This week was really good full of splits, splits and more splits!!! Just kidding, we actually only had 2 exchanges this week, but still! On Tuesday we went to Békéscsaba and let's be real, I just love that little place! I was with Sister Giullian (my companion from Kecskemét), and she was an absolute sweetheart and scheduled some teachings so that I could see some of my favortie people! When we got there Tuesday night, they were having a Branch Music night, and guess who was there? László and Judit!
Wednesday morning we woke up and headed over to Erzsike Nénis! Seriously she is my favorite old woman alive (besides my own grandma)! Looking her up off of the branch list back in may was still one of the best things I have ever done! Just look how cute she is!
Giull said "Now a funny one!"... So this apparently is what Hungarians consider funny! She just melts my heart!
For lunch that day we stopped at the Csaba Park to see the one and only ENIKŐ!!!!
For some reason, despite the fact that she used to be a model, she
thinks that she has an ugly smile! I always try to tell her shes crazy!
This is her describing with her hands what her teeth day, as Sister
Withers was snapping photos!
But, finally I got her to smile with her teeth just once! I swear she is crazy, cause she is beautiful and her teeth look great!
And then she accidently did it again! Haha! One of the other sisters
asked to get a picture with her too, but she said that she only smiles
with her teeth for me! I just love her!
During lunch I was able to talk to her a little bit, and she is
doing so well! She said that she still hasnt touched coffee since Sister
Dorny and I gave her the commitment to quit over 4 months ago! She is
seriously amazing, such a great example to me!
Her and her boyfriend József are planning on getting engaged at the end
of the year, and then as soon as they get married she is planning on
getting baptized! She also told me that her and József have been saying
prayers together every night now and that she
has been telling him about the Book of Mormon and just talking with him
about Christ whenever she gets the chance! She is an amazing missionary
already, and shes not even a member yet! I will seriously always be so
grateful for her and our friendship!
After lunch we went over to Illon's house! She was so excited when
they told her that I would be coming that she had baked me some Rakott
Krumpli (stacked potatoes) because she knew it was my favorite! She is
such a sweetheart! We had a really great lesson
with her and read the book "Értékes Vagy" (You are Special) and related
it to our relationship with our Heavenly Father. She still has a hard
time believing in God, or honestly even wanting to, but maybe one day
she will come around!
And of course another silly one, cause Giull said so!
We also had the pleasure of having the szeged sisters come up to Buda for exchanges on Friday! I was able to go with Sister Mason, and she is such a doll, I just love her! Unfortunately we were not able to plan any teachings to go to with them, but we were able to really work on some finding techniques, infact we spent the night tracting up in the Buda hills overlooking all of Budapest! It was breathtaking! We also had a drunk man encounter, that consisted of him stopping me in the middle of the road to tell me "Please dont be mad! Please dont be mad! There is no problem! dont worry! I dont speak english, what is your name?" I told him and it took him about 6 tries to finally be able to say it. He then asked for Sister Masons name. We told him, and he tried to tell us that it was really close to "Méz" which means honey in hungarian. He spent about 3 minutes trying to use his hands to describe what honey was, despite that fact that we both already knew exactly what he was talking about. We told him that we are missionaries and that we didnt have time to talk, because we had to get back to work. He then continued to follow us door to door as we tracted for about 15 minutes before he finally walked away and left us to do our work! You gotta love thus drunk ones!
Unfortunately our work here in Buda was kind of sad this week and we werent able to meet with a lot of people. We have officially been dogged 9 times in the last 2 weeks, and were only able to meet with 2 people this week, One of which was Erika (our bap date) and the other was Emilia, the less active that we had to give over to the elders. But we are really glad that we were able to meet with Erika, because she is our main focus right now! We talked to her about the Priesthood more and just wanted to make sure everything was clear as far as authority goes. We also talked to her about Priesthood blessings. She said that Károly, her husband, has given their 2 daughters blessings when they have been sick and that she knows that they definitely helped! We encouraged her to ask Károly for a blessing this week to help her find the courage to go talk to her grandmother about her baptism and that she would feel calm and comforted, being reassured that baptism truly is the next step that she needs to take in her life!
On Saturday we had Mission Leadership Council, and we had the pirvilige of having a member of the 70, Elder Leimer, come and teach us! His focus was on finding people and then extending commitments. For any of you that know anything about Europe, you know that the people are not necessarily religious, and most of the ones that are, are only culturally religious, but do not actually practice! Elder Leimer told us to stop trying to compare our work to the work anywhere else in the world, because there is no point. For those of you that dont know the missionary life very well, we wake up at 6:30 every day, have breakfast, scripture study, and language study, and then are out of the house by 11AM. We are allowed one hour for lunch and one hour for dinner, but other than that, we spend the rest of the time trying to share the gospel, right up until 9PM when we retire to our apartments for the night. The average amount of lessons in Hungary per week is about 3-4 which means that most companionships have either 7-8 hours a day that is comprised of just finding. So you could say that it isnt easy. And as the winter weather comes on, it gets even a little bit tougher! Elder Leimer's focus was aimed at how we can be more motivated in the work so that we are using those 8 hours wisely! The thing that stuck out the most to me was him emphasis on being bold in our finding! As missionaries, we sometimes have a tendency to feel ourselves awkward as we are trying to approach random strangers, whether it be at their door, on the tram, or even on the street. Sometimes people think we are weird, heck, sometimes we even think ourselves are wierd, but Elder Leimer reminded us that we are not supposed to be weird! We are supposed to be SPECIAL, but not weird! If we are approaching all of our finding boldy, with that Christlike love and desire to help people to come unto Him, then they will not think we are weird. If we make our love evident through our actions, they will be able to see the intent behind it, and they will want what we have to offer! Finding is not about increasing our numbers to make us look like better missionaries, it is about finding the elect people of God that are ready to accept His gospel and come into the fold!
Here is Sister Withers and I practicing being BOLD!!!
We also had the opportunity to hear from Elder Leimer in a fireside later that night for investigators and members, that was broadcasted to the whole country! A few minutes before it started, Elder Leimer came up to me and asked me to say the prayer, I was so nervous, I did not want to say the prayer in front of all the members of Hungary, but how do you say "NO" to a member of the 70? Luckily, I didnt say anything too stupid haha!
During the fireside, Elder Leimer talked about how sometimes as
members we believe in the gospel, but we believe that it doesn't apply to
us, because we aren't good enough. He talked a lot of The Atonement of
Jesus Christ and how the Atonement is sufficient
for every single one of us! One quote6 commitment that he added at the
end really caught my mind and I wanted to share it with all of you too! "
Trust in the Savior Jesus Christ that He will make you whole & will
make you GOOD ENOUGH!" He loves us, He lived
for us, He suffered for us, and He died for us, so that He could make us
whole, so that He could make us good enough! Trust Him and believe Him,
because He is not only capable of making us whole, but there is nothing
He would rather do than make us whole, and
make us good enough! Never forget how much you mean to him! You all are
loved, by Him, and be me too! I hope that you have a great week!
Sok Szeretettel,LeBaron Nővér
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