able to better provide for their families and that they will have the desire to start raising chickens on their own.  Three or four families that were in the program last year are becoming more self-reliant and have already taken it upon themselves to start raising chicken from fertilized eggs that they are able to purchase.  This will provide a sustainable source of meat for their families.

A big plus to this program is that the "chicken mentor" also runs the government assistance farm.  Because of his association with these families, he has been able to secure "employment" for several of the participants in the "chicken project."

In exchange for all the chickens and the services provided by SOS, the families are expected to provide service to the community and other members of the program.  During our visit we were told that the mother of one of the mothers in the program had passed away.  She was so distraught that she didn't want to go to work.  The other members of the program helped her through her grief and encouraged her to go to work.  Without their help and support, this young mother would probably have lost her job.  Prior to being a part of this program, these people really didn't have any experience with being supported or supporting others in such a way.  Their lives were more in a survival mode rather than thinking of others and doing service.  This program is enabling them to break away from survival mode and begin to think of helping others.

Positive things are already starting to happen with this program in the short year and a half since it was started.  In order to completely break the cycle of poverty though, it will take many years and a lot of support - especially in the counseling area.  It is hoped that the chicken part of the project will be self-sustaining in a few years meaning that the families will be able to buy their own fertilized eggs and raise their own chickens.

Clicking on the link below will take you to an online version of this power point or you can view the slides as posted below to find out more about this "Stop the Cycle of Poverty" project.

Stop the Cycle of Poverty

Three of these pictures are videos on the online version of the power point

Every city, town, or village has at least one white or yellow church.  We drove through endless miles of yellow fields.  It was breathtaking.  The cranes were very numerous in the little villages with nests on top of telephone poles on a big disk that was built onto the pole.  Apparently, cranes are very common in Hungary. Cranes in Hungary  In the fall there is a big migration of cranes numbering as high as 85,000.  

The machine at the top left is used to break the neck of the chickens.
The machine below is for plucking the feathers from the chickens.

Hepa's Weekly Letter to Grandchildren

April 23, 2017

Dear Wild Bunch of Crazy People (All related to the Crazy Lady!),

            Yesterday was the celebration of 30 years since the dedication of the country of Hungary by President Russell M Nelson to open the country for missionary work.  That was in 1987.  Aunt Marnee was 10 years old, just older than Kate, Garrett and Evan and as bossy as Kate!  Uncle Scott was 8 years old, being in the spring he was already playing baseball.  Uncle Steven was just getting ready for his 7^th birthday and also playing baseball.  Aunt Anne had just had her 4^th birthday and already taking cooking lessons from Grandma Moser!

            Hepa’s 30 year Predictions:     30 years from now TJ will just be learning how to walk.  Camden will have taught the whole world his and Hepa’s new language that they use.  Zack will be the enforcer for world peace. Hannah will be a comedian on TV, Avery will be a singing star.  Kaitlyn will be living in Arizona and people will come from all over the world just to see her smile!  Garrett will also do a lot of singing, but will teach people how to be nice to all people.  Kate, she will still be doing flips, jumping on brick walls and the first woman quarterback in the NFL.  Evan will have built his first bridge across the Grand Canyon with a downward slope so you can glide across the bridge on bikes without peddling (don’t ask how you come back the other direction).  Ryan will still be loved by all of his cousins and will be an expert in conflict resolution. Riley will be on stage playing multiple musical instruments at the same time, while blowing bubbles through her nose, a very multi-talented young woman!  And Parker, what will Parker being doing as a 43-year-old father? Parker will be telling his kids to get off the electronic games and start helping around the house, and saying: “When I was your age, I never played games until after I had read the Book of Mormon, made my bed, cleaned up my room, put the clean dishes up, scrub the toilets and took out the trash!” 

I can’t wait to see if Hepa’s predictions are real!

            In 30 years from now, Nema and Hepa will still be trying to learn the Hungarian language!  But above all, in 30 years from now we will be very very proud that all of our grandchildren will have gone on missions, married in the temple and have families all active in the church.  Nema will still be the Crazy Lady, but in 30 years from now, she will really be “THE CRAZY LADY!”  Hepa, using a new miracle cream will have a full head of hair, and Kate will now come over every day and beg to braid his hair!  Avery and Hannah will only want it to be curled, Kaitlyn will want him to dye it red and Riley will just laugh and say, “I liked you bald!”

            All of this is what we can think may happen in the future.  It is fun and exciting to do this.  Planning for the future is what we need to do at all times.  Reading the Book of Mormon, going to church, paying tithing, putting money in your missionary fund is all done as you prepare to go on missions and getting ready to go to college.  It prepares you to get ready to get married in the temple and to have a family.  Your parents are where they are today because they planned and worked hard to meet goals and desires.  They are great examples for all of you to follow.

            There are certain facts that we don’t have to guess about the future:

I.                The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will still be getting bigger and bigger. It will become the source of very many good things that the world needs.

II.              There will be many more temples all over the world for all members of the church to be able to go to.  There will even be a temple in Hungary.

III.            The prophet will still be guiding the church the way that Jesus Christ has asked him to do (that is of course unless Jesus Christ has come to earth again).

IV.            We will be an eternal family!  That means that you all will have to listen to Hepa tell the same bad jokes over and over and over again, and you will have to pretend to laugh at his jokes each time he tells them!

            Other than listening to Hepa’s jokes isn’t that exciting?  Isn’t it wonderful that we know the future?  Isn’t it great that we know if we pray daily, read the scriptures daily, go to church and do what the Lord wants us to do that the future is Disney World times infinity (For Uncle Steve, maybe a ski slope that takes 12 hours to ski down one run!).

            We want all of you to know that Nema and Hepa know that God lives.  We know that Jesus Christ is guiding the church.  We know that what we are doing in Hungary, what your parents are doing in Texas and Arizona is preparing for Jesus Christ to come to earth again.  We see and feel daily the prompting from the Holy Ghost to do and say things that will affect peoples’ lives.  We do this so that we can do what we promised Jesus Christ we would do, before coming to earth.  Do you think it was by accident that you were born to your parents?  You got the parents you have because you were very righteous before you came to earth.  You got this family because you told Jesus Christ you would be his warrior - a son or daughter of Helaman, here on earth to preach and live the gospel so that many others will can to learn about Jesus Christ.  That is our testimony this week.

            We love you, we miss being with you, but love getting your emails and talking to you on the phone, even though Garrett has flames coming out of his mouth when he talks to us on the phone!

Nema and Hepa

Elder Jonathan A Moser

Hungarian Budapest Mission

Humanitarian/Welfare Services

Easter Letter to our Grandchildren

Our precious Grandchildren, Happy Easter,

            I hope that you were able to capture that famous bunny that lays chocolate Easter eggs!  Our eggs in Hungary are all brown!  It is hard to color brown eggs for Easter!  Maybe that is nature’s way of trying to play an April Fool’s Day joke on us to make us think that chickens can lay chocolate eggs!  But we know, only the Easter Bunny can lay chocolate eggs!

            Yesterday, Hepa and Nema did something on our mission that we don’t think your dads ever did on their missions, we taught the Plan of Salvation to four Muslim students that are here in Miskolc studying engineering!  The young missionaries asked us to come with them to help them with the lesson, but then turned to Hepa and said, “Elder Moser will teach the Plan of Salvation to the four of you.”  The young men all spoke very good English and the lesson was in English.

            Parker could have taught the lesson, because he knows the diagram so well.  The young missionaries did not know the diagram and were also very unsure what to teach.  Hepa spent about 4 to 5 hours studying Friday night and Saturday morning about the religion of Islam and the comparison between that religion and Christianity.

            I have attached the six pages that I modified and gave to them.  I hope it will teach them more about the LDS Church’s stand compared to their religion and to that of the other Christian churches.  The lesson went well and they asked if they could come to church on Easter.  It will be interesting.  They just want to learn about Christian beliefs.  The one comment to struck me the most was when I explained that all mankind would have the opportunity to hear about God’s truth, whether here on earth or in Paradise.  One young man said, “So you are saying that if I die and find out that your Church is true and mine is not, that I will have an opportunity to study and come to know the truth?”  I told him yes he would, if he would continue to live his religion as it is taught in the Qur’an and be good to all people he meets in his life. It is important for him to live a good life.  So who knows, at least for one young man, he has an open mind that maybe, just maybe Islam may not be true.

            The main lesson yesterday was that God loves all of his children regardless of what they believe.  We showed them that in many areas, what the LDS Church believes in is almost the same as their belief.  We told them that we spend part of our time here in Hungary trying to help the refugees who are mostly Muslim. We said that the LDS Church spends millions of dollars every year to help the refugees because we all are children of God.

            We pray every day that we will be put in situations that we can teach and live the Gospel so that people will come to know the Savior better.  Yesterday, we taught with the hope that the results of the meeting, at least four young men will know that the LDS Church respects them and their religion.  We may never know what good can come of that meeting.  What we do know, that during the meeting, when they asked some pretty hard questions, Hepa was told in his mind the answers to those questions.  When he told the young men the answers, they looked at each other and would comment how close their belief and our beliefs were.  The Holy Ghost was in the meeting giving Hepa the answers.  Someday we may find out the results of that meeting.

            I testify that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane.  That he continued to suffer the pains of the atonement while still on the cross.  When he had satisfied all that His Father had asked him to do, He then died upon the cross. Just the next morning, he became the first person to be resurrected.  He brought with him the good news of the Gospel, that he has overcome death; that we all will be resurrected and able to continue our goal to return to our Father in Heaven.  That is the story of Easter.  That is my testimony. Please know that regardless of what happens in life, my knowledge of the truth of the Gospel is my most precious thing that I own.  I hope that you will listen to your parents and your grandparents. Read the Book of Mormon every year. Go to church and obey God’s commandments.  Keep planning on going on a mission, the greatest 18 months or two years you can live while in your youth.  Serving the Lord on a mission will bring you wisdom, knowledge and the joy that you are serving Jesus Christ in a small way to say “Thank you for what you did for me on that first Easter weekend almost 2,000 years ago.”

Hepa and Nema

Click on link below for the document regarding the comparisons of Christianity - Islam - LDS 
Comparison Christianity-Islam-LDS

P Day Hike at Lillafüred

Last Monday, P-Day, we went with the young Elders to Lillafüred, an old castle like hotel.  Wow, Beautiful, Spectacular!  We were greeted by a gorgeous day and beautiful green scenery and blue skies.

Spring is just beginning to appear.
We plan to return in a few weeks when all the trees have leaves.

One advantage to the leaves not in their full splendor is still being able to see the buildings through the trees.  I imagine in a few weeks, a lot of the building will be hidden behind the trees.

Trails - what are they for - "let's just go straight up the hill"
I think they were surprised that we kept up with them!

Elder Seamons, Elder Jones, Elder Allred, Elder Robinson

Boys will be Boys!

These young Elders are such a great example to us both in how to have fun and how to serve the Lord:

"Viszontlátásra!" Lillafüred 

• Yes, they love to have fun, but they are always the first to remind us when it is time for them to get back to work at the end of P-Day. 
• They serve so faithfully and diligently.    
• Elder Seamons has been in Miskolc for about 6 months. Tuesday is transfer day and most likely he will be transferred.  We will really miss him.  He has been an outstanding Zone Leader.  
• We have really enjoyed getting to know each one and serving the Lord with them.
• Transfers are hard.  I don't really like the idea of any of them leaving.  
• The only consolation is that we know there are other young elders that will replace them in Miskolc who we look forward to getting to know.