Kaylee in Budapest: Easter~~ The kid of Kecskemét‏

What a beautiful surprise it was when we were driving around with a member, and what did we see? A GOAT!!! Well, actually 2 goats!

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I first heard that I would be serving in Hungary, my first thought went to little cottages, with white picket fences, dirt roads, and goats in the front yard... I know now that I was clearly a little off! Hungary actually has those things we like to call cities and turns out its a pretty civilized socialization. For many aspects I was gladly surprised to find out that my first thoughts were so far from reality, I do have to admit that I was sorely disappointed about the goats aspect though! If you were friends with me on snapchat before the mission, you know that I kind of like goats as my story was often random adventures with goats that would take like 20 minutes to cycle through.

It was evident that I wouldn't be finding goats in Szeged, but when I got my mini transfer call to Kecskemét I was pumped! The word for goat in Hungarian is Kecske, so surely I figured I would be able to find a plethora of kecskék in Kecskemét. Once again, WRONG! Turns out i am wrong a lot these days! This transfer I was determined to find a goat while we were tracting out in one of the little villages outside of Kecskemét.

Well, Sister Jeppson and I have made it 2 months with no success, but then along came EASTER!!! What a beautiful surprise it was when we were driving around with a member, and what did we see? A GOAT!!! Well, actually 2 goats! But I really only like the baby one, moms are kind of boring! And it was in Kecskemét, we didn't even have to wonder out into a little falu! We pulled over the car and asked the owner if I could hold it! She told me that she wasn't sure if it would let me hold it, cause it was born just 3 days ago! But then, it just ran out of the little pen and I picked it up! And thus, my Easter day, my transfer in Kecskemét, and basically my whole mission was made, right there in the blink of an eye! So you could say our Easter went well! (Refer to the 20 million pictures with goats below)

Aside from the fun adventures of Easter, it was also a great day in spiritual aspects also! It is quite interesting because as missionaries we have the opportunity to go around and try and talk to people about Christ this Easter holiday, which is the reason we celebrate Easter to begin with, yet people don't have time to talk to us about Christ because they are busy with their Easter activities. A little ironic if you ask me, but its whatever!

Church this week was great! The talks were centered on Christ and His Atonement! Berta, one of the members, spoke about His Atonement and the ways that we can use it in our lives. One of the most beautiful things about the Atonement, is that no matter how much we know and learn about it, there is always more! We will never be able to fully comprehend the love he has for us, and the power that His Atonement has in our lives! And with each talk given, or each scripture read, our testimony and understanding of Christ, His Suffering, and His love for us can grow!

Last Monday, Sister Jeppson and I had the opportunity to attend Family Home Evening with the Mecseri family! For the Spiritual message, Bishop shared with us a short film about a violin! It showed the violin maker putting everything he had into making this beautiful violin. Someone then bought the violin for their child, and after a while of practicing the child decided he no longer liked the violin. The violin was then put into storage, sold, and endured a lot of hits and falls throughout the years. At the end of the film there was an auction in which the violin was being sold, however, nobody wanted to buy it. At this point, the wood was battered, one string was broken, and it wasnt all the aesthetically pleasing. It wasn't until a man stepped forward and played a song on the violin that the people realized just how beautiful the violin was, and in that instance the value of the violin sky-rocketed. This violin is symbolic of each of us. Just like the little violin maker, we have a Father in Heaven who created us and loves us very much. However, sometimes life gets hard and like the violin we get a little battered, our polish wears off, and the way that people sees us no longer aligns with the way that our Father in Heaven sees us. With the society we live in these days, it is easy to be hard on ourselves and loose sight of our true value, which can only be assessed through the eyes of God our creator. It is important that we do our best to remember who we are! We are all children of God, and He loves us each very much! We need to not be so hard on ourselves, and just remember to love ourselves as we are while trying to continue become better and more like Christ! We must also remember that everybody else is also a child of God. Don't be too quick to judge other people, we can never know their full story, and we are not in a place to judge, as we ourselves are imperfect beings. This next week I challenge all of you to try and see the people around you the way that their Father in Heaven would see them!