FROM JUNE 29
SUPER good week! We taught Z. the Plan of Salvation and…someone
CALLED us from a card! That NEVER EVER happens. Never. They seemed interested and
even asked when church was and said they were curious! So that was cool... even
though they didn’t come. We also met with R. a
recent convert who doesn’t come to church, and we talked about her baptism. She
said she had the best feeling at her baptism, like she wasn't even on the
earth. So, we made plans to pick her up for church, and even though she wasn’t
able to come, she promised next week.....
Still, along with the
elders, we had 14 investigators in church! The elders had a lot of guys from
this American football team come (they themselves are Hungarian-- they just
play American football). And then we had quite a few other investigators. L. came
(he got back from his trip) and D.'s friend R. came again! D. told us,
"Hey, R. read something....", to which R. responded, "Ya, I read
from the Book of Mormon". I asked, “Do you have one?" and she said,
"No, but it's on the internet!" So I gave her one--super cool! So I
want to start meeting with her. Sunday School was really good, because we
taught a little Restoration and then watched the film. When Joseph Smith has
the first vision, I felt the Spirit SO incredibly strongly. And I have seen
that movie 5 bajillion times. I was just praying intensely that everyone else
would feel the Spirit too.
We talked about
covenants with D. (the one who brought R.) and the Gospel of Jesus Christ
again, and we gave him a baptismal date of August 1. I hope we can help him
prepare for baptism by that date! He told us about having a specific prayer
answered after church last week, and about R.’s dream after she went to church. He
didn't exactly know what she dreamed, but it seemed like she was looking down
from Heaven, and she saw this person in white clothes and they said something
to her about the Church. Interesting.
R. is also SO ready
for baptism. I asked if he had gotten any other answers to his prayers that
week. He said yes, but he was apprehensive to say. When I asked again, he told
us, "I did something really hard
that I didn't think I could do. I prayed and I did it.” We asked him what he did and he said, "I broke up with my girlfriend.” This kid literally moved to Székesfehérvár to
live with his girlfriend. I asked him why he did it and he said, "I have a
goal." I asked what that goal is, and he said, "to get closer to God.
and I know I couldn't do that with her. I have never prayed so much in my
life." Wow-- WHO DOES THAT? Now the poor guy is trying to look for a room
or AND he just got a bunch of money stolen from him!
He also has almost
finished the Book of Mormon and in his free time, he sits in the branch house
to read it. He feels like he has to know
everything and has to be practically perfect before baptism. I asked him what
he has a testimony of, or what he knows to be true and he said the Book of
Mormon and Joseph Smith, but doesn’t know if Thomas S. Monson is a true
prophet. We told him to pray about it and then,
in his English class, this girl sat next to him and mentioned, "Hey,
look at this book I just got." You guessed it... the Book of Mormon! R/
asked her from who, and it was from a missionary going on splits that day in
Székesfehérvár... not even from anyone serving here! He asked, "Why would
some random girl sit next to me and show me a Book of Mormon she got from
someone that doesn't even serve in this city?!" It was crazy!
We have talked about
everything with him--how we don't have to be perfect, how we shouldn't wait,
because it will just get harder, etc. etc. etc. He said more and more he feels
like he needs to be baptized, so I don't know what is holding him back. We've
talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost and he told us, "I always feel the
Spirit! I always just feel like there's someone on my shoulder, telling me what
I should do..... Wow, I wonder what it's going to be like after I get
baptized!" He wants to get in the
habit of reading, praying, going to church, and he thinks after a year, he can
do it. So please pray for him. He has
read about all the commandments from the Gospel principles book. This kid needs to get baptized.
Finally, B., our
agnostic friend, has read scriptures almost every day this week!! So proud of
him. And we went to this free organ
concert yesterday night-- super great! He played this Bach... oh it was so
good. Loved it.
FROM JULY 7
I don't even know if I
can email without cryyying because guess what........I am leaving Székesfehérvár,
the city that I didn't like, but have grown to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. And now, at this
transfer, I'm leaving to be a sister training leader in Budapest.
So on Thursday, we all
randomly went up to Dunaujváros (the Communist wonderland) to meet the new
Hungarian mission president and his wife . They are amazing, so humble and so
full of the Spirit. The whole meeting was in Hungarian too. Then, this morning
I just got the call that I am being ripped away from my dear, sweet greenie and
I am going to be thrown into the massive craziness that is Budapest. Please
pray for me.
On the fourth of July, we went to R. and S.'s
and they live right next to this GINORMOUS field of sunflowers. Seriously --
one of THE most amazing things I have ever seen in my whole life. We brought a
little ladder, and then you just walk through the sunflower jungle, step up on
the ladder, and look out at a yellow sea. It. was. breathtaking. The photos can’t do it justice.
D. fasted this Sunday
about getting baptized sooner, and G.is moving to Austria. SO SAD. :(. He says
he feels the Book of Mormon's spirit and it is "really, really good"
to read the Book of Mormon every night. We are getting those missionaries in
Austria to meet with him!!!
B. is getting baptized
on the 1st of August and is doing super well -- accepting the word of wisdom
and Sabbath Day observance. His friend R. came to church with him again, and we
set up with her. He told us, “Ya, we hung out last night and read the Book of
Mormon". WHO DOES THAT?! Seriously, people. I am a Utah Mormon. Not once
would I ever think about just chillin with my friends... reading the Book of
Mormon with them. She has already made
it to the Book of Jarom! B. gave me a little stuffed animal teenage mutant
ninja turtle last night as a goodbye present and I almost burst out crying. I
had to hold it in. I love that kid so much--such a great kid and is trying so
hard to be better.
Cool Spiritual
promptings of the week. One day we were streeting, and I saw this guy with tattoos
and drinking, and I felt like we should talk to him, but he turned the corner. We turned the corner and he had stopped there, so we talked to him and it turns
out his mom was Mormon! Isn't that way random? We streeted another guy I felt
like we should talk to and he was super interested. We talked about the Book of
Mormon and how God commanded the prophet Lehi to leave Jerusalem. He asked why,
and we said the people wanted to kill him. He was like "Oh, cause he received
Revelation?" And then he told us, "It
wasn't an accident that we met, you know." Cool.
Another day, I talked
to this guy on a bench and he was also super open and interested, and thought
it was really cool that we would come from so far away to do this. We set up
with him right there, and then met with him today. He had read about Mormons on
the net and he said he didn't believe the bad stuff that people had read. He and
his daughter had both read a little bit from the Book of Mormon we gave them, too. He thought it was really cool that we don't drink alcohol and he talked
about all the families he has seen that are so much better off without alcohol.
He basically taught us the Restoration. He explained, "Ya, after Jesus
Christ died and after His apostles died, there was no one on the earth to
continue his organization. But then in the 1800s in America, there was
religious freedom and people could practice and worship freely. In Europe there
wasn't that kind of religious freedom." If that isn't legit..... Wow.
Another lady we had
called said she would call us. So…I’m like, "Ya right, she's not going to".
SHE CALLED. So…it’s hard to leave.
Also, we brought a new
convert, A., to our program with agnostic B. We asked A. how he feels the Spirit,
and he said, “Well, I come here and I just feel the love and friendship from
everyone." It was helpful because Balázs always just says that he doesn't
really feel anything, but it's just good to be around nice, good people and
that's why he comes (and stays for a full 3 hours, every week). So we explained
something that I've never really thought about before: we feel good around
these people, around other members, and other nice people because that really
is the Spirit. If we are in good, friendly, positive environments, I truly
believe the Spirit is there too. We finished talking about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and asked B. if he would be baptized when he feels these things are
true. He said yes. He just feels like, because he can't know for sure, that he
doesn't want to live his life "waiting" for the blessings of a next
life that he doesn't even know exists. But we bore our testimonies of how it's
not just about the next life, but how these things have brought more happiness
into our present lives than anything else ever possibly could. So now it's just
about helping him recognize the Spirit - recognize his answers. This is a man
who wouldn't even try praying when I first met him. Now he prays every day and
reads the Book of Mormon every day. I think right now he looks at it more of an
experiment, more of something that he's willing to try, but not really
expecting anything from it. I hope that his desire will grow. But it already
has grown tenfold. So I am amazed.
SO. I am in the Buda
side of Budapest! Such a beautiful city, if that isn't obvious. But, as with
all transfers, the finding methods and people are different. Here it’s
obviously very go-go-go, and people are not here to stop and talk to you, sadly
:( …especially because my favorite thing is to just stop random people on the
street and talk to them about the Gospel. I love it! But ya, Budapestens
are not super down for that... Still, as STLs (sister training leaders), we
mostly find and teach (basically do normal missionary stuff), but we also go on
splits with other sisters once a week and have other meetings, etc. But I don't think it's too different, at
least not so far. So ya, same old stuff – however, we live way far away from
the branch house, so we are alllllllways taking the bus and metro.
I've met some of our investigators and they're
adorable. We have one who is this néni that literally won't speak
Hungarian to us... only English….hahahaha.
This ward is great, though I really miss my friends in Szekes. I was happy to see something like 100 people
come to church. And this lady in the ward came up and asked me
where she could get a Book of Mormon to give to someone. I gave her one, and
then she proceeded to give me about 5 other referrals. WHAT? Thanks!
We got to go see the
BYU contemporary dance because they performed here in Budapest and I was
able to see S. and R. from Székes, and
Sister S. got to go, too, so I saw her.... so great! Last
night, they did a fireside in Pest that we also got to go to, and I got to see a
bunch of the members from Szeged!! It was SO great! I loved it. The fireside
was good--they sang I am a Child of God in Hungarian and I cried. It was really
cool. After, this guy from the company came up and told me this one lady had
come to BYU to help them with folk dance and that she had been asking questions
about when church was, etc, so he told me to go talk to her. I did, and I
got her number and she said she would be interested in learning more about our
church. Too bad the BYU guy left before I could thank him.
So ya! I already
really like the members here, too. There's this 16-year-old who is adorable and
comes to do missionary work with us once a week. She literally reads Preach my
Gospel in her spare time.
Soon, I will have been
in Hungary for exactly a year! Crazy. Sometimes I feel like the biggest failure
of a missionary-- I just look out at all the people and wonder why I can't seem
to get any of them to listen or to understand. I know that it's not me. Sometimes
it seems like I've been here for so long and like I’ve made no
difference. But I still love my mission so much. I love doing this and I love
being a missionary more than anything. I don't know if I’m always doing it
right or perfectly or successfully. But I try, and I think that's what God really
wants.