Kelder's Area: Papa!

Q-dawg found this on facebook: "Biesinger elder Pápán szolgál"

Love it!  The tall gentleman married a sweet sister from our branch when we lived there and we went to their wedding.  So cool!!!

MTC 10: Last Day in MTC

Hi Y'all!

SO today I leave for Hungary! I am so excited!

This past week has flown by! We haven't done anything super awesome or out of the norm because most days are packed with departure meetings or class or packing! But volleyball was a lot of fun (as usual). I had a particularly good serve that was at the perfect angle and super hard! A sister tried to return the serve with her knee.... She still has a bruise on her knee... Teehee, opps. I kind of calmed down after that with my serves! But it was still way fun! 

My district had an amazing spiritual experience.  The Elders all gave the sisters a blessing of comfort. It was so powerful! One of the sisters said she could see the Elders glowing with the spirit. I don't think I have ever been somewhere where the spirit was that strong for that period of time. It was amazing. It is such a privilege to give a blessing. You get to see and feel a little bit of Gods love for ther person you are blessing! It is truly and amazing blessing!

Well... Wish me luck! I am leaving for the airport in like an hour and a half!

Elder Biesinger

"Pictures: So one of them is the results of my push-up error. The pills one is how many supplements one of my companions take morning and night. The one with the elder is just him quoting an apostle to a sister "Lock your heart sister" in a high pitch voice. He is pretty funny!"

MTC 9: Bishop Passed Out Sunday....

Hi everyone!

So this is my last update email before I hit the field! We got our flight plans on Saturday and are super super excited! Our first flight is from SLC to the Netherlands, and then we go from there to Hungary!! Super excited!!

This week has been a lot of fun! Everyone in my zone has gotten sick, except for me! I haven't been sick my whole MTC, so hopefully it will continue that way! One of my companions got really sick. Last night he asked me to give him a blessing! The spirit was so strong there. And it was right after we watched "Ephraim's Rescue", so it made it that much cooler! He is still sick today though, so we went to the doctors today and it ends up his mucus and stuff from a sinus infection traveled down to his throat. The doctor says he just has to drink a lot of liquid and then it will clear out in a couple of days. But it is kind of funny, the companion that got sick is the one who always tells me that the stuff I am eating is super unhealthy and stuff. One time when I was eating some ice cream he told me that I was going to get a disease in my liver because of the sugar.... Well.... I'm alright taking the chance. He also takes a million supplements every morning and night, and he giets more sick then me and my other companion.... Coincidence, I think NOT!!

Jefferey R Holland's son ,President Holland, came to speak at the  Sunday Devotional. He is almost as awesomely cool as his father! He talks very similar to his father. He told us a story about how when he was a bishop he went to a pool for a primary activity. Some of the kids would climb on him and try to dunk him, but he would throw them away into the pool and said that he had "Bishop Power". After a while he had the whole primary climbing on him trying to dunk him. One of the visiting children, that he knew who was the son of another bishop, climbed around his neck and started to squeeze as hard as he could. As President/Bishop Holland turned purple and passed out, his last memory was of the kid in his face saying "my dad is also a bishop, but he uses his power to do good things", and then the bishop passed out... That would be a very exciting primary pool party!! 

This week an Elder in the other Hungarian district decided to do 30 pushups during each 5 minute break we had. SO I decided later that night to see how many pushups I could do without stopping... The number was pretty good! After I did those I remembered that I wanted to try the ones where you clap behind your head between each one.... Well.... I was exhausted... I got my first one. But it wasn't very loud, so my second one... Well, I wasn't quick enough. I landed on my nose and just sat there with my face one the group for a minute or two trying to comprehend what had just happened. My companion that was in the room thought that it was pretty funny. I have this big carpet burn on my nose (I'll try and send pictures later today). 

This week in a lesson I was talking about how we could live together as families forever in the Celestial kingdom if we are righteous. Well... I told the investigator that we could live forever with her family in the Celestial. It wasn't supposed to be very funny, but we all laughed a lot and we were barely able to finish the lesson because we would be keep laughing and stuff!

Well this time in the MTC has been great!! And I am sooo excited to go into the field!

Love you all!!

Elder Biesinger!

MTC 8: Blocked Volleyballs and Bucket Lists

Hi Everyone!

This week has been uneventful but fun! As I spoke of earlier, we play A LOT of volleyball here. I made a big step in the ranks of good volleyball players this week! There is a girl that played volleyball for 12 years including in college. She went up for a spike and I BLOCKED it!! I am still as humble as ever, but I am kind of happy! It was a really good block that smashed back on their side of the court! 

So... something exciting! I am getting my travel plans this week!! I am soooo excited! I have loved the MTC, and still love it. But I am super ready to share my love of the gospel with the Hungarian people! 

I watched "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" last night. As I saw the love that the Smith family had for their brother and son Alvin. They were heartbroken to think that Alvin wasn't going to be in heaven because he wasn't baptized before he died. But then the scene in the movie where Joseph and Hyrum come running into their home after they received the revelation about those who have died without the knowledge of the gospel, and that would have accepted it, that they would be able to accept it in Heaven and live in Heaven again. And then the scene where Josephs father is dying, and one of the last things he asks is if he will be able to see his son again. And when Joseph says yes, you can see the joy that that word means everything in the world to Josephs father. Out there in the world there are millions of people who have loved ones who have died, and they have no hope to be united again with their loved ones. The strongest bonds of love can almost always be found in the family. The hope that the gospel brings to those with deceased loved ones is incredible! To think that I can help people find that joy and love makes me so happy! To see one peoples faces the love and peace they feel from the message of the gospel will be amazing! 

I love the gospel. I love the Hungarian people, and I love my family!

I hope that you all kind find peace in this crazy world! 

Sincerely

Elder Biesinger

I forgot. We have a thing called TRC here at the MTC. It is where we prepare a 20 minute lesson in our language and then teach two different members, one right after the other, in Hungarian! Well... This week that changed! We skyped with actual Hungarians this week!! It was super awesome and crazy! They already speak a million miles and hour, and then the connection makes it hard to hear the words! All in all it was very interesting! I loved it! The spirit was strong there and it was great!

The Eagle had Landed!

I know I have forgotten to put a couple of emails in here, but I had to post this one!!!!

"   I am pleased to report that Elder Biesinger  has arrived safely in Hungary!  Sister Szabadkai and I welcomed his group at the airport and found all the new missionaries excited and eager to begin their service in the Hungary Budapest Mission. We look forward to getting to know each of them personally and know we will love Elder  Biesinger as deeply as we love all the missionaries in our care.

     Within the next 24 hours Elder Biesinger will be assigned to a proselyting area with a dedicated Senior Companion and Trainer that has been prayerfully selected to serve in this vital roll. Together they will participate in a brief training meeting at the mission office and then depart immediately to their designated area.

     Over the past several months, there has been much in the news about trouble and turmoil in many parts of the world. Terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels have put all of Europe on heightened alert. Immigration issues continue to cause controversy. Under the direction of Church Headquarters and the European Area Presidency, we have taken and will continue to take measures to ensure that all of our missionaries are safe and kept from harm's way. At the present time, I can assure you that Hungary is secure and that our missionaries can safely perform the work they've been called to do.  

     Thank you for your sacrifice and support of these wonderful young people as they share the light of the Gospel and testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, with the people of Hungary.

 

     Szeretettel,

     Szabadkai elnök

     Hungary Budapest Mission"

MTC 7: Backup singers and bucket lists!

Hey everyone!

So this week has been a lot of fun! Last night I was in a backup singers group for the Nashville Tribute Band. It was a lot of fun! They shared some cool spiritual songs and showed a different way of testifying than the norm! They were a lot of fun and were pretty funny. While we were waiting for them to set up the Elders got really bored. There are two big hug screens in the gym that we hold our firesides in. On the screen there is a white square that bounces up and down, from the top of the screen to the bottom. Whenever it would hit the top or bottom we would clap. Once the band realized what we were doing they would start to use the clapping as a beat and do some pretty cool impromptu songs! We got some pretty good music going!!

I played Volleyball every day this week. I have gotten better at spiking it! I went up against another Elder who is pretty good and spiked it. It hit him in the face and.... knocked his contact out :S opps :D I also hit my companion several times while we would play! It is a good way to get rid of all bad feelings towards companions!! Just kidding! I love my companions, they are great!

We watched a really cool devotional recording from Bednars "How to recognize the spirit". It was awesome! He is hilarious and has so many cool experiences! 

There is an elder in our zone who really likes lemonade and usually buys all the lemonade in the vending machines before the MTC can restock it. My companions and I decided to have some fun. We found out when they restock (like once every other week) and we went in before he could get one and bought all of them! He was upset!! It was really fun! But he was easy going and we gave him the lemonade after the initial humor had gone down! It was really funny! 

Right now I am taking a challenge our teacher gave us. I am reading the Book of Mormon and looking for who Christ is to me! It has made scripture reading so much better! I have found so much and have really felt the spirit! 

Up to this point I have met no one I know in the MTC. In the past day I have seen: Elder Hunsaker, Elder Brenchley and Elder Robinson. I haven't seen elder Robinson since I was like 12 and it was really weird to see him!

Last weeks Tuesday devotional was funny! It was by Elder Clarke. To start of with he called all of the leaders in the MTC to come up to the stand one at a time. When they would get there he would make them kiss in front of all the Missionaries, including the MTC mission president! When the Mission President kind of hesitated Elder Clarke said "You said I was presiding at this meeting right? That means I am in charge right". The whole atmosphere was light and awesome so no one was offended. He and the MTC President are good friends so it was just super funny watching everyone awkwardly kiss their spouse at the podium!!

The food is still good which is really good! Last Sunday we had a different schedule for meals. We had lunch at 1:10 PM and since we were going to choir practice our District was scheduled to eat dinner at 3:30. That is less than two hours after lunch!! And then we didn't get fed for the rest of the night! It was pretty bad! But the Band made time go by faster! 

So Hungarian has a million different cases (you can look up what those are), but they have 36 main ones that we will use. One of the Elders in my zone (who is also Hungarian speaking) got a picture of someone in his district and made a meme out of it (possible link here). It gives all missionaries, that see it, a good laugh! And it is sooo true!! ​

MTC 6: What the heck... Greeters don't talk first!!??

Hi everyone!!

So this week was pretty amazingly awesome!! We had a group of 23 Dutch speaking missionaries come in! They are a blast and add so much spunk to our used-to-be-small zone! We are also receiving 21 new Albanian speaking missionaries this upcoming week! It will be so much fun!

The gym was closed all this last week and most of the week before for redoing the floor. So we were stuck outside for and hour each day playing in the blazing sun! We played a lot of beach volleyball! It was so fun! When I came to the MTC I was horrible at volleyball, now I can somewhat consistently hit it over the net, even when I do flying dives! On Friday I had sand all through my hair even after  I showered. I guess that is just an indication of how much I got into it!

So our devotional on Sunday was fun! We usually have a live speaker talk from 6:45-8 and then a missionary approved movie or a past recorded devotional. One of the movies that is always showing each Sunday is "The Character of Christ" by David A Bednar. It is highly suggested/required for new missionaries to watch that on their first week. The MTC presidency announced that as a gift for the new missionaries they would, instead of a live speaker, show "The Character of Christ" for the Sunday devotional. It is an incredible talk so I wasn't really bugged about it. After the recording ended we, the missionaries, were getting ready to sing our closing him and when all of the sudden, who should come through the door. ELDER BEDNAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the flesh!! Everyone, after a few dazed moments, shot to their feet! We spent the next hour and a half having a Q & A session with a quorum of the twelve and his wife about the video we just watched. It was amazing. The spirit was there strongly when the video was playing, but when he got there it shot up. It was an amazing experience. When he testified to us I can now see how some people in the scriptures would become dumbfounded when an apostle or prophet of Christ testifies. 

This is a funny thing he said. "When a Sister does 10 things, she is perfect in 9 and makes a tiny tiny mistake on the 10th one. She frets and stresses about the mistake she made. When an Elder does 10 things, he fails at 9 and is barely passable at the 10th one. While the sister would be in a coma from that mistake, the Elder hits his chest and says 'that is how it is done!'" Elder Bednar is hilarious! And if any of you watch the face2face with Bednar he kind of called his wife old and not as beautiful as earlier years. Well.... She is still getting back at him. When he had her answer a question she totally threw him under the bus!! It was hilarious! I could listen to Elder and Sister Bednar talk all day!!

So... We have Sacrament meeting Sunday mornings at 8-ish/8:30-ish. I was the greeter for the first time. Besides being a greeter I have no other calling in the Branch. One of my jobs is to open and close the doors before the Sacrament. I was also asked to pass the sacrament.... As I was closing the doors in the back I was half listening to the Branch President announcing the rest of the meeting. I was having a nice day, feeling confident about future things, when the worst sentence I heard ripped my out of my thoughts "following Sister Wester's talk we will be blessed to hear from Elder Biesinger.....". WHAT??!?!?!?!??! We have always had the Zone and Sister training leaders give talks the first Sunday after they were assigned!! This was NOT supposed to happen. But I, being an Eagle Scout and just an all around cool person, still had a talk prepared. I gave my talk in Hungarian and, yeah.... Hence the subject "Greeters don't talk first". I think that that phrase needs to be taught to all of the Branch Presidents! It wasn't that bad :D Just very unexpected. I also taught in priesthood and district meeting (the other two scheduled class times on Sunday!) Very busy day! By the district meeting (at about 5 in the evening.) I was exhausted and brain dead from language study. During the evaluation that one of the Branch presidency leads after our district meeting, one of the "things to do better on" was "have Elder Biesinger talk more, he didn't really talk." Hmmm..... I wonder why :D

We found out this week that, instead of teaching Hungarian speaking members who volunteer in the MTC, we are going to by skyping members from Hungarian next week!! YEAH!!!! It is going to be awesome!! 

So some of the Sisters in my Zone have a quote wall where they put things that need to be remembered forever. The order of them goes like this:

Elder Biesinger

Sister....

Elder...

Elder Biesinger

Elder Biesinger

SIs...

Elder Biesinger

Needless to say. I will not be forgotten in this Hungarian district for a while. The quotes get passed on to the new Hungarians that come after we leave, so I may always be known as the weird Hungarian Elder! Not the worst thing I have been know for! ;D

It is so fun to read emails and get letters from some of you! It is so nice! You never know how awesome letters are until you go on a mission, well at least I didn't! 

Life is great and the Gospel is always true!!

Love you all!

Elder Biesinger!