“I Went upon My Knees”

“You go down to Hungary,” John Ensign Hill’s mission president told him in 1908. “There is a grand work for you to open up.” After nearly a year of painstaking study, Hill began translating tracts. With the help of Ottilia Franzen, a 14-year-old convert, five tracts were ready by December 1909. In early 1910, Hill baptized Gustav Franzen (Ottilia’s brother) and John Tobie. The service was conducted entirely in Hungarian.

Soon after their baptism, however, the Franzens and John left Budapest. The majority of new converts emigrated, along with many Hungarians seeking opportunities abroad in countries such as the United States. Then, near the end of 1914, war broke out. Political and economic turmoil left the few remaining Saints without regular contact with Church members. Janos Denndörfer, who was baptized in Germany, relocated to Debrecen shortly after World War I. For many years, he was the only member in the area. Janos treasured his scriptures and the copies of Der Stern, the German-language periodical of the Church, sent to him by members in East Germany. He also began saving his tithing for the day when it could be paid.

After nearly two decades alone, Margit Toth, a recently baptized member in Switzerland, moved to Debrecen in 1937. Janos and Margit met together occasionally, but fear of government reprisals limited what they could share with others, even their own children. In 1955, Janos and Margit were thrilled when Richard Ranglack, a missionary from the Swiss and German Mission, traveled to Debrecen and ordained Janos an elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood.

In 1957, Margit developed a severe fever, and doctors believed that she would soon die. She asked Janos to give her a priesthood blessing. After they prayed together, Janos promised to return the next day with oil to provide the requested blessing. “From that time on, I began to fast,” Janos recalled. “I went upon my knees and asked the Lord for his support in my fear and trembling.”

That night, Janos slept very little and spent much of the night in prayer. Unable to buy olive oil, he purchased cooking oil, which he consecrated before returning to Margit’s home. After the blessing, Margit relaxed and slipped into a peaceful sleep. Before leaving, Janos felt her hand, which had cooled. The next day, she was fully recovered.

For seven consecutive years, Janos unsuccessfully applied for a visa to travel to Switzerland. In 1973, after he fell ill, a visiting priesthood holder promised that he would recover and be able to attend the temple. The following year, Janos’s visa application was approved. In addition to receiving his own temple ordinances, he performed 785 ordinances for his ancestors.

In the late 1980s, as government regulations loosened, Margit began teaching her children the gospel. Her daughter, her son-in-law, and two grandchildren were baptized. In 1987, she traveled to Switzerland, where she attended the temple. To her surprise, the officiator at the temple was the missionary who had baptized her 50 years earlier.

Margit Toth Sandorne with her granddaughter and two missionaries outside her home in Debrecen, 1987.