hello all, its been another week of miracles here in Érd.
Wednesday-
We met with the sweet old néni named Érzsébet that came to church last
sunday. She is a less active that lives in Budafok but is basically only
a less active because she is so old and has a hard time getting around.
We visited with her for a while and she told us conversion story and
about her missionaries. The branch president visits her frequently and
the elders visit her but she doesn't really have family close by so it
was mostly visiting her and talking and just spending time with her. She
is your stereotypical hungarinan néni, just super sweet and loves to
talk. She also has this ancient dog. He is something...
That
evening we met with the Andrásék with János, the first counselor in the
branch presidency. It was an interesting program. It was good but I
think they have a ways to go before baptism.
After that though we had
Angol óra and they came to it too. In Angol óra one of our students
Érnő, made us CDs as a "memory" of hungary. It was super funny.
our angol óra class (érnő, imre, me, judit, and a church member évi) |
saying goodbye to Éva |
After
angol óra we had a tere fere or linger longer. It was super great
because usually its only one or two people that stay after but this week
we had seven people stay not including János who stayed for angol óra
after our program with the andrásék. But that wasn't even the most
amazing part of the night. So Anita, the less active who speaks english,
came again after angol óra and wanted help for stuff with her class.
After we helped her she came into the chapel where we were all talking
with János. Anita plays piano really well and when she was active she
was the ward pianist. She even helped translate some of the hymns into
hungarian. Sister sholly and I have been wanting to ask her if she could
play piano for a musical number but hadn't had the chance yet. After a
few minutes of chatting she asked János if he wanted her to play
something for us and János being the star he is said that actually the
sisters had a question for her. So we asked her if she could play piano
for a musical number on sunday. We thought it would be really hard to
convince her but she was like, sure! which one? She even agreed to play
piano for the hymns too!! it was seriously a miracle.
Anita when she came to play for us |
Friday-
We had district meeting in the morning which was good. Then that
afternoon we went and played soccer with the Gyönygiék. Their dog is
super cute and catches the soccer ball and takes it back to you. Gyönygi
made us these really good plum and peach jam filled potato balls. They
tasted really good and I couldn't tell that they were potato until she
told us. We got the recipe so after I work on translating that I'll send
it home so you can try to make it!
That evening we had
planned to meet with Brigi and her father Sándor but they canceled so we
ended up tracting instead. We tracted into this man named György, who
recognized us as the missionaries right as he opened the door. We ended
up talking to him at his gate for a long time. He is evangelical and
told us that he has heard about our church because they talk about us in
his church. He then started complaining about how the bible is all
messed up and how people all interpret it differently. We agreed with
him that the bible has been changed over the years and that it depends
on the translation of it. He tried telling us that Adam had a wife
before Éve and that Noah brought more than two of every animal. It was
super interesting. We basically were like, I don't know what the
hungarian bible says but the english bible doesn't have that and kept
bearing our testimonies. The whole time he kept looking over at me weird
and sort of laughing to himself. It was super strange. But basically we
bore our testimonies to him super strongly and sister sholly told him
about the restoration. It was super interesting as sister sholly was
telling him about the restoration we could tell he was starting to get
uncomfortable. The spirit was super strong and I kept making direct eye
contact with him. Sholly paused for a second and he jumped on that
chance to change the subject. He asked me if I ever went to the library.
I said that we went sometimes and he said he has seen me there. It was
creepy. Then he started to go off about the bible again and we brought
up the book of mormon. He recognized the book and I bore my testimony of
it super strong and after he didn't know what to say. I told him if he
read it and really prayed about it with an open heart he could know if
what we said is true or not. He took the book and sort of half
halfheartedly said he would read it. It was super interesting because as
he came out of his door to talk to us he had this smirk on his face
and as he was talking about the bible, his words just didn't seem to
come out and after we bore our testimonies to him he seemed uneasy, but
curious. And it was crazy because we never told him what he believed was
wrong we simply listened and then bore our testimonies of what we knew.
It was really fascinating to see how much power the spirit has because
even he could feel that what we were saying was true. As we were walking
away from his house sister sholly and I just felt all tingly because of
the spirit.
Saturday- Saturday morning we
had a játék reggel with the palmer kids. We went lazer tagging at this
old turkish cave in budatétény. It was super fun. The cave was
apparently used by the turks when they were here but now it is just this
giant cave that they filled with a lazer tag place.
lazer tag in a cave with the palmers |
After
that we had a program with the Misákék. They are seriously the most
amazing people in the history of ever. I just want to teach them
forever!! We got to their house and they had a "barbecue" set up with a
fire to roast everything on. We had this delicious chicken and mushrooms
and then at the end, Anna surprised us with "smores"! She had made this
thin cake thing to use as the graham crackers and had marshmallows and
chocolate so we roasted marshmallows and were igazi amerikaiak. It was
super fun. We decided to watch the Joseph Smith restoration film with
them and so after eating we went into their living room and put the film
in. The spirit flooded into the room while we were watching it and Anna
was crying by the end. After it ended none of us said anything for a
good couple of minutes and we just all sat there in silence basking in
the spirit. Sister sholly looked over at me and I started to bear my
testimony. I honestly don't remember exactly what I said but it was
super simple and about how it all started with a question and how God
really answers our prayers. Anna was crying so hard and Ferenc didn't
know what to say. We could tell he was overwhelmed. It was truly
amazing. He asked us when we found out it was true and he said he wanted
to find out for himself. It was really incredible. He said that they
were all going to pray about it. I simply can't explain how happy we all
were. Anna drove us to the train station and before we got out of the
car, she reached her hand back to me and told me that what I said really
touched her and that she hoped I would stay but if I was to leave that
she knew that it would be where Jesus needed me. We both started crying.
I can't even begin to explain how much I love this family.
That
evening we had a program with Imre again. We had planned to talk about
the priesthood with him but on the train ride back we decided that it
would be good to watch the restoration with him too. So we watched it
with him and he loved it. I think it really helped him understand that
God answers prayers and that when we put in the time, we get results. It
was super great.
Sunday- So sunday was my last sunday here in Érd. In our morning
meeting the branch presidency thanked me for all my work here and said
they were really going to miss me. I just love them all so much. In
sacrament meeting Sister Sholly and I sang "be still my soul" with Anita
while she played the piano and it was super great. After then everybody
flooded over to anita and were talking with her and it was super great
to see her recognize how much she is loved in this branch. It was really
a good experience for her. After sacrament meeting she said she had to
go but she ended up talking with elder wilcox in the hall until the end
of sunday school and it was super great because she told him her whole
story of why she is inactive and how she fell away. She is just such a
wonderful person and I know she still has a testimony she just needs
people to be there to love and support her so that is what we are doing.
Just being there for her to talk to and letting her know that she is
loved, no matter what her path may be.
After sunday school,
one of the families in the ward, the mensárosék, invited us over for
lunch. It was interesting, kind of last minute because they didn't plan
on inviting us over but it was good. We played this bible board game
with them and talked a bit about their conversion story which is pretty
cool. The dad had a couple of mormon friends and just decided to go to
church one day and then later got baptized. It was good, their kids have
a ton of energy but it was fun.
the mensárosék |
Monday- So we
met with Ágoston and Mária and had a little visit with them. We talked a
lot about how missions work and about what church is like. They are
just great people and as I was saying goodbye, Ágoston took my hands and
was super sweet and said if I ever needed anything that I would always
be welcome in their home and that they will never forget their first
"angels". Mária started to cry as I was saying the closing prayer and it
was bittersweet saying goodbye.
Ágoston and Mária |
We then had családi est and
after családi est we met with Imre and it was incredible. So last lesson
we challenged imre to really pray about the book of mormon. When we
started the lesson he was asking us all these questions about how
missions work and if he wanted to meet with the missionaries in america
before he left on the boat if he could do that so we showed him lds.org
and how he could find different phone numbers for people in the area.
And then he said "I have news, I prayed." and we were like yeah? and he
said that he got an answer!! He said that he prayed to ask if the book
of mormon was true and that he was sitting there for a few minutes and
he was about to get up and do something but he started to feel it and
just stayed there. He said he had this warm feeling in his heart and he
just knew it was true. We told him that that was incredible and that he
had felt the spirit. It was so interesting thinking after the lesson
about our first lessons with him and how much he has grown and changed
just in this short period of time. He has this light in his eyes now. We
told him how important the book of mormon is and how it is the keystone
and how if the book of mormon is true then that has to mean that
everything else is true and he said that that made sense so we asked him
to pray about it too. We challenged him to read from the book of mormon
every day, even when he is working on the boat and to come to church
once before he leaves. He said he would and it was just the best lesson
with him. I just feel so lucky to be able to teach such amazing people
and to be able to be a part of their conversion. I am really going to
miss these people.
Imre! |
Well this morning we got
our transfer calls and I am going to be transferred to a city called
szeged in the south of hungary and I will be in a trio with sister
whittaker and sister whitaker. So it will be fun having two comps with
the same name. I am really excited and I have heard that it is a super
pretty city so we'll see! This afternoon we are having lunch at anikos
and then meeting with the misákék this evening so it will be a busy last
day. I am super sad to leave Érd but Szeged is going to be really
good.
I hope you all have a good week and that
you can recognize the little blessings in your life. I have really
learned that this transfer, that little blessings are still blessings.
sister heath
Éva, András and Tibor |
Paprikás csirke |
basically the best hungarian food ever. Paprikás csirke |
the palmer kids, ali and aston, elder loveland |
mensáros dominika |
It's a great adventure and she's such an awesome missionary. She looks so happy.
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