well...this is it I guess.

14 June 2016

Life is kind of unreal right now... but we had a good week.

Monday:

We had cleaning checks and interviews and then the győr sisters here on splits. 

Tuesday:

We had a great lesson with Jozsef!! He is doing so great and every lesson is just fantastic. 

After the lesson we went to Kriszti's and had pizza with her and Panni and talked all about repentance and she is just such an incredible member. I just love her so much.

Kriszti and me

Kriszti and me

panni and kriszti

Panni and willets

Wednesday:

We visited zsuzsanna in the pin shop again. Shes crazy but a sweet old lady. 

Later we had a cool lesson with this couple. The boyfriend is mexican and a member but his girlfriend is hungarian and they met online learning italian.. so thats cool. We talked about the restoration and it was really good. We taught in a mixture of english, spanish and hungarian so it was facinating.

Later we met with Csilla and Kriszti was with us. It was super cool because Kriszti was able to testify about repentance and things we talked about with her the night before so it was super cool.

Thursday:

We went on splits to békéscsaba. It was super cool. 

It was a really facinating day though. First we were tabling and this crazy guy debated with me for like an hour about how to get knowledge from god and how we cannot know what truth is as people so that was interesting. Later we went tracting and got hit on by this guy who told us that eminem was his role model and was super surprised when we said we could listen to music besides just classical as mormons. He also had this giant tattoo of eminem's name on his arm. #classy

Later we had a lesson with a néni but one of the sisters bikes tires blew so I rode side saddle on the back of sister Lebaron's bike all the way to this lesson. It was an experience for sure. On the way back I offered to try and it was a disaster. So first off i'd never riden a bike in a skirt before and I was wearing a pencil skirt so it was kind of restricting and then having someone on the back I just fell over. We fell over on the sidewalk in front of this person's fence with two little yappy dogs barking in our faces and we were just cracking up and then this guy road by and just looked down at us and shook his head. It was for sure unforgettable. 

Then, as if that's not enough, I got locked in the bathroom of their apartment. 

memorable day.

willets got a photo of me riding on the back of lebaron's bike

Friday:

We got back to kispest in the afternoon, had district meeting. So elder knight always makes this joke about asking if I want a medal for doing something and so he made me a medal out of no bake cookies. Pictures to come. 

knight and my medal!

Later we went tracting and got a let in with this italian guy and it was fantastic. Totally should have served my mission in italy. He was just drinking a glass of wine and was like "talk to me, I'm feeling religious" and it was so funny. Later he was like, Do you like chocolate? and then brought out all these little chocolates. It was so funny. We mostly just introduced the church and he didn't have much time then because he was working but said we could come back so that was awesome. 

After that we met with a less active who found the church because of this mormon family on youtube. It was cool. She has this little girl who is just a darling and they've met with the elders a lot in the past and so her daughter found a tie in her play things and wrapped it around her neck and was like "elder vagyok!" (I'm an elder!).

Saturday:

So they filmed us finally for the tv special and it went okay. It was kind of sad though because they made us cancel with one of our investigators because we "didn't have enough time" but more because they didn't want to film in the boring venue of the branch house. 

It was cool though. They interviewed us in this park and then filmed us cooking and me drawing and then we met with two member families. 

We had a picnic with the Medveczkyék and then had a family home evening with the gyenesék and sang and stuff. It was good. 

It was kind of cool because I was able to talk about how much my mission has helped me and I just hope that they put the good stuff in and that somehow this could help someone. 

Later we met with this couple that called us on the train home from békéscsaba. They are less actives from the pest ward that took their names of the records. So basically we are teaching them all the lessons again. They are the coolest couple ever. She served a couple of mini missions here in hungary. They were just so loving right off the bat and such a miracle to see in my last week. On sunday they came up to me at church and were so sad I was leaving and just asked me to keep in touch and tell me all about when I find my fehér lovag. (white knight). 

barbi and peti, the people we met with on saturday

lebaron and the canal in békéscsaba

Sunday:

We had church then a lesson with Jozsef! It was super great. He is just really doing so good and he has a testimony of Christ!! It was so cool. So he always calls me hermione because he thinks i look like her and so as we were leaving the branch house he stopped and asked willets to hold his water bottle and then he opened his other hand and a magic wand appeared. It was super funny. He gave me a wand as a little going away gift. Gonna miss that crazy guy.

After that we met melinda at her office and figured out how to get the book of mormon in audio on her phone so she can listen to it when its slow at work. I just love her. 

After that we tracted a bit and then sat by the side of the duna and just took it in. 

Then we had our weekly evening meeting with sister szabadkai. It was wonderful. I jsut love her so much. 

cribbsie at hero's square

Monday:

We had a lesson with a less active named éva. It was super good. Much better than the last time we visited her. 

Then we went and visited gyönygi :) Shes so wondeful. She started reading the book of mormon again!!!!! She read the intro and then randomly flipped to a chapter and read that which happened to be my favorite chapter, Moroni seven. She is just such an incredible lady. I know it wasn't an accident meeting her. 

After that we went tracting and met this cool swiss guy. 

Then we had ice cream cake with a couple of members at this little sweet shop for his birthday. They are incredible examples to me. 

Well, I guess this is it. Last email as a missionary. I just have gratitude to express. I love my mission more than almost anything I have ever experienced. I love this country with my whole heart and I know a piece of it will be left here. I can't even imagine what the future brings but I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me. I'm sure I will miss it here dearly but I know that it will forever live in my heart. And in that way, I'm never really going to be finished. I can always be a missionary and I never have to stop loving these people, these crazy, special people. The ending feeling of it all is just gratitude. Just gratitude and love. And I feel peaceful knowing that its all worked out the way it needs to. I've seen myself grow as I've tried to help others and I have come to know my saviour in a way I never would have if I hadn't been here. My last thing I guess I want to write as a missionary is just turn to Christ. Let him make you into a new person. Let him mold you into the masterpiece you were created to be. Let his love change you. Everything he can do is possible becasue of this love. I know he is real and I know he does love you. 

Sok szeretettel és békével,

Heath Nővér

 

Last full week

6 June 2016

soo, this is the start of my last full week and I'm just freaking out a little bit but it'll all be good.

Last week:

sister szabadkai with the palacsintas (basically crepes)

Monday:

We got to cook with sister szabadkai and it was incredible.

Later we were on splits with the szolnok sisters and I was with sister mason.

We had a lesson with an adorable less active lady who actually is the mother of another of our less actives. She was super nice and basically opened up her whole life to us and we talked about the miracle of repentance and it was just such a good feeling.

flipping the palacsintas

Tuesday:

Sister Mason had a doctor's appointment so we figured out where the hospital was she had to go have tests done at so that was kind of an adventure through buda. I'm so used to living on the pest side that the buda side was fun to explore.

Later we tracted and met this polish guy and talked with him for a while and told him all about the book of mormon. Then some lady kicked us out of the building.

Later we took a train to Sopron for splits there.

Wednesday:

Sopron was super pretty, there were some old roman wall ruins and stuff so the downtown was super cool. I was with sister Smith on splits and it was great. She's awesome. We ran into a couple of cool people tracting that hopefully will turn out to be something for them. 

Later we took the train back and it was hard to not be emotional looking at the hungarian countryside and thinking about how I won't have much longer to see it. It started raining a bit too so there was this wonderful wet earth smell coming in the windows and, yeah, I just love this place so much.

splits in sopron

splits with sister mason

 in the elevator to get to the sopron branch house. (mormon house)

splits in sopron!

Thursday:

We had a lesson with John and it was AWESOME. Hes the guy that used to be a bible teacher, so he always had sort of looked at the book of mormon as something that contradicts the bible but we encouraged him to re-look at it and pray to find out if its true or not. So he's originally turkish so he said the other day he was looking at the church website in turkish and found this video about nephi and when he was watching it he got this super peaceful feeling and he knew that it was true and ever since that he was reading in the book of moroni and he knew that it was from God because what moroni taught was like the bible. It was super cool. Except he's going to be out of the country until september now so we won't be able to meet with him for a while but it was great.

Later we met with a wonderful less active named gyönygi. She is all I aspire to be. haha She is a super health nut and does joga even though shes not too young anymore. But we basically talked about how we get help from god through all sorts of different things and one of those is the scriptures. She is just so wonderful and has such a good heart. She gave us these biscuits with jam and one of mine had the jam in the shape of a heart and I pointed it out and she was just like "there are no accidents". It was adorable.

Later we had angol óra and we did an obstacle course with tables and chairs and stuff set up for them to get around blindfolded with just their classmates to give directions. It was fun. 

our obstacle course angol óra

Friday:

We had district meeting and then later we met with this néni in her little shop that she owns. So the other day she showed up to the mission home and gave the secretaries her info and then told us about her and so we called her and she invited us to her store. She sells pins. Like her whole store is full of every imaginable pin with anything to do with hungary on it. It was impressive. I guess her grandfather started it in the late 1800s and its been run by her family since then. She told us her whole life story basically and it was awesome. She is kind of crazy but it was cool. So she has family in america that are mormons and years ago they came to hungary and found her mother and her and ever since then she has had interactions with the mormons but just felt like the other week, she needed to find us. So that was cool. We'll see what happens. She talked a lot.

Later we had a lesson with Csilla at her house and Panni came. It was super good. We watched the restoration.

After that we went with Panni to another member, Kriszti's apartment. It was super great. So kriszti has a non member boyfriend from canada and shes been trying to talk with him about the gospel so we talked with her about missionary work and how to do stuff and it was just so great to visit her. We just love them both.

kriszti gave us kiwis before we left and so we were just holding kiwis on the metro.

Saturday:

We helped a family move. 

All our programs canceled or dogged.

We sat by the duna a while and contemplated things and it was great.

kispest graffiti we found on the way to help the move

Sunday:

We had a special stake conference broadcast from salt lake. It was good. So we met in the pest ward building. 

Later we had a really good lesson with Jozsef and enikő was there. She was super great help. We talked a ton about agency and about basically if people actually can choose or if its all based on our circumstances. It was kind of ridiculous but good. 

Later we visited a less active, melinda, where she works. She is just the most wonderful person ever. It was incredible because she actually admitted she was less active this time! The last few times she totally denied it and so recognition is the first step.

Later we met with sister szabadkai and she talked a bit with me about how great my mission has been and how the next step in life is going to be great too and it was super embarrassing but I couldn't help but cry in front of her and it was just, oh gosh. and then the president saw me crying it and its just like now they all just think I'm this emotional mess. But its all good. I think I've just been trying not to think about it and her talking about it made me realize its more real. 

It was a good week though. Later today we have interviews and cleaning checks because the transfer is coming up. Life is good. I love budapest. I love hungary. I love my mission. 

Sister Heath

a statue we found the other day. my future dating life

győr with cribbs

győr

szolnok

szolnok with greenwood

so recently we've seen this graffiti all around the city in chalk and its jsut been weird stick figures with the name peti next to it. Its our favorite.

pigeons. everywhere.

my favorite street in pest.

we made strawberry cobbler. and ate it for breakfast.

győr

 

Back to Szeged and other wonderful things

magdi, döme, márk, and klaudia

23 May 2016

wednesday:

We went to SZEGED!!!! so we did a little training at the zone training in szeged since we're over the sisters in that zone. We drove down with the szabadkais so we got a little nice car ride and it was just so strange being in a car. I've gotten so used to public transportation I'm going to feel so spoiled getting back to a car. It was so great to go back to szeged though. So much is the same yet its changed, it was kind of trippy to be there haha. We gave a training on helping members know what to do when they come to lessons and it got me pumped to help the missionaries when I get home. 

So it was cool though after the training I had a text from edit, the lady I met on the metro, asking me to call her. So I did and she simply asked, when can we meet? it was super cool.

I was on splits with sister gertcsh and it was great. We go to go back to teach the Márkék!! So I got to see márk, klaudia, magdi, zsuzsa and döme! it was so cool seeing how big they've all gotten but the best part was that they all remembered me and when klaudia said the opening prayer she said that she was thankful that I could come back and see them. It was such a little miracle. 

Later we taught a less active lady and went tracting and it was great. 

dóm templom in szeged

Thursday:

We did studies in szeged and then headed home to make it back in time for angol óra. 

Friday:

We met with mária (the random néni that showed up at church a couple weeks ago and we didn't know if she was a member or not). Well it turns out she isn't a member and is very confused about the whole "one true church" thing. But she always says that if she wasn't hungarian she would be a mormon but because she is hungarian she has to be catholic...so that's interesting to discuss.. But she is the sweetest ever and I swear, she told me like a million times during the lesson that I look like her granddaughter. 

Later we went on splits with the békéscsaba sisters so I was with sister Grogan. Sister grogan is a convert from texas and super adorable. She told me that one of her friends simply invited her to seminary and she went to early morning seminary for a year before she actually went to church. She's super great and loves being a missionary. So we tracted a bit and then we met with Edit! Edit is literally so cool but the only problem is that she plays violin in a protestant church on sundays at the exact same time as church so she can't come but we'll see. She met with the sisters like five years ago and so she knows a bit about everything and says she already knows it's all true, so that was super cool. But we'll see. She's literally the sweetest ever though. When I recited the first vision she cried and was like, that is so true. So it was awesome.

 parliament with sister grogan. It's cool having your tracting area so close to pretty things

Saturday:

We had a lesson with Csilla, this thirty-something lady who is super cool. She's met with the missionaries for a long time but this was my first time getting to meet with her because of splits. It was a really good lesson. We talked about he plan of salvation and gospel of jesus christ. She had so many good questions. 

Later we met with this older couple that willets tracted on splits. His name is baranyai lajos. His wife is pretty sick and has some mental problems. We think she had a stroke or something but she isn't all there but is a sweetheart. They are super old though but he had read from the book of mormon that willets gave him and he loves it. He says he keeps it next to his chair always so he can read it. They didn't really understand too much of what we taught but they were super nice so we'll see.

Then we had MCM and játék est. 

Then we tracted this beautiful building with nice blue doors. It was pleasant. 

Sunday:

We had church and we got to go to primary for the third hour to do an object lesson so that was super fun. Then after church we played catch with one of the little girl's teddy bears but for some reason every time I caught it I was sent to börtön or prison. It required much pleading and many fake tears to get out. 

Also an awesome thing. So one of our recent converts in szeged, roli, recently moved into the kispest ward boundaries and we've been trying to call him to meet because he lives like an hour away and its hard for him to get here for church on sundays but we wanted to meet with him but he was at church!! It was so cool talking with him and catching up. It was cool too because I can talk to him better now than I could then so it was awesome. He's so great. Hopefully we can meet with him soon.

That evening we went to the szabadkais and had our weekly meeting with sister szabadkai. She is literally the most wonderful human being ever. We laugh so much with her. Next p-day we're going to go cook with her and learn to make some hungarian food. 

Also, fun thing. We're going to be on TV. President called us the other day and was like, a film crew is going to follow you around for a day. So we're going to be on some channel here in hungary. So that should be cool. I guess they just want to do a special on who the mormons are and what mormon missionaries do. And we're the lucky sisters that are going to be filmed. yay.

Well, hope you all have a great week! 

love,

Sister Heath 

 sister giullian and gertcsh with us in front of dóm templom

Incredible lessons and awesome people

 17 May 2016

Monday:

we had the coolest program ever with this guy sister willets found tracting the other day on splits. We taught him the restoration and it was literally the most incredible lesson ever. He didn't have a christian background so it was super interesting teaching him but he had so many good questions and stuff. He's not hungarian though so it was in english and it was actually really hard teaching the restoration in english and not slipping into hungarian. He started off being like, I don't know if there is a god but then by the end he prayed and asked god to know if this was all real and it was just so awesome. He promised to come to church but sadly when we called him on saturday to make sure he could still come he didn't answer and sent us a text saying he left the country but he was happy to have met us and will think a lot about what we said and maybe he'll see us on the other side so it was kind of weird and sad that he left but at least we got to teach him that one awesome lesson. 

my perfect little companion

Tuesday:

So I was feeling kind of sick on monday. I had the chills super bad and thought it was just because I forgot to wear a sweater, but it turns out I was sick. I woke up throwing up in the night and then had a fever of 102. So basically I slept all day tuesday. 

Wednesday:

Still sick but we had a leadership meeting so willets went on splits with one of the other stls so we could know what happened in the meeting so I was with sister hawker and we just rested. Twas good. My fever broke.

Thursday:

Still sick but was able to go to angol óra. Probably not the best idea though because I was super sick after that.

Friday:

I finally decided I needed to go to the doctors and he gave me medicine and now i'm better but I still was pretty sickish but the sopron sisters came up for splits so I went to the doctors with sister Layton from my mtc group and it was just kind of a relaxed splits. She had an investigator from békéscsaba who was up in budapest so we had a little lesson in a park with him and we talked. 

Saturday:

Last day to finally heal and by the end of the day I was all better! I think I was just trying to push myself a bit too much the last few days but resting made it better.

our victory bagels from last week

Sunday:

We had church and then after we tried to look up this referral lesson from the AP's but the person either didn't live there or recognize the church when we said who we were, so that was sad. We thought it was a ghost though for a while because elder paul just told us the name on the csengő and not the actual person's name so when we asked the neighbors if this person was here they were all just like "she died two years ago..."

That evening we had dinner with sister szabadkai and oh my heavens does she make the best fruit soup. She's so wonderful. We also stopped in to say hi to sister simkins (the office couple). She had a foot problem and was stuck home all week and so we went and sang to her and brought her fruit soup and brownies. The simkins are just the best people in the whole world. I want to be a senior couple like them someday. 

Monday:

So we went to look up a referral but they said come back next week so we'll see. 

We went tracting and met this old man named szabó károly and it was so cool because his wife just died and he had a ton of questions about god and stuff and it was cool. Hopefully we can go back sometime. Oh my gosh though, we almost got eaten alive by this huge dog. If its owner hadn't grabbed its collar at the right time and pulled it back it would have literally eaten us. It was so scary. 

 

Oh the way home we were sitting next to this lady on the metro and I was just kind of zoning out and all the sudden I just hear someone next to me saying "joseph smith" and I look next to me and this lady is just smiling at me. And so I was like "do you know him?" and it turns out she met with the missionaries two years ago and came pretty regularly I guess. But I gave her my number and I got hers and she said she would be sure to call because I was "aranyos" or cute. So sometimes it pays to look like a kid. 

We went to családi est at a member's house. The same members we skyped at. It was awesome. They are just so great and I just want my family to be like theirs someday. 

me and the oldest girl, hanna

Well, I hope you all have a great week! God is so dang real! 

love,

Sister Heath 

panka eating whipped cream

their little boy. His name is literally samu. (shamoo)

Greeks, succulents, and free bagels

 9 May 2016

Last week:

Monday:

We had an awesome lesson with a less active named s_ gyönygi. She's still in regular contact with a member andrás so we invited him to the program too. She was one of the nicest ladies I've met here. It was sad because she lost her book of mormon when she was packing some things to put in the basement. It was a super sad story. She said she even knew it was a bad thing to do when she was putting her book of mormon in the box but she did it anyways and it has been hard to read other ones ever since because they weren't "her" book of mormon. We're going back soon. She was incredible.

Tuesday:

We visited a member that's homebound for a month because she hurt her foot. It was nice. She has this crazy little dog. So that was fun.

Later we visited this less active named melinda. I was on splits with the győr sisters so I was with sister Vielstich. It was a really good lesson. We walked with her dog with her for a while and then she brought us to get thai palacsintas and then we talked a lot with her. She is incredible and served a mission here in hungary.

Wednesday:

We had a lesson with this interesting man named miska. He's very much addicted to smoking and drinking but it was good. We met him in front of a train station and then had a lesson in a coffee shop. He first came up to us and when he shook our hands (well, he actually kissed my hand..it was weird) we saw that there was a problem with his finger because it was all wrapped up. He is a jazz pianist and apparently a dog bit him and it got infected and he put a tomato on it to help...So his finger was literally wrapped up in a tomato. But we talked a while about how he met the missionaries in the past and then randomly he got up from the cafe and was like, I'll be back. We thought that maybe he just needed to use the bathroom or something but when he came back twenty minutes later he had just bought a pack of cigarettes and a big thing of alcohol we could see hidden under his jacket. He said he wanted our help to become unaddicted to them. It was super sad but he would be so incredible if he wasn't using all these terrible things.

Later tracting we ran into this néni and gave her a book of mormon. She didn't want to accept it at first so that was cool when she did.

Thursday:

It was willets' nine month mark so we got lunch at this italian place. We got lost though on the way there so we ended up running into this french guy who was a member and it was adorable how excited he was to see missionaries. He was apparently hitch hiking around europe so that was cool.

Later we had angol óra and it was great. So there are these two girls and both are named niki and they are best friends and so we got to know them better.

Friday:
We went and got ice cream with the nikis and it was great. They used to meet with the elders in the past and so they know a lot about our church so it was cool getting to know them better and become friends with them.
Later Sister guillian and I met with kati néni and it was a really good lesson. So she has eye problems and has a hard time reading but she read the intro and so we talked about the restoration and it was cool because she said she only let us in because when I tracted into her she saw the light of the holy ghost shining in my eyes and she knew I was doing these things genuinely. It was cool to see that even when we don't say words we send a message to people.
Later me and sister guillian were eating dinner by the river because we didn't want to go all the way back to the apartment for dinner and these two greek ladies came up to us and asked us to help them find the metro and it was just so cool talking with them. Sister guillian's dad actually speaks greek so she said a few words with them so that was cool. We helped them and then they asked to take a picture with us so that was adorable. We gave them a pass along card with the country pages so they can find it in greek. Hope they do!

the greek ladies with sister guillian

Saturday:
I went to the doctor in the morning with sister gertcsh because she had something up with her foot so that took up the morning. Then we had lunch at this place with salads and it was awesome but across from it was a bagel shop.There are just so many things here in budapest that we just don't have in other cities. So of course me and willets were like, we need a bagel. So we go in and I just order a bagel with cream cheese. (this was in english because most people here just assume we don't speak hungarian and talk to us in english) Then in hungarian I hear him say to the other worker punching in the order that its going to be free. She was like, what the crap? do you know them or something? and he was like no. And she was like do you like her? and then I was just thinking, oh great, this guy is just hitting on me. He doesn't answer and just keeps twisting cucumbers and she asks him then if it'll be free for both of us and he was like yes. and she asked why and then the best part. He was like "I don't want to go to hell". Then in english he passes us the bagels, tells us its free and then says "go spread the good word". It was one of the most hilarious things ever. Willets and I were so confused.
Later we had the evening session of stake conference and I made friends with this little girl and we drew roses together.

Sunday:
We had stake conference and then went to the gyenes dávidék to skype and it was awesome. They are the coolest family ever and have the cutest little girls. Right when we got there then they pulled us into their room and started pulling out all their art and books and stuff to show us and all of them just kept saying "nézd" (look) a million times. It was great.

the family we skyped with and the little girls showing us their art

After that we went tracting and it was awesome. We met this lady who said she was about to go to bed but we talked with her for a bit. She was super catholic and so before we left she was like, I'm going to get you a prayer card. So she brought us one and then she had this whole garden of succulents outside in her window boxes so I asked her the word for them (kővér rozsa or fat rose). And then she was like, do you want one? and I was like uhhh, and she just was like, I'll give you a few. So she brings us inside and she has me hold this plastic bag while she just grabs them out of the dirt and gives us like five huge succulents. It was incredible. Then she was like, you can't leave without süti! (baked goods). and she gives us cake before we go. It was cool though because at the beginning then she wouldn't accept a book of mormon but then by the end of our conversation she did and it was cool because she already had a pass along card, from the elders that she met a long time ago by a metro stop, hung up on her wall. It was not an accident that we met her and I hope that we can meet with her again.

Well, I hope you all had a good week and that mothers day was good yesterday. I love you mummy and can't wait to see you in a month! Have a great week!

Heath Nővér

happy valentines day!

Me and sister guillian by the duna

behold, the whiteness of my legs.