Winds of Change

During the early 1980s, awareness about the Church grew slowly in Hungary. After The Tabernacle Choir toured Europe, Hungarian officials desired to make a television miniseries about Utah and the Latter-day Saints. In 1984, a film crew from Hungarian National Television was sent to Utah, where they spent about three weeks filming and interviewing Latter-day Saints. The following year, a four-part documentary entitled “The Utah Road” was broadcast throughout Hungary.

The series generated interest about the Church, but the Communist government had not legally recognized the Latter-day Saint religion, and information was unavailable. Many people wondered where to turn.

One such person was Dr. Gedeon Kereszti, a physician living with his family in Ajka, Hungary. He watched the miniseries and was intrigued when it showed a family home evening displaying strong family values. He knew that Latter-day Saints lived in Utah, and he remembered reading an article in a medical journal that was written by someone in Utah. Perhaps that person was a Latter-day Saint. Gedeon and his son Zsolt pored over back issues of the magazine Laryngoscope until they located an article published by Dr. Kim Davis from Salt Lake City. Gedeon wrote a letter to Dr. Davis, stating that he would like to learn more about the Latter-day Saints. He was pleased to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon and other publications a week later.

Soon, Gedeon received a telephone call from Spencer J. Condie, president of the Austria Vienna Mission. Arrangements were made for a visit, and the Kereszti family was taught the gospel and baptized. Gedeon became a strength to the Church in the following years. He was the first Hungarian to be called as the district president in Hungary, and he assisted with the translation of the Hungarian Book of Mormon.

At about the same time that Gedeon wrote his letter, another doctor was independently making similar inquiries. Dr. Peter Paul Varga, an orthopedic surgeon in Budapest, was attending a medical meeting in Vienna. At a convention dinner, another doctor noticed that Peter declined alcoholic drinks, coffee, and cigarettes. “As we got up to leave,” Peter recounted, “he asked me, ‘Are you a Mormon?’ ‘What’s a Mormon?’ I asked.” Peter’s interest was piqued. When he read an article in a medical journal by Dr. Ralph Cloward, a Latter-day Saint living in Hawaii, Peter wrote to him and requested further information about the Church. A regular correspondence between the men led to Peter’s baptism in 1987. Eleven days later, Peter accompanied Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as he dedicated the land of Hungary. Peter was the only native Hungarian in attendance. Peter then taught his wife, Erika, and their four children. On June 1, the Church received recognition from the government as a legal entity.

Erika accepted baptism on June 25, 1988, the first member to join the Church in this new era.

First Baptisms in Hungary

Early baptisms in Hungary were performed in this pool behind the rented home where branch members met.