Monday, October 10, 2016

Original Post Oct. 10, 2016~This week was just amazing! What a great week to celebrate my birthday!

Yes, my birthday was this week.Yes, I turned 21. Yes, I know, I am an old fart! We started off the Birthday week celebrations Monday night with this beauty of a shake! ITs from Johnn's Bistro, our favorite place in town! It is a California knock-off restaurant and the closest thing to America you can find in Veszprém!
Yes, my birthday was this week.Yes, I turned 21. Yes, I know, I am an old fart! We started off the Birthday week celebrations Monday night with this beauty of a shake! ITs from Johnn's Bistro, our favorite place in town! It is a California knock-off restaurant and the closest thing to America you can find in

So Erzsi is actually one of the elders' investigators, she is about 70 years old , and was a referral from her granddaughter who moved to England for work and met the missionaries there and got baptized! The Elders have been meeting with her for the last 3 months. Wednesday night I got a call from Elder Lawrence asking if we would had plans Thursday morning for my birthday. He said that Erzsi would like us to come with them over to her house. It was not super szabalyos, but it was my birthday, and we couldn't deny her request! So we went to Erzsi Néni's with the elders! I had no clue that the elders had told her it was my birthday, but when we walked in the door, she rushed over with a vase full of roses and said "For the birthday girl! 21 is the most beautiful time of life!" We then taught a lesson with her, and ended up going over the baptismal questions, and turns out... ERZSI IS GOING TO BE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!!
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The rest of my birthday was spent visiting Gizi Néni (pictured above), watching Tomika drop kick and behead baby dolls he finds in the trash, teaching English class, and playing "what are the odds" that our whole district would eat a rose. Sister Evans refused to do it, but Lawrence, tomika, Olivér (our recent convert) and I all had quite the experience! I mean they didn't kill us, but I still probably wouldn't recommend it, the petals were a little bit bitter!
I also tried Baklava for the first time this week, because my dearest best friend Lani while wishing me a happy birthday told me to have a great day, but don't DRINK any baklava... I love you Hun, but I don't know exactly how people drink these things! But don't worry, you were right, Baklava is DISGUSTING!!!!
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We had a teaching appointment with a new investigator, Katalin, this week! She is the most hip néni I have ever met and seriously just the most enthusiastic person I have ever met! She couldn't stop calling us fairies the whole lesson! It was adorable! She is such a sweetheart and has alot of questions about our church. She is evangélikus and already has a really strong testimony and belief in Christ, but she is also very open to learning more! We talked to her about the Book of Mormon in our teaching appointment and then committed her to come to church! She said that she would! Unfortunately she called Saturday night and said that she was sick and couldn't come, but promised to come next week. She sounded sick over the phone, and she seemed very genuine and sincere, so I really do think that she will come next week!

On Wednesday we met with our investigator Piroska again. Vasváry Judit came with us again and it was so great! We were able to watch the Restoration Film with her, which went super well! That film never ceases to make me feel overcome with the Spirit! EVERY SINGLE time I watch it, I am reminded of just what a powerful message we have to share with these people that God truly did restore His church to the earth in the latter days to help each and everyone of us find our way back to Him! I really think that Piroska felt that same spirit! She has been having a hard time because she prayed about the Book of Mormon, but still hasn't received an answer if it is true. She told us that she is beginning to wonder if it is because she is not worthy of getting an answer. We talked with her about how sometimes things just take time, but if she continues to diligently pray with a true, sincere desire to know, she will get an answer! Judit was able to bear a really strong testimony about that, as it took her years to finally get her answer, but she also acknowledged that part of the reason it took her so long was because she wasn't putting in her full effort, and bore testimony of the importance of having a sincere heart and true desire! I felt the spirit very strongly as she bore testimony and afterwards Sister Evans and I were also able to bear our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and Restoration!
On Friday we had interviews with the mission president in Duna! Which means that 1) I had to get a picture with them, and for some reason Sister Szabadkai thought something was funny, and 2) I got my birthday package from my mom, which was the cutest thing ever! Also she sent this dress, isn't it just adorable?

We were able to do exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders in Buda this weekend! They went really well, and as always I was able to learn a lot from both Sister Giullian and Sister Withers.
As part of splits, Sister Withers and I were able to go to Érd, and help them with an open house they were holding! It was really neat! Unfortunately not a lot of members came out, so that was a bummer, but it was still really great! I felt really bad that the turn out was not quite what was hoped for, but the whole event was such a great example to me of member involved missionary work! All those members went so far out of their way and put so much preparation into it, the whole branch house was just amazingly decorated with informative posters and diagrams. The event was great, President Szabadkai and a member from the Stake Presidency spoke and everyone was able to feel the spirit!

Guess who showed up at church in Veszprém this week? My favorite Hungarian family, or rather just my favorite family ever other than my own... That's right, THE MECSERIÉK! I awkwardly did not get ready at all, but enjoy the pictures anyways haha!



 

My mother sent me a cute little confetti cake box with icing & candles so I did my best to make it... I wasn't very successful with the icing job,  but I mean its whatever, it still tasted good!


 Well, the end of the transfer is here already, and with it Winter. We only got one day of fall weather here unfortunately, but luckily i took a picture that day with the pretty leaves!


Loving Our Train Ride!

It is freezing here, we already have hit the negatives a few days this past week! But on the bright note we have had some pretty sick sunsets lately!

Monday, October 3, 2016

Week 61- Betegség



 
On Mon, Oct 3, 2016 at 4:01 PM HUNGARY TIME

Hello folks, I hope this email comes to all of you in great spirits and health!

This week was a LONG week! It literally feels like it has been forever! It started on Tuesday with Zone conference up in Buda. That was fun! We got to hear dying testimonies from Elder Bunker and Elder Paul that I served around. It is so weird that they are both already headed home! Our Bcsabs round 1 district was also reunited and we got to take some family photos, so that was fun! And to top it all off, I GOT A PACKAGE FROM HOME!!!! Seriously, packages as a missionary are like gold to a poor man! My mom is the sweetestever , and sent me a box of all my American favorites! It was beautiful! That night for Játék Est, the members taught us how to play Texas Hold 'em using fruit tea bags...It shed even more light on why we don't believe in gambling in our church. Luckily I don't like fruit tea anyways!  



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Piroska & Klaus
  On Wednesday we were able to go help our branch mission leader and his wife as they were preparing to move back to Germany. They live right on the Balaton, which was amazingly beautiful so of course I had to snap a few pics and even got a jumping picture in memory of mine and Sister Dorny's jumping photo a week!!! We were able to get a lot of work done, and packed up all of their belongings into a trailer. It was great being able to serve together with them here in Veszprém and we are going to miss them, and their efforts to help us in the missionary work! 

That evening we also had the chance to go meet with a less active. Monday night, I felt prompted to call one of the members off of the list and she informed us that she is actually in the hospital, that she has a lot of medical problems and is just awaiting surgery. When we first got to the hospital, she did not look good. She has been receiving food through tubes and just laying all day in bed for the last 2 weeks. We were able to pray with her and share some of my favorite scriptures from Moroni 7 about faith, hope, and charity! By the time we left she had managed to at least put a smile on her face, which given the pain she is in, is a big deal! I think thats one thing that missionary work has taught me the most, is the importance of appreciating the little things!

Klaus and Piroska fed us steak with grilled onions on top, it was the closest thing ive eaten to home since I've been in Hungary! Klaus only speaks German and very minimal English and Hungarian so we have fun trying to converse. I asked him if it was steak and he said "No this not steak. Steak rosy inside, Piroska cook too long and is brown. ez nem steak!" Hes cute, we love him!




 
 
 

Wednesday night I came down with a really bad cold, and Sister Evans had already been a little bit sick, but hers also got much worse, so we unfortunately were not able to get much work done during that time, which was a real bummer. But I bought some medicine that Sister Szabadkai recommended and although I'm not completely better yet, I am well enough to get out and do some work again! Which is good, because Sister Evans and I have a lot of working to do! 

While I was sick, we had to cancel our lesson with our investigator Marcsi, but she promised that we would meet at general conference, and would talk about her baptismal date. Well, she didn't show up to conference. I called her afterwards, and she said that she had more important things to do, and that she doesn't want to be baptized. She also informed me that she has been meeting with her ex-boyfriend again, which is not a good sign. I talked to Marcsi for quite awhile, and asked her how we can help her to get ready for baptism, given that she already believes everything and said she knows she needs to be baptized. She said she doesn't know. After talking a little more and praying later that night, we have decided that we are going to give her some time to figure things out and come to the true desire to put her will in line with God's, and are not going to be meeting with her as often.  It was somewhat of a hard decision to make, especially given that we dont have much work to begin with, but we feel there is not much else we can do for her until she is willing to act upon her faith and beliefs. 

Our only other investigator, Piroska, has not been answering the phone, so we were not able to meet with her last week, but we hope that we will be able to get a hold of her, or stop by her house this next week sometime, because she is progressing so well in her testimony, and I have a lot of hope for her!

So that leaves Sister Evans and I with a lot of finding time for this upcoming week, which we plan to utilize to its fullest and find some people who are waiting for the gospel! We also have a good list of potential investigators to work with, so hopefully we can contact them and see which ones are interested and which ones are not!

General Conference was AMAZING, as always! We only saw the first three sessions, but it was so great! If you didn't get the chance to watch any of it, I would definitely recommend going back and watching! It is always so neat to be able to watch it and hear the words of the prophet and his Apostles. Being a missionary, and having the opportunity to teach to people the importance of prophets and share the message of having a living prophet on the earth today really gives conference a whole new perspective and brings a whole other level of gratitude to my heart! I loved Elder Nelsons talk that was centered completely on the aspect of finding joy! Yes sometimes life gets hard, or for current applicability, missionary work gets hard, but we have so many reasons to continue to have joy, despite the hard times, and that joy in its purest form comes from our Savior. Because even when we are at the lowest of lows, the scriptures remind us that he has descended below all suffering and that because of it, he can empathize with us, and succor us, and lift us up to higher grounds through the power of His Atonement! If for no other reason, we can at least find joy in that! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be serving a mission, specifically here in Hungary, I know that the Lord sent me here for a reason, and that reason is to spread His joy with the people of Hungary! And I have come to learn on my mission, that this joy is infinite and unlimited! Sharing it only multiplies our own joy, rather than depleting it! I am grateful for the knowledge I have OF Christ, and His atonement, as well as my own personal relationship WITH Christ! I truly know that there is no greater joy, than the joy He not only CAN offer us, but has promised us that He WILL offer us as we do our best to place our will inline with the will of our loving Father in Heaven.



 
Well, I hope that y'all are doing well! I love you all and will see you before we know it! Have a great week!

Sok Szeretettel,
LeBaron Nővér
Orias Csigák!!! These things were literally 8 inches long! It was disgusting/ cool at the same time
View from the train window!