boldog hétfő!

20 April 2015

boldog hétfő! this week wasn't super exciting but it ended up being pretty good.

On kedd (tuesday) we streeted around a lot after we got dogged by the An_ family. Later that evening we had a program with Ibo_ and Már_, who are a baptist couple we found in the area book. They were super nice and we had a good discussion about the importance of the scriptures and we tried to talk about the similarities of our religions but Már_ pulled out the "in the bible it says you can't add to the bible" bit and so we tried to explain that the bible was written in a different order than it is in now but he wasn't up for it so we simply tried to avoid bible bashing and testify of truth and I think it went well over all. I'm not sure if we will meet with them again. Ibo_ was super nice and she could be open but we have to talk to them more to find out.

On szerda (wednesday) morning we had planned a lesson with a little family but they dogged us so we decided to go out to Százhalombatta to look up a less active a little early and street around that area. So we went out there and elder Loveland told us the wrong bus stop so we ended up being on the opposite side of town right next to the duna [Danube] so we looked at it a bit and then walked like an hour in the blazing sun to try and find where Nádi Mária lived and when we finally got to the street the numbers were all funky but we finally found where she lived and rang the cséngő. We waited around a bit until this man came out and we asked for Mária and he said that no Mária lived here. So we said sorry and walked away a bit and called Mária twice but she didn't answer. So we ended up streeting around trying to find a bus stop that went back to Érd. We got pretty sun burnt but we eventually got back to Érd in time for our program with And_, Év_ and Tib_. We taught them about the law of chastity, which we knew was going to be an interesting lesson because they aren't married but it ended up going really well and they totally believe everything but they can't get married because they are too in debt with the bank and everything they make goes to the bank so they don't have enough money to pay for the marriage license which is about 30,000 forint or about 150 dollars. We were pretty heartbroken to hear that because they really do love each other. Éva said that they have loved each other for 10 years and they haven't been able to get married. We are a little stumped with what to do now because they said that they just don't have any money. I just wish that we could pay for them to get married!! It is all going to be okay though, it is in the Lord's timing and we are praying constantly for them. We are thinking in our next lesson to talk about fasting and fast with them that they will be able to figure out how to get married and how to solve their problems so they will finally be able to come to church.

the Duna

After them we had Angol Óra and it was really fun. One of our students, who is this adorable little old man brought us photos of the house he built. It is gorgeous and across the duna from an old castle, Visegrad. Look up pictures of Visegrad and you will understand how pretty it is. I totally want to visit it someday. We then talked about all the cool places to visit in the Budapest area. We also talked with our angol orian who owns a pottery business and so we are going to go make pottery with her tomorrow! I can't wait for that!!

Csütörtök (thursday). We tried doing some look ups of past investigators but nobody answered so we went into Budatétény early and did some tracting. Nobody was really interested but we talked to this 94 year old bácsi, who called himself Laci Bácsi, for a while and he had the most beautiful tulip garden and so he gave us each a perfect red tulip and told us to tell everyone that Laci Bácsi gave it to us.

laci bácsi's garden

a pretty church in budatétény

We then decided to look up some people in budatétény and actually were able to talk to Szi_ again. She is pretty cool and we chatted for a bit before transitioning into a gospel discussion. I guess her husband was from England but doesn't speak english and they have been married for a while now. She likes to sew and makes super adorable little stuffed animals and dolls and stuff and I think she sells them. She is cool though and we eventually transitioned into a conversation about the first discussion. It was super great and she said it was okay if we wanted to come back some time. I don't think she thought we were teaching her but she super loved talking about gospel stuff. After that we had angol óra which went well, nothing super exciting. We talked about tomatoes and gardens.

On Péntek (friday), we had zone training. It was super great. We have new zone leaders now. They are Elder Olsen and Tuttle.They are both really cool and our training was about how to get members involved in the missionary work. It is so much better when member are involved because that gives the investigator a friend to go through it with right from the start and someone they can always turn to if they have any questions and that speaks the language perfectly. We talked about how at first it can be scary to invite people to church or even just talk about our beliefs, but like anything in life it takes practice. It was really good and the sister training leaders were awesome. After we went to lunch and got some palacsintas, or pancakes/crepes. They were super good and we talked to the people in our zone and it was super fun. That evening we met with Zsu_ again, the catholic lady who wanted to meet for english. She only had half an hour so we didn't talk for too long but we gave her a restoration pamphlet and it was good.

Szombaton (on saturday), we went to budafok and explored that area. It is kind of cool that our area has a lot of other cities in the outskirts of budapest to visit. We figured out where would be good to tract or street but we weren't feeling like we were having much success being there that day so we decided to go back to Érd.

budafok

It was a cloudy and kind of cold day and we ended up not being able to talk to many people at all because everyone was hiding from the cold. We were walking around the main street of Érd and we were both feeling kind of depressed because nobody had wanted to listen to us all day except this atheist man who just wanted to argue and so I said a little prayer in my heart that we would be able to talk to just one person. We were walking down the street and a couple of people avoided us but I saw this man with a bike coming towards us and I stopped him and we started to talk. I tried to ask him "ha fel tudnánk tenni egy kerdést Istennek mi lenne?" or (if you could ask God one question what would it be?) but I just tripped over myself in hungarian and it was super bad but he ended up getting it and he said he had no clue so we asked him if he was religious and he said he wasn't really. But we ended up talking about the book of mormon and gave him one and we are going to call him later today and try to set up with him. He was really nice and pretty interested and thought it was super nice that we gave away the book of mormon for free and he said he would be interesting in meeting to talk about it. It was amazing to see how God really answers prayers. If there is anything I have found out so far on my mission it is that God really really answers prayers. I think that usually we just think it is a coincidence or fate but it is really God's hand in our lives.

On vasárnap (sunday) we taught youth sunday school to the american kids in the ward and it was super great. We talked about how to identify truth in the voices of the world and it was super great. The girl, Ali, goes to a protestant international high school and is one of the only non protestants in the school. She said that it is super hard sometimes and was super cute and asked us how we can know what is true, and how to tell if someone is really trying to help or hurt you, and I told her that the holy ghost is one of the most amazing gifts that we have because it discerns truth. If we can feel the holy ghost in our conversations or actions it usually means that it is good and anything good come from God. It was super nice to be able to help someone and be able to say exactly what I wanted. I have really missed being able to help people without having to think about every little word or way to say something and it was a tender mercy that I was able to help someone else. I sometimes get jealous of english speaking missionaries like the missionaries in the district videos because they can say anything they want to and they can completely understand the needs of their investigators but I am learning to rely on the spirit so much out here it is crazy. I feel so grateful that the spirit is a language that everyone can feel and understand.

Thats about it for my week. Today we went to Mártonvasár where there is a beautiful estate where Beethoven apparently lived for a time. It was pretty cool, pictures to come.

Love you all and have a great week!

heath nővér