Andras Csepai was singing on a street corner in Sweden, something he loved to do, when two sister missionaries stopped to listen. Three days later, he was baptized.

Church News archives Conrad Burgoyne

This stately edifice was the first LDS meetinghouse in Budapest, Hungary, dedicated Oct. 17, 1989 by President Thomas S. Monson. Andras Csepai and other early members attended Church here.

"They started to talk," Brother Csepai said. "I felt some very special spirit about them. They were different from others. I didn't know why, but I felt the Spirit. I didn't know what church was being presented."

He was taught a second lesson the next day. Before he returned home to Hungary the third day, he'd been baptized.

Andras was born in 1955 and raised in a religious home in communist Hungary. Sometimes he was more interested in religion, sometimes less. But most of the time he believed in a God.

In 1988, he was granted special permission to visit Scandinavia where he stayed with friends. Each morning he took a ship across the waters from Denmark to Helsingborg, Sweden. There he serenaded passersby and lived by the kindness of strangers.

"I was thinking very seriously about religion. This was the year I prayed very honestly for Heavenly Father to help me," he later recounted in a 1997 interview with a Church Historical Department representative.

During "the second discussion there was a tremendous outpouring of the Spirit. I will remember all my life what happened that time.... That second discussion was a turning point in my life. I felt that it was an answer for me."

On July 30, 1988, empowered by a burning testimony in his heart, he was baptized. "I was fortunate enough to give a little talk after my baptism," he said. "Many things I didn't know.... But I felt something from the Lord.... It was a very strong emotional experience what I felt."

After returning home to Hungary, he maintained an aggressive study routine. "It was so satisfying to learn. Every time I studied and prayed, I felt again the Spirit," he said. "I challenged myself to study and learn."

He found the entire membership of the Church in Hungary assembled to meet in a "small flat" in Pest. Membership was sparse, but numbers grew quickly. A half year later, on Jan. 6 1989, the first branch in Budapest was organized with Peter Varga, a surgeon, as the branch president, making Brother Csepai one of the early pioneers of the Church in Hungary.

He fondly remembers the first meetinghouse in Hungary which was dedicated on Oct. 17, 1989, by President Thomas S. Monson, then second counselor in the First Presidency. The young members thrilled to have the renovated edifice for a place of worship.

"I think of how (new members) change, how they accept the gospel and I began to feel this is the Lord's Church in Hungary," he said.

Before he had been a member for a decade, Brother Csepai was called as a counselor in the mission presidency, allowing him opportunity to tour the country and see firsthand the growth of the Church throughout Hungary.

"The best thing I can do for people is to be a good example and bear my testimony. That's the most important thing I've learned from this calling," he said. — Shaun D. Stahle

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Church News periodically profiles the faith of those who helped pioneer the Church in their countries.

Andras Csepai serves as Young Men president in his Buda Ward, Budapest Hungary Stake, and continues to be active in missionary efforts.