BEST WEEK EVER.

15 September 2015

This past week has probably been one of the most amazing weeks of my mission. Honestly, every single day has been incredible.

Monday:

We went to the Zsolnay ceramics factory with one of our investigators Merci. She is studying to be a tour guide so she gave us a little tour of the factory. It was super beautiful seeing all the ceramics and stuff. It made me miss sculpting a ton. And it was super cool. So we were walking through the gallery and the man who donated the entire collection was there! It was funny, me and sister widtfeldt were crouching down to take a picture of one of the pieces and we were pretty close to the glass, but then we saw him come by so we quickly stood up, in shock that he was there and he just smiled at us and said "sémi baj" (no problem) while chuckling.

That evening we had a program with Dávid with Makai elnök. We had our last lesson we needed to teach him before baptism, endure to the end. It was a really great program. Makai elnök felt like he needed to talk to Dávid about someday going to the temple. The spirit was super strong. He has such a strong testimony.

After our program with Dávid we were standing on the street outside the branch house and I had gotten a phone call so I was on the phone while Levanene and Widtfeldt were talking to david so I was standing a little away from them to hear the phone when this couple walks by and in perfect american english, complimented my shoes. So confused I looked up and then they started talking to my comps so I got off the phone and started talking to this couple. Their names are the Hicks and they are from Montana and they are just traveling all over europe "getting to know the saints" so basically all they are doing is traveling europe trying to find other church members and missionaries in the area or city they are in and just talking with them. It was super funny because they said they had been keeping an eye out for missionaries but when they saw us they were thrown off because there were three of us. But they were super nice and insisted on taking Dávid out for dinner. They also said they wanted to have lunch with us on tuesday so we set that up.

That evening we went to a member Andás's for a little családi est. It was super great. We made fruit soup with him and it was nagyon finom. András also showed us a music video of Pécs. If anyone is interested in seeing how gorgeous the city I am living in now is check out "Pécs Aktuál X Punnany Massif" on youtube.

Tuesday:

So we had lunch with the Hicks and it was super great. They are the nicest couple ever. It was cool being able to tell them about hungary and stuff and hear about their adventures around europe. We also introduced them to their first túró rúdis. It was really great. After that then they had scheduled to have an early dinner with dávid again. It is so cool that they became friends with him. We were so proud of dávid for being so outgoing. They loved him and I think it was a really good experience for him to see how members are all over the world.

After lunch we had a program with a guy named Attila. He was from english class but we now have a rule we can't individually teach english that our lessons have to be full gospel so we talked with him about the nature of God. It was really incredible program. He said that he is kind of a hard headed guy and skeptical but he has been getting more open with things. We basically emphasised the importance of our relationship with God. The spirit was super strong.

After that we had branch családi est. It was a little going away party for a couple that is moving. There was a slide show and some süti. We invited the Hicks and it was super funny but nice to see them trying to speak with everyone, even those that didn't speak english. It was a really good day.

Wednesday:
We had planned on having a program with this lady but she wasn't home so we streeted around a bit.
Later we had a program with Dávid because tuesday night he asked if we could meet tomorrow. So we got to the program and he started by telling us that he had looked up about temples on the internet and had found some videos. At first we were afraid that he would be freaked out but he is seriously an incredible kid. He said that he watched these videos about why people weren't mormons anymore but that as he watched them he had the thought that "this isn't helping me. I don't feel good while watching these" and so he stopped and basically he said that he knew that what the people said in the videos was wrong because it didn't match up with how he felt. He recognizes the spirit so strongly, its incredible.

Thursday:
We had a program with erzsi. We basically talked about modern revelation and prophets and invited her to read some conference talks. She is great just its hard for her to talk about her living situation because her pár is always there. So we planned on meeting with her next week in the branch house so hopefully we can talk more openly and help her more. She is just so great and loves the gospel.
We had angol óra that evening. It was only two people that showed up because it was rainy out so we ended up talking about cool places to visit around pécs so we got some good ideas for p-day.
After angol óra we had another program with dávid because we felt like we should talk about temples a bit more. So we talked a lot about how the temple isn't a secret because its anything weird or anything but because it is sacred. That the covenants we make in the temple are very special and should be given proper respect. We showed him some picture from the temple edition of the liahona and boy is this kid solid. We all shared our testimonies with him about why the temple is important to us. It was an incredible program with him. I feel like every time we meet with him the spirit is so so strong. Its truly something indescribable.

Friday:
We had district meeting then got lunch at this american themed restaurant for elder kruger's birthday. The restaurant was playing michael jackson music videos the whole time and our burgers came with little american flag toothpicks in them. It was super cheesy haha
We had a program with a lady named kati. She was a referral from a less active. It was a good program.
That evening we had fiatal est, which just ended up being the missionaries (the zone leaders were here for splits too so they were there), dávid and hannah (one of the young women) going and getting ice cream. It was great though. We made all of our last minute stuff for dávids baptism!!

the most amazing saturday ever:
So that morning we had another little district meeting that the zone leaders held. It was super good the spirit was super strong.
Then we headed over to the bus station to get on the bus to go to Dobaj tó. We met dávid at the bus station and he was in a little suit and bow tie. It was adorable. Then his mom and sister showed up with some other members from the branch and we all got on the bus and headed out.

Dávid with his sister and mom

Dávid and cathcart

It was really incredible because the whole week had been cold and rainy and we were worried because we were holding the baptism at a lake and we didn't want dávid to freeze, even in summer time he gets cold. So all week we were praying for good weather and saturday was perfectly warm and sunny. God for sure answered our prayers.

So we got off the bus and walked to the lake. We must have looked like a funny group, a bunch of nicely dressed people walking down the side of this road. But we got the lake, Dávid and Zsombi changed into white and we stared with the program. Elder Cannon (one of the zone leaders) gave the talk about baptism and then they headed into the water. It was super slippery and both zsombi and dávid slipped and almost fell in all the way but they got out far enough and then zsombi baptised him. It was so so beautiful. The sun was shining on the lake and there were birds singing and just a light breeze. It was something I will never forget. As they came back out of the water, after everyone finished hugging dávid and stuff I asked him how he felt and he simple smiled and said "perfect".
Then Zita gave the talk about the holy ghost and sister levanene and zsombi sang "how great thou art". It was so beautiful and peaceful. His mom and sister I think really liked it too.

dávid's baptism!!

Elder Cannon and Dávid

Zsombi and Dávid

After getting back into pécs we went out to lunch with dávid and as promised ate fish soup, dávid's favorite. It wasn't that bad, just really filling.

Sister levanene and Zsombi

fish soup

That evening we had sport nap up at this basketball court in this part of town called Tettye. It was great and we mostly just ended up talking with dávid the whole time. After that Zsombi asked if we could go watch some mormon messages at the branch house before we had to head home so we watched a few and boy has this week just been a spiritual high.

Sunday:
So it was branch conference so all the stake people were there, so it was a very full chapel, which made dávid a little nervous at first but he was great. He was confirmed by cathcart elder (who is not a missionary anymore but was back for school here in hungary). It was a really great blessing that cathcart gave him after. He said that dávid is a wonderful example to his family and friends and that he will share the gospel. We were all so so proud of him. It was great because after he said that before cathcart gave him the blessing that he was a little nervous but after he said he just felt peace. Not happiness but peace. And that it was a great feeling.

That night we called dávid to see when we could meet with him this week and stuff. We asked him about how he felt and he said he just felt great. We are just so proud of our newest member!! It was super funny though because he was joking with sister levanene and was like "I'm cleaner than you are". Seriously, I feel like how Alma felt when he was talking about how your joy is full when you bring others unto Christ. It is seriously incredible.

Monday:
So sister levanene has been having some pain and sensitivity in her teeth so we went up to the dentist in budapest yesterday. Luckily nothing was wrong with her teeth. We went to the mission home and did some reimbursements and picked up our mail and stuff and then we had a little time before our train left so we went to the nagy piac. It was super cool. Tons of kezimunka. Then we had lunch with the buda missionaries so I got to see my friend dietrich from the mtc. It was great. Our train ride back though kept having problems so they had to keep stopping the train and it ended up being more like a four hour train ride instead of three. But we made it home safe and now we're back in pécs. Pécs édes pécs.

the nagy piac or big market

kelleti train station and all the supplies for the refugees.

I love you all and hope that you have had a great week. I know that God is real and that he is looking out for all of us. He loves us more than we could ever imagine. Think about the person you love most in all our life, then multiply that by a thousand. That doesn't even begin to compare to home much God loves us. I hope you will never forget that he loves you. Have a good week!!

tele szivvel,
Heath Nővér