A Whole Lot of Finding~August 29th

Well, this week went pretty well! On Tuesday we zone training in Buda and got to learn some ways that we can be more bold in our finding attempts! Sister Evans and I are doing our best to try and talk to everybody that we see from now on! 

On Wednesday we went tracting and found a lady who told us that now was not a good time. I asked her if we could quickly just give her a Book of Mormon and explain it, and come back some other time to talk more. She told us to come back this evening and we will talk, and turns out that she actually already has a Book of Mormon that elders had given her 3-4 years ago she said. So we are looking forward to being able to meet with her tonight! That same day we met with our investigator "M", and talked a little bit about baptism. She has had 4 different baptismal dates in the past and from what I have been able to observe she has a testimony and knows it is true, but she still isn't doing it for herself for some reason. She very much likes to please people, so it seems that she never really chose a date and got confirmation from the spirit, but rather just agreed to dates to make the missionaries happy. We talked alot about the sacredness of those covenants and why it is important to make them for ourselves rather than just doing to please somebody, or not doing it in fear of displeasing somebody. She seemed to really ponder what we had to say! Also it turns out that she has not been reading the Book of Mormon in a long time, the previous missionaries just had assumed she was, but she admitted that she has only been reading  from the Bible. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon every single day and to seek out a date that would be the right time for her to be baptized and to pray and ask for a confirmation that that is the right thing to do! We hope that she will be able to get her answer soon! 

On Thursday we met with a young man named "R"  and had a teaching appointment. He is very friendly, but seems kind of hesitant right now. He said that next time he will explain more about his beliefs, so I am excited to see how that goes, and how we can help him build upon his previous beliefs to a full knowledge of the truth! 

Friday we went on splits with the Sister Training Leaders from Buda, Sister Giullian and Ssiter Withers! I was able to go with Ssiter Withers and it was such a neat experience! We had been in the MTC together, so it was neat to be able to do some real missionary work together and I feel like I was able to humble myself and truly learned alot from her, she is an excellent missionary! We had the opportunity to go visit a less active named G Néni. She would be active, but she had a stroke a few years ago, and the one side of her body is still left paralyzed, and so it is very hard for her to attend church. However, this week she came for the first time in about a year! It was such an amazing experience! She had tears rolling down her face when she made it into the building, and there was such a sweet spirit in the meetings with her there! We also had the opportunity to wheel her home in her wheelchair and talk to her along the way, and she was so appreciative of our efforts to help her be able to attend church! She is such a sweet lady, i am honored that we were able to help her to be able to attend church and take the sacrament there, the sweet bliss on her face is what keeps me going when something in the work gets hard. It is that opportunity to help someone feel the spirit and Gods love for them, that motivates me to keep looking for those people  regardless of the thousands of rejections that it takes to find the one! 

Also in church I was able to meet a lady named Gyöngyi who is the grandma of my favorite kids in probably the whole wide world, so that was fun! She was super sweet, I hope that I will have the chance to get to know her better during my time here in Veszprém!

We did some area book work this week and found a few former investigators who are willing to let us come over and visit them, so I hope that we will be able to have good teaching appointments with them, and that they will still be interested in learning more about Gods plan for them! I think this week is going to be a great one!

Sok Szeretettel,

LeBaron Nővér

Olivérs birthday

My baby sized bedroom

Sis WITHERS & I

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Bcsabs; Hello Veszprém (Aug 22, 2016 Post)

This week was definitely full of a lot of changes. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to all the wonderful people in Béékéscsaba! I swear that it just gets harder to say goodbye with every area! I will forever be thankful for the people in Békéscsaba who made a place for me in their lives and hearts. Those people have helped me more than they will ever know! Saying goodbye I just wanted to cry! Not to mention having to say goodbye to Sister Dorny! I gave her one last hug and as i pulled back there were tears in her eyes and it just broke me heart! Leaving your baby stinks! Luckily I am still in the country and we get to talk every once in a while on the phone! The first few days were a little rough, but she is doing alot better now thank heavens, and I am glad that she is still there to take care of all of my Békéscsba people for me!

 

On a positive note, I am so glad to be here in Veszprém.
This place is seriously the cutest thing ever! I love it! Also I love my new "new missionary" as the title greenie is no longer approved haha. Her name is Sister Evans, she is from Portland, OR, she played lacrosse in high school and rugby at USU! She is a really sweet girl! Our district is the bomb! We have Elder Lawrence and Thomas, as well as the elders serving in Székesfehérvár , Elder Winegar and Norris! It is literally the perfect combination of personalities, I love it! 

Unfortunately, there is currently no work here, so we are trying to change that real quick and get the work going like it was a couple years ago. We have spent the past few days just trying to figure out where to start and finally get our feet on the ground here so we can get the work going here. We did have the chance to meet our one investigator "M", she is a really sweet girl and when I asked her if she had prayed about a baptismal date she said that she is praying about it right now, so hopefully we will be able to help her to make those sacred covenants that she seems ready and eager to make. 

Besides that we are trying to get some work going from the area book. The previous sisters said that they didn't like doing phone calls and lookups so they did not use the area book as a resource for finding at all, but we have found a lot of records with no explanation as to why they are no longer meeting with us, so we are praying that we will be able to get a hold of those who are still willing to learn about the church and act accordingly. 

Last night as we were tracting, we were just finishing up our hour, and then headed home as a man pulled his car over on the street and said "excuse me".  I thought that he was going to want directions somewhere, but he asked if we are Mormons. I told him yes and he asked if we could meet later that evening. I called up a member, Márta, whom I had met at church that day and asked her if she could come and help us in our appointment with him, and she was more than willing to come help. We met her at the bus stop and walked over to the mans home. He invited us in and began to tell us about a man by the name of Varga Péter Pál. I was not familiar with the name, but he went on the explain that 15 years ago this man had performed a spinal surgery for him. 5 years later he found out that Péter is a Mormon and apparently had a large part in getting the church up and going here in Hungary. Ever since, he has been really curious about our church and Péter's involvement in the church. He has been trying to find him for the last 5 years but has not been able to find any contact information but is really curious about his beliefs. He told us that we were the first Mormons that he has ever seen in Veszprém so he had to stop and talk to us. We ended up being able to talk to him about the restoration of the church, introduced him to the Book of Mormon and the promise that we can know it is all true if we are willing to pray about it and ask God. He committed that he will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and that when he is in town (he works abroad) he will come to church here in Veszprém. How cool is that? We are really excited for them. In the meantime we are trying to find some contact information for this Varga Péter Pál, because I truly feel that it could be his link that gets him truly involved in the church. He was a great guy though.  He will be out of town for the next few weeks, but he said he will call us and come to church as soon as he gets back. 

Other than that, we are jsut trying to find those people here in Veszprém who are just waiting for the gospel, as well as building relationships with the members here so that they can help us in the work and we can be a team. We had the chance to go over to the branch presidents home the other day and meet him and I am excited to be able to work with him and the other members, the ones we have met have been really amazing and im sure that all the others whom we have yet to meet will be the same. 

In Church we had a missionary speak, Vasváry Máté, who returned from his mission in Scotland/ Ireland this week. He talked about missionary work not being easy, and that is about as true as it gets, but neither was the Atonement easy when Christ suffered for each and every one of us. I thought that was such an interesting way of putting it. Because in a way, our missionary service is a sign of gratitude for the sacrifice he made for us, and so we should never assume that as such it would be easy. But the great part is that, if we do have sufferings and hard times throughout our missions, we dont have to be alone as Christ was during his sacrifice if we are willing to always repent and turn to him for help and comfort! How great is that promise? We truly do have a reason to be happy!

Perhaps there will be some hard times here, frustrating moments as we try to get the work going, but that's okay, because the Atonement of Jesus Christ makes it so that we can smile through those hard times, so that we can truly be happy regardless of the situations around us. I am so grateful for this knowledge and that i can say this because i have experienced it, the blessings of His atonement are truly endless!

Sok Szeretettel,

LeBaron Nővér

8/16/16~BACK-TO-BACK BABY!!! (Training...I'm So Excited)

We won the Presidents challenge, once again, so this time for our reward we got to go to the theater and watch The Secret Life of Pets... It is the cutest movie ever, i would definitely recommend seeing it!

BBQ with "E"

Well folks, transfer calls are in and turn
s out I will be peacing out of Békéscsaba and leaving my little baby, Sister Dorny. It is a little bitter sweet, or actually alot bitter sweet, but I am also looking forward to this next transfer, as I will be white-washing into VESZPRÉM... WITH ANOTHER GREENIE!!! So as hard as it will be to leave Sister Dorny, I also could not be more excited for this amazing opportunity! 

This last week here in Békéscsaba has been AMAZING! I am sad to have to leave, as it is every time we leave a city, but I can truly say that I am leaving it a better place than I found it and that I myself am leaving a better person than when I first arrived! It is amazing to look back on the past 4 months, and see the progress that all of our investigators have made, but also all the spiritual progression that I was able to make for myself! I will always cherish the sweet memories I have gained and the relationships which have flourished with the people here in Békéscsaba as we have become brothers and Sisters through the Lord's work. Also, Sister Dorny is AMAZING!!!! I could not have asked for a better companion for the last 9 weeks, she was perfect for me at that time in my mission, I learned SOOOO much from her, and I was able to humble myself alot as we worked together to be able to better help our investigators! I am super excited to see what the Lord has in store for her, and what she is going to be able to accomplish on her mission, because I know that she is going to change so many lives here in Hungary; she has already changed mine! It is a little bittersweet to part ways this transfer, but i am thankful for the eternal friendship that we have built, and I am also looking forward to the opportunity to train again and be able to do my best to be a great example to my new companion! 

We went to one of our investigators concerts, and it was amazing!

This week has definitely been a wonderful way to leave Békéscsaba! On Wednesday we had a lesson with "L and J", and it went so well! We talked more about faith, and "L" has finally decided that he believes in God which is a huge step for him! We continued to talk about how faith is a verb, and how we have to put action into our faith our it is nothing. Then "L" asked what he needed to do then! We had prepared really well for that teaching appointment and had drawn a huge diagram of the connection of faith and hope and tying it into the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to link them, we had written the question on the board "so what do I need to do?" So we pointed "L" to it and followed through the steps. He said he has faith in Christ, he said that he has repented, as did "J", which led to the next step: Baptism! We talked for awhile about the importance of baptism in order to truly be cleansed of our sins and the significance of the covenants that we make with God through baptism, as well as talking about the gift of the Holy Ghost as well as all of the other countless blessings we receive from making that sacred covenant. "L" then said that he thinks he better pray about it then! So we gave him the two dates Sister Dorny and I had prayed about: October 1 or 8, and "L" told us that he will pray about it every single day until he receives his answer! That was the best news ever!!! We also asked "J" if she would be willing to pray about those two dates, and she said that she would too! I have no doubt that they will be getting baptized soon, it is just a matter of which date! They were both so ecstatic, happier than I have ever seen either of them and they both just had something new about them as they considered the thought of being baptized and being able to be cleansed completely from their sins and receive the blessings God has waiting in store for them! We met with them last night as a follow up, and they are both praying still and reading! We are trying to help them to be able to better recognize answers to their prayers, so that they will know when they have received their answer. They also had some questions about tithing, fasting, and word of wisdom, so we talked through those, and they seemed to understand it after we finished answering the questions! They are such great people, I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to get to know them!

We also had the chance to meet with our investigator "E" and she is seriously just an amazing person! I literally don't know if I have ever met a more Christ like person, she just makes me want to be so much better! I have come to love her so much! We followed up with her on the word of wisdom and she is doing amazing! She didn't want to waste all of her coffee by throwing it out, so at first she just slowly weened herself off of it, drinking less and less each day until she finished it all, and last week she finally finished it! We actually talked to her this morning also and she has officially been a whole week without any coffee, which is a huge step for her, given that she used to typically drink 4 cups a day! The first few days were really rough, but we talked to her and made sure that she understood why she isn't drinking coffee, and she said that she knows it is because the Lord has asked her not to, as well as the added health benefits! She is doing amazing though, and she even started taking her Book of Mormon to work and she reads whenever it isn't too busy and she can take a little break! She is making such great progress! 

We also got dogged on a few lessons, but that's alright, because we just didn't let it get us down, but we will keep trying to meet with them and share the gospel with them! We were able to meet again with our new investigator from last week and he is doing amazing! He has so many questions and such a desire to learn more about God! Also he is 24 and could really help the branch and be a solid priesthood holder when he joins the church, so I am super excited about that! 

Overall it was just an amazing week, a great way to finish here in Békéscsaba! I am excited for the things that await me and my new greenie in Veszprém!!!

I hope y'all have a great week! I love you all!

Sok Szeretettel, 

LeBaron Nővér

Cause sometimes you come home at the end of the day, and just have to go for a run!

 

And other times we talk too long and then you have to run to catch your bus every single time we visit!

Then there are the times when the AC breaks and so you have to camp out on the balcony cause the apartment is too hot, and you actually secretly just miss camping!

When the fan catches sister Dorny's skirt ahahhah

                  "E" and her boyfriend took us to Gyula for                      Lavender flavored ice cream!

More from Gyula! I just love "E" favorite person ever!!!

Helping Julika with her family history work

Today we found a golden retriever walking down the road on our way to the library for email, and there is nothing i love more than a golden retriever, so here are a million photos of me with this beauty of a creature!

Us with the cutest couple ever!

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had of serving with Sis Dorny, she's a wonderful person!!

Hungary ~Aug 8, 2016

 

 

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to have the kispest Sister Training Leaders here in Békéscsaba to help us with the work and suggest some new ideas on how we can be more efficient in our work!

On Wednesday we had interviews in Szeged and it was great to see President and Sister Szabadkai, both of them are always just so happy, and that joy always seems to rub off on us and our determination to work hard! Interviews were really good, and as Sister Dorny and I have put together the suggestions that President Szabadkai gave both of us we have come up with a very good plan on how we can help each of our investigators personally to progress faster and more steadily! We are going to extend 2 baptismal dates to "L" this week during our teaching appointment and have him pray about which one is right for him!  I am really excited to see how that lessons will go as the spirit directs us to be able to better help him! With our investigator "E" we are going to go ahead and teach her more about the importance of baptism and then ask her to pray about either getting married sooner, or moving out, so that she doesn't push back those blessings that await her with baptism! I think that this next week is going to be great!

On top of that, on Thursday we went back to try and set up with a man  we tracted into a few weeks ago who was too busy at the time to listen to our message. We had already tried to contact him a few times after that, but his neighbors informed us that he was out of town. But on Thursday he was home! I asked him if we could schedule a time to come back and have a lesson with him and he replied "Well, uh, actually... that sounds good!" For a slight second there we were both thinking he was definitely going to say he wasn't interested, but try to do it kindly, but nope, he said that we can meet him on Tuesday! Even better than that, we thought that he was a young single man who probably lived with his parents, but we found out that he is actually married and has 2 little girls! They are a whole family! Sister Dorny and I just lit up when we found out! We are super excited for our teaching appointment with them this week!

FRIDAY WAS MY ONE YEAR MARK AS A MISSIONARY!!!! I seriously cannot even believe that is real! We splurged on the sugar and made oreo milkshakes with our district to celebrate! They were delicious! Still not as good as good 'ole American ones though! That evening our landlord, "G", invited us over for dinner, so we brought a member and prepared a little spiritual message to share about eternal families. As we tried to share our message our landlord kind of brushed it off saying that he didn't believe in God, but he did commit to read The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and we told him we would follow up! On an even brighter note, he had invited his nephew "G" to the dinner also, and as we shared our message, "G" was actually really interested! He has always believed in God, but hasn't had a very personal relationship with God, but he said he would like to! He said that he would like to meet with us and learn more about our beliefs! 

Saturday night we had a music night concert, and sister Dorny was able to play the piano, her violin, and sing! We had a really good turn out and even a few members brought their non member family members and relatives! The music was great, and really invited the spirit, it was a wonderful experience! After the concert I sat down with "L" and we had a nice long conversation of his beliefs and where exactly he is standing this days. He said that he believes the church is true, but doesn't know if God exists. He knows that it is kind of ironic, but he just cant accept that somebody could actually ever 100% KNOW that God exists and that the gospel is true! I shared this conversation with Sister Dorny as we were getting back to our apartment that evening, and it turned into a huge long discussion that finally developed into addressing the correlation between faith and hope and how both of them tie into the Gospel, or doctrine, of Jesus Christ. We summed everything up into the illustration that now occupies our fridge! We got so sucked up into trying to fully understand it that we lost track of time a little bit!  We may have accidentally broken bedtime rules and stayed up until 1AM trying to figure it out...Oops!! But basically the majority of our findings tie back into two scriptures. 

Alma 22:16

16 If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, 

if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and 

call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou

receive the hope which thou desirest.

Moroni 7:41

41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye

shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his

resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your 

faith in him according to the promise.

So what it all ties back to is that learning more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and trying to better understand his sacrifice and love for us, is the way that we can receive the gift of hope, and by that hope may you know with certainty! We are planning to tie this all in for our lesson with "L" and hope that it will be able to help him!

Also Saturday night as we were heading home from the music night, there was a 90 year old skinny little lady across the street trying to carry a huge box! We were on our bikes, but I told Sister Dorny that we should just stop anyways, so we went to the stop light to cross. As we waited for the light to change, we sat and watched as the lady started to struggle more and more with the box. By the time we got over there, she was fumbling around with it, and looked like she was jsut gonna fall over she was so frail. We asked if we could help, and being an independent Hungarian Néni at first she said no, that she had it under control. But then she gave in and handed the box over! We walked with her to her storage unit a couple blocks down the road and back to where we had left the box. The whole time she just kept on going on about how she just couldn't believe how kind we were! Stopping to help her totally made her night, and ours!! She thought originally that we were Hungarian (bonus language points for us!) but then I told her that we had come from America as missionaries from our church! She was so impressed with our desire to help her and our kindness that she took a Book of Mormon and even said that she would like to meet with us sometime! She was such an amazing (and did I mention classy?) lady!

So that was our week! We are looking forward to a nice and busy week again this week, filled with a lot of good teaching appointments and diligent finding! I hope that you all have a great week too! Love you lots!