~What has Christ done for me?

This week was such a great week! Great teachings, great words from the apostles during the Worldwide missionary broadcast, and the greatest surprise ever... Look who showed up at church..

Hello there folks! Hope that your guys' week was just as great as ours was!

I want to start the email this week with a spiritual thought from Young Woman's this week. It is based on a talk by Elder Oakes called "Jézus Tanításai" (or "teachings of Jesus" or something of that sort in English). He shares a story of a woman who was invited to come back to church after many years of being inactive in the church, and she couldn't see why she should. Elder Oakes reminded that Christ had done so much for her, asking "Don't you have many reasons to come back and serve Him?" Her 5 word response caught Elder Oakes off guard, as it would most Christians I assume as she asked back "What's He done for me?" We can all answer that question with a list of things that Christ has done, but I would challenge you all to think more specifically and reflect more on exactly what he has done for you individually! Here is the list of attributes that Elder Oakes listed: 

                                                                                

  1) Life of the World

  2) Light of the World

  3) Doing the Will of the Father

  4) The Great Exemplar

  5) Priesthood Power

  6) Guidance by the Holy Ghost

  7) Guidance by His Commandments

  8) Focus on Eternal Life

  9) The Atonement

I loved all of these so much and it was hard to choose a favorite point because they are all so interconnected, but we were asked to choose one to talk about in Young Woman's so I chose the Light of the World! With that being the focus of the Christmas campaign this year, it has made a huge impact on my mission and the way I see things. We know that Christ is the light of the World, but what does that mean for me, and what can it mean for you? For me it means that He came to the world bringing peace and hope and lived a perfect life, teaching us, or rather showing us, what exactly we must do to return to our Father in Heaven after this life to live with Him and our families forever! Like I light in a dark tunnel, if we will let Him be our light, He will guide us home to eternal life! To me, there is no better news, and yet that is still just a sliver of what Christ has done for me! I am so thankful for my Savior, and for the opportunity that I have had to truly come to know Him throughout the course of my mission. My time here in Hungary is slowly coming to an end unfortunately, but the lessons I have learned and the relationship I have built with Christ and God will continue to bless me and my family for the rest of eternity! I would recommend reading this talk cause it is amazing, but at least take the time to think about each of the actions of Christ listed above and how Christ has filled that role in YOUR life! And then you will be brought to a remembrance of just how much Christ HAS done for you! 

 

Janka drew me a million pictures and wrote me little notes! She told me that we are best friends! #score  

Meet the new Sister Towne...Janka was really sad to have to leave when church ended, so she stole my companions name tag, telling her parents that she will stay and be my companion and Sister Towne can go home to Győr with her parents! They said no, so she tried again, this time with a "pretty please"! Unfortunately they didn't buy it, but insisted on getting a picture of it! She's adorable! Ahhh I just love that family so much!

On Monday for Pday we went with the elders to an escape room, it was super fun, and we made it out of the room with only 20 seconds left on the clock! It was a close one, but we had a great time!

As far as the work is going, we were able to receive a new investigator this week, her name is "E" and I love her already! We tracted into her and she said that then wasn't good, but that we could come back the next day to meet! So we went over there and had a really good teaching in which we introduced the Book of Mormon to her! She told us that the day before when she closed the door her husband reminded her that she is catholic and asked why she had told us we could come back. She told me that she honestly wasn't sure why she said yes, she just agreed without even thinking twice! Which I am super glad, and know was most likely due to the fact that she felt something as we spoke to her on her doorstep that day. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon, how it helps us to know Christ more intimately, and how it can personally bless her in her life! She took her copy we gave her and told us that she is going to read the whole thing!!! She just got out of the hospital this week, so she wont be able to come to church for awhile, but she said that as soon as she is feeling better she wants to come to our church! I am sooo excited to meet with her tomorrow! Also she has the cutest giggle and it just makes my whole day!

On Tuesday we met with Márt and were able to teach the restoration! It went really well, and he had a lot of great questions! At the end we talked about how he can receive answers to his prayers also, just like Joseph Smith did, and challenged him to pray each day! As we were finishing the lesson he asked if he could try saying the closing prayer! It was super neat! And his prayer was super sincere, asking God to help him know if these things are true and to help him find the answers to his questions! We are super stoked for our lesson with him on Wednesday!

We also met with our other new investigator from last week, Marg and we were able to find a member to come this time too! Just so happens that they used to work together too! Coincident? I think not! We talked about the Restoration and she ended up bringing up some of the trials that she has faced in her life. We talked more about Christ's role in comforting us and helping us through our trials!

We had some other good lessons too, as well as finding a few solid potentials that we will be looking up this week! We were also able to schedule with some people for this week that we haven't been able to get a hold of in awhile, so I am really looking forward to meeting with all of them and trying to help them progress towards baptism!

This weekend we were in Sopron for splits!! I was with Sister Brantley and we were focusing on being able to recognize the promptings of the spirit and acting upon them! In one of our teachings we were talking to a really catholic Néni and I felt prompted to ask her how she felt about her relationship with God. She responded by saying that she absolutely does not have one, which was a surprise to hear from a practicing catholic. She went on to tell us about her daughter dying really young right after having a baby, and how ever since then she hasn't had a relationship with God. We were able to tie in the Plan of Salvation and the role of prayer really well, and the spirit there was so strong!  It was really neat!

The Bagozzi's treated me to a dying dinner at Vapiano's, the greatest restaurant ever! I stinkin love them! Senior couples rock!

Overall I would have to say this week was really great! I hope that you all have a great week upcoming week and I will see you all soon!!

Sok Szeretettel, 

LeBaron Nővér

Jan 24, 2017 ~ The LeBaron Show

This week was FANTASTIC!!! 

1) The Milk store had a sale on Chocolate milk so we stocked up!

2) I splurged and bought myself a Zara jacket! You cant serve in Europe and not get one!

3) The weather (up until today) was super nice so I got to be rebellious and go to the store without tights! The stares of all the Nénis always make it so thrilling!

 Not gonna lie, these past few weeks have been a lot of ups and downs, from the work, to emotions about going home, to the stress of being STL, and just mission life in general. But just like it always does, the sun finally broke through the clouds and things are looking better than ever! (Although literally speaking it is the exact opposite, the sun is nowhere to be seen and we are freezing our butts off, but we serve in the greatest place on earth, so we still love it!!)

We started off the week with Zone training on Tuesday. It was my very last one :( kind of sad, but it also means I'm one step closer to HOME!!! So that's a good thing :) We nicknamed the training the LeBaron Show, cause i basically was running the whole thing... The zone leaders made me pick the hymns i wanted to sing, i was asked to lead the music, I had to present a 20 minute training as the Sister Training Leader, I also had to run the Sisters meeting, and then on top of all of that I gave my dying testimony! It was weird cause dying testimonies is something you kind of think forward to your whole mission and i still cant believe that the time is actually here! But it

went well, and now i can just enjoy the last month

I have in this beautiful country stress free! 

This is Anna, she is another one of our investigators!

As far as the work goes, things really seem to be picking up here in Szombathely these days! We have 2 new investigators, Már and Marg and they are both so solid! M is about 27, he was the one that gave us his phone number over the kaputelefon 2 weeks ago. We were finally able to meet with him on Wednesday and it went super well! Our member present was super great at fellow-shipping him and making him feel welcomed! He is really curious about our beliefs and said that if he finds it to be true then he wouldn't be opposed to joining a new church! He also asked if he could come to church whenever he would like to! He was out of town this week so he couldn't,

but hopefully next week! We are meeting with him

tomorrow again and I am so excited for the lesson!

Margit we had also found that same night as Márton, she is about 50, has two sons and is just a super sweet lady. We introduced the Book of Mormon and read Moroni's promise with her, and she said that it honestly kind of sounded weird, but she was willing to read and pray about it! we also invited her to a Relief society activity that we were holding the next day and she said she didnt think that she would come, but when we showed up on our bikes, there she was climbing out of her car! It was such a miracle! For the activity we were learning new hymns that they dont typically sing and Xenia was awesome and went in and explained the story that went with each hymn adn read scriptures that correlated with it, adn Margit loved it! It was also an amazing opportunity for her because there were so many members that were there to fellowship her, adn they defintiely were able to start some good friendships! We are hoping that we can get one of them to come to our lesson with her this thrusday!

A member from Buda that I ran into after zone training! She was so happy to see me, it was adorable! I asked her if i could take a picture with her and she responded in English "Oh yes, please do!!" It was so cute!

Unfortunately most of our less active lessons canceled on us this week, but that's alright, we will get them this week! 

I love y'all so much, and hope that you have a great week! Thanks for all your support and love!

Sok Szeretettel, 

LeBaron Nővér

Week 75- Happy New Years!!

LASZLO GOT BAPTIZED!!!!
Look at these adorable texts he sent me! Basically it says that his day was really great and that the only way it could have been better is if sister Dorny and I were there! Ahh I love that guy so much, and am so proud of him!!!

Happy 75th week my friends! It is crazy that it has really been that long since we last met! I hope you all had a fantastic week! Ours was just a classic week of life as a sister training leader, AKA we were gone for 3 days, but I always love traveling, so it was fun!

For the story of the week, this one comes from our adventures in Sopron and is probably the funniest thing I've seen on my mission! We were headed out of the apartment for lunch when we looked out the stairwell window to see an older man fall to the ground face first! Sister Towne thought he fell out of the tree, i thought he fell off the bench right next to him, but either way it didn't look good. So we booked it down the stairs and around the back side of the apartment building to see what had happened. We told him that we were going to call an ambulance and he told us not to. It eventually came out that he was drunk and had just collapsed. However, when we fell, his face just some pretty nasty cuts on his nose and eyebrow! Two of the sisters ran to get some rags as i began cleaning off his face with the tissues i had on me. Out of no where he wished me a happy new years, so i wished him the same. Then he said again, Happy new year, so i wished him the same once more, thinking that perhaps he was so drunk he had forgotten already! Nope! After 2 more times of saying the exact same thing, he informed me that i was replying wrong... apparently the appropriate response was to kiss him! He kept telling the other sisters that I am a fairy and that he needs to kiss me. We all just laughed for quite awhile, but he insisted on kissing me, and kept trying to pull my hands to his mouth so he could at least kiss my hand. So the other 3 sisters held his hands down while i finished washing off his face! After a good 10 minutes of trying to restrain him from kissing me, his neighbors showed up to carry him home. He told them that he had to kiss me before they could take him home! The man told him that his face was too bloody to kiss me, but he insisted, asking how else he could possibly thank me for helping him out! I told him he could just say thanks, and they dragged him away, blowing me kisses the whole way! So that was quite the start to our day! Like I have said before, you can always count on the drunk Hungarians to make your day, or even week for that matter!

On Monday we were able to meet with a less active Bea. She really wants to come to church but she has to work 2 jobs right now to make by, and as well as with her mom being really sick, she barely even has time to meet with us, but it is really nice to be able to go over and share a spiritual message with her and to help try and carry her load and help her turn to the Lord who can truly lift that burden from her! 

Tuesday was a pretty busy day, we met with a lady from the hajléktalan ház (homeless shelter) and were finally able to arrange our service project there! The leader lady was really cool, and is giving us a lot of flexibility with ways that we can serve, and actually wants us to come up with activities that we can do with the people there, such as cooking or baking together, or putting on a karaoke night, or organizing English lessons, in addition to helping them organize all the donations that they receive! I am really excited for this, i think it is going to be an amazing opportunity for us to truly be examples to these people and live according to the principles that we teach as missionaries, and that as we work with them, they will be able to recognize not only our love for them, but also the love that Christ has for them, and that we are serving them simply out of our own personal love for Christ! The lady in charge is also going to talk to one of their connected associations that works with special needs people and try to set up a service project for us over there too! So Id say that as far as service goes, things are looking really good, I'm excited to dive in this week!

 When you find a sticker in the middle of Budapest that say Utah and Ether... not sure the connection, but its gotta be from a Mormon!

Later that day we were able to meet with "R",  She is a younger mom, has been a member for about 6 years, and has really been struggling with her testimony lately and is no longer super active in the church! It is kind of sad, but the good news is that she has realized that her relationship with God is lacking, and she wants to change that! This was the second time we met with her, and the branch president has asked that we teach her the missionary discussions again. We taught the restoration this time, clearly from a different angle given that she knows all the information already. As we were talking about the nature of God, i felt prompted to ask her if she feels that she has a relationship with God. It kind of surprised myself that I was that bold, but she replied that she knows she used to, but that she doesn't feel like it is there anymore! We taught the whole lesson focusing on prayer and how just like Joseph Smith, she too can receive answers to her prayers and it went really well, the spirit was super strong! Unfortunately she didn't come to church though, which was kind of a let down, but hopefully this next week!

After our lesson with R, we had a lesson with Anna, who is a new investigator this week! She had met with the missionaries years ago, we aren't sure why they stopped meeting, but since then her husband died, so we were able to briefly talk about the knowledge that she can live with him again if she follows the example of Christ! We are excited to meet with her this week and talk more about the Plan of Salvation and what exactly it is that she needs to do! 

We also met with one other in-active that day. Her husband is a member, so he was there also, and we talked about why she hasn't been coming to church, because she always promises us that she will. She said that she doesn't like not being able to leave whenever she wants to. We are having a hard time, because she just really isn't progressing at all, and doesn't seem that interested in acting on any of the commitments that we give her, even though she always promises that she will. I would still like to drop by every once in awhile to share a spiritual thought and help her be reminded of the covenants that she has met with God when she was baptized, but i think we are going to have to cut back to every 2 or 3 weeks.

As I was leaving Buda look who I ran into... That's right, my baby and granddaughter (not sure if i ever mentioned it, but Dorny is training)!!! It was so good to see both of them, what a pleasant surprise :)

 Wednesday was Mission leadership council up in the Buda lands! I'm sure  glad that i don't have to deal with the hecticness (i have no clue if that is a word, but i cant think of another word that fills the blank, so just excuse my horrible English these days!) of the big city anymore, but it was fun to be back for the day! I thought that MLC went really well! I really loved the emphasis on teaching repentance and baptizing converts! I have been reading the Book of Mormon in English and Hungarian this transfer, and i am in completely different parts of it in both languages, yet everywhere i read in both of them is simply talking about baptism unto repentance, and it really has impressed upon me that that is why we baptize people, to give them a chance to truly be clean again!

The Beautiful
"Soproni Tűztorony"

On Friday and Saturday we were in Sopron on exchanges. Sopron is beautiful, definitely one of those cities that everybody needs to see at least once!

Cause sometimes you run into pirates?

Call me weird, but eggs are officially my favorite pizza toppings!

Yay for Süti and yellow crocs!!! Jk, süti is the worst thing that has ever existed in the world, it always looks good, but is so deceiving. Yellow crocs on the other hand just speak for themselves, but Ilona can rock them!

 

We meet with her once a week and she is the cutest thing ever! She is a member, is like 80 something years old and unfortunately has Dementia so she cant come to church anymore, and it is really sad, but she is seriously just a doll and we love to visit her! Speaking of dolls, she thinks the doll that she is holding in this picture is alive, and she frequently talks to it, wipes its nose, and kisses it until you would think its face is gonna fall off! I love her to death though, we go over and sing songs to her and watch church movies! It is the highlight of every week!

Well folks, that is all for this week! I love you and cant wait to see you soon!

Sok Szeretettel,

LeBaron Nővér

Jan. 9, 2017 ~~ MA ZÁRVA

Well folks, this week we took tracting to a whole new level!

We got let in the building by csengő number 20, but the door numbers stopped at 14, so we figured 20 must be the trap door on the ceiling... turns out we were wrong, but it was fun climbing up the ladder and knocking anyways!

But in all honestly, we got to tract A LOT this week! It started out Wednesday morning when we had a lesson planned at 10AM. It was going to be the first lesson I have had since I've been in Szombathely, which is kind of sad, but I was really excited to finally teach a lesson! Well, we showed up at her house, and she wasn't there! So we went back home and finished our studies and then headed out to another lesson we had planned! This one we had even planned for a member to come with us at all, and I had called her last night to make sure the appointment was still good for her. Rang the doorbell twice, called twice, but once again, nothing! We were both really bummed, and felt horrible that the member had come all the way out there for nothing. I apologized 20 million times,but Ági néni, being the sweetest thing ever, turned to me and asked what i was apologizing for, that I hadn't done anything. She told me that in the scriptures God doesn't tell us that our job is to gather everyone in and make them come unto him. Rather or responsibility is simply to give everyone the opportunity to come unto him, and whether they do or not is their choice. She told me that I had done my part, and I cant feel bad that the lady wasn't ready to accept. She asked if we had anything else planned for the day, and explained that we had one more lesson with a couple she knew. She reassured us that it would be a good lesson, that they definitely wouldn't cancel, and then told us to lift up our heads and have a good rest of the day, as she walked off to catch her bus. And i kid you not, 30 seconds later we got a call from an unknown number. I picked it up, and it was our last lesson for the day, saying to not be mad but that they cant meet at all this week! I sat there for a second not quite sure if I wanted to laugh or to cry! I told sister Towne, and she thought i was joking! But unfortunately i wasn't! She asked me if I like Rétes (which is a Hungarian baked good) and told me that there was a really good Rétes House around the corner and that this one was on her! Well, given our luck of the day thus far, it would only make sense that we would show up to find this sign on the door...

For those of you that don't read Hungarian, it says "closed today" and then underneath "will open tomorrow January 5th"! What store closes on January 4th of all days? We couldn't even believe it! This was how we felt, we had to document it so we would never forget!

      Sorry for the really ugly
    faces haha! We aren't very
     good at trying to be sad!

But there wasn't much else we could do, we could either go home, or go work... so we went with the latter! We stopped at the store and bought ourselves some German chocolate (brownie flavored, and it was delicious if you were wondering), and went tracting for 4 hours! The work here in Szombathely is really just pretty brutal, but after 2 and a half hours, we finally met a lady who was willing to listen to what we had to say! It was the first time in 4 weeks, it literally felt like a miracle! We had a good little discussion and she gave us her phone number, another first for Szombathely! Another hour later, we talked to a guy over the speaker phone and asked him if we could share a message with him, and he said that that would really interest him, but that he had to leave right now, and asked if he could find us on the internet! I decided to just be bold and just ask him for his phone number over the speaker phone, and surprisingly he gave it to me! We met him a few minutes later as he came out the door to leave and he is really cool! He said he cant wait to meet!

Also, just one more reason to love being in Szombathely...Is this couple not the cutest thing you have ever seen? #lifegoals

 So yes, the work here in Szombathely is not by any means easy, but miracles can still happen here too! Sometimes I think that God is just testing me as I come to the end of my mission to see if I will be patient and diligent in  enduring to the end, in really putting in a 100% effort until the day I go home! And I am ready to show him that I will! I am grateful for the opportunity I have to be here, and to learn and grow from the hard times!

                              It also snowed like 4 days this week, so riding our bikes around
                    town made for quite the little adventure! Luckily we haven't wrecked, yet!

Oh Bring Us Some "Piggy" Pudding

Wohoo! Happy New Years to everyone!

I hope that you all made your New Years Resolution, even if you arent going to actually keep them haha! We made some too (i mean afterall making goals and keeping them is a large part of what we do as missionaries)! I thought I would briefly share them with you all, but turns out I am actually too lazy to type them out, so here is an attachement of it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that would be my challenge to you guys too, to grow up, but never forget! To remember back on all the amazing things that happened this year, all that you have learned, and use it to help you become the person that you want to be this year!

Overall this week was a really good one! The weather was beautiful and everyone seemed to be a little bit more cheerful than normal, and we ourselves couldn't help but feel a little bit happier as a result! Unfortunately we still haven't been able to meet with our investigators yet (although i did run into one of them on the alcohol aisle of the grocery store stocking up for the weekend... He also is a drug dealer, but that's okay, God loves all his children!), but we were finally able to schedule with two of them for this week, so we are praying that those go through! Which means that we were able to devote all our time this week to meeting with members and finding, which both went really well! We visited 4 members in their homes and were able to help them set goals for the new year on how they can be better member missionaries and invite others to come unto Christ! So that was neat, they were all really excited!

We also were able to meet with a couple of the RCLAs in our area, and they went really well! Bea's mother was home for the holidays so we got to go over to their house new years eve and we prepared some hymns to sing to her! It went really well! Before my mission i don't think i ever fully comprehended just how powerful the hymns are and their ability to invite the spirit so quickly! It was such an amazing lesson! We sang some basic songs about Christ and how we can receive comfort and joy through him, and read a scripture from psalms 104:33-34, that i never even knew existed before, but we found it referenced in the hymn book and it was the perfect scripture for the lesson we prepared and sharing with her mom that she can have joy in even these immensely hard times of fighting cancer because our joy comes from Christ, not the circumstances that we are faced with!

 Pday was fun, we got to go ice-skating
      as a district, it was a lot of fun,
       and I didn't even biff it once!
          I was so proud of myself!

As we left the skating rink, we caught the sunset across the lake!Is this not the most breathtaking thing you've ever seen (also mind the fact that this was taken with a

cheap missionary camera)! I think that you cant look at this & say there is no God! But that's just me!

 On Friday and Saturday we had the Sopron sisters here for exchanges. I honestly think that it was one of the best exchanges that i have ever been apart of! Im not sure what exactly it was, but I was just able to learn so much from both Sister Brantley and Sister Manwaring! I did the exchange with Sister Brantley and we were able to meet with a member and to wrap the experience up in one word, Im just gonna say "KOCSONYA". What is that you may ask? Here is a little video, because words just cant quite explain it the way a video does....

So um, yes... translated it means "PIG JELLY!!!"

 That's right, it happened again! I had made it a whole year without having to eat it again, and i thought that i would go home without having to do it again, but turns out I was sadly mistaken!

But I mean, you only live in Hungary once, so you just gotta smile and embrace it while you can!
Other than that, the split was fantastic though! One last picture with the sweetheart who actually made us this beautiful lunch!!

You know that your time is almost up when you start your final planner! It is kind of starting to get a little bitter sweet already!

And we even got some
                           more snow this morning!!!

Well folks, that's all I have to say for now!

 

I do hope that you all have a fantastic week though! Know that you are loved and in my prayers!

Sok szeretettel,

LeBaron Nővér

Tue 12/27/2016, 5:56 AM ~~ Confessions

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND TO ALL!!! Hope it was a great one!

So how about confessions? I swear they are either the greatest thing in the world, the worst thing ever, or sometimes they just tend to lean more towards the awkward end of the spectrum. Either way, i figured i might as well just share some with you!

1) Contrary to what one would think, us missionaries in Hungary do NOT actually eat Hungarian food for every meal! In-fact most of us don't even eat Hungarian food once a month! Sister Towne has been here for 3 months and she still hasn't even tasted an authentic Hungarian meal! Instead, we eat whatever we can whip up that is as cheap as possible! Sometimes that means eggs for every meal of every day, or quesadillas with kolbász,or pesto with toast, or as of current HOMEMADE TORTILLAS!! with spicy hummus! I know crazy, who would have thought that serving in Hungary would make me like hummus? Especially given that 99% of Hungarians don't even know what hummus is! So yeah, sorry to crush your dreams on that one! But here is a picture of a cute little heart shaped tortilla i made on accident :)

2) The Buda sisters got a text Christmas morning from one of our investigators, wishing me a merry Christmas and confessing his love for me, only he didn't know that it wasn't even me! He said that he just cant stop thinking about me, even though he has a girlfriend who is 8 months pregnant with twins... so that was awkward! They probably wont be meeting with him anymore! Gotta love missionary life in Hungary!

3) As much as i hate to say it, I am as basic white girl as it gets! AKA I totally listen to, and love, Taylor Swift's Christmas Album! But the good news is that one of the songs is just the greatest thing ever and actually was a huge help to me this Christmas to remember why it is that we celebrate Christmas! Here are the lyrics, you can go ahead and take a look!!

"Christmas Must Be Something More"

What if ribbons and bows didn't mean a thing?
Would the song still survive without five golden rings?
Would you still wanna kiss without mistletoe?
What would happen if God never let it snow?
What would happen if Christmas carols told a lie?
Tell me what would you find                                             

You'd see that today holds something special
Something holy, not superficial
So here's to the birthday boy who saved our lives
It's something we all try to ignore
And put a wreath up on your door
So here's something you should know that is for
Christmas must be something more
What if angels did not pay attention to
All the things that we wished they would always do?
What if happiness came in a cardboard box?
Then I think there is something we all forgot
What would happen if presents all went away?
Tell me what would you find

You'd see that today holds something special
Something holy, not superficial
So here's to the birthday boy who saved our lives
It's something we all try to ignore
And put a wreath up on your door
So here's something you should know that is for sure
Christmas must be something more

We get so caught up in all of it
Business and relationships
Hundred mile an hour lives
And it's this time of year
And everybody's here
It seems the last thing on your mind

Is that the day holds something special
Something holy, not superficial?
So here's to Jesus Christ who saved our lives
It's something we all try to ignore
And put a wreath up on your door
But here's something you should know that is for sure
Christmas must be something
Christmas must be something
Christmas must be something more

There's gotta be more
There's gotta be more

 So as you can see from the gist of the song, as humans we typically get too focused on the presents and all the hype about Christmas and forget about the little baby who was born Christmas morning and the life he lived, the example he set, and the sacrifice he made for each and every single one of us individually! I hope that all of you were able to reflect back this Christmas on all that Christ has done for you, and were able to appreciate Him and His love!We are truly blessed in this mission to have such a great mission president and wife who love us so much, who held an amazing Christmas conference for us, centered on the real meaning of Christmas! It was really nice to have a fun day with the zone as well as to share with each other the things that we have learned this year and the things we plan to improve on in the one to come!

We are truly blessed in this mission to have such a great mission president and wife who love us so much, who held an amazing Christmas conference for us, centered on the real meaning of Christmas! It was really nice to have a fun day with the zone as well as to share with each other the things that we have learned this year and the things we plan to improve on in the one to come!












   For some creative finding we were also able to go Christmas caroling on Christmas Eve at a retirement home, and it was so neat to see the joy it brought to those people who were all alone with nobody to celebrate the holidays with! They all thanked us profusely, gave us half their kitchen (one lady didn't have any baked goods so she tried to hand us a package of hot dog buns haha) and it really helped remind me of the true spirit of Christmas! I am so thankful that we have this period of time every single year just to think about Christ and rejoice in Him and his life! 


On Wednesday we had the opportunity to go on splits in Győr, and we had a lesson with one of their investigators. At the end of the lesson he told us that "2000 years ago when Christ was born was the beginning of the greatest tragedy known to mankind" and continued to talk about how Christs whole life was a tragedy. i just couldn't help but think how sad it must be to see it through that light. Christ's birth was the furthest thing from a tragedy! Christ didn't just come and die and that was the end! Im so grateful for the knowledge the gospel gives me that Christ was born, and yes he died for us, but also that he lives on! And because of that, we can always have the spirit of Christmas in our hearts all year round! I have a quote hanging on my wall that my mom sent me last Christmas that says "Christmas is more about opening our hearts than it is opening presents!" That has had a special meaning to me this year as a missionary, having been able to dedicate the whole year of 2016 to preaching the gospel and trying to help others open their hearts to Christ, while in the meantime, trying to open my own even further! May we all strive to keep our hearts open to the Savior and his love not just during Christmas, but for the whole rest of the year too!

Skyping was also great (of course, how could it not be?), it was neat to be able to see my family and talk to them and definitely gave me that motivation i need to finish out the next 2 months strong!

We were also able to get a nice map created with all the members, both active and inactive, on it, and we are excited to be able to do more effective look ups now that we have that done! We are going to have a lot of finding time in this next few weeks, which i am really excited for!

Szombathely are going great! We weren't able to meet with a lot of people, but we did meet with 2 less active members, and were able to take members to both of them! Bea is one of them, she has a really hard situation right now, her and her husband just got divorced, her mother is in the hospital dying of cancer, and her son is very troubled and creates a lot of stress for her with her bad behavior. We were lucky to be able to share a message with her about Christ and about how we can be the light for others, even when 

we might need some light ourselves!

She was very sweet, and we are excited to meet with her again this week!

We did find this little dime though! 

Those non natives need to be careful 

spelling the world "Hall", those 

vowels kind of make a difference!




 Other than that we went tracting, we got 4 tracting days this week, and were able to talk to a few people, unfortunately nobody was too interested, but we just keep on trying! We did find this little dime though! Those non natives need to be careful spelling the world "Hall", those vowels kind of make a difference!


 


 


4) And one last confession before we wrap things up and I saved the best one of them all for last... I got a text from Vámos László, my investigator from Békéscsaba, and this is what he said "Merry Christmas Kaylee, i wish you all the existing good in the world! I am going to get baptized, January 14th will be the big day! I am going to be a Mormon, just like you!" LÁSZLÓ IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!! Also is that just the cutest text you have ever read or what?! Talk about the best Christmas present! I am so proud of him! I knew without a doubt that the day would come, it was all just a matter of timing, and i am so glad that he has finally made the decision to take that step in faith! I know that it will bless his life, and his wife's and that with time, she too will be ready to make that commitment! I wish more than anything in the world that i could be there to support him, but I am just glad that he is finally getting baptized!

I hope that you all have a great week, and a happy new year!

Sok Szeretettel,
LeBaron Nővér