A little about Dunaújváros

From Wikipedia:




(Danube River)

Country: Hungary
County: Fejér
Area
- Total 52.66 km2 (20.3 sq mi)
Population (2008)
- Total 49,183
- Density 935/km2 (2,421.6/sq mi)


Dunaújváros is one of the newest cities in Hungary. It was built in the 1950s along the Danube River next to an already existing village, Dunapentele, during the Industrial Revolution. It was to be the site of the largest iron and steel plants in the country. It was originally named Sztálinváros after the Soviet leader Stalin. In 1956, construction was slowed by an earthquake, a flood, and late in the year, the Hungarian Revolution. On November 26, 1961, after Stalin's death, the city's name was changed to Dunaújváros, or "New City upon Danube". Today, the city is one of Hungary's boomtowns.

Christmas

So if you don't know, when a young man or young woman goes on a mission, their calls home are pretty limited. I'm not all-together sure why that is, to tell the truth. I've always known it and it's just the way it is. But they call on Christmas and Mother's Day for sure. So Friday morning we got to talk to Josh for a while and it was great! He's with Elder Wilcox and they're doing well together. They had a baptism scheduled for the day after Christmas and hopefully that went really well. He's not far from Budapest now, he's in a town whose name I gave up trying to pronounce--Dunaujvaros. The name means 'a new town on the side of the river' (Danube). It's a steel town that was built in the 1950s so it's not as old as some of the other parts of the country. He also explained something-in his past emails sometimes he'd write that they'd gone to "Pest", which I assumed was short for Budapest. But he said there are different parts to Budapest, one is Buda, the other Pest. So it wasn't a nickname but an actual part of the city.

He shared with us some of Hungary's history and some stories he's been told by some of the people there. He said they had a very cold snap, -15 celcius (or close to 0 in Farenheit), the other week, but it was warmer again now. They actually don't get a ton of snow, historically. He likes cooler weather so he's loving it. His two areas so far have been in the southwestern part of the country, there's so much of it he hasn't seen yet. He said for their Christmas zone conference the mission President and his wife asked everyone to bring some of their favorite photos of the country to share and Josh said he saw some AMAZINGLY beautiful pictures of places he hopes to go.

He said his sneakers that he took have a hole in the one sole so he needs a new pair, but we can't really mail him a pair of sneakers. They would get stolen! He said some people mail one shoe at a time to try to prevent that from happening. I'm wondering who is doing the stealing? Given that fact and the high cost of mailing packages from the States, we told him to go shopping for shoes but he wears a 14, hopefully he can find some there!

He did receive the two Christmas packages we'd sent, which included a bunch of notes from friends and neighbors. We also sent him Pringles, which I heard weren't available over there but I guess they are now but they are really expensive. We sent Oreos and peanut butter, a long-sleeved SUNS t-shirt, and some other things. I forget what all we sent. Anyway, it was good to know he did get his packages.

One thing he said they do over there is "whip". There is a man who hand makes and sells whips and the missionaries all buy one and they learn how to crack it and do all kinds of things with them. He said the most fun is to swing it over your head and then all of the sudden jerk it the opposite way and it makes the loudest sound ever.

He occasionally forgot an English word for something he was trying to share with us. That's usually a sign he's immersed in his new language. He said he had a 45 minute conversation with an investigator from the Pecs area and when he hung up he realized he'd just spoken Hungarian the whole time without a problem. WOW!! So he's getting much better at the language and it's really sinking in.

Since it was Christmas Day there were some families who had them over. For breakfast a family cooked them what are basically crepes with a Nutella sauce. Mmm! After we talked with him they were heading out to another dinner appointment. I'm so grateful to those who take them into their homes and share what they have.

We're happy for him and hope he continues to be safe and have a positive experience. He always enjoys hearing from people and tries hard to write those who have written him, although sometimes they get pretty busy. He appreciates everyone's love and support, words of encouragement, and sends his love!

Today's email:

First off my new address is
2400 Dunaújváros
Lajos Király Kör
13/2/3

The move was a pain in the butt. I lugged my life basically in a few bags about a mile to the train station at like 6 in the morning and then had a nice 3 hour train ride up to Budapest, but after that was fine. I'm one of the first ZLAs (Zone Leader Assistants), just the lack of missionaries in this mission is making things a little harder here and there. But the ZLs get cars and both get phones and so I get all the benefits of being a ZL. I get my own phone, which I will use to call you guys at around 10 am on Christmas if that's good, just because any later there will be later here and we can only talk for 1 1/2 hours.
I also get to spend the winter season in a car for the most part except for streeting, but I get to serve with a ZL who I went on splits with back in October and then it turned into another one of those we became friends and were both like, hey I wonder if we will ever serve together, but then we were both like, ahh probably not, he's a year and a half out and I'm just barely over a 1/4 so we never thought it would happen but then it did. He's a hard worker so it's making me work harder and so I'm already getting into a good habit as a younger missionary.

Before I forget later, what is Roland's email? I want to email him too.

Ya I'm pretty spoiled with the first apartment I got. The one I have now is a lot smaller and not as good. Everything still works, but just with how big I am and how used I am to lots of room it makes things a little more difficult because I have to work so much more for such a simple task. It's not thats it's hard, just annoying.

Ya I got an e mail from Dieter talking about Elder Baumgartl, and so I called him and asked him if he remembers Dennis and he said ya, I told him that he's gotten to meet a relative that I don't ever think I've been able to meet and that it IS a small world that he already knew my family before we even met on our missions.

I saw the blog briefly too because some members here wanted to see some pics of you guys and I didn't have the book (Costco photobook of the first 20 years of our family) on hand so they brought out their lap top and I looked on there and the only pic I could find was the one where we were all crying right before I left. I almost started crying right there. It's so sad to see people crying, but when it's me and my family and I can remember exactly why and how hard it was, it just makes it hard not to get teary-eyed for me.
The little boy in the pic is Hunor. (who-nor) he is in the Pécs branch, but that pic was takin just outside the Dunaújváros branch house becuse of the multi-branch conference that was held there a while ago. So it's wierd that I've been up to Duna a few times and then now I serve here. Duna is the Danube river, but thats what it's called here. But he is one of the coolest little kids I've met here and we are pretty good buds. I miss that branch down there. It's almost like leaving family all over again every time there is a transfer and either a comp leaves or I go somewhere else.

And yes I got my new contacts and that will be cool to get some mail from the Primary, it's happened a few times like one from Rachel's in Utah, then one from Sister Detemple, the class that I taught a few times on the 5th sunday. But the card got here just fine. I got it and will try to see how I will send my almost full one . The pics I put up just scratched the surface of all the cool pics I got and the videos are funny too. Can't wait to you guys plug it to the tv and then get to watch them. It will be good that way. Then to hear your reaction. It will be my Christmas present to you but I want to get a flash drive and back them up before I send them just in case...you know.

Sweet I can't wait to go to college and see some hotties and well of course learn again. I feel so retarded, I am losing some English pertaining to the spelling of some words and the meaning of the bigger words, and then on top of it it still feels like I'll never understand this language.

Well about Elder Wilcox. He's funny. So we get along well and I already wrote that he's a hard worker and a lot of people think we are the jokes/goofs of the mission because lots of missionaries already know I'm a goofball and then they all know that Wilcox is too. But not in a bad way. We just have fun while we are doing the work. He's going to be a big help to me. I do miss elder Cheney though. We were like best friends out here and I miss being able to chill with him in the big apartment we had and just having fun on P days together. Once agian I'm in a city with only 2 missionaries, one of them being me, but this time we don't have the luxury of going to another city to spend p days with other missionaries, but what ever. Wilcox is from Kaysville, Utah. He's the 6th of 9 kids.

I think the guitars are banned here but I have gone to the guitar shop in Pécs a few times on P days and played there. It wasnt too fun though because the amp they test on is the size of my little fender amp, but lower quality. I sure miss my heavy metal though. Just going in my room and rocking out to Metallica or Avenged Sevenfold and stuff. But I'm ok. I just hope that I don't stink when I get home. Especially at basketball, ugh I miss that the most.

With the calling I'm not sure what will happen exactly but if it's cheaper than me calling you, then I can get to talk to you longer too. And that would be sweet. They limit the time due to cost, but if it's no cost to them then I can talk longer I hope.
Well I hope that this is a pretty good e mail.
Love you guys and I will TALK to you soon! Love, Joshy

Moving on

It's been several weeks since we've heard more than a quick hello from Josh so I didn't feel like we had enough information for a new post. I'll fill everyone in on the last month or so from Hungary, plus I'm posting some of the pictures he's sent over. He sure looks grown up!

In the end of October, Josh and his companion, Elder Christensen, were involved in the baptism of one of their investigators. (See post about baptism) Shortly after that, Josh's companion went home. His name is Devin Christensen and he is from Wyoming. He was very kind to send us an email when he got home to say hello. He is working, going to school, and adjusting to "normal" life. Josh's new companion is Elder Cheney. I've asked some questions about him but the short emails we've gotten haven't included that information yet. I did hear that he and Josh are a good match for a companionship. They are allowed to exercise together for a certain amount of time each day and put together a workout routine they are both apparently happy about. We received this fun bit of information a few weeks back:

(11/16)

Well to start off this week I'm now the new Pécs Branch Ping Pong champion. Boo-ya. I was told that Hungarians are really good ping pong players but I got to learn from Mr Ken Hosch himself, so I killed them with the slices and smashes. lol. I got a trophy from the branch president which I need pics with.

I'm serving in the same district as a missionary from Hamburg I think. I am trying to use some of my german while I talk with him but it usually stops after guten tag. wie gehts du denn? Then he answers and we go to English.
You'll have to get me Caseys address when he gets it so that I can send him some letters. I miss that guy. He and i were really great friends. Tell him I say hi and good luck if you get the chance before I get too.
Love you guys. Can you believe that I will be able to call you guys in about a month, I cant wait. I also still need my other contacts. Just cause this pair is getting kind of old and i need a good pair to not screw up my eyes for lasik surgery when I get home.
Well Love you lots.
Love Elder Hosch
AKA Joshy

Then 11/23, the Monday before Thanksgiving, he wrote just a quick email saying it wasn't a normal p-day because they were having a super p-day on Thursday (Thanksgiving) and he'd write more later.

11/30
We asked Josh if he'd gotten mail forwarded from the mission office in Budapest in case some people sent mail there. He said he hadn't gotten anything from us that we'd sent there, I don't know if he's gotten mail others might have sent there. If you sent mail to the mission office address and haven't gotten anything back yet, that may be why. I'll be sure to post his actual address from now on. Josh did say that he is getting the language and his struggle now is with the lingo but that will come, too. He also said that homesickness isn't as bad as it was at first, that is easing up, as well. Yeah! His super p-day wasn't in Budapest because that is just too far away, it was in Pécs. They watched Monsters vs. Aliens (remember they can watch a cartoon movie each transfer) and they played squash. Here's his email about super p-day:

Ya for super P-day we went to Pécs and played some squash, its really similar to raquetball. We all decided to do that because I'm serving in the same district as a German and he wanted to play. His name is Baumgartl Elder. Well then after playing squash we made some food like some type of Hungarian soup with all kinds of stuff in it but then we watched Monsters vs Aliens. That movie was so funny. WHAT THE FLAGNARD. Translated its MI A BRUTTYÓ, but I have no idea where the translation came from cause that's not really even a word.
Funny story with the sqaush that I just remembered. We got two courts and in one while playing I got a ball wedged up somehow in between the beams so I used the other ball to get it down and that somehow got stuck right next to it then I was real smart and started throwing up my shoe and it also got stuck up there. I went to try my other one but the others stopped me and we got the front desk and they told us there is a pole that is near there. So we used that and got down all the stuff. What a day.
I miss putting up christmas stuff around this time of year.

Well on Dec 9th I have my next transfer and I'm not sure that I will be staying in komlo although I would like to just to keep serving with this district and especially my comp right now. I hope I get to go to Budapest so that I can play some basketball.
We dont know when the next zone conference will be cause we don't find out until the transfers.
Man it's so hard to go every day without my music and guitar and basketball--all of that was so much of my life that I feel like a part of me is missing now that I am restricted to use it or be in accordance with any of them.
But anywho things are going pretty good. I'm trying to learn this dang lingo.. I had to give a lesson yeserday in church. That was fun. It was not hard in the sense that I was scared to give it just felt dumb cause I still cant speak very well. Love you daddy thanks for writing. TTY next week. and call you in a few.
Love Joshy

This week he sent another really quick email:

Nothing really new is going on that would take much to write or seem to be of any importance, but I am moving to Dunaújvaros on Wednesday and will be serving with Elder Wilcox. I went on splits with him up in that city and he is our zone leader. What they are doing is putting only one zone leader (ZL) to a zone and I get to serve with them, but what's cool is that the ZLs go on splits with every companionship in his zone and so I'll get to go on splits a lot and we also have a car and so I might get a license. I don't know for sure what all it will entail while serving with a zone leader but I kind of get the benefits while not being one myself so I think it will be a good transfer. Too bad I won't be able to keep serving with Elder Cheney. We are really great friends and I think it's cool but then also sucks. That's mostly because he's being moved to Pécs and Komló is getting shut down. The problem the mission has is that more missionaries are going out than coming in so some areas that aren't very big or the most productive are closing, so it sucks.
But the members don't feed us that often and the only thing that I have eaten that is pretty wierd is this like liver soup. I didn't realize what it was until I ate like half of it because I failed to ask what it was but it was ok, nothing I'll ever go out of my way to eat again. It's hard to turn down food without ever being mean. But I dont know the word for allergic. lol. Other than that I don't really know what else to say, I love you and I'll write you and let you know whats going on in my new city.
Love you, Bye
Love Josh

BUDAPEST FROM THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE CITY: This is the view from the place Josh and the other missionaries were taken the night they arrived in Budapest. Just beautiful.

"Your missionary sons"

We received an email this morning, re: Your Missionary Sons, from Sisters Faye Wade and Bonnie Marshall, who are senior sisters currently serving the Young Adults, ages 18-30, in Budapest. However, sometimes they are asked to speak in outlying areas and were in Pécs the other day and took this photo:



Pictured with Josh are Elders Adrian Baumgartl; Matthew Caviness; Alex Recksiek and two others whose names I don't know. If I find out, I'll be sure to post them.

They expressed their appreciation for "our sons" who are serving the people so diligently, they have been told by the members in the area how much they appreciate the missionary's service. It's comforting to know that there are so many looking out for them as they serve, including senior missionaries, whether serving as couples or individually. Our boys are never, ever alone on their missions. With Josh half a world away, it's really good to know that. They never go without, they are looked after, cared for, and doing just fine.

October 24, 2009

In the life of a missionary, baptism days are very special. Here are some highlights from the October 24th baptism held in Pécs.

Hosch Elder with members:

Hosch Elder, Christensen Elder, and investigator Szilvia:

with Christensen Elder and Kucska Zsuzsa, the woman being baptized:

Hosch Elder, Christensen Elder, and other missionaries with youth in their branch:

Pécs, Hungary

Here are some beautiful sights in Pécs where Josh and his companion attend church every Sunday!

A beautiful picture

Josh drew this and sent it to us. He draws free-hand, he never copies or traces. We're so excited to frame this and hang it in our home!

Forints

Hungary doesn't use the Euro dollar-they've kept their own system of money. 500 forint is equal to just a few U.S. dollars-when Josh sent this to Austin for his birthday, it was worth just over $3.00. Pretty cool looking money!

Ends and Beginnings

Well, Josh's first companion and trainer, Christensen Elder, left Hungary for home (the U.S.) His mission is done! Now Josh has a new companion, Cheney Elder.

Josh knew him a little bit before this companionship because they'd met in Budapest during one of Josh's trips to take care of his visa paperwork. They bonded over a mean game of ping pong and are now enjoying being companions. They have put together an exercise routine to help keep them in shape, I guess more than the running he and Christensen Elder were doing.

Some weeks it's hard to post an update. We hear from Josh weekly but sometimes his emails are short and he doesn't say much more than hello and a few personal things to the family. Here's a compilation of his last few emails:

That's cool to hear that Jordan (Driggs) got his call and yet another priest is leaving soon.
I got transfer calls this morning. I go up to Budapest to pick up my new comp. His name is Elder Cheney. I've only met him a little bit when I went up to Budapest to finish the paperwork for my visa we played ping pong together while waiting for the other missionaries to show up.
As for the baptism, it went through, it was really good. Worked out just the way we planned. She was confirmed on Sunday and it was so hard for me not to cry, so I wiped my tears during the prayer. lol.
How was Austin's b-day? I sure miss that little guy who probably isnt little anymore.
I really dont have much to say because it was just another week aside form the baptism. But on Nov 28 or 29 I have to give a lesson in church all by myself in Hungarian. Whoa. I can understand a little bit more but not very much. I can have a little conversation with people every once in a while. I'm still at the point where depending on the mood I can speak better or just decent for my level.
Well I've got to go. I was taking care of things so a lot of my time was used love you guys and ttys. Also i got the letter from Jeremy, man I am so jealous he got to see BLINK 182 live. Ugh they are my fav.

I don't hear anything about the (swine) flu except that one missionary that was supposed to come this week has it in America so he was delayed a bit, but other than that, no.
I'm eating fine; eggs and learning how to make all kinds of stuff.

I didnt get Tarik's letter yet. Hungary is such a cool mission. It's on the verge of snowing here, its like -2 to -5 C every day, but I'm loving it.

McDonald's In Hungary

Josh sent some items from McDonald's. While they look familiar overall, check out the writing. No wonder he's having a tough time with it!

Finally a long letter with lots of good stuff!

Hi, all! Josh has been really busy since he arrived in Hungary. He hasn't had much "down time" to use to write. His weekly time emailing hasn't produced much, either, because he's not only a fairly slow typer, the keyboards over there are in Hungarian and it takes a really long time for him to type even a little bit. So with a lot of train time last week he finally got off a good letter to us and we'd like to share it with everyone.

Kedves családom, (my kind family)

Wow I have been horrible with writing you guys. Right now I am down in Pécs (pronounced pay-ch) with the District Leader. His name is Foote Elder (remember in Hungary the title follows the last name) and he will be going home at the end of the transfer, so he’ll probably be home before you guys get this letter. He is an awesome guy who I wish I had the lehetőség (opportunity) to serve with. Hungarian is pretty difficult but when you break down some words it’s pretty funny. Like when you break down the word lehetőség. The “le” is the verb lenni-to be, the “het” is part of the hat/het rule, which means “can”. So, so far it’s basically “it can be”. Then the ő is an ending which turns verbs into nouns, so now it is basically “can be” or “possible”. Then the ság / ség is “ness” so “possibleness” or “possibility/opportunity”. Cool, huh? Or like the Police is Rendőrség. “Rend” means like “in order”. Rend ben means “ in order” because the ban/ben is “in”. So Rendben basically means “ok”. So the ő with an ? (sorry, I couldn’t make out what he put here). So “order” in a noun form, “people of order” basically, then the “ness” is “the people who maintain orderness”. Funny, huh?
It gets really complicated though because words can get many different endings and then there can be combinations like these examples.
Well how is everyone doing? It’s still difficult out here, but I feel it’s slowly getting better. I think part of what I don’t like is my first area. I don’t really like Komló that much. When I spend the day in Pécs I love my mission so much more. Because I’m more excited when I am in a city I like more, I get more comfortable with speaking even though I’m not terribly good yet.
How has the swimming been coming along for everyone? Just hearing the stories I’m really starting to miss competitive swimming. And Jeremy, basketball is starting up here soon. I still hope you do that. I also hope that I don’t stink when I get home because I rarely get to play. But it will be fun when I get home and we get to play basketball together again. The classic old “21”, yeah baby!
I hope all is well with you guys at home. I miss the smell and memory of walking into the house. Especially around this time of year when the Christmas things come out.
Well, as I was going to tell you in my email about a few investigators, one we have is Zsuzsa, and she is still getting baptized in a few weeks here. She is soooo cool. She was going to go to the hospital for her shoulder but she wasn’t able to tell if she would be able to get out or not and so she didn’t go so that she could go to the multi-branch conference we had on Sunday in Dunaújváros. We were excited she was able to tell us that when we called to see how she was doing.
Another one is András, or “Andrew” in English (also Zsuzsa is “Susan”). Anyway, he is an English student of ours and he usually comes early to class and so he eventually started asking questions and then agreed to meet with us. We have met with him about 3-4 times now and he came to the multi-branch conference and that was his first Mormon church experience and he loved it. I was falling asleep but he sang with us and was into it, even though it was an all-day trip. He said that he’d like to keep coming even without us asking him to. I asked him how he felt and he said that he felt good and will come every time. It was so cool because we told him the bus will leave at 8:30 and we agreed to meet at 8:15. We got a call around 8:02 and it was him saying, “where are you guys?” And he dressed up all on his own in a shirt and nice pants with shinier shoes than my comp (companion)! LOL. But I told him that we usually meet in Pécs for church every week and this was a special thing but luckily he still liked it. On the way home he asked us how he can become a missionary and stuff and I felt bad because he’s too old, but he can still do missionary work. Another cool thing is that the second time we met with him he told us that he not only read what we asked him to read but he also looked up all the stories for the pictures in the front of the BOM (Book of Mormon) and read those, too. I didn’t even know the pictures had references, ha! He has a problem with smoking but I hope he can get over that because he seems excited and very interested in the gospel.
Another is Szilvia. She was a lady I met with and taught my first day here, then a few weeks later she moved out of her house and we were disappointed because she said she really liked meeting with us. Then one day we saw her on the street and we were actually talking to someone else and out of the corner of my eye I could see some people standing behind us. When we finished up with the other people we turned around and saw her and her husband. They wanted to meet again because she moved back to her house, so since then we’ve met about 3 times and they are just an awesome family. They have a daughter also named Szilvia and a cool 2 ½ year old, who is so funny, named Ádam. She almost died giving birth to him, then found out that she was pregnant again, so after much thought they decided to keep the baby that was to come, but sadly when we met with them the next week they had found out the baby died. She’s doing fine now and still likes to have us over.
Then János (John) has a wife and small girl but so far his wife isn’t too interested, but he really likes what we do and really respects us. One time he couldn’t meet and he doesn’t have a phone so we pretty much got dogged. But we saw him on the street a few days later and he told us he got called to work. He felt so bad, though, so he bought us ice cream cones, sunflower seeds (yum), as well as cheese puffs, and he offered to buy us cigarettes, too! What’s cool about him is that he really wants to quit smoking so we are helping him with that. He still has yet to come to church. He says he wants to come and has been saying that without us asking him to, but he works a lot during the church hours so we really need to get him to come.
Another awesome family is Szabina and Szilárd. They are in their early 20s with a small daughter. I actually streeted them and they decided to meet, so they are my first successful, progressing find in which I did the approach, but we’ve taught them a few times and they are soooo small! He’s like 5’3” and really skinny and his wife is even smaller and so I feel so big around them, but anyway, they really like when we teach them. They both work and usually on Sundays, figures, but they also want to come, but they like reading from the Book of Mormon and the father, Szilárd, has a lot of questions out of true interest and so he’s begun to pray almost 2 times a day. They are doing great and I hope they keep going better towards baptism. Then last but not least….Livia. She’s an awesome lady. She has maroon to red curly hair and those big, thick glasses that make your eyes look really big and she has the funniest little giggle. What’s weird with her is that she wants to be baptized and believes in the church but before she will be baptized she wants to go to India and speak with Sai Baba, who claims to be Christ reincarnated or something like that. (I looked on the internet and found a picture of Sai Baba.)

I don’t know exactly but she told us she wants to ask him a question but we asked her if he even speaks Hungarian. She said that he will already know her question because of who he is and then she will return and be baptized.
Well, I love you guys and hope everything is good at home.
Love,
Elder Joshua Hosch

Until next time...

Not much new

Thank heaven for email! We hear from Josh every Monday, he usually emails in the early afternoon from Hungary, which is about 5:00 am here in Arizona. Ken and I email him on Sunday and then sleep with our cell phones in our hands in case he emails our cell phone number. It's a way to say hello if we answer quickly because he can sort of "text" our cell phones that way and if we respond quickly enough we can almost have a conversation. We haven't really gotten a letter or email that says much more than "hello" and "I'm too busy to write" the past few weeks, so there hasn't been much to post.

It's very interesting, but this young man who was so anxious to leave the MTC and get to Hungary misses the MTC. Now he is in Hungary and misses home, but when he was at home waiting to leave, he wanted to be on his mission! If only we could be happy where we are at the time...wouldn't that be nice? What we hope, as his parents, is that he will look back on all of it and be very happy that he made the choices he's made and realize he did a lot of good and enjoyed it all.

For Hungary you don't need a Visa to enter the country but do need to apply for a Visa within 90 days of arrival. When he arrived in Budapest on August 4th, he had dinner with the mission President and his wife and then they worked on their Visa applications. This past week he had to travel back to Budapest to do more with the application. Apparently a train trip to Budapest from Komlό is a big deal-he has to get up at 4:00 am and the train trip takes over 5 hours. After they are done their business there's another 5-hour trip home and they usually arrive sometime near midnight so it takes an entire day. There'e no resting for them, either, the next morning they are up at their usual time of 6:00 am to get started on another day of service. He has wished several times they had a day to just "chill", as Josh would say. He's very excited to come home and hit school hard because now he knows he can do so much more with his time than he previously thought. He knows he can study from dawn to dusk! And he misses exercising, although they do go for a run every morning. Josh hasn't been much of a runner, he prefers basketball and weight training, but really appreciates the chance to get out and get moving. Komlό is a mining town that is full of hills and Josh and his companion walk everywhere. There are also a lot of stairs so their legs are constantly challenged.

He says a big hello to everyone and appreciates your prayers, letters, pictures, drawings, candy, and is so excited that now a bunch of missionaries are starting to head out!

Samurai action

Josh sent a quick email and told us they were tracting in an apartment type building this morning. They went up to the top floor and heard a weird sound behind them. They turned around and saw a man swinging a samurai sword at them! The man started yelling at them to go away and not come back. Apparently he thought they were the Jehovah's Witnesses he'd chased off the day before. Josh said he had a hard time not laughing because the guy looked so funny, he was acting out what he was going to do with the sword if they came back. Yikes! Laughing wouldn't be my first reaction to that but at least it didn't scare them. But they also don't plan on returning to the top floor of that building ever again!

This week from Hungary

Wow, Brian's (Hathaway) almost home? How long has Dustin (Nuttall) been out? I can't remember. Things are a little better but the language is still like trying to figure out what Charlie Brown's teacher is saying. I'm almost done my first transfer already.
This morning we went to a falú (a small town on the outskirts of a city) and there they have these cave tours, and the caves were so cool. They were like when we watch movies with caves in. There was this long tunnel and at the end was this huge room, basicllly, and it was about 60 meters under the ground. I don't remember that in feet but I know its kinda deep. The cave was like limestone and had those shell looking formations and had the spikes from the ceiling from dripping water for thousands of years. It was really cool. Too bad they didn't allow pictures. IDK (I don't know) why but that would have been really awesome to have pics of.
We did commit 2 investigators to baptism 2 weeks ago and now we finally set up their bap. date for Oct 10.
We don't get fed that much in Komló. There are only five members and one of the 2 meal programs I had was with an investigating family.
Here they dont have much different food. They don't have a lot of the same candy and have a lot of European food, but I haven't had the time to try anything. I have had gyros. It's Greek or something but it's basically a pita with meat, lettuce and onions and some sauce, but I will have to tell you more about food when I get more time and experince with it.
I sure miss the club (Lifetime Fitness), ever since coming on my mission you now how I've been working out a little bit more, but now I wish I had all that workout equip that I haven't seen for weeks now. All I can really do is run and push ups and sit ups. I wish I at least had some good way of doing biceps and stuff like weights, but they wont let us go to gyms here.
Man I love and miss you guys, I love doing all things we did together, I even miss working on the garden and stuff. I can't wiat to see the progress of that when I get home.
When I get home I'm going to crank out working out and getting ready for basketball season. I hope I don't lose the skills I have now. We get to play ball every once in a while but not on good courts or rims that are full height. They are like 6 inches short or something.
I'll take care of it when i get home. I have the summer to do 4 classes and work out like crazy and work on my basketball again. What's cool it that I'll get home just in time for Elder's ball. I will probably come home the 3 weeks earlier, so that I can go to Jeremy's grad and you guys can still pick me up. So I'll finish late April, cause May 20th (my report date) is halfway through a transfer so I could either stay until June 7th or April 28, 2011.
Well peace. Love you guys and hope to hear from you guys soon. Dad said he sent something.
Bye

Everything is foreign

Josh email on Monday and had the following to report after we asked him about life in Hungary:

For laundry here I have a washer in my apartment so I just wash whenever I need to and we air dry cause they don't believe in dryers or at least haven't even heard about them. They also don't belive in cold drinks cause they will give you a cold and they think that air conditioning puts germs in the home that are very bad for your health, so it's still dang hot, period. The food is really good if it's a Hungarian meal. I still have yet to find a loaf of bread that isn't hard and milk that tastes good.
My comp and I are getting along great so that's good. He was a cross country guy in high school so we run every morning for like 30 min and now I'm down to 186 lbs. I love the European chocolate too. yuummm. He's kind of the quieter type but he's awesome for helping me learn. He has a strong will to serve which I hope rubs off onto me. We have a good time though.
Today we dont have a p day cause on thursday (20th) was a super P day cause that day is the Hungarian Independance Day and so I played some basketball and ping pong with the 4 Pécs elders and we watched the Nightmare Before Christmas. In this mission we can watch animated movies as long as they are rated G and not live action. So weirdly enough we can watch the Incredibles but the Best Two Years is not an approved movie. We can only watch a movie once a transfer though and we have to tell the mission pres when we watch it, what movie we are watching. This thursday I have to go back up to Budapest for zone conference and then again next Thursday for interviews and because it takes literally all day they are really long days, but fun to ride a series of trains and metros to get to the mission home.

He mentioned that someone has asked him to baptize him. Josh hasn't been one of the missionaries teaching him but this particular man needs to be rebaptized and feels that Josh is a good and non-judgemental person, so he's requesting that Josh be the baptizing Elder, if possible. We'll see how that goes as time goes on.

The rest is personal things to our family, basically he's really experiencing bouts of homesickness and memories of home are pretty good right now. Time is going a bit slowly for him and he said he thinks that he has one foot in Hungary and the other is slowly dragging across the U.S. Once he has the language a bit better and "both feet" in Hungary he believes time will go faster. He's hoping!

He also mentioned the other week that his computer has a Hungarian keyboard. Between that and trying to think in two different languages, his letters may sound a bit odd or his words may be mixed up. We don't care as long as we hear from him, but I do some proofreading and correcting before posting his letters.

Until next week...

First area

Josh has gotten his first assignment in Hungary in a very, very small town in the southwestern part of the country. It's a town called Komlό just eight miles north of Pécs. Komlό is an old socialistic mining town where there is high amount of unemployment. Pécs is the financial center of Hungary. Josh's branch he attends on Sunday is in Pécs and there are only 15 members...can you say multiple callings?!? I'm sure half those members are kids!

Mr. President

We got an email from the Budapest Mission President, Gary S. Baughman. He reported to us that Josh arrived safely at the mission home and spent the evening having dinner prepared by Sister Baughman and then sight-seeing in Budapest. He also spent some time talking with Josh, getting to know him better and is impressed by Josh's sincerity in his desire to work and serve.



Josh has gotten his first companion, Elder Christensen. We don't know anything about him, like where he is from, but we're hoping when Josh is able to email(his p-day is now Mondays) he will tell us all about him. We also hope he will give us an address where we can write him directly rather than sending all mail through the mission home. But for now, write to him via the mission home address.

It's easy to see why he's nicknamed Magas Man...magas (pronounced ma-gash) in Hungarian means tall...

Budapest at last-the Pearl of the Danube River

One of Josh's favorite friends in the MTC is an Elder in his district, Elder Gardenhire. I woke up this morning to a call from Elder Gardenhire's parents~they'd gone to the airport in Salt Lake yesterday and saw Josh, then they were able to talk with Josh on the phone during their 4-hour layover in Paris. Elder Gardenhire had called his parents, then handed the phone to Josh so he could give them our phone number. Gardenhire's parents said Josh is so excited and they were already talking to people in the airport and on the plane, "streeting" as they call tracting but not house to house, to people on the streets. There's a good reason Josh didn't call us from Salt Lake or Paris...

First, the bus to take the missionaries to the airport was 45 minutes late, so they arrived at the Salt Lake airport very late. They checked in at the kiosk (self check-in) and Josh was the last in line. His passport number wasn't being accepted at the kiosk and he was directed to speak to an agent at the counter. He waited and waited in line and finally got to an agent who proceeded to yell at him because the flight was due to take off very soon...but Josh didn't have any control over what was happening. For some reason, this agent insisted Josh needed a visa to enter Hungary, too! None of the other missionaries had this trouble. Eventually the agent was convinced that you need a visa within 90 days of entering Hungary but not to enter...and let him go. So they went through security with barely any time to spare to board the plane~and certainly no time to call home. The first flight flew for 10 hours directly to Paris. That's when Josh tried to call but his calling card wouldn't work. I guess a bunch of missionaries in his district got calling cards that weren't being accepted by the French phones! Then he didn't have a boarding pass for his second flight, the agent had failed to give him the boarding pass for the second leg of his journey! Luckily they had plenty of time (4 hours) to get his boarding pass.

So a little after 9 am Josh called from the airport in Budapest. It was so good to hear his voice! He sounded a little tired but great! He said in Paris he heard a lot of English being spoken but not in Budapest. He said it's actually a little freaky hearing all kinds of languages spoken. He said it feels strange, as much as he wanted to get out of the MTC it felt a little weird not to be there in the safety of its walls. But after 10 or 11 weeks of staying within the same city block, he's now halfway across the world. He still doesn't know what they will be doing tonight but for sure they will meet with the mission president and sit down and apply for their visas, among other things.

Josh said on the flight from Salt Lake there was a whole district of missionaries going to France plus their district flying to Hungary, so they had about 20 missionaries on that plane and they had a great time visiting with each other. As a mom, I'm sure glad and thankful they made it ok!!

PS...guess who was the only one without his bags at the time he called...let's hope his bags made it there with the late check-in and all, you never know!

Oh, Josh said if anything of value is mailed (including things like camera memory cards) they should be hidden because it's a poorer country and sometimes mail is gone through for valuables~

Oh, and it's 8 hours ahead there.

"I'm leavin' on a jet plane..."

Well, Josh got his flight information and tickets. He leaves the MTC on Monday, August 3rd for Hungary. He'll fly from Salt Lake to Paris, then go on to Budapest. He's so unbelievably excited to get on with his mission after spending so much time at the MTC. All these weeks of training and learning the language, he's about to go out and start to use it!! The adjustments have not been easy but he's so excited and willing to do whatever it takes to be a successful missionary and serve his full-time mission.

In his last letter home he didn't say much but give us his flight information. But while I was away he sent a letter home and has really learned to lean on prayer. He said that the language continues to get harder and harder; while he's learned a lot, the more he learns, the more he finds he needs to learn. Hopefully being among the natives in Hungary will help him with that. There's nothing better for learning a language than full immersion. He said on the days he prays he can learn; on the days he doesn't pray, he has a hard time learning or even feels like he doesn't learn at all. Wow...he also said that he can't believe it himself, but when he lays down to go to sleep at night, he just has to pray or he can't sleep. If he hops into bed without personal prayer, he just thinks "pray, pray, pray..." So he's learning to lean on personal prayer to get him through.

He continues to miss everyone a lot but is so excited for the day he can come home and share his experiences. He writes in his mission journal pretty much daily-hopefully that will continue. It would just be too hard to catch up if he got behind.

If you've been writing Josh using DearElder.com, I guess you can't do that for free anymore. Even if you wrote him over the weekend or on Monday, he will leave the MTC prior to the emails being put in his mailbox. His MTC mailbox days are over. You can still use DearElder and send things to Hungary...but that costs the same as mailing a letter, it's up to you how you write to say hello. You are still welcome to send emails to cyndihosch@cox.net and I'll email them to him. The church really wants missionaries to use their email for families only.

He can be written at:
Elder Joshua Hosch
Budapest
HAJNOCZY Jozsef Utca 14
1122
HUNGARY

If we get a more specific address, I'll post it all over the place for everyone to find~

Thank you so much to everyone who has written Josh and helped support him through his time at the MTC. It's amazing as his mother to see the changes he's already gone through and it's only been a short amount of time. I'm sure it will just continue~

A special song for birthdays

Here's a special Hungarian Happy Birthday song! Enjoy... I'll post a slideshow soon of some of the 300 pictures Josh sent. I don't know about you guys but I've never heard Hungarian, so it's a treat for me to hear it like this. What a language! It amazes me that it's only been about 6 weeks that Josh has been in the MTC and listen to him and the other missionaries already! That's the beauty of the MTC. Take that, Rosetta Stone!

What really cracks me up is that all three of them go turn off their cameras at the end...

A little Hungarian

I hope this works for everyone who wants to see it...

Stolen items and hospital visits

Did that get your attention? First things first...the "stolen" item. Josh emailed us on Wednesday and said he was so upset, he'd used his camera on the 4th of July and put it away in the closet in his room. He went for his memory card to send it to us and it simply wasn't in his camera. He asked the missionaries around him and they said they knew nothing about it, so he was pretty upset thinking somebody might have stolen it. That was pretty much the only thing he emailed about on Wednesday, which is why I didn't post anything new.

So today we got a letter he wrote on Friday, a few days after the email. Here it is:

Man, this week has been strange. Turns out one of the guys in my district had my memory card, but the reason I didn't know and wasn't able to ask him is a long story.

On Tuesday night his stomach started to hurt a little bit and thought it was gas or something, so he began to jump around and stuff to see if he could push it out somehow. (Sorry folks, I'm writing word for word, for better or worse!) What was really going on is that his appendix was inflamed. That night he asked Gardenhire Elder for a blessing at like 1 in the morning. He couldn't sleep cause it was bothering him. As soon as Gardenhire said "amen", he instantly stopped hurting. Then like a minute later it came back worse, so they called the front desk and went to the hospital. Mason Elder was put through a scanner of some kind and they found out the problem. So at 5 in the morning he got his appendix taken out and the doctors told him he was probably about 20-30 minutes from it bursting. If it burst he would have had to flush out all of his blood and get new blood and the process would take 2 weeks, then healing would take a long time. If this happened the doctor said he would have had to go home. Crazy, huh?

But a day later he came back and the doctor told him that the healing should have taken a few days but he's already up and running. His family was able to come in and his father gave him a Father's blessing, which I know helped.

But ya, July 4th was fun. We got to go to the back of the MTC and watch fireworks. (The MTC just located just north of the BYU football stadium where a huge concert and fireworks show takes place every year.) It was fun to watch them. I was among about 1,000 missionaries or so and Clark Elder and I took some of the chips I got (remember the HUGE package from Aunt Rachel!!) and threw them up in the air for people. It was awesome.

I've been working out quite a bit and I can dunk now. One of the gym guys lets us dunk in "speed" (a type of bball game) because we can't play games and they don't want us to even touch the rims except for dunking in games, which sucks but oh well. Also, I'm a little buffer. I'm about 198 lbs (he was 187 when he left). I don't know if I'm any taller but I hope so. What's crazy is that on Monday I will only have 3 weeks left and I think I can call you guys (mom and dad) as I leave the MTC.

Thanks for having people write me. What's weird is people I don't even know are writing. What's funny also is that Rachel's CTR class (in Draper, Utah) drew pics for me and so did Sister DeTemple's class. Thanks for your support and prayers that you say in my behalf. I'm so excited to be a missionary! Last night my comp (companion) and I taught the 2nd discussion in Hungarian and it's so cool to speak another language. Sorry if my handwriting isn't readable (it is pretty sloppy, to tell the truth). After writing a bunch of letters you stop caring about your handwriting! I got like 15 letters on Monday and still haven't finished writing people back.

Well it's just fun to be a missionary and I'm not even in the field yet. But weirdly enough I'm not the least bit nervous about going out and teaching. I don't know very much but I learn quickly.

Love,
Hosch Elder

Sziasztok,
Szeretlek csaladom. Hallas vagyok a segittekert. Nagyon faradt vagyok, de nagyon jo is. Sok sikert.

(By you all, I love you my family. I am grateful for all of your help. I am very tired, but I am also very good. Good luck.)

Josh sent us his memory card so once we figure out how to get the pictures and videos off the card I'll post them. He has a different camera than we have so we have to figure this out!

Latest letter as of July 3, 2009

Today we got a letter from Josh. I'll type it in for you all and share it with you.

You would not believe how awesome this week has been. As you know this week was a special one because it's "new mission President week". I heard that we were going to hear from President Monson in a special devotional but we didn't. We did, however, get to hear from Jeffrey R. Holland, and along with him on the stand was L. Tom perry, David A Bednar, Dallin H. Oaks, Quentin L. Cook, Neil L. Anderson, and D. Todd Christofferson.

Jeffrey R. Holland spoke about the power of the Holy Ghost and having it as a 3rd companion. Also that the Godhead will bear testimony of you as a missionary if you're doing everything to be a part of the drivine order. And he said "welcome to the work of Angels and divine companionship".

Today is now Sunday and I'm not very awake, but today was one of the best days here. We had a special Priesthood meeting with all the men and then the same with a sacrament meeting. What made today special was that as we walked out to go to our classroom, which is out front of the MTC, there were 2 very nicely kept cars and a group of people. As I walked over I was obviously wondering who was there. As I got closer I looked over and saw the Prophet and Henry B. Eyring standing out front talking. I could hear his voice but was far enough away from him to not make out the words, but it was still amazing to see Thomas S. Monson. I was standing on the curb near the exit of the MTC and was near the low part of the curb where the 2 cars drove off when they left. So I was just bawling my eyes out as I was literally arm's length from the cars as President Monson and Elder Eyring drove away with the windows down and they were waving back to me. It was just one of the most amazing feelings to be in the view of someone you have such a great respect for.

Throughout the week I saw Boyd K. Packer and Dieter F. Uchdorf walking around. Out of respect they asked that we not take pictures, but the memory still remains in my head. Never again in my life will I see the entire 1st Presidency and almost all the Quorum of the 12 in another place outside of the obvious General Conference. If President Monson had extended his hand to shake mine, I could have, that is how close I was. It was unbelievable. As I write this, it's only been about 10 minutes since he left. Crazy, huh?

Sorry I haven't written much. I've been so busy. Sundays I get a lot of time to write as well as Wednesdays. I also get some time after class for about an hour to write, but I spend it writing in my journal and getting ready for bed. As of the last week or two, I have really come to love the MTC. It would be nice to be in the field but it's safe to call this home for now. I think for me it will be weird to drive in a car again! I haven't done that in weeks, but I'm out of here in 5 weeks and a day. Whoooo! Thanks for your letters to give me motivation and to show your support.

Well, I love you guys and hope you share my experiences with those that want to hear them.

I will talk to you later,
Love,
Hosch Elder

On Wednesday Josh emailed that they can play basketball games again and he's VERY happy about that!! He said the last of the missionaries with the flu was due to leave quarrantine on Thursday (July 2) so they got the all-clear. He also said that some new missionaries came into the MTC who need to learn Hungarian so they got some "kici's" or young ones, as they call them. That is a sign they are getting closer and closer to leaving for Hungary.

This week in Provo

This week's update will include information from an email Josh sent as well as a letter he wrote to us that we got yesterday.

First, his email that he wanted passed on to everyone:

Hey everyone
So far I've only been able to hear one apostle talk. It was Elder Bednar. But since this week is the week where all the new mission presidents are here for training, I heard that apostles will be walking around the MTC and that Tuesday's devotional is now going to be this Friday and the Prophet is going to speak. That will be so awesome.

Just a pre-sorry. Since I've started learning Hungarian I spell wrong sometimes, like "prophet" is "profet" and stuff like that. It's weird.

Well I've got 5 weeks done today and still have a few days short of 6 left. Ah, I want to be out in Hungary right now. Tomorrow is the TRC day, which is where we go practice teaching, and recently returned missionaries volunteer to help. So we teach them, but tomorrow is the first time where it's all Hungarian. No English at all. csok magyarol. ugh. I now see why this is one of, if not the hardest, language to learn. Well it's coming slowly but surely.
One of my teachers told us what our first day will be like.
We will basically get to Budapest and go to the mission home with the same group you were in the MTC with and then you will go to some hill/mountain that has a statue, I'll get the story straight before I tell you all that story, but we basically go up there and look at all of Budapest. I can't wait to see that.
Well, everyone needs to write me. You look so forward to mail because you have almost nothing else to look forward to.

My address is:
Elder Josh Hosch
MTC mailbox #127
Hun-Bud 0803
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
Bye love you all except you Tim, lol

In his letter he was excited about the fact that the ancient ones, or in Hungarian they are called Osi's, are going to be heading to Hungary on Monday (June 22nd, which is now past). The Osi's are the missionaries who have been there the longest. Then the next group will leave for Hungary two weeks later and Josh's group, which all entered May 20th, will be the Osi's and they will get kici's, or "small ones". It's sort of like in high school when at first you're the freshmen and then you move up through and eventually become the seniors...he and his group are about to become seniors! Just one more group and then Josh's will be the next to fly to Hungary.

He's having a pretty good time, he said it's fun when you start learning the basics of the language and teaching the Hungarian people (he doesn't feel quite so lost). They still can't play much basketball, they can play a speed game and 21 but there's still a worry over the swine flu so they don't want a lot of contact. Josh said he doesn't know if he's grown but can touch his forehead on the basketball rim (I'm assuming when he jumps). I hope he's careful, I can just picture him knocking himself out or something by smacking his head on the basketball rim...

Josh's email at the MTC is magasman@myldsmail.net. (magas in Hungarian means tall one.) If you can't or won't write any other way, then write him on that...he said he's not getting a lot of mail other than his family and he desperately wants to hear from his friends and neighbors and loved ones. It would be better if you wrote through dearelder.com so it wouldn't take up his computer time to read emails, but if you have to email him directly at his magasman@myldsmail.net address it would be better than not writing him. You're also free to email to me at cyndihosch@cox.net and I'll get it to him.

Let's recap:

regular mail
dear elder email system
magasman@myldsmail.net email address
email me and I'll forward it to him

Lots of ways to write, no excuses!!

Josh is scheduled to be in the MTC about 75 days and he's almost at his halfway point, it will go quickly from here for him. He also said 2 guys that were on his high school volleyball team are now in the MTC, too, that is fun that he knows more people there. He already knew Taylor Buerger from York, PA who has now flown to Kobe, Japan...it's great to know somebody in there!

Christmas comes early in the MTC

I was up in Utah over the first weekend in June because my best friend's daughter was getting baptized. While there, we went shopping for a package of goodies to send to Josh. We went to Sam's Club, Costco, and Walmart...and my friend Rachel got Josh HUGE packages of:

Pringle's snack packs
Lay's chips, variety of flavors
gum
Twizzler's
individually wrapped, iced sugar cookies
sleeves of little powdered doughnuts
individually wrapped muffins
M & M's (the HUGE bag)
Oreo cookies (I think...there's so much it's hard to remember!)
and
beef jerky

And I'm talking about HUGE packages of each item...not just a sample!

Josh emailed on Wednesday and said that the "small" package from Aunt Rachel arrived...and it was like Christmas! He got a call from the mail room and was asked to come down and get it because it was too big for the lady in the mail room to deal with!! I'm sure he was wondering what in the world could be there...and when he got it and opened it he just kept pulling one thing out after another. We all wish we could have watched him the whole time to see his reactions. Maybe he took pictures, if so we'll post them when we get them. Communication seems slow even though he can email weekly and write, etc.

If you've been on a mission you might remember the MTC experience...if you went foreign you probably remember that after a few weeks you were ready to GO. Josh has a while left but is already anxious to get going! Ken said they teach you about your country and language and get you so excited to go that it's all you want to do...and yet there's so much to learn and it takes time. He's having some incredible experiences, though, which he keeps saying over and over again. He knows he's in the right place for him at this time.

Keep writing him a lot, he needs the moral support from everyone. Feel free to send him pictures!!! I'm not sure he needs many treats, though...HAHA!

By the way, May 20-August 3rd is a little over 10 weeks. Josh is nearing his 5th week...so he's almost halfway through his MTC experience.

Letter from Josh

We received a letter from Josh about his day on Tuesday, June 9...

"Wow is all I can say. Mom, I don't know how great your birthday was but your birthday was awesome for me.
It started off as any other Tuesday with gym at 6:30 am and class all day with the exception of eating, but then we had our Tuesday night devotional.
Dad I can't thank you enough for encouraging me to sing in the MTC choir. Like normal we practiced before dinner, then went to eat. After eating we returned to the building/gym where they were holding the devotional. People arrive early for good seats, but being in the choir you get in every time, so we can still show up only 15 minutes early and get great seats. Well since people show up like 30-45 minutes early, we sang until 7. About 5 min before we started, a man got up to the stand and said "we usually don't stand to sing the songs of Zion (then he raised his brow) except for when a general authority walks in." Then almost 10 seconds after we started singing, everyone stood up and I looked down and Elder David A. Bednar walked and started to sing with us. Never before have I felt so amazing about seeing someone with authority like that. You know I've met famous people. When I met Donovan McNabb, even for the 2nd time, didn't compare--just the power I felt as Elder Bednar walked in was incredible. Just the respect that I and all the other missionaries have for who he is and what he represents made me really think, how can this not be absolutely true?? Then, near the end of his talk he spoke about how the spirit he feels is the same that we do. So as we talked about it afterward, I thought, even if we dont' talk to somebody, they still might see us on the street and just like I looked at Elder Bednar and thought it was amazing who he is and what he represents, that the person that looks at me as I walk by might feel the same and it might be memorable because of who I am and who I represent. I know that was a long sentence.
Well, anyway, he is a great and funny guy. He has incredible stories."


He goes on to write some personal things to me and Ken and continues to ask for letters from his friends and he especially wants pictures!!

This week in Provo

Missionaries are allowed to fly now despite the swine flu at the MTC, so our friend's son was able to leave for Japan today (Kobe). We haven't heard any more news about sick missionaries so hopefully things are getting back to normal around there.

Josh is feeling pretty cooped up and wishing gym class was longer, he releases stress and/or frustration by being active and 50 minutes a day isn't enough. There were some restrictions on playing basketball since there'd be some contact; just another precaution to keep from spreading illness. There hasn't been word yet if that's lifted but may go on as long as there's a threat of spreading the swine flu or other flus in there.

They do have some fun, Josh and his roommates apparently made videos where they act out being super heroes or something equally goofy. He's been drawing a lot, which as you probably know is one way he LOVES to pass time. He draws on paper, the chalk boards, anywhere he can.

He's learning Hungarian so well; in just 3 weeks he's learned so much. He's able to say a prayer, bear his testimony, make introductions, teach some of the discussions, and more. It's an incredible accomplishment that's part of the magic at the MTC.

He misses playing his guitar; our neighbors can attest to the fact that he'd often just go into his room and play away in his own world. He actually told Ken he now regrets not being able to play the piano...I hope you all heard that!! If you're taking lessons practice a lot and don't stop!

He really is doing well, he's just missing some things that allow him to blow off steam. He continues to want even more letters and to hear from his friends and loved ones. Write him a lot while we can take advantage of the dearelder.com website and write him daily for free. If you're having any trouble using it just let me know!!

This week:

We got letters from Josh, he is now writing to us in Hungarian! He said the language is extremely difficult but he's getting it, he just wishes he was learning it as easily as he learned German. He said they are going from sunup to sundown there and it's really exhausting but also exhilirating. Yes, my boy used the word exhilirating and not "sick" or "cool" or "sweet"...He said he wishes they had just a bit more down time to feel a little more rested.

We should have pictures from him soon, he's going to mail his memory card to us and we'll post pictures as we get them.

He has gotten letters people emailed him through www.dearelder.com. Now that the excitement of getting there and getting started is wearing down, he's more and more anxious to get to Hungary. He misses the comfort of his family around him and especially his brothers. The other missionaries are really cool and they get along well but of course it's not the same as his brothers.

One of the guys in his room was sick...let's hope he's not one of the missionaries with the flu or swine flu. I hate to think of those young guys getting sick out there. I think Josh is feeling lonesome and would love to hear from everyone, especially his friends. Actually I think he NEEDS to hear from his friends. What he's doing is really difficult and takes all he's got, he needs lots of support.

It's really difficult to read his writing in Hungarian, partly because he wrote with a fine-tip marker on thin paper on both sides...and partly because I don't know Hungarian, I can't even try to figure things out. But here is some of what he wrote:

Jo napot.
Em Hosch Elder. Vagyok, es o Kubricky Elder. Hogy hivnak? Honnan Jottel misszionariusok vagyonk Jezus Krisztus Egyhazatol Szeretnink talalkozni reled es tobbet beszelni Jezus Krisztusrol, es eserelhetnunk telefonszamokat.
-Most jo? Vagy mas alkalomman?
Jobb a litvege vagy litkoznap?
Jobb dele-tt, dilutuu, vagy este?
Szeretenk talakozni_______ (insert day of the week)
Monday: Hetfon
Tuesday: Kedden
Wednesday: Szerdan
Thursday: csutortokey
Friday: penteken
Saturday: szombaton
Sunday: vasarnapon

Koszonom szepan.

So ok...WOW. And you guys should see all the dots and dashes and slashes, etc over the vowels...this is nuts! I probably typed some of this wrong so all you Hungarian experts out there can tell me how it's supposed to be, I'm sure he did it correctly and I'm the one who read it wrong. :)


The Missionary Training Center (MTC) experience is very different, for those of you who haven't gone or aren't members;

The MTC is simply a place of learning. It's pretty exciting, actually, there are over 50 languages being taught 24/7/365. At any given time there are an average of 2,000 missionaries in the training center where Josh is...but there are 17 MTCs around the world and an average of 10,000 missionaries go through the 17 MTCs a year. The church sends missionaries to over 140 countries around the world. Mission areas are organized geographically. There are over 350 different missions. Where Josh will be going, the entire country is encompassed by only one mission-some missions cross over national borders. {Ken went to the Germany-Munich mission and served part of his time in Austria.} Missions are mainly about teaching people about our church's beliefs, but it's also a time when these young men and women completely and totally forget themselves and devote their time and energy to others. If they are learning another language they spend 8-10 weeks in the MTC learning the language and culture of their mission area. Josh went in on May 20th and is supposed to go to Hungary on our about August 3. {If they are going to a mission where they don't need to learn a new language they are there for about 2 weeks.}
Because 8-10 weeks isn't that long to learn another language, the studying is intense and goes on 6 days a week. They get a day called "preparation day" or "P-day". That will continue throughout their mission and it's the day they take care of personal business; laundry, shopping, cooking, writing home, etc. Josh's p-day right now is on Wednesdays, which is why we get emails from him on Wednesdays, he usually emails while doing his laundry. He can write letters any time of the week during breaks or whatever. Today I got to email him from my cell phone while we sat in the MVD getting Jeremy's driver's license-and it was almost like texting because he was sitting at the computer in Provo answering me right away. It was great! He did tell me he got the package we sent of fudge and Vienna Sausages (what a combination) and some of the things he left behind, like his camera battery charger, etc.

So that's about it for this week. Because his p-days are on Wednesdays that's probably the days I'll be updating.

Swine Flu at the MTC

Well, here's a news release about what's going on in the MTC.

SALT LAKE CITY 1 June 2009 Parents of missionaries entering the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, are being asked to pay particular attention to the physical condition of their missionary sons and daughters and to delay their arrival at the training center if they show any signs of illness.

The caution comes on the news that three missionaries at the MTC have been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus and another 17 have tested positive for the type A flu virus.

The affected missionaries have been isolated from the rest of the approximately 2,000 missionaries currently residing at the MTC and are being cared for by the center’s medical staff until they pose no medical risk to others. All are expected to make a full recovery, and their parents have been notified.

Parents and family members coming to drop off missionaries at the MTC this week are also being notified that only missionaries will be allowed inside the buildings. This is to prevent additional exposure to the missionaries from outside sources.

Elder Richard G. Hinckley, executive director of the Missionary Department, said: “As always, the well-being of our missionaries is our top priority. We are erring on the side of caution and taking all necessary steps to ensure they are in a healthy environment. The MTC medical staff is following an established protocol designed to deal effectively with issues related to communicable diseases.”

As a preventative measure, missionaries scheduled to depart from the MTC to missionary assignments are being delayed a week to ensure they are free from illness.

I got that from www.newsroom.lds.org. If Josh were to get sick we'd be notified right away and he just emailed quickly (he'll email more later today) and is fine. When I hear more from Josh it will be posted right away!

I have a friend who lives in Provo and not too long ago she got sicker than she's ever been in her life; and it was the flu. Not the swine flu, but it was very bad...so the flu up there is pretty strong this season. Here's hoping all stays well with everyone there!

2,000 missionaries in there at once? Wow...

From Josh:

Hogy vagyok (How is everyone)
Sadly the Gym has been closed since I got here. They have been redoing the floors and it opened back up on tuesday after I had gym class. So tomorrow I have gym at 6:30 and then I will finally get to play some ball again. Yay! I want to put up lots of pics in my room so everyone send some pics up to my address. If you need it just email my parents. It's cyndihosch@cox.net And write as much as possible. Being cut off to the world really makes you anticipate a letter from a loved one and/or a beautiful girl. So send in the letters and pics asap. Ha. I miss everyone a lot and it's only been a week. I miss lots of things but after I was set apart as a missionary I felt this great sense of relief that has really helped hold me together. It's hard to explain but it basically helped me not miss things to the point of giving up out here.
It's so nice here. It's not too hot and not too cold but it's very beautiful. While walking around the Front of the MTC out at the field between the temple and MTC I can see "Y" mountian near BYU and the Temple with awesome snow capped mountains in the background.
Some interesting things are that one of my teachers Snow Nover (o has umlauts and e has two accents) or sister snow looks almost exactly like Reese Witherspoon. Very pretty. What's also funny is so many girls I would never find attractive are lookin cute cause of the lack of female interaction. lol but I'm not here for that. The language is pretty much one of a kind, but I'm still learning ok. It's only been a week and I can pray, bear my testimony and stuff in hungarian. because of umlauts and accents I'll write it to my mom in a letter and have her type it up. Also we only have half an hour to write emails so I can't try to figure out how to do that.

Something funny is that not even a week in my companion and I almost got into a fight. Everything is fine between us. He just got mad because I said Incubus sucks when he was talking about it, and he said if you say that again I will come kick you. I thought he was joking so knowing me I said it again. He came and tried to kick me and I blocked it but then we argued a little and he wanted to fight because he thought he was a tough guy and I dont want to mess with him cause of where he's from. He's from a rural part of New York and he's like up to my shoulders so he didn't scare me. I think the whole thing was pretty funny, but like I said we are cool now and my district is so awesome. A guy going to Hungary in 6 weeks has a brother that you guys may know. He is the brother to the actor who plays Joseph Smith in the Emma movie, which is really awesome. I saw pics for proof. But today I went to the temple and it was so awesome. I am also in the MTC choir cause my dad said it was awesome and it totally is. It's so cool to hear a deep boom of young mens voices all at once.

Love you all and you'd better write
Hosch Elder Bye guys

First Letter

We got our first letter from Josh! I wish we would have gotten the mail Saturday because there's no mail service today, clearly this was sitting in our box all weekend.

In the MTC Josh's companion is Elder Connor Stark Kubricky from Ogden, Utah. {I can't help but wonder if he knows Elder Kevin Hosch, Ken's cousin's son, who has been serving a mission in Ogden for the past 2 years! That would be pretty cool. The "Mormon" world is a small one sometimes...}

Josh is doing really well. He sounds SO excited and so happy. He said one of the most amazing things was singing with all the other new missionaries. Is this my son? Saying singing is amazing? Haha! Just before entering the MTC Ken and Josh spoke on the phone. Ken told Josh he should volunteer for the MTC choir so he could sing on Tuesday evenings for the General Authorities that visit. Josh laughed about that, but after the experience he had singing with the other missionaries, maybe he'll change his mind!

He's also with Elder Miller from Spanish Fork, Utah and Elder Wirthen from Las Vegas, NV.

I guess they say the last name first, then Elder...so Josh is actually Hosch Elder, not Elder Hosch.

He says the reports of the MTC food are all true, his stomach is gurgling like crazy. Sorry to share that but if you've been there you'll relate.


PS Josh said there is a movie they show at the MTC and he swears he saw Ken in the crowd of young elders in the film. Apparently it was filmed about 1985, which is when Ken was there...anyone know any real details about the film shown at the MTC?

May 19 and 20

We had a special family breakfast, then took Josh to the airport for his flight to Salt Lake. There he would be picked up by our great friends Mark and Rachel Schenk, who took great care of him! Thanks to the Schenks for taking him out to dinner and for ice cream, giving him a warm bed to sleep in, and treating him like one of your own.

He called us from a cell phone when he got to SLC, I couldn't understand where he'd get a cell phone because he left his here (cell phones don't go on mission!) and he said he'd sat beside another missionary heading up to the MTC with his mother and sister (and he said, by the way, the sister was REALLY cute). We told him we'd stood and watched his plane from the roof of the airport parking garage. We could see his gate and watched his plane for over an hour until it took off. He said he never once saw us! He was sitting in an aisle seat talking the whole time. There we were in 100 degrees getting sunburned at 9:30 am; but so excited, yelling, crying, waving things, and he was talking to a hot girl...

Then on Wednesday he went into the Missionary Training Center, or MTC, and officially started his days as a missionary.