Kecskeméti Csárda- best gyümölcs leves ever!

 

Bocs everybody, its been a really long week and I don't have a lot of time to write today! We had the opportunity to go down to Szeged this week for Zone conference, that was really fun! I got to see Sister Layton, we really don't even know each other that well, but we somehow bonded over the fact that we both served with Sister Dohm and after a few late night calls we are like best friends now! She is super cute, I love her! It was nice to see my old district too!

Saturday we got stopped by some bible bashers, so that was an adventure! The guy started out somewhat respectful, but by the end he was totally just attacking us and our church. He started going off on how we just walk around with our shiny name badges, telling people that we are perfect and everybody needs to be more like us, while shoving our beliefs down their throats. We tried to explain ourselves and share a little bit with him about what we actually believe, but he was too set on just trash talking our church and Joseph Smith. I finally asked him if he had ever prayed and received revelation that Joseph Smith was not a true prophet and that he just made up the Book of Mormon and the man replied by saying that he studied in America so he didn't need to pray about it cause he knew enough. We started bearing our testimonies about it to him and he just put his hands up in the arm, told us that we better make sure we repent of all our sins, and walked away, obviously realizing that he had been in the wrong. Honestly it was a really frustrating experience, but it made me grateful for the things that we do believe within our church. I am grateful that as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we don't try and shove doctrine down peoples throats and make them just take our word for things. In fact, there is nothing we want less. We are there to help people learn about what we believe and invite them to find out for themselves! Missionary work is not between the missionary and the investigator, it is between the missionary & God and the investigator & God. We are all just out here working on our own relationship with God and inviting others to strengthen their relationship with God also! We aren't trying to tear down the previous beliefs of people, we are trying to build upon them and inviting them to act to discover the truth for themselves! To me that is what missionary work is, and am grateful for the opportunity I have to be able to do just that! ​Kecskeméti Csárda- best gyümölcs leves ever!

P-day fun in the malls arcade

Our GIANT pizza​

Wow~Talk about a HUGE slice!

Gwheely's great photography of me and my beautiful bed and sleeping bag blanket

Sister Layton and I Meet

Zone conference in Szeged!

 

Bishop's daughter Janka did our hair!

 Janka & I ~ She is a doll!

Gwheely

Welcome to Kecskemét {week 24}‏

                                                           The view from our balcony of the Fő Tér churches

This letter comes to you from the beautiful city of Kecskemét! My first week here has been super great! It is weird that it has only been a week, we all feel like I have been here for forever, and me and my companions are getting along great!  Jepp is an opera singer from Idaho with a BEAUTIFUL voice and Guilli is an avid fan of Star Wars from Montana who used to be a drummer in a band! They are great! It has been a week full of a lot of "teachings" (as we now call them), zero tracting (bocs pres.), and just a few crazy adventures to bond us as companions (aka Donna and Pig Jello)!

Our first comp picture

Donna is a member here in Kecskemét, but here's the twist to the story... Donna is actually from

St. George, Utah! CRAZY, RIGHT?! Her son served here in Hungary like 20 years ago, ended up coming back and marrying a Hungarian, and Donna's husband had passed away so she decided to come here with son! She has some back problems, so she is confined to her home, so we get to go visit her every Monday! She was the first person I met here in Kecskemét and I absolutely love her! She is super sassy, has a lot of random information jammed in her brain, and is convinced that the whole American government is just full of insider conspiracies, so needless to say our teachings with her are about as interesting as they come! We are also teaching one of her friends, Tamás, right now, so we are over at her house quite a bit! She is great though, I love it!

Fifi helping us move

After 3 months of sleeping on a couch in Szeged wrapped inside 2 fitted sheets because we had no blankets, I finally got to Kecskemét to find a nice queen sized bed! Turns out it was too good to be true though, it was just a box spring, not an actual mattress, and after the first night of sleeping on it, we sat down and the whole bed frame shattered, so we have now made a bed for me in the corner of the front room on the ground with the box spring mattress! Oh the adventures of serving in Hungary!

My old bed :( 

Through out the week we had about 15 programs, a big step up from the usual 3- 5 we got in Szeged! It was really neat to be able to participate in all the teachings and just be able to bear my testimony of the things we taught! We also got fed. Like alot...I think the whole week we only cooked like 3 times! On Sunday I had the chance to get up and introduce myself in church and bear my testimony. It is always difficult trying to get across what i want to say in a foreign language, but it was a neat experience!

Pig Jello

Last night on our way home for Choir Practice we got a call from a néni in the word saying that she had some food for us called Kocsonya. We didn't know what it was, but she told us that she saw on TV that everybody in Utah loves it so she had made it for us! Luckily she allowed us to take it home to try it, cause when we showed up and saw it we were absolutely delighted to see that it was Pig Jello, which literally consists of pig bones, some meat, and the fat chilled into a jello, with paprika sprinkled on the top!

Something that has been on my mind lately though is just how amazing the Atonement is! It is something that no matter how long we live or how much we study it, we will never be able to fully comprehend all that it truly encompasses. But what we can comprehend is that Jesus suffered for us! Each one of us individually! It doesn't matter what it may be that is going on in our lives right now, whether it be good times or times of trail, the Atonement is applicable to our circumstances and it can help! We can receive comfort and peace in our lives through it! I have a testimony of that, and I am oh so grateful for it in my personal life! I would just challenge all of you, no matter what state of life you may be in,
to turn to him and let him be the light in your life! 

I love you all, and hope you have a great week!

Sok Szeretettel, 

LeBaron Nővér

Sorry for the somewhat gross, graphic pictures, they were just too priceless...

 

In all honesty I feel really bad... That was very sweet & kind of her to go out of her way to make us something Really, Really SPECIAL!

 Misi (a member) eating Jepp's face!

Choir practice for Jepp and Henrik

Last Monday: Saying goodbye to Sister Csolity on the train!

Farewell Szeged (Hungary Wk#14)

Love this girl and I'm really going to miss her!!

Sis Csolity & I saying goodbye

Well, it has definitely been real serving here in Szeged for the last 3 months, but the time has come to finally leave! On Thursday we went up to Pest for my companions interview at the embassy and she ended up getting her visa on Friday! We had convinced ourselves that there was no way she would get her Visa intime to fly this week, so we were both pretty shocked at the news, but we are both really excited for her! She flies to AMERICA tomorrow, and I am headed to Kecskemét tonight where I will be serving in a trio with Sister Jeppson and Sister Guillian! I have been told alot that Sister Jeppson and I need to serve together cause we are alot alike, so I am excited that we will have the opportunity to!

This week was spent saying a lot of last minute goodbyes! I have honestly loved my time here in Szeged, it is definitely a little bittersweet saying goodbye! I will be in the same zone still so I will be back next week for Zone conference, so that makes it a little bit easier!

On our way back from Budapest on Thursday, our train was late an hour and we ended up meeting this girl named Szimonetta, she shared our little box car with us! We offered her a piece of American chocolate (we bought at the American imported store) and we just started talking about life! Eventually we moved onto talking about what I was doing here in Hungary and I ended up introducing the Book of Mormon to her and giving her a copy! She was super excited! We talked alot about our church and what we believe and I had the opportunity to bear my testimony to her at the end of our 3 hour train ride together! It was really neat, I know that the train was an hour late for no reason! When we are obedient and are doing what we are supposed to, God puts people in our path so that we can help them and they can help us! I have no doubt that that is what happened with Szimi! She ended up giving us her phone number and although I wont be here in Szeged to meet with her, we gave the elders her phone number and if nothing else comes of it, at least we had our little conversation on the train and I hope that she was able to just feel something as I bore my testimony to her!

Sorry I don't have much time to write today, but I will send some pictures of our goodbyes and next week we will have some pictures from our adventures in Kecskemét!I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Our last P-Day in Szege together

András Bacsi

And Real American Peanut Butter!

Boldog Új Évet {Happy New Years}‏

Good Ole Szeged: The Tisza & Dom Templom

Greetings to all my fellow Americans,

First things first, Happy New Years! I hope you all had some great celebrations to ring in the new year! Given that I am a missionary, we attended a little party at the Branch house and hung out with the members for a couple hours, played some ping pong, set off some fireworks, and were still in bed by 10:30 to spend the last few hours of last year and the first few of this one doing my favorite thing... That's right, SLEEPING! Hahah it was chill though, I really do love sleeping!

The work here in Szeged is still pretty slow, we spend 8 hours a day finding and most of the time with no success. I think for most people it would probably be quite depressing, but I've learned to just accept that that is how the work is here. I still wake up every day and do everything within my power to share the gospel with the people here in Szeged, but I have accepted that not everybody is ready for the gospel yet, and that is okay, what matters is that we are still trying and giving them the opportunity to accept it if they would like.

I've also come to realize that missions have a lot more purpose than just sharing the gospel with others. If you share the gospel with millions of people, but in the end your own relationship with God isn't stronger, how much of a success is it? I have come to realize in the past two transfers that this is MY mission. Even if the "missionary work" doesnt always seem successful, it doesnt mean that each day can't be its own success. There is alot more that can be achieved on a mission than simply just sharing the gospel, and there are a lot of other lessons that can be learned. In just the 5 short months I have been a missionary, I have already learned so much from my mission. I have learned how to be a better friend; to be more patient; to be more kind; to be more considerate of others and their personal feelings. I've learned how to forget myself and focus on others; I've learned who I want to ultimately be and the things I need to do to become that person... And there are many more things I have learned from being out here in Hungary, but most importantly I have come to a better understanding of my own personal relationship with God.

I know that God knows each of us by name and he loves us more than we could ever comprehend! I am literally so thankful for that knowledge in my life, and also the knowledge that he is always there for us! Sometimes we feel that life is hard and that the gap between who we are and who we want to become is too large to ever close, and alone it is. But that is the thing, we are not alone! Christ lived and died so that we wouldnt have to be.   He is always there for us, with His arms stretched out, willing and wanting to help us, if only we will let him. Christ has never failed, and He never will fail us! If we are willing to yoke ourselves to Him anything is possible. I have a strong testimony of this, and I have seen it many times in my life, both here in Hungary and at home! I am so thankful for the comfort that has come when I have been willing to turn to Him and humbled myself enough ask for help. I have a testimony of this gospel! I love it, I know that it is true, and I know that it brings blessings into our lives when we are willing to live according to it.

I have to go now, but I love all of you, and I hope that you all have a great year! Just remember that if things get hard, you are never alone; He is ALWAYS there!

Sok Szeretettel,

LeBaron Nővér

IT

FINALLY

SNOWED

TODAY!!

"Csolity Nover and I wearing our new Christmas Scarfs"

Good Ole Szeged: The Tisza & Dom Templom