March 16-21

"Everyone is the enemy"

16 March 2016

Hello all! So yesterday was a big holiday here for the hungarian 1848 revolution so we had our p-day pushed back to wednesday so azért emailing today.

Last Tuesday: 

It was Women's day here (Nőnap). President called us to wish us a happy nőnap. It was adorable. 

Also, I completely reorganized our tracting book so things are easier now. 

Wednesday:

We got kicked out of yet another building. I think that's like 8 times this transfer now?

We had a good program with balázs though. We taught him the gospel of jesus christ and I think things are starting to click with him, hes just a little lazy though so that's hard but its good.

We had a crazy program with nüsi néni but we finally got through the plan of salvation with her!!! Woot! She definitely is confused about reincarnation and resurrection though...didn't quite understand it, even after we clarified it a few times.

Also, Mormon 9 is a super cool chapter. You guys should read it sometime.

Thursday:

We had zone conference in budapest with elder Leimer from the 70. It was SUPER good. He talked a lot about how its all about the spirit and about how obedience helps us be worthy of the spirit and that is how we find real success when we are obedient and are presenting the message of the restoration in a way that those we are talking to can make a correct decision. 

We also ran into this really cool hari krishna guy when we were in budapest named alex. He stopped us by asking us why we looked so happy and I responded "because we are happy" and then he asked us if we were mormons and how he didn't know there were girls too and it was just a really good conversation with him and I guess he used to live in maine and went to summer school in massachusetts so that was cool. He also said he once had a mormon girlfriend and how he just really liked the mormons. It was really nice seeing how we could have different beliefs but really whats the most important is showing each other Christ like love. It was nice.

almost everyone from our mtc district. (rankin, me, layton, nordberg, priest, dietrich)

me and my zöldi willets

the train ride home reading the new liahonas

Friday:

We had a lunch program with Ági and it was szuper cool because she had her older sister over and the girl that she rents a room to were both there and we had lunch with them all and taught them the gospel of jesus christ mixed with the restoration and they both wanted book of mormons and it was just really good. 

So funny story. When we were walking home that evening we were about to cross the street to go to our apartment building, but this biker was coming around the corner so I put my arm out to stop sister greenwood so we wouldn't run into him but instead of swerving around us (there was plenty of space for him to) he slowed down and pulled up right next to us. I thought he was going to yell at us or something for being in the street but as he came closer I could tell he was drunk and you could definitely smell it on him. He started talking to us and asking us where we were from and then he started touching sister greenwood's arm and so I of course was starting to be like, we need to get away from him but then he asked me a question about something or another and I guess when he distracted me he reached down and started holding greenwood's hand! And she was just frozen there and didn't do anything but then he started calling us really pretty and asked for our number and started trying to touch my name tag and so I backed up and gave him a blank pass along card with the website of the church on it and we just booked it around the corner. I think I'm going to need to start giving greenwood "if a creep touches you" training haha. 

Saturday:

We had our first sport nap of the season. Nobody showed up because it was cloudy out. 

Sunday:

The Szabadkaiék were in church and gave really good talks! It was really nice seeing them. 

me and lea szabadkai

Monday:

We tracted and then did a look up for this inactive family that he was the first hungarian branch president. They were home and said they would call, maybe. They were very nice though and we're toats going to visit them again. 

Sister greenwood taught me the restoration really well for the first time! 

Tuesday:

We went tracting in the morning because it was a holiday and thought people would be home but it was raining and we forgot to bring our umbrellas so that was fun but we actually tracted into this member that we had been trying to set up a program with for a couple of weeks but it hadn't been a good time but it was cool that we tracted into them because they invited us back that evening for palacsintas! They were super nice and it felt like being home. It made me really excited to feed the missionaries someday when I'm back from my mission. 

It was cool though being a  holiday there were some folk singers in the town square but since it was so rainy it wasn't anything big. 

Another cool thing from this week. I finished re-reading the book of mormon and it was just so wonderful. I am so grateful that we have the ability to receive revelation from our Heavenly Father when we read it and as I was reading the last few chapters in moroni I realized there are so many things we have to be grateful for in this life. We have the ability to communicate with an all knowing Isten [God] that knows exactly how we feel and we can rely on the atonement of Christ for anything. He doesn't expect us to be perfect but wants to help us become so with his help. I know he is real and I am so grateful to wear his name on my chest every day. 

Have a good week!

Heath Nővér

Budapest

Love this city

 

 21 March 2016

 

well, it hasn't been too long since I last emailed so not too many exciting things to talk about but here's our week!

Wednesday:

We had a program with Péter! finally. We invited the branch president Tibi with us and Péter had his wife there too! we taught about the plan of salvation and it was good. They had TONS of questions. Thank goodness the branch president was there and was able to help us.

I also got this really cool old copy of shakespeare in hungarian from this old book store. Its going to be cool to try and read later. 

Thursday:

We went and read from the new liahona to Andrea. It was pretty good. I think its going to be hard with the weather getting nicer for her to be stuck inside all day. 

Later we went tracting and got a let in with this couple named Károly and Margit. The didn't end up being interested but were very nice. 

so this is one of our favorite statues in town. He looks like he has the biggest wedgie ever.

Friday:

We went tracting and met a grumpy bacsi with the fattest dachshund I've ever seen. 

Saturday:

We tracted into this darling néni that talked to us out of her window for a good half hour. The first thing she said when she opened her window was "ooooohhh szépek vagytok!" (Ohhhh! you both are beautiful!) We tried telling her we were missionaries but for like the first minute or two she was wouldn't let us say anything she was just telling us how pretty we were. She couldn't see well but when I passed her the new easter card she was like "This little jézus is helping me to see him!" Then this guy in the middle of talking to her brought her these leaves and was like "give these to viktór" and she just took them and was like "oooo onions!" and it was adorable. She also had the most impressive mop dog. 

We also streeted into this darling sad néni. She said she used to believe in God but now wasn't sure. It was heart breaking and I felt impressed to talk with her about the atonement and she said before we parted ways that she felt peace. She didn't want to learn more but if felt good to at least give her hope that God loves her.

Later we had sport nap and tons of people came! It was awesome. We also ended up playing with this group of local kids and they were so freaking good. Just another reminder that I'm an american in europe when a six year old schools you at soccer.

Sunday:

Okay, so here is the story of our broken washer.

A couple of weeks ago we came home to find that the load of laundry we had thrown in had flooded our bathroom (I swear this happens in all of my cities). We cleaned it up and called our landlord and he apparently fixed it. Sister Greenwood later did a load and it was fine and then I was like sweet! I can finally have clean clothes! And so I put in a load and yet again. Flooded. We called him again and he came again and "fixed it" but said to call again if it flooded. We tried doing another load and boom. not two minutes after starting it all this soapy water came flooding on the floor. So I took all my clothes out (which were soaking wet) and put them in a laundry bag and we took my clothes dripping across town to the elders to borrow their washer. My whole left side of me got soaked and I left a trail of water after me. It was pretty funny.

After the washer incident we had a program with a less active named Varga Timea. She was super nice and had the spunkiest cool pixie cut. Hair envy. Super tempting to cut it off again. Later we met with Regina and she brought ice cream for us and it was adorable. Shes just so strong in the church and loves it. 

I hope you all have a good week! Love you all!

Sister Heath

 

cleaning up the flooded washer, again.

 

Slightly more exciting week :)

our district (me, greenwood, anderson and stringham)

 8 March 2016

Hello all!

So this week we got to go out of our apartment again! it was good, sister Greenwood's foot is still hurting her but not as bad as before so we got some stuff in but have still been taking it slow.

Monday:

We had a program with a less active guy named Zoli. It was interesting. He was very nice but if felt like he was trying to teach us and he kept giving us suggestions of how we could teach different things to our investigators. He kept saying "el tudod képszelni?" tons too (it means can you imagine?)

Oh and also, we were tracting and somebody dumped water on us out of their window. Luckily there was a ledge so we dodged it haha

#tractingeveryday

Tuesday:

We mostly just tracted and did some look ups. Nothing exciting. 

Wednesday:

We had a program with Balázs and it was super good. We talked about not being slothful and that's how I learned the word for sloth in hungarian, lajhár.

Later we tried doing another look up and we couldn't find the building so I took out my map to make sure we were on the right street and these two guys came up and asked us what we were looking for. We started talking with them of course about why we were here and it was really good. I was mostly trying to talk with one of them so sister greenwood was left on her own to talk to the other and I was super proud of her because she gave him a book of mormon! He also invited her to pizza which was funny but they were super nice and helped us find where we needed to go. 

Thursday:

We had a lesson with Rozsi Néni, a less active. She definitely believes in reincarnation and I think she might have become a Jehovah's Witness.. But that was fun. She has this crazy cat with a short tail that she always messes with. Also, she thinks plants are better than humans. So it was fun. 

After Rozsi Néni's we tired to stop in and visit Nüsi Néni but she wasn't home so as we were walking away we saw a flower shop and decided we needed to look at flowers for a bit and then as we left sister greenwood's foot started to hurt again so we decided to head home but we of course needed to stop and get popcorn before going home so we backtracked to the side walk and while walking there we ran into Péter! It was awesome because we set up with him again. He said that he was confused because we called two times and texted him but never called again after that and we were like, well you could have called back! but anyways we set up with him again and it was awesome. Thank goodness sister greenwood was craving popcorn and we like flowers! 

Friday:

We had district meeting and ate cheesecake I made for sister greenwood's birthday! 

After that we went to lunch at this cute little café in the middle of town.

Then we went tracting and had a guy threaten to call the police on us. It only took me over a year to get that response out of tracting. 

Then we had weekly planning.

Saturday:

We went to this little town called Siófok. Its right next to the biggest lake in hungary, the balaton. We visited a couple of members out there and it was super great. One of them, Viktória, made us lunch and we visited with her and her son. Then after that we went and got cake with these members Richie and Szilvi. Richie is from england and him and his wife both speak perfect english and are super nice and so we got cake for sister greenwood's birthday. We also went up the water tower in town to get a view of it and then looked at the balaton for a few minutes before catching our train back. It was a good day! 

the balaton!

Sunday:

We had church! Good as usual. There were only two kids in primary so it was quiet.

Later we met with Regina and it was great as usual. She's seriously so great :)

Monday:

We went to a castle with Attila! Várpalota. It was super cool, photos to come. 

It was built in the 1400's but has changed over the years and apparently played a big part in hungary's war with the turkish empire. So that was fun. 

We later had a lesson with an rcla named Jozsi. It was super good but we found out that he's now living in a homeless shelter and is literally working from sun rise to sun set every day except monday every once in a while. It was the most uplifting depressing program we've had. But it was super cool because he said he knew that God was still blessing him because he had a roof over his head at night and food to eat and a job and soon he will be able to afford a place to live. He's an incredible person. 

Oh we also got kicked out of like our third building this week. People in székes really don't like you tracting. haha 

Várpalota

Atilla

(good luck)

Well, today is Nőnap here in hungary (women's day) so that is exciting. People give tons of flowers and chocolates and everything. Basically another valentine's day haha I hope its a good day for all of you! 

Love,

Sister Heath 

jó hetet kivánok!

​a better photo from us dressing up as elders last week. (our new district)

29 Feb 2016

Hello all!!

So not a super exciting week for me here. Sister Greenwood and I went to the doctors on tuesday because she hurt her foot somehow so after our interviews in Dunaújváros we went up to Buda and got it checked out. Turns out she had an "inflamed tendon" and was put on bed rest for a week so this whole week we were stuck in our apartment. I kind of felt like a nurse bringing her food in bed and making sure she took her meds. But when we were in buda we got to see parliament again at night with the STLs. Probably the most exciting part of our week. Although this meant we got a lot of Liahona reading, Legacy, and cake making (on my part) in these past few days. 

the parliament

We got asked by a guy from the stake last week to teach primary though this week so that was super fun. We related prayer to a hamburger. The kids loved it. 

 

The december 2015 liahona has a super cool talk about covenants. 

Well, I hope you all had a good week and we are excited to have freedom again this week! 

Love,

Sister Heath 

selfies with mini-me

 

Zone conference, Buda, and Farsang Buli!

22 February 2016

Happy p-day from székes!

tuesday:

We met with our branch president and he gave us like eleven referrals of less actives to visit so that was sick!

Later we met with Balázs! It was a super good program. We talked more about our relationship with God and how to find out if he is real. As we were teaching I thought of comparing God to the wind. We can't see him but we can see how he works and we can feel his presence. It was really cool to think of God in that way and reminded me to notice him in all the little things like the leaves blowing in the trees. 

That evening we had a program with the viktoriaék. We think we may drop them. They mostly just want to meet with us so they can practice english. Which is fun and all but they don't really respond to the gospel part of our lessons, so that was kind of sad to say goodbye but we'll probably stop in on them later and see if anything has changed. 

That evening we said goodbye to elder mellor who just finished his mission. We now are down to just two elders again.

 

Wednesday:

We tracted in the morning and then later had a program with Nagy tamás. It was super good! We are trying to be tougher with him and so this week we've been texting him every day to not forget to read and pray! We talked a lot about eternal life and what that really means. Sister greenwood was super inspired during the lesson and shared a scripture that really got him thinking.

me and levanen at zone training!

Thursday:

We had zone conference in duna. It was good.

me and simmons on the train after zone training

After that we went up to buda for splits with the stls (hafen and hawker!) It was wonderful. I went tracting with hafen that evening while hawker and greenwood taught angol óra. It was so great to just talk with hafen after being away from each other for so long. It was also super cool to see how we've both improved since the mtc. Its crazy that we've already been here for over a year! 

with hafen streeting!

with hafen

with hawker

Budapest

Friday:

Finished splits. Went tracting with hawker. It was awesome. She's gotten so good at hungarian since we were comps! 

That evening we had our last program with emil before we handed him over to the elders. It was sad saying goodbye to him :( 

After that we went to our branch president's house for dinner! It was super fun.

Saturday:

We had lunch with Ági. It was a really cool program because she said she actually learned something. I think mostly the missionaries used to meet with her and just share spiritual thoughts that weren't too controversial but we decided to talk about after this life and stuff and the resurrection and it was just super cool. She super liked that we don't believe in hell.

That evening we had a Farsang Buli! Basically its like hungarian halloween in february. Its supposed to scare winter away. It was the best branch party I've been to here in hungary. It was awesome. So me and greenwood dressed up as elders and we lip synced to elder anderson singing "ye elders of israel" behind us. It was super funny. Later the member in charge of the party asked me of I knew abba's "I have a dream" which of course I do. So he asked me if I could sing it for the branch and then everyone would join in at the end. And so that's how I ended up singing abba in elders clothes in hungary. It was magical. Later we even karaoked to the "magyarország" song as a branch. It was super fun. A big group of members also dressed up as star wars characters. Pretty much one of the coolest branches ever. 

Also! tamás came to the party and brought a friend!! It was wonderful!

helping set up for the party

regina

star wars

our branch president and his wife

"facebook"

 us as elders

Sunday:

We had church and then later we went to toni and andi's and they made me some birthday süti since they were sick last week and said they couldn't. It was great! 

After that we had a program with Regina. Shes one of the elders recent converts that we started meeting with. She is super cool and down to earth. Shes 18 and loves the book of mormon. We're super excited to start meeting with her!

I hope you all had a great week too!! Love you all!

Sister Heath 

"heath nővér and elder"

andi and napsi dressed up as sisters greenwood and heath

this cool snake statue we found