FROM OCT 26, 2015

This week, we went on splits with the Érd sisters and then had zone training. My comp and I did a training on using the planners and how to use them more effectively. I'm not kidding--I think I’m going to bring home some missionary planners with me and seriously use them every day, haha! They're so helpful.

Not really much news to share. We met with our family and gave them a Children's Book of Mormon, which they were super excited about. A, the mom, hadn't read, so we read the story about Joseph Smith with them and also taught the Restoration—and A. said she thinks it's true! We committed them to praying about it. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

G. apparently did the stop smoking program and apparently it worked! So props to you G.!

E. is good, but still believing in everything under the sun. She doesn't like that the prophets in the Book of Mormon occasionally speak harshly.We explained that God is a just God, but he is so loving. Prophets, just like Jesus Christ, didn't always just tell people it's okay to do whatever they want. Jesus Christ and prophets don't just accept sin--they preach against it. But that doesn't mean they don't love everyone. They tell us when we're wrong because they love us.

We were tabling and a girl just came up to us, and said she was interested and asked for a book of Mormon! What madness is this?! Why did she not just take one look at us and run away just like everyone else??? So we were excited about that.

So the update on Á. We had taught about tithing, and, because someone quoted Elder Bednar's 2013 Tithing talk in sacrament meeting, Á. went and looked it up and read it! He said he prayed about it and worked it out and could pay tithing. But then a couple of days later, he told us that his landlord was in the hospital and had to raise the rent 25% and that, in a short while, one of his part-time jobs will end! He doesn't make a lot as it is, and supports his mom. So, obviously he was worried about tithing and wanted to postpone the baptism. We talked a lot about faith and trusting God, and it was a really good program, and I felt the Spirit so strongly as I bore my testimony to him, about how I finally made the decision to serve a mission and then pleaded with God to help me do this. So we told him to pick his own date to commit to, and to ask God to help him prepare and find financial means by that time. So we all fasted with Á. on Saturday and Sunday, and he was really touched by that. He had to leave quickly after we said the fasting prayer together, so we will see what he is feeling when we meet next.

I DON'T WANT TO COME HOME :/ Don't get me wrong... I love you guys... but like..... this is NOT ENOUGH TIME!!! :(

FROM NOV 2, 2015

We went on splits in Pécs, a super gorgeous city and it was really fun. After dinner, we were walking home and found this area with leaves, and just all started playing in them and throwing them at each other, it was so fun, haha. In Pécs, I got to teach their investigator L., this adorable 18 year old who is seriously the most amazing person in Hungary. We taught the plan of Salvation and she LOVED it! She has the biggest faith in and love for Jesus Christ. She even opened up to a scripture in the Book of Mormon to share with us, about not putting our hearts on worldly treasures. Her book of Mormon was all marked and noted and she is amazing! They've only met with her 3 times, too. What the heck??

J. and G., the two main less actives we teach are doing really well! They both are coming to church and wanting to pay a full tithe and such--it has been cool to see such great progress with them.

Remember the guy i met tabling and we set up with him right then and there? Well, he came to our program! And then the member that was with us invited him to church, and the next day he came--and he really liked it! That was awesome! And guess what................... HE LIVES IN PEST, not our area. Let’s hope the Pest elders take good care of him!

Okay, we FINALLY met with photographer R., after forever, and again it was so good! He feels the Spirit SO much all the time when we meet!! He always expresses how much he just feels such a good feeling, a peace and energy that he gets... so we told him to continue that by personal prayer and reading. He said the closing prayer, and after, his eyes were watery, and he was like "That was so cool.... I got goosebumps!" Now if only he weren’t always so busy!

Unfortunately, A. is getting scared and kind of running away :(  He didn't come to church yesterday because he had something and was only able to meet once last week. Now, he is saying that he doesn't have time to meet this week.... When we met, he said he prayed, but mostly thought about  baptism, which he feels should take place sometime at the end of January... whereas, last time he was saying he wanted to before the end of the year. We didn't know what to say in the program. When he said that randomly, someone had called him about a job, we pointed out that that was an answer from God about his financial situation, but he is just wanting to take it very slowly now and we aren’t sure what to do.

Highlight of the week: I went to my trainer's wedding in Kecskemét!! Sister K. got married! It was cute and fun (they have to get married civilly before going to the temple in Germany here in Hungary). They had their friends walk down the aisle to "Just the way you are" by Bruno Mars and then her husband rode a bike down the aisle--and she walked in. It was cute and SO cool to get to see that :) Congrats K.!!!!

FROM NOV 9, 2015

4 more weeks? That is NOT okay. The Eger sisters came up for splits, and we got fed twice by K., the elder's recent convert who is literally my Hungarian Grandma. I love her so much! She always feeds the missionaries,  talks your ear off, and is the cutest thing with so much energy.  She also makes the best Hungarian food! Oh, and she has literally read the Book of Mormon 4 times and the Doctrine and Covenants three times since being baptized in June.

G. paid her tithing! So proud of her.

So, one day in Burger King (I'm telling you, proselyting in Burger King is real. I don't know what it is about Burger King, but I have found more than one legit person there...), this American girl heard us speaking English, so she talked to us. We got her number and met with her this past week. She is super cute and she really likes Jesus Christ. She was grateful for the Book of Mormon. Let's hope things go well.

E. is doing really well! We had a lesson on putting Christ as the center of our lives and she talked about how she has really been feeling Christ's love in her life. She came to church and stayed all three hours. She was crying throughout sacrament meeting, she was so touched by it. We've been texting her scriptures about Christ and last night she texted us Alma 37: 35-37. :)

G., the legit tabling guy who lives in Pest... we met with him again and brought a member from Pest so he can have an acquaintance when he goes there. He remembered a lot about what we had taught about the plan of salvation and had really good questions. He totally understood free agency and had really good comments. So he’s pretty legit.

Á. found some scriptures and a quote from Uchtdorf that he really liked about not having to be anything to start following Christ. We talked a lot about faith and trusting God more than ourselves, and we talked about November 28 or Dec. 5 as baptismal dates. He was a little caught off guard by that, and is still wanting to put his financial worries before baptism... so we are waiting to see what he feels as he prays about it all. Pray for him.

FROM NOV 16, 2015

SOOOO... after an interesting turn of events.... One of the Sister Training Leaders in Kecskemét is sick and has to be in the Budapest hospital a lot. So, as a result, for the last two weeks of my mission.... I am switching her places... I'm going to Kecskemét. At first, I was really bummed about this and mad that I had to leave Buda and all of the AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING people here. Did I mention they are amazing?? So I was pretty sad, BUT I will be companions with Sister S. again--so that will be pretty fun!

So goodbye to Buda this coming Friday! Thankfully, I still have some time to say goodbye to everyone. And this past week was AWESOME!

Á. is sadly not coming to church or meeting with us :(  I think he got scared about baptism, but we planned to meet him this week. I think we will go slowly with him now.

We had 4 investigators at church, and two of them stayed for all three hours! All 4 of them stayed for Sunday school! It was so great! I think they really enjoyed it. E. LOVES church, and she always gets emotional and feels the Spirit in sacrament meeting. She loves it! She made friends with some of the members, and they invited her to join the choir and she did. It is so cool to see how much she has changed! In previous programs, she wasn't reading the Book of Mormon and wasn't really wanting to focus on Jesus Christ. But we had a program with her about how to center our lives on Jesus Christ, and she completely changed! We texted her a scripture every day about Jesus Christ. The next time we met with her, she said she LOVED the Book of Mormon. When we texted her the scripture, she liked the scripture so much that she continued reading the whole chapter! Then she would be so excited by the story in the chapter that she would continue reading! She had underlined and marked so many scriptures in the Book of Mormon. She said she feels such a great feeling, and said when she comes to church, it feels like home--that there is a special feeling at church and she just feels that God is with us. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, mostly about faith. This week, we plan to talk about baptism with her and hopefully give her a date! It's amazing to see how quickly she changed after she started putting her focus on Jesus Christ.

 We went on splits with the Tatabánya sisters, Sister C. and Sister G. Sister C. was my MTC companion, so it was so cool to see how much we have changed and grown. And now instead of practicing tracting when we couldn't speak Hungarian, we actually went tracting together and it was way fun. I really love her a lot. Sister G. and I talked to two teenage girls. At first, we thought they were not going to be interested, but then we started talking about how they believe in God, but they don't believe He has helped them. We talked about prayer and the Book of Mormon. They asked if they could buy it, and we said we would give them to them for free. We gave them each a Book of Mormon and they were SO excited. I have never seen anyone so excited about the Book of Mormon! They looked at each other with wide eyes and said "Tényleg??!" (Really??)  They, asked if it helps and we said YES! I got emotional as I saw how incredibly excited they were about the Book of Mormon, and I got emotional as I bore my testimony of its truthfulness and of how much it changed my life. That was an amazing experience. We got their numbers-- I hope the Tatabánya sisters can get a hold of them!

We met with F., who couldn't meet for three weeks (I only met him once before this). I thought he was not going to be progressing. We asked if he had been reading the Book of Mormon, and he said that, when he got it from the Pécs missionaries in the summer, he finished the whole thing and started reading it again!! Sister L. and I had to ask him several times if he really read the whole thing-- Haha! He said he feels really good when he reads it, and it gives him a spiritual peace and comfort. When he reads it, all his problems go away for a while. It was so cool! We talked about the Plan of Salvation, and I asked him if he would be baptized. He said yes!! Now we are thinking and praying about a date for him.

We also met with this British older man that we met tabling, and the senior couple came. So, that was kinda cooL! We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and I was having a way hard time teaching in English! Haha, I kept saying weird things and not knowing how to say certain words. Oh dear.

I LOVE YOU ALL! This week was awesome! Keep up the good work! I still have basically no desire to come home... I don't think that will change, either. This week as we were talking to people on the street, I just felt such an overwhelming love for the Hungarian people! They have so many quirks and they have frustrated me time and time again, but I love them so much. And I know God loves them so much! I can feel that love for them.