Happy Tuesday, everyone

 5 April, 2016

Happy Tuesday everyone. We had interviews with President Szabadkai this morning in dunaújváros so that was fun and that's why we are emailing at this weird time. Oh and also, the library here is always closed the first monday of the month. Fun. And transfers will be next week so we'll be emailing on tuesday again. I'm starting to forget what normal monday p-days are! haha

Wednesday:

The zone leaders were here and so we had a district meeting with us the veszprém elders and the zone leaders so basically half the zone was here. It was good. After we went and saw the animated clock in the belváros. 

Later we went tracting and looked up the néni we gave a book of mormon to. She wasn't interested and tried to give us the book of mormon back but we told her it was a gift. She was just like "I'm catholic. And I'm old. I can't change." classic.

So sister greenwood all transfer has been wanting to buy a succulent. And we found one finally in a flower store. It was totally a miracle. 

Thursday:

We tracted in the morning. We then decided to try this "grill box" place on the way back from where we tract and it was fantastic. And the guy who worked there was a total homie and this one guy tried to help us order because he thought we didn't speak hungarian and then he was totally shocked when we did. It was funny. 

Later we had this awesome program with Anita, the referral from Edina. It was super great. We met in this cafe and taught her the restoration and she had tons of good questions! Hopefully it will go somewhere! 

Then we had Angol Óra and that cute family was there again! Also we tried his pumpkin seed oil for a pasta salad we made and it was super good. It was super green though so it was funny at first!

Friday:

We tracted and then went to invite a less active member to conference again which was at the end of a bus line. The bus didn't go back though for like an hour so we decided to just walk back and it was nice. I think I've got this city down now. 

Saturday:

I made a cake for our spiritual thought for in between conference for sunday and then we tracted and had the saturday morning session that evening. 

So something to know about this branch. Its totally a party branch. They love a good buli. So the branch clerk was setting conference up in the branch house and we went to unlock the door and were like, "there's totally someone in there already" and we open the door and hes blasting "worth it" with the whole sounds system like five minutes before conference and nobody is there yet. It was just super funny and so typical of this branch. Love it.

Also, regina brought sister greenwood this giant balloon octopus just because it reminded her of greenwood, since that's her favorite animal. 

Sunday:

We had women's session in the morning. It was good. We colored with napsi the whole time. 

So we ended up not having our fireside between conferences because everyone went home so we'll just do it later. It just meant that we had a giant cake to eat with the few of us that were left. 

Also, Sós Balázs came to conference!! It was awesome to see him there! 

Monday:

We went and saw a bóryvár in the morning! it was this castle summer home that this guy made for his wife as a symbol of their love. It took him forty summers to build and it was super cool. pictures to come. 

bory vár

több bory vár!

Well, hope you all had a good week! Conference was super great. We got to watch two sessions in english so that was great. It was definitely the spiritual uplift I need! 

Love you all!

Sister Heath 

a guy in the belváros with giant bubbles.

hungarian crest, flower edition

March 29, 2016

29 March 2016

This week:

Tuesday:

We got lunch with Toni and it was really great. He told us that because of the baby coming him and Andi have decided to get married!!! Its super exciting for them and it'll be so great for them to have their baby with parents that are married and love each other. Stoked for them.  

Also we ate the most magical pineapple ever.

Wednesday:

We met with Bogi in the morning. We hadn't been able to meet with her in forever so it was good. We started talking about Christlike attributes. Shes doing good. Just working a ton.

After that we met with Tibi and talked about how to help the branch with missionary work. We decided we're going to do a little missionary discussion between sessions of conference. It should be good.

Thursday:

We met with a less active named S_ Balázs. It was good. He totally still knows the church is true and everything and knows what he needs to do but is just kind of lazy. We kind of chewed him out and called him to repentance but it was good. 

We then went out to Regina's falú! It was super fun. She made us lunch and we saw her chickens and mop dog. It was great.

We then had angol óra and played "wheres the snail" or "hol van a csiga?" it was awesome. It was basically having people describe where things are.

regina and her chickens!

regina's mop dog.

Friday:

We had district meeting. So one of the sisters went home in another city and so they had to switch things up so now there aren't sisters in Veszprém anymore and the veszprém elders are in our district now so they came. Elder Nordberg from my MTC group is in veszprém so it was cool to catch up with him after this long time and it was just cool to see how much we've changed since then.

Also, got the most disgusting mint flavored ice cream after district meeting. Tasted like toothpaste and turned my tongue super green. 

the results of my toothpaste flavored ice cream.

 We didn't have a ton of time to tract since our tracting area is pretty far out but we were able to knock two doors and we gave away a book of mormon and she invited us back so that was cool.

We had a program with Balázs and János our ward mission leader came. It was good. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and talked about faith. It was great.

After that we soft bap challenged Tamás! It was really great. We challenged him to live as if he was preparing for baptism and to see what its like. Should be interesting.

Saturday:

We had a branch buli! It was amerikai, magyar, húsvét themed. So interesting for sure. It was fun to see all sorts of stuff about hungary though. And a cute family from angol óra came! 

Sunday:

We had church and napsi and andi said the funniest things about my name during sacrament meeting. So most people here pronounce my name like "hit" which is the word for faith in hungarian. So its always kind of funny. But the branch president speaks english so he pronounces it a little differently, like "hét" magyarul. Which is the number seven. So When he said that I was giving the opening prayer the girls thought it was hilarious that I was Sister Seven. 

Then later one of the guys in the talk was like "do you all have faith?" (Van hitetek?) and napsi was like "yes, Hit is right next to me" (igen, mellettem van a hitem.) It was pretty great, hard not to laugh. 

Also, this guy sang the backstreet boys to us after church. It was nice. 

Monday:

The saga of the washing machines flooding continues. ITS STILL BROKEN. Our landlord came over and tried it and it worked for him but not for us. It was so frustrating. We'll see next time what happens. 

fountain decorated for easter!

So here in hungary easter monday there is a tradition of "spraying" the girls. Meaning you can either spray them with perfume or water. Back in the day they would dump buckets of water on the girls. So we were walking home and we saw these poor girls with guys chasing them dumping huge things of water on them. We felt super bad for the girls but it was super funny too. Luckily me and greenwood dodged it. 

Today:

We went on this great hike with attila. photos to come. 

Hope you all have a great week!

love,

Sister Heath

attila and his little flower crown I made him!

hobbit holes. literally build into the earth. Toats going to come live in one someday

photos from our hike

[Message sent to parents of missionaries, from President Szabadkai of the Hungary Budapest Mission, regarding the Brussels terrorist attacks]

Wednesday, 23 March 2016

Dear Missionaries, Parents and Leaders,

  The terrorist bombings yesterday in Brussels remind us once again of the perilous times we live in. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this senseless tragedy and their families.

 As you may have heard, four missionaries serving in the France, Paris mission, were seriously injured by the explosions that took place at the Brussels Airport. All suffered burns to their hands and faces and the three Elders closest to the blast required surgery to remove pieces of shrapnel from their legs and feet. All are recovering nicely and plan to continue their missions.

Shortly after the attacks in Belgium, the Prime Minister of Hungary ordered a second-degree terror alert across the entire area of Hungary. Speaking before the Tuesday meeting of the Hungarian National Assembly's national security committee, Károly Papp, the country's national police chief, said that he has ordered the strengthening of controls at Budapest's Liszt Ferenc International Airport and around capital's metro stations. Passengers' freedom will not be restricted but police presence and checks will be enhanced, he said.

This afternoon, the U.S. State Department issued the following security message for U.S. Citizens living and traveling in Europe: The State Department alerts U.S. citizens to potential risks of travel to and throughout Europe following several terrorist attacks, including the March 22 attacks in Brussels claimed by ISIL.  Terrorist groups continue to plan near-term attacks throughout Europe, targeting sporting events, tourist sites, restaurants, and transportation.  U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance when in public places or using mass transportation.  Be aware of immediate surroundings and avoid crowded places.  Exercise particular caution during religious holidays and at large festivals or events.

Although Hungary remains an unlikely target for terrorist activity, I will continue to remind our missionaries to avoid places where large crowds tend to congregate and to exercise caution in all their daily activities.

Thank you brothers and sisters for your prayers and all you do to encourage and support our wonderful missionaries here in the Hungary Budapest Mission.

Szeretettel,

Szabadkai elnök