Week of May 2

hősök tere

2 May 2016

Halló everyone!

Tuesday:

We had Sister Szabadkai come on splits with us and it was the most incredible thing ever. So sister szabadkai doesn't like tracting very much, but since we have to tract an hour each day we went tracting with her and it was just so funny. She would ring the bell and then not two seconds later be like "okay, they're not coming" and try and move on or be like, "I'll just ring the bell". It was probably the best part of the day. 

It was kind of a sad day though because we had to stop meeting with one of our people because her husband is muslim and we didn't want to endanger her. So that was sad but good in the long run. 

Wednesday:

We had zone training and it was super good. 

Thursday:

We had the Békéscsaba sisters up here on splits and it was good. Sister Willets got sick so she stayed back in the apartment doing area book work with sister grogan while sister lebaron and I went and met with a less active lady named éva and a new investigator named ági. Our lesson with Ági we had an awesome member named panni with us and she shared the mormon message "heavenly father, earthly father" with her. The spirit was super strong. Hopefully our next lesson will be as good :)

Also, we found a pékség that sells muffins. It was incredible. There are so many things here in budapest that you can't find other places. I feel spoiled. 

Friday:

Sister Willets was sick so we just did a TON of area book work. 

Saturday: 

We had a program with the farkásék with our ward mission leader Laci. It was really good. We talked about the power of the atonement and how anyone can come to church because the father felt like he wasn't worthy to come. It was super good though because our member present made an analogy how church isn't like a car showroom but rather an assembly line. We are all works in progress and that is why we go to church. It was really good. 

We found out though that our elders were getting transferred right after church the next day so now we have elders Luke and Simmons (I served with simmons in pécs) but they only have a few more weeks til they finish their missions so we'll see if we get some new elders after that. 

 our old district

 our new district

Sunday:

We sang for mothers day with the young women this interesting song. It was adorable on their part. Also, I taught the little primary girls marco polo. We ran around the parking lot a ton after church. 

Mother's Day music

Today:

We went and saw hero's square and a cool castle near it. It was super pretty. 

Later we have a lesson with a less active. Should be good.

Hope you all have a good week!!

hősök tere (Heroe's Hill)

hősök tere

God bless America

 

Our crazy week

one of the sisters' other investigators

25 April 2016

Our crazy week:

Monday:

 So here in budapest there are lots of districts and in every district there are many streets with the same name so we got invited over by this member and instead of going to their district (the twenty first) we went to the fifth district, which is an hour away from the twenty first. Needless to say we were a little late. But it was great and they had the cutest little daughter ever. My favorite part of the night was she kept telling us she had a secret and the last one was that I had earrings. 

tuesday:

We had the Szeged sisters up on splits and it was so much fun. I had sister Gertcsh in the morning and sister Guillian in the evening. 

Me and sister Gertcsh had a lunch appointment and it was super cool. They have been members for forever and when elder bednar came to visit hungary, they had him over for lunch in the same living room we ate in. So that was cool. 

with sister gertcsh

  Later we tracted on a street next to parliament. It was cool.

That evening, me and sister Guillian visited a less active who has a son on a mission. It was really cool and our member we brought was a really big help. Their son told us all about the new star wars movie too so that was awesome. 

the family we visited with gizi

Wednesday:

We dropped the szeged sisters off at the train station early and the we caught a train to....drum roll....PÉCS!! yes, that's right I got to go back to pécs! IT was so wonderful. I got to meet with Erzsi again and with LILLY!!!! It was such a miracle. Last p-day I emailed her to see if I would be able to meet with her and she said yes! So we met with her and it was incredible. She said that she saw the sisters on the street the other day but was afraid to say hi because she didn't know them but she knew she was supposed to meet them when I set up with her and now shes going to meet with them again and shes even going to introduce her boyfriend to the missionaries. She was so excited and teared up when I was bearing my testimony about the gospel. She knows its true and I am so excited for her to start meeting with them again. She is just so special to me. 

Later we went to dinner with Dávid and it was good talking with him and seeing how hes doing. Hes such a good kid and I'm so proud of him for still being so strong in the gospel. I can't wait to see what he does with his life. He has so many good things ahead of him. 

Erzsi!

Lilly

another with Lilly

Thursday:

We got up early and left pécs. We met this lady on the train there and gave he a book of mormon and now she's meeting with the sisters in kaposvár so that was awesome.

Later we had lunch with a members family. Their son was actually in the MTC and the same time as me so it was cool seeing and meeting his family. Sister Willets was also good friends with their older son who goes to byu so it was just fun all around for us to get to know their family better. 

After that we had a program dog us but it was good because we got to get to know our member present better. After that we did a look up who doesn't live there anymore (seeing as all the windows were broken in and there were cob webs everywhere.) (also, we saw on the way there an american license plate and it was so weird). But we found where literally all the nigerians in budapest live. A couple of them invited us back and it was super cool. 

Later we had angol óra and it was good. We made bucket lists with them.

After we visited the most amazing member ever. She was baptized a couple of years ago and has just such fire for missionary work. She's inviting one of her friends for us to meet next time we visit. We just love her. 

Friday:

We had missionary leadership council with the zone leaders and president. It was good. Hopefully some of the things we discussed will help the mission.

Later we tracted and had district meeting. 

Saturday:

We had a program with this lady that came to church on sunday and we didn't know if she was a member of not because she kind of dodged the question and it was interesting.. but she was so incredible and met with the missionaries in switzerland . She might have been baptized there but we're not sure. She cried every time we prayed and for sure felt the spirit. It was interesting but cool. 

Later we had MCM and it was good and then we went to a program with a family we set up with from the area book that used to have bap dates. It was an amazing program and for sure not an accident that we are meeting with them again. We are excited to see what happens with them. Béla the father teared up talking about how he made mistakes in the past but they said they gained a lot of hope from our meeting and are excited to meet again. 

Sunday:

So one of the other STLs was sick so they asked to go on splits so the other could get out the apartment so I went and stayed with sister Hawker and we watched meet the mormons and it was good. Nothing too exciting from that day, but apparently they found a bunch of new people! so that's cool.

Monday:

Today we went to the nagy piac (large market) and it was fun. Lots of hungarian stuff. 

Hope you all had a good week! 

Love, Sister Heath 

fancy mcdonalds near nyugati

Livin' that kispest dream

the győr sisters

18 April 2016

hello all! Its been a crazy but great week.

Tuesday:

We packed, and then packed some more. But we did have a lesson with Balázs. It was good. We taught him the plan of salvation and he had a ton of good questions. Hopefully he will keep progressing well without us there.

Wednesday:

So we had transfers. We got up early to catch the train and it was such a pain lugging our bags all the way to the train station. Getting white washed isn't fun. But we got to the train, but it ended up taking an hour longer than it should have so that was fun. But we eventually got to budapest and I met up with Willets and took pictures with hafen and rankin because I probably won't see them before they go home. Its kind of strange being back with willets. It sort of feels like we've never been apart but she's also grown a lot in the language this last transfer and a half. 

hafen, me, rankin

So we went on our first sort of "split" with the Győr sisters though because they were here for a doctors appointment but not til that evening so we just explored our area a bit with them. So basically, we have the coolest area in the mission. It includes two of my favorite places in budapest, parliment and the bazilika. Its awesome. Our area is literally the belváros (or downtown) of budapest. Life is good.

Thursday:

We had lunch with sister szabadkai and the other STLs to figure out which sisters we will be in charge of. Its going to be cool to work with sister szabadkai so much. Every sunday night we are going to have a meeting with her to talk about our work and the sisters so that will be cool.

Also, we found a bagel shop!! I haven't had a bagel in so so freaking long and we got a couple and they were so delicious. One thing america does have over hungary, is bagels.

Later we had angol óra. It was super good. We have a huge class. A member shared the spiritual thought at the end and it was so funny because there haven't been sisters in kispest for over two years so all the members were super excited. The member who shared the spiritual thought was talking about the atonement and the first thing he said when he got up was "I know the atonement is real because there are sisters in kispest again." Me and willets had the hardest time not cracking up.

Friday:

We had two service projects.

The first one was for this older lady named Molnár Mária (yes, like our less active in pécs, but not the same lady. Although we did call her and she was so excited the me and willets were back together.) But Mária made us töltött paprika and then we chopped wood and dug a hole to bury some gravel stuff.

After that we had MCM. Our ward mission leader is super cool.

After that we had another service project where we moved this big cage thing in this lady's yard. She had the cutest little 7 month old and it made me so excited to come home and play with ellery.

Saturday:

We had sport nap in the morning and met this cute girl named niki that met with the missionaries a while ago. Hopefully we'll be able to become friends with her.

Also, during sport nap we saw the fattest dog I have ever seen. It looked like a whale with little stubby legs. It walked for a few feet and then just sat down and stayed there for a good hour. A police car drove by with its sirens on and the dog just howled and it sounded like it was dying. It was maybe one of the saddest things I've seen.

Later we had district meeting. We have a good set of elders here. They are elder Lawrence and elder Ady. Should be fun for p-days.
We went tracting later and met this scottish guy. But he didn't have an accent. So that was kind of sad, but hopefully we will be able to meet with him later.

Sunday:

Everyone was so excited that there were sisters in Kispest again and so that was super fun. We got to know a ton of new people.

That afternoon we went to a members and they were so so nice. Their daughter wants to be an artist too and she showed me a bit of her art. It was cool talking with someone about it again.

We went tracting later and met a young guy named szabolcs. He actually let us into his building but then later we knocked on his door and it was kind of funny. He seemed pretty open to talk about religion so that will be good. He took a book of mormon so hopefully we'll be able to talk with him later.

Later we had dinner with sister szabadkai and had our little stl meeting so that we great. I just love sister szabadkai.

Today:

We got up early and adventured around our area and then we got permission to go to the buda side and see gellert hegy so that was cool. Our bérlets work on city boats as well so we took a little ferry across the river and that was awesome.

Tonight we are going to visit a member so that should be fun.

Hope you all have a good week!

Sister Heath

bridge and cool lion statue!

buda castle

The new district! featuring from left to right, Elder Lawrence, Sister Heath, me, and Elder Ady! This is from p-day today from the top of St. István's Basilica looking over the pest side of Budapest!

the jewish shoes

Transfer!

our district!

12 April 2016

first things first. We got transfer calls this morning and I am going to be going to kispest and guess who my comp will be? Thats right, my greenie sister willets. My baby is going to be killing me! But I'm super stoked to finally be serving in budapest! Dreams do come true!

Anyhow, our week:

Wednesday:

We had a program with Tamás and it was super good. We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and basically were tough on him and it was good. 

Later we had another program with a less active that we talked a ton about the importance of the sacrament in. It was really cool to be able to talk about how important this little ordinance is and how it really is more than just bread and water but is the only covenant that we renew for ourselves every week.

Thursday:

We had a program with nüsi néni and it was good. We went over the restoration again with her and she super liked that we believe in Christ's original church not something that we formed to fit what we like. It was good.

Friday:

We went to veszprém for district meeting and it was super cool. Pictures to come. 

Later we had cleaning checks with the petersons. They're the senior couple that was in the mtc with us and it was cool to see them and catch up a bit. Seems like only yesterday but yet again so long ago that we were there together. 

Later we went tracting and met the most awesome néni ever, Kati néni. She said she wouldn't have let us in if we were J-dubs but because we were so cute she knew we would be nice. (more about her later)

Veszprém!

Saturday:

We had a program with Bogi in the morning and then at noon we went to Andi and Toni's wedding. It was a really small ceremony and pretty short but nice. We got them a succulant and planted it in a jar for their present. It was super funny though when we went to go get dirt from the garden in front of our building our neighbor néni was there and she was so excited that we were planting something and showed me where the best dirt was and then she had sister greenwood help her re plant a bulb and it was just adorable.

We also ran into this super pünkösdi néni tracting so that was fun.

toni and andi's wedding

Vasárnap:

We had church and it was heartbreaking because everyone was saying goodbye to greenwood. We thought I would be staying so I didn't say goodbye to anyone though so that's kind of sad :( 

But later we had a játék est and the elders brought us these kinder eggs so we open them and instead of a normal surprise inside they put their igazolvány photos in it. You couldn't even tell though that they did it. I don't know how they opened them up so well. It was really funny.

 

the succulent in a pickle jar

Monday:

We had another program with kati néni, the lady we tracted into. It was super great. First thing she brings us into her living room and gets on her facebook and starts showing us photos, then adds us as friends. It was hilarious. Then she told us all about her husband who is a miner and then she started singing songs about mining. And then she remembered that I said I was going to study art after the mission and so she had gotten me these prints of some modern artist and gave them to me and then gave greenwood a cooking magazine. And then she gave us these little clay székesfehérvár wall hanging things. And then túró rudis and then gardening magazines. But she's super rendes and is going through chemotherapy. She's so incredible and both her and her husband started reading the book of mormon together and I'm so sad to be leaving her. 

Later we went to Hantos to visit the Anitaék (napsi's family). It was super great. Their family is just wonderful. The bus there was so squished though. But we got there fine and we got to see their bunnies and chickens and turkeys and ducks. It was cool. They are just such a wonderful family. 

I hope you all have a good week! Talk with you soon!

Sister Heath 

in hantos with the bunnies

napsi and the two color eyed cat.

pulyka

the cake we had, with a chocolate baby on it

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