Monday, November 30, 2015

BOLDOG HÁLA ADÁS NAPJA NEKTEK!!!‏

 My favorite time of the year is officially here! We woke up Thursday morning to find it snowing outside our windows! Perfect day for the first snow fall of the year! Thanksgiving was just a normal working day for us, so we just went out to lunch with Elder Paul (AKA Mr. Pack your Sackage) and Elder Wilcox (AKA Thee Zsidox) and one of their investigators! We went to a little burger joint, but they ran out of burgers (not exactly sure how that happens at 12AM, but whatevs) so we ended up eating some cheese stuffed turkey, very fitting for the day! Last night we had our Thanksgiving celebration with our district at the branch house! Elder Oakes cooked us a turkey, Zsidox mashed some potatoes, Sister Dohm and I made some stuffing, Mr. Pack your Sackage brought some rolls, and I made some homemade pumpkins pies! It was quite a feast!

Mr. Pack your Sackage's first pumpkin pie!




Sir Zsidox & MR. Pack your Sackage doing their thing!

Toth Gabor's Baptism!!!











































 

 On Saturday, Gabor (AKA kid that asked me to the pig festival) GOT BAPTIZED!!! He had been meeting with the missionaries for a year but his mom wouldn'tlet him be baptized, but then 2 weeks ago his mom just had a change of heart and said he could! All his family came out to support him even though none of them are interested in the church. It was super neat though! One of the Sister Training Leaders is actually the one that found him, so they came down and we did splits on Saturday!


"Splits with Vandi"

                                 
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The Christmas Markets are officially up and running here in szeged! And the whole Fő Tér is all lit up with lights, it is absolutely breathtaking! They even strung lights up all across the huge bridge that crosses the Tisza! It is amazing! I literally love this city, I am so glad that I will get to spend Christmas here! We found a huge chocolate Santa in the Tesco this morning, so obviously we needed a pic with it!


We found a huge chocolate Santa in the Tesco this morning, so obviously we needed a pic with it!



                                                                       

We started meeting with this lady named Nora this week! We found her on the street one day while we were tracting! She is super awesome! We are going to meet with her again this week, so I am excited to see where it goes!

We have been working on our Referral goal still and the Lord has been blessing us! On Friday we had a program scheduled, but the man bailed last minute so we went tracting instead! We ended up getting 6 contacted referrals within 1 hour which is insane!!! I have definitely come to see that if you have faith and are diligent, the Lord will        work miracles!
I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve here! It has been such an amazing experience thus far and I know that it will continue to be! I hope that you all have a great week!
I love you!

HÁLA ADÁS NAPJA!!!!
Sok Szeretettel, 
LeBaron Nővér



































          

Monday, November 23, 2015

#losingit

#losingit







This week has been full of adventures... My companion and I have come to the conclusion that we have both lost it hahah

Last PDay we had a girls day, cause the elders were all too busy to do anything, so Sister Dohm and I went and got some Big Macs for dinner and spent the night at the mall trying on fun clothes! 

Wednesday was zone conference so everyone came down to Szeged! It was fun to see all of their faces! During the conference they introduced our mission wide Christmas goal: to give out one Book of Mormon a day and get a contacted referral everyday. Here in Hungary those are two things that seem a little far fetched, because they dont happen very often. That day while tracting my companion was talking about how we never get let into to people's homes. Just then we knocked on this mans door and he let us in and we had a whole lesson with him and are plannin on going back this week to teach him! As we left his house, we still needed our referal for the day if we wanted to make our goal. There was a man that looked like he might possibly be homeless and he was sitting outside a little ABC store. I have been trying to work on not judging people because of their appearance, so I told Sister Dohm we should go ask him for a referal. She thought I was crazy, but told me to give it a try, so I went up and asked him if he knew anybody that we could talk to God about. He told us that his girlfriend was inside the store, but that she would be coming out soon and would be super interested. When she came out we talked to her and she ended up taking a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet on the restoration! I honestly didnt think anything would actually come out of asking him, but it was cool to see that when you are striving to meet righteous goals, the Lord will help you! Sister Dohm and I didnt quite make our goal, but we gave out 6 Book of Mormons and contacted 6 referals, which is a huge jump from our normal 1 or 2!

On Thursday, while we were walking to our tracting area, there was a huge pile of leaves in this little park we walk through. The leaves had been there for awhile and I had been wanting to jump in them, and on Thursday the city people were there cleaning up all the leaves so I decided if i wanted to jump I had to do it then. So I ran and jumped in the leaf pile. When we got done tracting, Sister Dohm asked what time it was so I went to look at the phone, and realized it was no longer in my pocket. I thought back through the day and was trying to figure out where it could be, when I realized it had to have fallen out in the leaf pile. Remembering that the worker were cleaning up the leaves, Sister Dohm and I started running the 8 blocks back to the park, praying the whole time that they hadnt collected that pile yet! When we got there the pile was there, but we couldnt see the phone! We dug around for awhile before we decided to have this kind old gentlemen call the phone. Luckily it started ringing from within the pile and we were able to find it 10 minutes later! I am no longer allowed to jump in leaf piles anymore though hahah

Friday we had a program with a couple we have been meeting with for a couple weeks. The lady has severe depression and schizophrenia and normally doesnt participate in the lessons at all. Before our lesson I said a prayer and asked that she could be less depressed and be able to partipate today. When we got inside, the woman offered the opening prayer, her first prayer ever, and it was super good! She then continued to participate the whole time! In the middle of the lesson, we were talking to the man about baptism and he said that he didnt really think that it was important, but then out of no where the lady was all " Laszlo, we need to be baptized!" So basically, prayer really does work!

Sunday we had stake conference up in Pest, so that was fun to see everybody! I accidently introduced myself as "Sister Dohm", so it is official that I am losing it! But thats alright hahah

This morning we woke up early and went ice skating with the elders! That was really fun! On the way back, we were riding on the tram and the driver slammed on the brakes cause a car almost hit us and I went flying of my seat onto the ground, so that was our entertainment for the day hahah!

This place is amazing though! I love it and I love all of you! Have a great week!


Monday, November 16, 2015

A Chicken Strippin' Week...‏


This weeks email goes out to my homie Amberlee and our middle school days... back in the day we were walking to Chandler Barney's house when we came up with some weird riddle that we proceed to write in each others year books ever year. It went something along the lines of "chunky dunkin',  finger lickin',  chicken strippin', good." This past week I received an email from AmberLee telling me to have a chunky dunkin, finger lickin, chicken stripping good week... So that's what I did!


On Wednesday, my companion and I went tracting out in újszeged. On our walk from the bus stop we passed this little chicken fast food place. That had a cool sign so we stopped and took a picture, and then I realized that they had a big chicken mascot thing out by the road. So I had Sister Dohm stand by it and take a picture, and then I went to do the same. However, when I put my arm around it, it started to move and for a second I thought there was a human inside the costume, but then I realized that it was just falling over. So the first thing I think to do is grab its arm to stop it from falling... bad idea, it just ripped the chicken's arm out of the socket. So there I am standing in front of this restaurant after having knocked their chicken mannequin over and I look up and all the workers inside are just glaring at me. While keeping eye contact with them I hurried and picked up the chicken! When I finally looked back at the chicken I saw that I had accidentally knocked the whole chicken costume off, so there stood a woman mannequin with a chicken head and breasts, and a chicken costume down around its feet. My companion happened to snap a picture right when I realized what had happened, needless to say, the picture is priceless. Oh, and did I mention that this chicken I stripped was out on the main road in the town with millions of cars driving by watching! Hahhah it was fun, we chose a new walking path to get to our tracting area though, cause the workers were not too happy with me!
So obviously I am not your typical sister missionary, but that's what keeps things exciting! As far as missionary work for the week goes, we met with our usual investigators! We finally got to meet with András the man we found while he was out in his yard and we talked to him about the plan of salvation a little! It was good, but we didn't have much time! We took a member with us and it turns out they knew each other, so that was crazy, but I would say definitely not a coincidence! We also met with Klaudia again, we started at the very beginning of the lessons, with the restoration, so we can make sure she has been taught everything and is ready for her baptism!
Thursday the sister training leaders came and went on splits with us! That was fun, we just did finding the whole time, cause we didn't have too many programs this week!
Friday in district meeting I got to share the spiritual thought. I gave it on a talk called missionary work and the Atonement by Elder Holland! It talks about how missionary work is hard, because it is supposed to be! We are out here bringing people their salvation, it is crazy of us to assume that I wouldn't be one of the hardest things that we ever do! Christ himself asked while in the garden if there was an easier way, but there wasn't for him. Luckily for us, we have His Atonement to rely on during the hard times, so it is much easier for us and we can always receive comfort from Him in the hard times, but I think it really helps during the hard times, to have that perspective of why it is hard. My mom always had a plaque growing up with a picture of Jesus that said " I never said it would be easy, i only said it would be worth it". I think that describes missionary work pretty well! It certainly isn't easy to talk to hundreds of people in a day, and be lucky if just one will listen to what you have to say, but I know the WHY behind it and I know that what I am doing right now is bringing salvation to others and while growing closer to Christ myself! Missions are seriously the greatest thing ever!
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Sok Szeretettel,
LeBaron Nővér




 hahah van of the year! Pékség!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

WK#5 Hungary=Pig Festival...SAY WHAAAAT?

Here are some pictures from the sunset over the Tisza when we went whipping

One month down...how crazy is that? I love it here and have had some pretty great memories already! This week was pretty memorable itself...



Monday: I learned how to whip. Whipping is a pretty big traditional thing here in Hungary even though people now days dont really actually do it anymore. But whatever cause it was super cool, it literally sounds like a gun shot, and I only hit myself
Tuesday: We were at the immigration office most of the day...basically they dont like us and send us on pig chases trying to figure out  what we need to do, but we might figure it out someday, hopefully before they kick me out of the country!

Wednesday: I GOT MY FIRST BAP DATE! Her name is Klaudia, she is turnign 8 next month! She is super cute and the sweetest little girl I have ever met! Neither of her parents are members, but her 12 year old brother was baptized 2 years ago and their mom is super supportive! Klaudia loves the gospel and is super excited to get baptized! She is so cute, I am super excited for her!  

                                                                                      LeBaron, Nover w/ Klaudia & her Family
Thursday: We met with Zsolt again. He decided that he doesnt want to get baptized until next summer, so we are just trying to still help him along and learn more about the gospel! It is kind of rough, but hopefully with time he will have the courage & faith to make the decision to be baptized even though he knows that his parents dont agree with it. After Zsolt's program and Angolora we went and met with this super sophisticated family and when we arrived they had made dinner for us! It was cut up steak in some sort of tomatoe sauce served over rice... a little interesting, but it was good! We talked to
them about having a living prophet and that was super cool!





 Dohm & LeBaron, Nover's  BUS RIDE

 









Friday: We had lunch at a members house today out in a little village outside of Szeged, so we got to take a nice little bus ride out there! They were super nice and had a cute little kitten! Friday was Elder Tillamin-dicks birthday so we made him a chocolate cake and took it to his litttle birthday dinner at the branch house. While we were there something really unexpected happened... I GOT ASKED ON A DATE! That's not even the best part of it though! So I was just sitting there and one of the elders investigators who is 18 came up to me and asked me if I was going to play soccer tomorrow. The kid is super sweet, but he has been acting a little weird lately and on Thursday he asked me and my companion if he could meet with us sometime just to get to know us better. Anyways I told him I would be at soccer and then he asked "Would you by chance like to go to the pig festival with me tomorrow?" Luckily my companion was there so I told him he would have to ask her! Needless to say, I was definitely not expecting that one though! I think the best part is just the fact that it was to a PIG FESTIVAL!!


Saturday: Sister Dohm & I swung by the pig festival... it is basically the equivalent of our Peach Days in Hurricane except they slaughter pigs at it hahah




Sunday: We had a district dinner and took some pictures... we are a little bit disfunctional though as I'm sure you will be able to see hahah 
This super legit swing at the park by our house!

Anyways, I hope that everything is going great with you guys! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Sok Szeretettel,
LeBaron Nővér

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Halloween és Halóttak Napja

Bummer there isnt halloween here, but we carved some pumpkins last P-day with the elders so that was fun! 
 (Elder Wilcox and Márk a little boy/ recent convert in our ward whose sister we are currently teaching!)

Tuesday we had greenie training, so that was super fun, we took a little trip up to Budapest!

In one of my trainers first areas she served with Sister Kovács a native from here in Hungary and she got married on Friday, so we got special permission to go to the wedding up in Kecskemét (AKA goat town in English)! It was super fun and Sister Kovács was super pretty in her wedding dress! She is super sassy and her wedding was not your typical wedding, but it was definitely a blast!

Our mission president was at the wedding also, so him and his wife drove us home to Szeged and Saturday morning they made our distric some breakfast and we had a little program with them! It was super sweet of them and the food was delicious! Saturday we had another wedding in our branch so we got to go to their reception, it was fun!

Last night we had a really cool experience while we were tracting! This week in District meeting we were talking about involving the Lord in your planning and letting him know where you will be throughout the day so that he can put people in your path. So last night as we were walking down the road that I had chosen to tract, a man was outside in his yard and he yelled hello to us from across the street, which let me be the first to say that that normally does not happen in Hungary. The people here are very kind, but they are also very reserved to themselves. So we jump on the opportunity to talk to this man and we went up to his gate and introduced ourselves as missionaries. He invited us inside his home to get warm and when we sat down at the table he told us that he would listen to whatever we had to say! AKA another miracle, because that never happens! We ended up teaching him the whole restoration and when we got to the Book of Mormon he told us he actually had one that he had recieved years ago, and it ended up being one of the super old translations into Hungarian from 1991. It was super neat! He was the sweetest guy that I have probably ever met! He brought us out some water and two chocolate candy bars for me and my companion. As we got talking he told us that his wife had passed away, and yesterday was Halóttak Napja (day of the dead) so it was something that had obviously been on his mind before we came. We told him that we believe that God has created a plan for us so we can return to live with him and our families for forever! He wanted to know more so we scheduled to meet with him again! It was a super awesome experience and a definitely testimony builder to me of planning with the Lord and relying on Him, not just on our own ideas!
One cool thing about Halóttak Napja is that everybody takes flowers to the cemetery and they light candles all around the burials, so it is super pretty! Last night Sister Dohm and I went to the cemetery to look at it! It was a really neat experience!
That was basically our week in a wrap, I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Sok Szeretettel,
LeBaron Nővér


 Sis Dohm and I trying something new again in Hungary!
Hungarians Celebrating "Halottak Napja"   
(Sorry, missing eight additional Pic's to go along with this post that never downloaded properly)