Angol Ora

Heather: Angol óra is one of the highlights of our week here in Pécs. We start by making süti for those who come to the class. We do this because we want to have an opportunity to talk to the class members about why we are here in Pécs and what we are doing in this great country. As you see the süti is surrounded by Gospel related material. Our hope is that they will pick up some information about the Church along with the goodies.

The Profi class is for those people who speak English well and is ably taught by Elder Crandall. He has put a recipe for the blond brownies we brought last week that were a hit with everyone. There are about 12 people in this class.

The largest class is the beginners class. Elders Mullen and Galland teach about 50 people every week ranging in age from 10 years old to plus 70. This class takes quite a bit of preparation because the Elders are teaching basic grammar and vocabulary to people who have very little English. This is a great place for a "greenie" like Elder Galland to practice Hungarian because the class is mostly done in that language.

Probably the most difficult class is the intermediate class taught by Elder Bennion. Usually the Elder with the most experience in Hungarian teaches this class. The class is a mix of college age students who are taking English in school and older people who have been coming to classes for a long time and are learning English as a hobby. Angol óra is an important missionary tool for finding those who might have been prepared to receive the Gospel. It is also a valuable community service that the Elders can be involved in. We like angol óra because we get to meet some great Hungarians and make some good friends.

Norm: I was initially concerned about the concept of imposing a western culture thing such as speaking English upon the Hungarians. During the era of communism the people were forced to learn Russian and many of the older folks do speak Russian as a second language although they are not really proud of that era and are comfortable to forget it. Only Hungarians speak Hungarian. No other country speaks that language. Hungary is on the lower end of the economic scale in Europe which makes job opportunity here rather bleak, however being within the European Union allows everyone free travel and work throughout the Union, yet the people are handicapped to do so without being able to speak English or German. So they are motivated students. Our classes have the great advantage of having native speaking teachers which the universities do not have. Besides our price is right and it makes for a great positive cultural exchange and these eager students are coming to us which cuts down on a lot of door knocking. Country wide over a 1,000 people are attending classes in our church buildings per week with direct dialog with the Elders. Missionaries from Germany serving here spend much of their time in the Northwest part of the country where that language is more prevelant.