Greeks, succulents, and free bagels

 9 May 2016

Last week:

Monday:

We had an awesome lesson with a less active named s_ gyönygi. She's still in regular contact with a member andrás so we invited him to the program too. She was one of the nicest ladies I've met here. It was sad because she lost her book of mormon when she was packing some things to put in the basement. It was a super sad story. She said she even knew it was a bad thing to do when she was putting her book of mormon in the box but she did it anyways and it has been hard to read other ones ever since because they weren't "her" book of mormon. We're going back soon. She was incredible.

Tuesday:

We visited a member that's homebound for a month because she hurt her foot. It was nice. She has this crazy little dog. So that was fun.

Later we visited this less active named melinda. I was on splits with the győr sisters so I was with sister Vielstich. It was a really good lesson. We walked with her dog with her for a while and then she brought us to get thai palacsintas and then we talked a lot with her. She is incredible and served a mission here in hungary.

Wednesday:

We had a lesson with this interesting man named miska. He's very much addicted to smoking and drinking but it was good. We met him in front of a train station and then had a lesson in a coffee shop. He first came up to us and when he shook our hands (well, he actually kissed my hand..it was weird) we saw that there was a problem with his finger because it was all wrapped up. He is a jazz pianist and apparently a dog bit him and it got infected and he put a tomato on it to help...So his finger was literally wrapped up in a tomato. But we talked a while about how he met the missionaries in the past and then randomly he got up from the cafe and was like, I'll be back. We thought that maybe he just needed to use the bathroom or something but when he came back twenty minutes later he had just bought a pack of cigarettes and a big thing of alcohol we could see hidden under his jacket. He said he wanted our help to become unaddicted to them. It was super sad but he would be so incredible if he wasn't using all these terrible things.

Later tracting we ran into this néni and gave her a book of mormon. She didn't want to accept it at first so that was cool when she did.

Thursday:

It was willets' nine month mark so we got lunch at this italian place. We got lost though on the way there so we ended up running into this french guy who was a member and it was adorable how excited he was to see missionaries. He was apparently hitch hiking around europe so that was cool.

Later we had angol óra and it was great. So there are these two girls and both are named niki and they are best friends and so we got to know them better.

Friday:
We went and got ice cream with the nikis and it was great. They used to meet with the elders in the past and so they know a lot about our church so it was cool getting to know them better and become friends with them.
Later Sister guillian and I met with kati néni and it was a really good lesson. So she has eye problems and has a hard time reading but she read the intro and so we talked about the restoration and it was cool because she said she only let us in because when I tracted into her she saw the light of the holy ghost shining in my eyes and she knew I was doing these things genuinely. It was cool to see that even when we don't say words we send a message to people.
Later me and sister guillian were eating dinner by the river because we didn't want to go all the way back to the apartment for dinner and these two greek ladies came up to us and asked us to help them find the metro and it was just so cool talking with them. Sister guillian's dad actually speaks greek so she said a few words with them so that was cool. We helped them and then they asked to take a picture with us so that was adorable. We gave them a pass along card with the country pages so they can find it in greek. Hope they do!

the greek ladies with sister guillian

Saturday:
I went to the doctor in the morning with sister gertcsh because she had something up with her foot so that took up the morning. Then we had lunch at this place with salads and it was awesome but across from it was a bagel shop.There are just so many things here in budapest that we just don't have in other cities. So of course me and willets were like, we need a bagel. So we go in and I just order a bagel with cream cheese. (this was in english because most people here just assume we don't speak hungarian and talk to us in english) Then in hungarian I hear him say to the other worker punching in the order that its going to be free. She was like, what the crap? do you know them or something? and he was like no. And she was like do you like her? and then I was just thinking, oh great, this guy is just hitting on me. He doesn't answer and just keeps twisting cucumbers and she asks him then if it'll be free for both of us and he was like yes. and she asked why and then the best part. He was like "I don't want to go to hell". Then in english he passes us the bagels, tells us its free and then says "go spread the good word". It was one of the most hilarious things ever. Willets and I were so confused.
Later we had the evening session of stake conference and I made friends with this little girl and we drew roses together.

Sunday:
We had stake conference and then went to the gyenes dávidék to skype and it was awesome. They are the coolest family ever and have the cutest little girls. Right when we got there then they pulled us into their room and started pulling out all their art and books and stuff to show us and all of them just kept saying "nézd" (look) a million times. It was great.

the family we skyped with and the little girls showing us their art

After that we went tracting and it was awesome. We met this lady who said she was about to go to bed but we talked with her for a bit. She was super catholic and so before we left she was like, I'm going to get you a prayer card. So she brought us one and then she had this whole garden of succulents outside in her window boxes so I asked her the word for them (kővér rozsa or fat rose). And then she was like, do you want one? and I was like uhhh, and she just was like, I'll give you a few. So she brings us inside and she has me hold this plastic bag while she just grabs them out of the dirt and gives us like five huge succulents. It was incredible. Then she was like, you can't leave without süti! (baked goods). and she gives us cake before we go. It was cool though because at the beginning then she wouldn't accept a book of mormon but then by the end of our conversation she did and it was cool because she already had a pass along card, from the elders that she met a long time ago by a metro stop, hung up on her wall. It was not an accident that we met her and I hope that we can meet with her again.

Well, I hope you all had a good week and that mothers day was good yesterday. I love you mummy and can't wait to see you in a month! Have a great week!

Heath Nővér

happy valentines day!

Me and sister guillian by the duna

behold, the whiteness of my legs.