June 2018 Newsletter

Family Letter

Dear Family,  

Today either my stomach is growling very loudly or we are having a lightning and thunderstorm the second day in a row.  The garden is producing cherries, strawberries and raspberries.  We eat the cherries on the way to the car.  Occasionally, we will go out and take about 25 strawberries, not wanting to be too selfish and leave most for the landlord.  This week the raspberries are in my sight!

            I am hoping that the pears will be ripe before we leave.  Eating fresh pears was my joy last year.  There were so many that the landlord didn’t mind that we took all that we wanted.  Next summer will be different.

           

This week started off with a trip to the Slovakian boarder to go to the caves at Aggtelek.  The Bradshaws, the self-reliance missionaries for Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic went with us.  We meet the Shultz’s, the Humanitarian missionaries for Slovakia there and had a good time visiting and seeing the wonders of God’s creations.  

Today we had an All-Europe Conference via the Internet.  Apostle Uchtdorf, Elder Kearon of the 70’s spoke.  They were in Germany.  It was a good meeting.  We traveled to Nyiregyhaza for a district meeting on Thursday.  With the combining of the two countries, Hungary and Romania into one mission, we have had changes in the structure of the mission.  A district is now what a zone used to be.  This reduces the number of Zones that the mission president has to visit.  With the size of the mission expanding by 2 times (Romania is twice the size of Hungary and has very poor road system), the new mission president will be on the road a lot.

At the luncheon following the University presentation

Last weekend, May 27^th, was very full.  On Friday, the University of Miskolc held a seminar on Roma gardening.  They used the two falu, villages, that we have gardening project, as examples of how gardening help not only the Roma people, but the community as a whole.  I know that our supervisors in Germany would not like how the university honored the church for our financial support.  But we had nothing to do with their efforts.  We are LDS Charities.  We are told never to use term LDS Church or its logo.  Well, the university in their presentation said, “Major financial contributor:   Mormon Church.”  We asked our interpreter why they would use the “Mormon Church” instead of “LDS Charities”.  Her reply, “Probably because more people know the “Mormon Church” than “LDS Charities”.  That is because in Hungarian, the church is not known as LDS, but “Az Utolso Napok Szentjeinek Jezus Krisztus Egyhaza” and try to get LDS out of that! It literally means “The latter day saints Jesus Christ Church”.  Egy means “one” and haza means “house”.  So the word for church in Hungarian is “Number 1 House”.

Then the following day we had a branch picnic up a the hotel/lake area known as Lillafued, which Steven, Becca, Anne and Dee all visited.  They were cooking a typical Hungarian dish, potatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, radishes and pork.  Oh, I forgot the two most important ingredients of any Hungarian dish, sour cream and pig fat.  I and a missionary had to drive down to Miskolc to buy a kilogram of pig fat because they didn’t have enough!

Just as the food was about 30 minutes from eating, we had to leave to go to the Lions Club national convention.  They held it in Miskolc this year. 

I have attached to this letter the picture of my father that they presented to me and the certificate for your mom and me for the support that LDS Charities has given the Lions Club with their vision screening machine and $2,000 to buy diabetes testing machines for all of the clubs in Hungary.  I know that Germany would not like the fact that they had our names on the certificate.  However, the large fake check did have “LDS Charities” on the check.  They are putting LDS Charities logo on the van that goes all over Hungary doing vision screening.  That will be advertising enough.

Bill Moser - Lions Club pictures
shown at the National Meeting

 The Lions Club had asked for my father’s photograph with his Lions Club pin on his label.  When they asked why we had chosen the Lions Club to help, I explained that my father was a long time member of the Lions Club and that I knew their organization spent 100% of funds raised for projects on the projects.  Their respect for my father and the framed picture of him that they gave back to me will make my mother cry.  I know I cried.  I thank my father for all that he taught me.  I am on my mission today because of him.  Almost 38 years ago he died, but his life example will benefit thousands of Hungarians over the next 5 to 10 years.  And we don’t think our actions matter!

Last Saturday night at 7:00 pm our time, the most important event of our week happened.  We were able through Skype, FaceTime, Messenger, Zoom, whatever, to see our sweet beautiful Arizona Girl, Kaitlyn Jane Moser get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost.  The most important event of her life up to now.  She chose to follow Jesus Christ and enter the waters of Baptism, the first step in returning back to our Heavenly Father and to being part of an eternal family.

            An eternal family in deed and in action it is.  Cousin Ryan Marriott gave the opening prayer, aunt Shaliece Moser and aunt Anne Giles gave the talks, uncles Scott Moser and Dee Giles were in the circle as her father gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost, her brother Evan played the piano, cousin Riley Moser played the cello and cousin Garrett Moser sang a song and cousin Kate Marriott gave the closing prayer.  An eternal family.

            All of her of her cousins on the Moser side of her family were there, even 5 month old Max, we all heard him occasionally!  Families are forever.  Nema and Hepa were a half of a world away from her, sitting in our office at home in Miskolc Hungary, but with the marvels of electronics, we were right there.  The same as we were when Parker was ordained a teacher and Ryan was given the Aaronic priesthood and ordained to the office of a deacon by their father, with Uncle Dee in the circle.  We watch as Max was given a blessing and his name by his father with uncle Mike in the circle.  Being old, I can’t remember which blessing, but we also had the Martinez family there to assist in the blessing.  Families are forever.

            We have been asked “Is being on a mission worth missing all the family activities and important events?”  There is not a moment for us that we would give up what we have been able to do here in Hungary to be home with our family.  The memories, the joys, the heart aches, the failures, the successes over the 20 months that we will have spent in Hungary, if taken away would leave us with an emptiness that can never be replaced.  Being in Hungary on this mission has enhanced our desire to do all we can to ensure that our family will be an eternal family.  In other words, our mission away from our family has made us that much more determined to do all we can to have an eternal family.  We know only too well the feeling of being separated from our family just for 20 months.  How would we cope if we were separated for the eternities?  

            20 months of our lives.  If we live to be 80 years old that is 960 months.  The 20 months in Hungary represents 2% of our lives here on earth.  In the terms of a true accountant, “2%, that is an immaterial amount, ignore it.”  For my mother who spent 18 months on a mission to Texas, up till now, that mission “cost” her 1.5% of her 101 years here on earth.  I know she feels the same way we do.  It was blessing to serve, to be able to forget one’s self and serve others.   So do we miss our family, absolutely.  But would we reverse our decision and not go on a mission, no, knowing that we can be together for the eternities. 

            Grandma, Mom and I have been afforded the opportunity to get a very small glimpse of what the Savior’s life was about, service to others.  When we get discouraged, when we are sadden by the choices that people here in Hungary make, our disappointment fades immediately when we think about the pain and suffering Christ did in the Garden of Gethsemane knowing fully that the majority of the people of the earth would not apply his atonement in their lives.

            We hope that this week will be successful for all of you.  Next Sunday night we get to see Scott, Shaliece, Riley and Garrett.  If Nema and Hepa won’t come to Houston, take Houston to Hungary!  We can’t believe that a year ago we looked forward to when our family would come to Hungary.  Now Steven and Becca, Anne and Dee have already been here.  Scott and Shaliece and their family here for almost a week.  In just a month we will have Marnee and Mike and their children here also.  Tick tick tick, that nasty clock keeps reminding us we have so much to do and our time is going fast.  We love you all.  Jesus is the Christ, I bear testimony of that fact.

Dad