Senior Conference in Pécs

May was a month of travel and conferences.  The senior conferences are a wonderful time to get acquainted with the other senior missionaries that we don't otherwise see since we are all living so far away from each other.  Sister Szabadkai always organizes nice sightseeing activities in addition to the missionary training that we receive.

The conference was in Pecs, Hungary, the home of our mission president.  We had an afternoon of meetings and then attended a folk music concert in the evening after dinner.  The concert was music from Bartok played by four fiddlers and a pianist.  Click on the link for a sample of their music.   Bartok

The next morning we went on a tour of the Szolnay Porcelain Factory  followed by lunch.

Castle ruins across the street from the restaurant where we ate lunch

Dinner at the hotel

Elder and Sister Jenkins - serving in Eger - an hour away from Miskolc
-our closest senior couple neighbors

Sister Jenkins

Szolnay Porcelain
Szolnay Porcelain Factory

 

 

President and Sister Szabadkai

Hello everyone from Zagreb, Croatia

Hello everyone from Zagreb, Croatia

     

      Why are you in Croatia when your mission is in Hungary?  Two simple words, “A Friend”.

      I have talked about Kresimer Cosic before.  We are in Zagreb to help in a memorial basketball game put on each year by the mission, BYU and Sister Ann Madsen, Truman Madsen’s wife.  They learned that Kres and I were good friends at BYU and asked me to come give a talk about him prior to his conversion.

      I hope that Riley, Garrett, Parker, Ryan, Kate and Evan take the time to look up Kresimer Cosic on the Internet.  It will tell you a story about a very good basketball play. But it won’t tell you about the fact that Kres had very many offers and he chose only two, one was UCLA, the other BYU, why because a Finish basketball player that Kres play with on an All-Europe team said BYU was the best at European type basketball. In 1969 UCLA was the #1 basketball team in the nation.  They actually went over 4 years without losing a game!  But Kresimer went with dream he had about a school in the mountains that had a very large basketball arena, (BYU)!  He did not speak English, he did not believe in God, he did not live the commandments of God.  However, three years later, he was baptized into the church.

      In June 1984, Kresimer baptized the first members of the church in the eastern Europe country that was called Yugoslavia and now is five different countries.  One man, brought the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to this area of the world and was not afraid of what might happen to him.  The government at that time did not allow religions to exist, but Kresimir was too popular to stop.  One man.  When you have problems and think, how can I do this, I am not old enough, smart enough and one will supports me, other than knowing you received an answer to your prayers, remember, Kresimir Cosic, he did the same thing and had success.

      Nema and I visited a city in Croatia that is on the sea between Croatia and Italy.  It is called Zadar.  This is where Kresimir grew up.  There now is a street with his name and a large area with his name on it.  Traveling from Zadar up to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, we literally went through large granite mountains.  We went through several tunnels to get through the mountains.  Two of the tunnels were each 6 kilometers long!  That is over 3 miles long!

      We don’t use our phone GPS system, too expensive on data, but use a GPS system called Garmin.  This system has been around for many years.  Our system tells us how fast we are going, it tells us when to slow down due to speed changes, tells us when to turn left, right and which exit on the many many many round-a-bouts that are in Europe roads.  GPS works when it can get information sent down to it from satellites up in space.  It works really well, except when you are in tunnels!  You see, inside a tunnel the satellite messages don’t come through.  Going in the tunnels, we were to go about 50 mph, but the Garmin said we were traveling 65 mph!  What was Hepa supposed to do?  I did something really dumb, I looked down at the speedometer, which works by counting the number of times the tire goes around in circles.  It is old fashion, but it works in a tunnel.  I looked down and guess what?  I was going 48 mph!

      Today’s life is a lot like using GPS, either on the phone or on a Garmin.  They work as long as they don’t have any interference from mountains, from rain and snow storms, electricity going out, inside a parking garage especially, it will never work when you are late to an appointment to a place you have never been to, it will always fail when you need GPS the most.  The speedometer works inside mountains, during storms, doing snow blizzards, in the parking garage and especially when you are going too fast and you see a radar camera, it will work and tell you, NO! NO! NO!, you are going too fast and it is too late to stop!

      Too many people today rely on GPS to tell them where they are going.  When they go into tunnels, they don’t get any instructions and become lost.  Those who believe in Jesus Christ and pray to Heavenly Father each day are like the speedometer in the car.  They get answers and directions from Heavenly Father whether they are in a tunnel, in a rainstorm, in a snow blizzard, or in a parking garage.  The only thing required to make getting directions from Heavenly Father is the same thing that made the Liahona work for Nephi and his father Lehi, faith.  Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

      Kresimir Cosic didn’t know why he pick BYU, especially when he found out about its standards.   But he knew he had received a message from somewhere (at the time he did not know about the Holy Ghost, nor thought that God existed) that BYU was where he was supposed to go.  He listened and by selecting to come to BYU, like Joseph Smith, Kresimir opened the door to the church, this time behind a very cruel communist country.  Kresimir is a true Captain Moroni, but he could also shoot 3s, dunk behind his back and play like a point guard, something that Captain Moroni couldn’t do!  Why, because a basketball wasn’t invented until 1880s (about the time Hepa was born.)

      So who do you want to listen to, a GPS that only works in certain locations or the Holy Ghost who works everywhere? 

      Nema and Hepa bear testimony that listening to the Holy Ghost will point you to where Heavenly Father wants you to be.  Please pray, every morning, during the day and every night.  You do that and who knows what you will accomplish, Joseph Smith was only 14 when he prayed, Kresimer Cosic at the age of 20 didn’t even pray, but got a revelation in the form of a dream from God, what will you get if you pray? 

      Hepa prayed about where to play football, the answer, BYU.  Then came the car accident, then came the mission to Japan, then came meeting an Elder Zinke, then came Rich Zinke as Hepa’s roommate, then came Jane Zinke, then came Jane Moser, then came Marnee Moser, then came Scott Moser, then came Steven Moser, then came Anne Moser, then came you!!!!!!!!

      How did all this happen?  All because Hepa listen to a returned missionary football player who told Hepa God will tell Hepa where to play football, all Hepa had to do was study it out in his mind, make a decision and then pray about it and find out if Hepa made the right decision.  (D&C 9:7/9)

      We testify that prayer works.  All we have to do is talk to you in Skype and we see prayers do works!  All you have to do is look in the mirror and you too can see that Hepa’s pray worked!  And that was 48 years, 2 months ago that I got that answer.  A very long time ago to make sure that you came to earth to the parents that would be the best ones for you.  Now doesn’t that make you glad God answers prayers?

      We love you,

Nema and Hepa

Kresimir Cosic Basketball Tournament

A couple months ago Jon was asked to come to speak at and play in a basketball tournament sponsored by the Adriatic North Mission (Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Herzegovina, and Serbia) honoring Kresimir Cosic.  He lived next to Kresimir his freshman year of college at BYU and knew him quite well before he became a member of the church.  The following link tells about the first tournament: 

 Krešimir Ćosić Honored by Adriatic North Mission Basketball Tournament

Jon's memories of Kresimir Cosic are featured on the church website for each of the countries in this Mission.  This link will take you to one of those articles.  They have been translated into the native language and then you can google translate it back to English.  Quite a bit is lost in the translation, but you can get a general idea.  

Jon Moser's Tribute to Kresimir Cosic  Kresimir went by the name Kres when Jon knew him.  "Kres" apparently translates back from Croatian to English as "Bonfire" .

Even David Archuleta was there.  If you look closely you will see him in the front row about sixth from the right in the white t-shirt.  We never found out why he was there, but some thought it either had to do with a girlfriend or his sister.  Apparently he has an attachment to this mission.  Here he is preforming at a fireside in 2016 in the chapel where we attended Sacrament Meeting on Sunday.

David Archuleta preforming at a fireside in Zagreb Chapel in 2016 

The man to the left of Elder Moser is the branch president of the Zagreb, Croatia branch

Elder Moser center back in orange and blue

And it's a basket!  Way to go Elder Moser!

Sister Ann Madsen - Truman Madsen's widow.  Kresimir was like a son to their family and she returns to Croatia to see his widow and family every year.  In our conversation, we discovered that a new missionary to Hungary, Sister Arts, used to work for her.  We met Sister Arts just a couple weeks ago at Zone Conference.  Small World!

Smile for the Camera!

Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia

We had the incredible opportunity to visit Croatia a couple weeks ago.  When we came to Hungary on a mission, we never expected to do the traveling to other countries that we have done.  Sightseeing was never in the plan, nor have we consciously sought sightseeing opportunities.  When the chance to go to Croatia presented itself, we didn't really expect the trip to be approved - especially since we didn't even ask.  But a few weeks before the basketball tournament honoring Kresimir Cosic, we received word that our travel had been approved.  The senior couple that arranged for us to attend recommended a few places for us to see while we were in the country.  Plitvice Lakes National Park was at the top of the list and we understand why.  This park is absolutely incredibly beautiful. Waterfalls, creeks, streams, lakes, caves, trees, flowers, beautiful weather -- WOW is about all we could really say.  If you ever have a chance to go to Croatia, this is a must see place.  

Since my pictures and video don't even come close to doing justice to this beautiful place, I've also included a link to the park website that has better pictures - including pictures from all seasons.  Plitvice Lakes website

Rastoke, Croatia

Hillside villages and vineyards dotted the landscape

"April showers bring May flowers" . . . and travel to new and incredibly beautiful places.  Our previous post about the basketball tournament in Croatia explains the reason for our trip to Croatia. What a treat it was!  The countryside of Croatia is beautiful.  At first we were disappointed that we would not be able to travel to southern Croatia which is the biggest tourist destination, but we were not at all disappointed in what we saw instead.

On our way to our first "planned" stop we happened upon the village of Rastoke.

Such a unique place.  We almost drove right by, but decided to turn around to take a better look.  We just wish we had planned for more time to spend there. (click on the link for some better pictures:   Rastoke, Croatia "Beautiful village built on top of waterfalls”

May 14, 2017 Family Letter

May 14, 2017

Our Dear Family,

            With the approval of our “chicken project” we are spending a lot of time trying to find other organizations that LDS Charities can help.  We can’t believe the hard work involved in trying to find organizations to give money to!

            This week we had a mission conference with Elder Kearon, the President of European Area.  He is a 70 and has been called to be one of the 7 presidents of the 70.  His visit was wonderful.  A man that inspired both young and old missionaries.

            Then Friday morning the wonderful happy feelings of the week ended.  We received a phone call from President Szabadkai, our mission president.  He told us that Elder Miller’s father had just died.  Elder Miller just got transferred to Miskolc a couple of weeks ago.  Just before this transfer he was the mission president’s assistant, a great young man.  We were asked to have Elder Miller come over to our house and use our phone to call his mother.  We were asked to give support and love to this young man.

            The following incidents leading up to this news, the world will say, “it is just a coincidence.”  But we bear testimony to you that the Lord knows and in this case helps a young man in time of need.

I.                During our conference, out of the blue, a missionary stated that his mother died when he was just turning 18 and it had a major impact on him deciding to go on a mission.  Most in the room were wondering, “What was this elder thinking about when he made this statement.”  It had nothing to do with Elder Kearon’s message and completely changed the topic that was being taught.

II.              Elder Kearon responded by saying that his father died when he was 19 and understood the emotions of losing a parent.  He discussed dealing with death and how we have a choice to respond positively or negatively to a loved one’s death.

III.            Elder Kearon then told about losing his first child, a little baby boy that did not survive heart surgery.  For such an upbeat meeting, the topic of death was dealt with in a very uplifting way, which looking back was inspired to prepare a young man for news the next day. 

IV.            Elder Miller’s companion, Elder Robinson, lost his father at the age of six.  A companion that can be there to talk to and discuss the sadness and loneliness of losing a dad.  Of all the places to be transferred to, one, whose companion had lost a parent.

V.              The now mission assistants decided last week that they would come to Miskolc and do “splits” with the zone leaders, Elders Miller and Robinson.  They ever got permission to drive a car up to Miskolc with the four missionaries.  Because of the decision earlier in the week to drive the car, Friday’s trip was an added blessing instead of fighting the crowds on the subway, then on the train, Elder Miller had companionship, but also quite time on the trip up to Miskolc.

VI.            Friday morning, the zone leaders and Sister missionary leaders held a special meeting with Elder Kearon.  That is why Elder Miller was still in Budapest on Friday.  It was just before that meeting that Elder Miller learned about his father.  Being in Budapest at the mission home, President and Sister Szabadkai and Elder Kearon was able to comfort and console Elder Miller, with Elder Miller knowing that the messages were coming from ones who had lived this situation.  A coincidence in the timing of the Friday meeting?

VII.         Upon arriving at our house in Miskolc, Elder Miller was able to go into our office and be by himself.  We sent the other three missionaries out to do tracking and allowed Elder Miller to be by himself, which gave him some crying time before he spoke to him mother and little brother on the phone and on Skype.  There are only three senior missionary couples in our mission.  We are the only ones that have phones that can call internationally and have computers/laptops to Skype in the privacy of a home.  Only three senior couples and Elder Miller was just transferred to a city with one of them. . .

VIII.       After he had time to talked to his mom and brother and spend time being by himself, he spent time with your mother and me.  Your mom told him about Granddad Zinke’s death when she was 19.  She was able to tell him about the emotions of losing a parent half way around the world.  She told him about the anxiety of really not knowing if he was really dead, because she could not see the body.  The emotions of not being able to say good-bye.

IX.            Isn’t it strange that three people within a 24 hour period of time were placed in Elder Miller’s life who all lost a parent at or near the age of 19 and a companion who had also lost a father!  Just a coincidence, we all know better than that.

            Yes, the world will say, these are just coincidences, but the Spirit told all involved something different.  We know that this young man, who has been a very good missionary, received blessings of angels, angels in the form of a missionary who made a comment that “had nothing to do” with the message being given by a general authority, angels in the form of a general authority who had lost his father at the same age, angels in the form of a mission president and his sweet caring wife who loved this young man, angels in the form of a companion who knows about losing a father, angels in the form of a 2 ½ hour car ride with a former companion and current companion to take his mind off of the sadness, angels in the form of your mother giving him advice about losing a father when you are so far away from him and the thoughts and doubts that may come into his mind. 

            We bear testimony that God lives.  That he knows each one of us.  That in this case, God felt it necessary to place many angels in the path of Elder Miller.  On a sad Friday, your mom and I were able to add to our testimony that God lives.  We quote President Eyring who is much better at stating the obvious, “You need never feel that you are too small or too insignificant for God to take notice of you and the service you are giving in His name.”  (Another coincidence, this just appeared on the Deseret News website this morning.)

Mom and Dad, Nema and Hepa

Restaurants in Miskolc

Eating in Hungary has been less than expected. We anticipated great Hungarian food in the form of delicious breads, goulash, chicken paprikas, etc. Much to our dismay, the most common foods here in Miskolc have been hamburgers and pizza. Kentucky Fried Chicken and Chinese Buffets are also very popular.  On the positive side, we have never had a better hamburger than the ones here and the pizza is also very good.  But unless you are a young missionary, one can only eat so many pizzas and hamburgers without feeling the overload.  

So -- we started a quest to find a better restaurant.  Enter - trip advisor!  Why didn't we think of that sooner?  We found "Creppy" - the #1 restaurant in Miskolc.  On our morning walk, we took a big detour from our usual route and ended up literally turning the corner and there it was at the end of a secluded narrow street.   So we went there last night and oh wow!  It was delicious!  Worth a trip to Hungary - for anyone who might be interested.   It certainly gives the crepe place in Vegas a run for their money.  Hands down Creppy has them beat! 

over stuffed with deliciously
seasoned chicken and crispy
fresh veggies on the side

fried palancsinta (crepe) stuffed
with chicken

Sweet crepe - raspberry with
ice cream on the side - this is
a one half portion

Last week we took our landlord and his wife to dinner.  Andras has been a great landlord.  His response to any request we have had (and they have been fairly numerous because this house had been vacant for so many years) has been almost immediate.  Our refrigerator stopped working and the next morning he showed up with a temporary small fridge and took the old one to get repaired.  Unfortunately, it cost too much to repair, so he showed up with a brand new fridge!  He and Jon spent well over an hour changing the door so that it would open the right way.  His wife had come with him (this was the first time to meet her) and when we realized that we were not wanted or needed to help with the refrigerator, I invited her into the living room to chat.  You need to understand how awkward this is when she doesn't speak English and I speak extremely limited Hungarian.  Short conversations are not too bad, but sitting in the same room for an hour is definitely very stressful and awkward, I think we were both surprised at what were were able to communicate to each other.  I actually learned quite a bit about her and her family.  I think we could even be friends if we were able to communicate better.  We invited them to dinner and then asked the missionaries to go with us to translate - which made the evening much more enjoyable and relaxing.  We discussed the church a little, but hope to be able to invite them again for more in depth discussions about the church.

The past couple weeks we have had the opportunity to go to teaching appointments with the missionaries a few times.  Today we met with a member of the 7th Day Adventist church who said she was interested in learning about the church.  As it turned out, I think she was really more interested in telling us about her church.  I finally asked her why she wanted to learn about our church and she said that she had heard bad things about the church and wanted to find out for herself what it was really all about.  A good start, but even though she read the entire Book of Mormon several years ago, she is not willing to read it again and to pray to find out if it is true.  She still wants to attend English class and hopefully we planted a seed that will grow into her wanting to learn even more.  I can't even imagine the roller coaster ride that the young missionaries are on.  They get so excited to have someone to teach and then they react the way this lady did, or they cancel at the last minute like one of the teachings that we were going to attend on Friday.  I admire these young missionaries so much for their continual positive attitudes and desire to bring others to Christ.