My week

23 March 2015

sziasztok mindenki! (hello everyone!)

So starting on monday, this was my week. After emailing and stuff we hung out with the elders. Pretty typical just walking around érd and trying to think of something to do. Pretty boring. But then at six we had a program with Ka_. We talked with her about divine nature and read from president uchtdorf's talk to the relief society in the last liahona. It was really good and we talked about who we want to become and reaching our potential. It was really good and she liked it. She is just super sweet and always gives us tons of compliments. This week she said I looked like a movie actress because of my hair. It was funny though because my hair was just in a pony tail, oh well she is super sweet haha. After that we had családi est and ka_ stayed for that, which was good because she was the only one besides the missionaries. 

tuesday we met with a less active, An_.  She used to be a missionary in this mission but after the mission she got into some anti mormon writings and fell away from the church and decided that joseph smith wasn't a prophet and it is all a hoax. But she works at the museum in town so we went by with the elders because they ran into one of her co-workers who is really into family history work. So we talked to her a bit, she showed the elders around the exhibit and then she brought them to where her co-worker was. It was good but it is still always really hard to share more than a little bit about the gospel with her. But she is super nice and we let her know if she ever needs help with anything (she teaches an english class to kids, so we've helped her translate some things in the past) to just call us. 

After that we went out to deliver some notes to our investigators and we are really hoping that they made a difference. We felt really good about it and it is all in the Lord's timing. 

On wednesday we met wih And_, Év_ and Tib_.  It went super well. I thought it would be really nice if we sang to them at the beginning of the lesson so we decided to sing "maradj velem, as est leszállt" or "abide with me tis eventide". They have been having a really tough time with their lives so I thought it would be super nice for them to remember that they can always call on the Lord to stay with them through the hard times. It was really great and the spirit was super strong. Tib_ really likes hymns so it was really nice to do something that he could feel the spirit with too. We then taught them about the prophets and how they really receive revelation for the church today and then we talked about conference and invited them to conference on the 4th and 5th of April. We also gave them a new bap date for May 30th. We drew out a calendar for them with all the important dates that are coming up and with all the information of how many times they need to meet with us before baptism and how many times they need to come to church and what they need to learn, so we tried to make it very clear so they really can reach their desire to be baptized. We also talked a bit with them about priesthood authority and once we started talking about it And_ really lit up. I think he has a hard time feeling like he can really provide for his family and when we talked about the father as a priesthood representative and leader in the family he loved it. Next lesson we are going to bring the elders and have them explain a bit more about it and talk with them about how baptism really works and give them priesthood blessings. They are just such incredible people and I am so happy that they are still reading the book of mormon every day and trying the best they can to follow Christ.

 

On thursday we had lunch at Aniko's but this week a past missionary was back visiting so he was there for lunch too. His name was elder miller and he greenied in érd too so that was cool. It was strange for the other people in my district to see him not as a missionary though because they served with him in the past. Later that night we had Angol ora and we gave out a book of mormon to one of our students! 

Friday we had zone training to review and go over Elder Kearon's conference with us. It was super good and it was a good spiritual boost for the last few weeks of the transfer. It was also really fun to see some friends and get to know the other missionaries better. The funny part was that there was a solar eclipse in the middle of the training so the zone leaders told us all to pause and we all took a field trip outside to look at the solar eclipse. You couldn't really see it with your eyes well but one of the elders had a pair of sunglasses that you could see it through. Then we went back inside and continued the training. It was super funny but it was nice to have a little more relaxed and still spiritually uplifting meeting as a zone. That night we had játék est (game night) and this week pátrik, a kind of creepy guy from angol ora was the only one there. He is really nice and helpful with us learning hungarian but he is always a bit creepy and tries to flirt with us. It was okay I guess though but I mostly feel like he meets with us just to creep on us. Well one way or another he is finding out about the gospel. 

Saturday we decided to take the train to one of the other cities in our area and tract there instead because érd is a little tracted out so we went to barosstelep which is in the 22nd district of budapest. It was a super sunny and nice day and so we were super happy. We decided to go down one of the streets and walk to the end so we could see how many houses were on it before tracting. We got to the end and sort of looked around a bit and I guess we looked confused because a man in the last house asked us if we were looking for someone in particular. We said no, that we were talking to everyone and we started talking to him about why we were there. He was super sweet and told us about how he has cancer and is catholic and about halfway through our conversation his granddaughter came out and joined in the conversation too. They were super nice and we gave them a pamphlet about the restoration and they said they would call if they wanted to know more and I really think he will. 

 

We continued down the street and as we were waiting for someone to answer the cséngő this really really old lady came up to us and started talking with us about how there isn't any God. She kept going on forever and a couple of people passed by us standing there being ripped into by this lady. We listened to what she had to say and then just sort of bluntly after that sister sellers said, "I know there is a God and that we are His children and that He loves all of us." and then the lady sort of backed off but she still kept talking about how there couldn't be a god. We simply replied back that there was a God and we gave her a pass along card with Jesus on it and she smiled and told us to have a nice day. It was a little strange but good in the end because as we continued on one of the men that passed us as she was talking to us was returning so we stopped him and gave him a pass along card too. We decided that we really liked that area and we will probably go tracting there again. 

 

That evening we met with For_, the guy who is from angol ora who just wanted friends. We invited the elders along so he could have some men to talk to too. We talked a bit more about the book of mormon and prayer and at the end he prayed!! He was nervous at first but we simply smiled and waited and he eventually said it. It was really good too, usually the people forget to say Christ's name at the end or they start it off praying to jesus but he said it exactly right even calling God, Heavenly Father like we talked about. He is a really sweet man and just so great.

 

Sunday was branch conference and the stake president came and spoke to us. He is originally from idaho and was a missionary here about ten years ago and came back and married a hungarian. He is a really fun, legit guy who apparently teaches elementary school. It was really great though because I could understand his talk. Even though he is really good at hungarian and knows a ton he still speaks simply so nobody can misunderstand what he is saying. Our sudnay started off a bit sad in the morning because And_, Év_ and Tib_ texted us that they wouldn't be able to make it to church because a friends grandfather died so we were a little disappointed but actually being able to understand the talk helped a lot. I didn't understand all of it but I got the main message that God's only focus is helping us reach our full potential and that we are his work and his glory. 

It is another sunny nice day today and we are going to go visit a beautiful old estate later and have a picnic with the elders so it should be fun. 

I know that everything is in God's timing and that he really does have a plan for each of us and that we just need to turn our heart and desires over to him and he can make all of our problems right. Christ not only suffered for our sins but or problems and our pains and our sorrows. He feels it when we hurt and he knows perfectly how to help us through the rocky roads of life. Just trust in Him and life can be so much easier.

I hope you have a great week and that you share the gospel with at least one person. Even if it is just through a smile. 

Love

heath nővér

p.s.  the hungarian word for bangs is frufru! just like jiboo!