FROM APRIL 20, 2015:

Hey y'all! This week was good!  We didn't have a ton going on, but went to Dunaujváros again for Zone training.  That night after English class, I gave the spiritual thought and read a quote from the 2014 October conference from Robert D. Hales about how we can find God if we search for him through prayer. I talked to this new girl after, who was really sweet and said "Ya, I'm also searching for God, but I haven't really been able to find him." Hopefully, we can start meeting with her.

In church, we had 4 investigators in sacrament meeting!! It was a really good meeting, and the members gave really great talks about how to find the truth, and how they found the truth, so it was really perfect for all my investigators.  R. gave one of the talks and it was really good! He also took the missionaries to get ice cream sundaes –he’s the best.  D., our 17 year old investigator, told us he really liked church and the hymns, and told one of the members he really liked her talk! So that was awesome.

We also just had some dang good programs! So D., the 17 year old, is awesome! We started by asking if he had any questions and he responded, "Ya, but it got answered by the Restoration pamphlet.”  He told us about an experience he had praying and then feeling the Spirit.  He also said he’d had an argument with his mom and praying the problem could get solved, then bringing his mom flowers and having his mom apologize.  So that was super cool, and reflecting back on that, I realized D. was using the Atonement in his life to make things right with his mom, using God's help. So cool!

We also had a good program with B. , who now calls himself agnostic instead of atheist. He also tried praying!!!!!!!! Huge step for him!! And he said it didn't feel weird or uncomfortable like he thought it was going to. He told us about some self-realization he’d had when he went to the dentist to get a wisdom tooth out. He went back again, and the dentist wanted to take his other one out . But B. was insistent that they just wait until the scheduled time to get his other tooth out, and then realized he is a really stubborn person, and wants to do things his way, and doesn't want help from others, even if it would benefit him. We did an object lesson where he had to get water from a plate into a glass with only 4 matches and some floss (he couldn't lift up the plate). Being the smart person that he is, B. didn't get it on the first try, but got it on the second (you have to make a teepee with 3 matches and the floss and stand up the teepee on the plate. Then light one match, and light the other three teepee matches, and put the glass over it. Something to do with chemistry will make the water gather into the glass). We related that to how God gives us all these tools, like prayer, to get all the water in our cup. But if we don't believe we can use those tools, or if we try to do things our own way, we won't get the water in our glass. He liked it a lot, and was like "so the Book of Mormon is another tool?" Exactly! --Which he is hopefully going to read.

So. Our investigators are actually taking some big steps!! I know prayer isn't necessarily huge, but for someone who doesn't even believe in God................... IT'S HUGE! So yay and claps for all our peeps! Proud of them. And I'm just really thankful to God for all those cool experiences my investigators got to have and that I got to hear about it. PRAYER WORKS PEOPLE!

FROM APRIL 27, 2015:

Hey everyone! I hope you're all doing well. My weird sister missionary tan is coming back if that tells you anything about the weather... it's gonna be a hot summer! Good thing the Székes wind is here to stay.

No one came to church on Sunday, so that was lame :(   But we talked to two investigators about baptism, and we also met with this really nice guy from the area book. He dogged our first program and then told us, "I'll call you guys," so of course... we didn't think he was going to call. But the next morning, he called at like 7and said, “I can meet at 9," haha, so we met at 9 on a park bench because the branch house was being cleaned. He was seriously such a great, wise person, and talked about how his divorce was really hard. We talked about how the Book of Mormon and prayer can help us. He responded with such maturity, asking,  "Should I pray for God to change the situation? Because maybe I'm supposed to learn from it" --so ya, he's legit. Hopefully we can keep meeting with him!

We also met with K., whom we found on the street. She had met with the missionaries when she was 10--really Catholic and into her religion, and really nice and loves God. Another hopeful.   Another good program happened with D., who is doing well; he hadn't read, so we read with him.

So, our atheist-turned-agnostic, B.—we had an interesting program with him in which he told of an attempt to pray.  He said it was like, “saying the words in my head. I said in my brain 'Heavenly Father, give me strength.' And then I was able to get up and do some things." We all just started freaking out, telling him that he DID get an answer to a prayer. He was smiling, and responded, "Well, I don't know if that's why I was able to do it..." and we were just like "whatever. Your prayer got answered." PRAYER. It works people!!!! 

I rely on it SO heavily every day. Because of my mission I know that turning to the Lord doesn't always just give us the things we want. But it has strengthened my trust and relationship with my Heavenly Father so much and for that I am so grateful!

Oh! We also had a "missionary night" for the branch! It was really fun! R. and I had the members "tract" into us haha! It was so fun... he was the mean English guy who doesn't speak Hungarian. I was the disinterested, in-a-hurry, unenthusiastic Hungarian behind the door. Hopefully it showed the members that finding through our own efforts isn't as easy as they think!

From May 04, 2015

Sziasztok! This week was a really, really good week! It is warm and sunny here now, and.... I don't want to jinx anything.... but we have just been getting a lot of new investigators all of the sudden! WOOHOO! Now watch me leave Székesfehérvár in a few weeks --this ALWAYS happens…whatever. Ilyen ez élet. Such is life. But I least I'll get to meet with them once or twice, haha. Uggggh-- missionary life. It never goes how we think it's going to, but it's still amazing.

Anyway, so this week was super good.  We had SUCH a good program with B. We asked if he had prayed about the Book of Mormon being true, and what he felt. He said yes, and that he felt a good, warm feeling in his heart. He said he would like to get baptized at some point, and we talked about June 12 or 13 and decided we would all pray about that date. After that, we all read 2 Nephi 31 together. At the point where it talks about "witnessing unto God" that we are willing to follow him, he asked "So, witnessing to God means being baptized?"  As we talked about it, I could tell he was feeling the Spirit, and that was a really special experience. So please pray for B. as he prays about this decision.

So that would have been enough for me to have a good week. But a lot of good things happened. We got to meet with L. (the divorced, thoughtful guy) and K. (girl who had met with the missionaries at 10) so that was good. We also met separately with B. and B. and our program with the first B. was really good. We talked about why we're here because we know these things are true, and that they can help her, and that we love her. She got tears in her eyes and said "I love you guys too". She said she doesn't think God really does miracles anymore, and  asked us if we think we can make the other B. believe. We talked about how we can't and don't want to "make" anyone believe. We can just give them the tools. She was like "I just don't get it. At first, with B.,  it was so hard! And now he is starting to believe." and we just said, "That's a miracle! See-- You are seeing miracles." 

Remember that cute girl from English class that said she is searching for God? Well we met with her and she was so sweet! She asked, "Can I ask some questions about your church?" Um...... ya, that's kind of why we're here! She asked if we have to wear skirts all the time and if everyone has to go on missions, so she was relieved when the answers were no :) She invited us to this concert she was in. She sang with a group of Reformatists, and they sang a bunch of Christian pop songs but it was really good! And she was really glad we came.

So there was a Holiday on May 1st and we really wanted chocolate but NO stores were open! So we relented and said, "Let's go to Burger King! That's for sure open.” So we went to Burger King, and two people commented on our name tags.... that never happens. The second person heard us speaking English and asked, "Can I ask what's on your nametag?" So we started to talk to him, and he was really surprised we spoke Hungarian. He said he'd read about Mormons online and that they were really good, nice people. He was serious and asked us, "I have a lot of problems. Maybe your religion could help me?" We told him, "We would love to meet with you!" and he was like, "Oh, I don't want to take your time!" to which we replied, “That's what we do!" haha! So YAY for Burger King miracles!

Sister Nybo's brother baptized this woman from Szombathely, and she came to visit, a little Russian woman who has the cutest Russian accent when she speaks Hungarian. They were all so sweet, and literally brought this giant chocolate cake and rotisserie chicken to church, haha! When the Russian saw us, she just started crying and hugging us, telling us we're all angels. It was adorable. We ate in the branch house, and atheist-agnostic B. came in because we had a program with him. The Russian told him, "Come in! Eat!" and gave him this huge plate of food! Haha! Before they left, she told him, "I searched for the truth for 13 years (or something like that) and I finally found it in this church!". Oh it was great. I love her. One of my favorite Hungarians.... who's not even Hungarian!

The Sopron elders had an investigator move here to Székes, so we also got to start teaching him! So ya. Good stuff!