FROM MONDAY, MARCH 23:

So I guess I'll start off with the bad news.... Z. has fallen off the face of the earth!! He is nowhere to be found, won't answer his phone, and we don't have his address because we always met him at the branch house. Sister S. and I are super sad about it and we don't really know what to do other than pray and call. Eventually it may turn into just praying for him. I have to say, sometimes I feel like missions are one disappointment after another. Székes is a hard place. Most of our investigators have come from English class and so it's hard getting them interested in the Gospel. Finding people on the street has been rough here too, as has been tracting.

We had some good things this week, though. One lady on the street said she wanted to invite us to a garden party, haha! We met with T., the most talkative Hungarian I’ve ever met. And that is saying something! But it was sweet—K., the member that always comes with us, told him, "Ya, the missionaries are the most loving people I think in Hungary". Then after, she told us about how she tried to share the Gospel with her friend! We've grown closer with her. 

So we are literally teaching 3 B.-s. Ya, I'm just as confused as all of you are. But I'll try to distinguish them.

B. number 1. we met from English class and he is very nice. We taught him the Restoration-- he said he would read and pray and he came to sacrament meeting. That was cool! B. number 2. the athiest. Read Alma 32, and wants to feel these feelings we talk about (the Spirit), but just really does not want to pray and does not want to have faith. So it's interesting. 

B. number 3. So. We brought a member to our program and it was interesting. He said that, as he has been meeting with us, he has grown closer to God. I thought that was cool.

We also had a zone training in Szekes and took them to see the clock tower and to this ice cream place with amazingly huge 3-scoop cones and it was hilarious watching them eat these ginormous cones and drip all over.   We also went to a member’s house and enjoyed the most authentic chicken porkolt ever, cooked over a fire in a huge bogracs (metal pot).  It was great, as Hungarian as it gets!

I love you guys!  Wish me luck on transfer calls coming up!  And please pray for Z.  Also, A. was baptized back in Szeged.  The Szeged sisters told me she was really happy!

FROM MARCH 31:

Well. Not really sure where to start. I'm feeling pretty disappointed having just received the call that I will be serving in ANOTHER trio, after having already served in TWO trios on my mission. One of the sisters is younger and I was supposed to go senior with her, but there's a sister who will be going home after this transfer and had nowhere to go. So, it’s hard to go back to another trio….And still no sign of Z.

Other than that, the week was good. We had a really good program with B. number three. He had read some of the Book of Mormon, and the Restoration pamphlet. When we asked him what I thought, he was like "well I think it's true". I was totally caught off guard, didn't even know what to say! We were like "That's great that you think that! Now, if you pray about it, you will feel it". We talked about how we get answers to our prayers and how going to Church and hearing other people speak also helps us. B. responded with, "Ya, for example, on Sunday in Church, that woman with the glasses talked and it really helped me.” So that was super cool, especially when I told S. ("woman with the glasses") and how happy she was that her talk had helped an investigator!

 We also had a good program with D., who had also read a little bit from the BoM. And although T. had texted us and said he didn't want to meet... well we went to lunch with him and he had just been going through a tough time and didn't want to talk to anybody. So hopefully we'll start meeting with him again.

We also had a program with B. and B., which didn’t go very well, but they came to church on Sunday, and so did 2nd B. It looked like B. was crying in sacrament meeting, but I couldn't tell. So I went up to lead the music, and tears were just streaming out of her face. After, she said she was really moved. It was really cool to see her feeling the Spirit so strongly and to also feel that Spirit strongly myself. 

Oh, and we also had the BEST district meeting EVER!! It was the most spiritual one I've ever had! First of all, I gave the "Gospel Picture thought" and I used the Franz Shwartz "Agony in the Garden". (In the April or March Liahona, President Uchtorf gives a really great commentary of the picture.) It's one of my favorite Gospel works of art (actually, it's one of my favorite works of art in general). I talked about how Christ's face just looks saddened by the pain of the mistakes of His brothers and sisters, and how we are missionaries to declare that Christ truly did suffer these things for the pains and sins of mankind. I could hardly hold back my tears, the Spirit was so strong. We did a really cool thing where none of us had prepared for this, but Elder C. (our district leader) had us each teach one of the preach my gospel lessons. It was so cool because it was more like we all just bore our testimonies about that particular Gospel principle. Mine was the Plan of Salvation, and again the Spirit was SO strong!! I wish ALL of my investigators could have been there and felt the Spirit pouring out of those lessons!

FROM APRIL 7:

It's been a crazy past couple of days!! So, my new companions are from…you guessed it…Utah! Sister D. (who is "dying" at the end of this transfer and goes home) is from Spanish Fork and Sister N. is from Lindon, and her brother served his mission here some 15 years ago. I like them both a lot. SIster N. has only been out for about 4 months - she's 22 and already graduated from the U with a MASTERS in architecture. D. has 6 GIRLS in her family and 2 boys... opposite of ours. So yeah, they're both cool and I like em a lot.

Even though my birthday ended up not being on p-day it was still great! The Elders are so great and they made this little surprise party for me and ordered pizza! Also, because Hungarian holidays are also dragged out as long as they can possibly be dragged out... Easter is also on Monday here. The boys go to the girls homes, recite a little poem that basically asks if they can spray them with perfume. So the boy sprays with perfume and the girl has to give colored eggs, chocolate, money, or alcohol. If the girl doesn't do so.... she gets sprayed with water. So the branch president sprayed us sisters with perfume, but we didn't have eggs to give..... so we totally got sprayed with water. Jajj. So ya, it was a good birthday :)

Transfers is always a good time, meeting up in Budapest, but i didn't get to see Sisters E. or W. because neither of them got transferred, so that was too bad :( But this adorable little Reformatist man came up to me and some others and I talked to him for a bit, so that was cool. I also sat by this guy on the train who was reading a Bible, and started talking to him about that... he said he'd already met with the missionaries before. But that was cool, too.

We went to another castle and ran into a Soviet Memorial—Szekes feels a lot more Soviet influenced than my other cities, especially the 10-story concrete wonderland apartments.  Back in the day, a lot of older people had to learn Russian in school.   Other interesting news includes that we started back up with our sports nap (sports day) and had a great turn out.  We met with T. again, and also B. and B.  They both came to the first session of General Conference, but I don’t know how much they got out of it, with the most of it being about families.  However, B, the atheist, came and stayed for THREE SESSIONS!  Even priesthood!  We had lots of good conversations with him in between.  He must feel the Spirit because who stays for 3 two-hour sessions?

So I loved conference—and the women's conference  SECOND video of people talking about their families?? The last girl is speaking a different language......... HUNGARIAN!! So Christian and I both got shout outs in conference!!! Although, his was a lot cooler.... BANGKOK THAILAND TEMPLE!!!!!!!!! Ya, I was definately FREAKING OUT in Székesfehérvár Hungary when I heard the news :)

Also.. ELDER HOLLANDS TALK. Ya. Enough said. But it was especially meaningful to me because of the following back story: we have this investigator who believes in reincarnation and is this really interesting, hipster, hindu-ish guy. we were talking about the plan of Salvation  and he asked, "so you guys believe Adam and Eve were real? like that actually happened?" And so we talked about how we believe things not just because we read them in the Bible, but we pray to know if they are true, and then God spiritually confirms these things to us. And then I realized I've never actually prayed about Adam and Eve before. So I did that, and I was like "well, I'm gonna bring this question of 'Were Adam and Eve real?' to conference even though it probably will not get answered". And then I heard Holland talk about how Adam and Eve and the garden was a real experience (which of course I knew too--I think I just needed that spiritual confirmation) and I literally dropped my notebook and pen out of complete SHOCK that my question had been totally and completely, 100% answered. Thank you, Heavenly Father, and thank you conference!!! I loved too many talks. I loved the one about the guy’s inactive sister and the other inactive lady. Both SO great. And Pres. Uchtorf, of course. And of course the Prophet. Oh I love him SO much!!

Okay, I've gone CRAZY with this email!! Also, update from Szeged: R., of the G family from Szeged...... is QUITTING SMOKING AND IS ON BAP. DATE! Best b-day gift EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FROM APRIL 13:

The weather is WARM now--SO nice. And now, I finally appreciate the wind of Székesfehérvár, haha, which wasn’t so great in winter! Also, SO many more people are out on the streets! So I am welcoming summer with all my heart! 

So this week... hmmm.  there was legitimately a pillow fight with a bunch of people in the town square-- haha. Hungary... you confuse me sometimes. And also, we got interviewed by these people who asked us to recite a poem. I literally recited Moroni 10:5 . They were like "Uh... is there another thing you'd like to recite?"

 Also, we were taking pictures of this statue with these pretty flowers, and this guy was like "do you all want to be in a picture?" (He said it in English). So we started talking to him and asking him about his beliefs. He's said, "Well, I don't know if I believe in God. Maybe He exists though-- Because I'm doing this dissertation about the emergence of hip-hop in the Bronx and how it affected the hip-hop in Hungary. I was trying to understand some lyrics from Zulu Nation, and, just yesterday, I was trying to figure out WHO could help me understand the lyrics, and you did. And so maybe it's a sign!" haha. So we tried calling him, which didn't succeed, but still cool none the less. 

We had a member come with us to B. and B’s program, really just trying to get them to pray. They both think they can't just because they don't think anything will happen, but we are really just trying to get them to TRY! The member showed them a lyric video of the "Heavenly Father, are you really there?" song and B. teared up :) But B. the second, came to ALL of church yesterday. He wants to know the truth. He doesn't have faith. But we explained that it's like seeing a piece of cake that looks good, but you'll never know if it's good unless you try it. Yes, of course we WANT to know if the things we're teaching are true, we want to know if God is there.  But we'll never know unless we TRY! Unless we just get down on our knees and search. Unless we exercise a particle of faith-- or even just desire. 

We also had a very prayer-oriented program with hipster Z., helping him understand that he can also pray! For some reason, all my investigators just seem to be so apprehensive to pray! They're scared and uncomfortable about it. So with Z., we talked about how prayer is just like meditating, which is something he already does, it's just with these words in our head, addressed to God, who is what we call the thing that connects us all as human beings. So lots of cool, interesting philosophies that we have been trying to relate to God and the Gospel and having a relationship with him.  

FROM MARCH 2, 2015

As you can see from the photos, we went to Lake Balaton for P-day, which was quite pretty. This week was interesting and also kind of hard, but still good in some ways. We went up to Budapest for interviews with President and that was great especially to get encouragement  with our companionship and the work we're doing here.  We did get lost coming into Budapest, and also barely missed our train back to Székes because we were carrying this heavy box of Book of Mormons--but we ended up talking to a really nice woman on our other train.

Z. couldn't meet with us again this week :( We're supposed to be meeting with him tonight, but he hasn't been picking up his phone lately :( We hope things are okay! 

One of our English class members brought his girlfriend from Cyprus a couple weeks ago, and we were able to get her a Turkish Book of Mormon while we were in Budapest. It's like 1\2 as thick as the Hungarian Book of Mormon. #ohhungarian Also, remember B., the English class girl?  Well, she brought her boyfriend to our program! We taught the Restoration, and we asked him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He said he'd read, but he did not want to pray. B. said she would do both, though! 

One of the Elders bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon for the spiritual thought in English class. Afterwards, one of the students asked me about the "Mormon Bible". So I gave him one and talked a little about it. He timidly asked, “May take this? I'll bring it back!"  "Trust me, buddy. It's yours! "  was more or less my response...

Another good experience: we had  a program about the Plan of Salvation, and I felt the Spirit so strongly as I bore my testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Experiences like these really are what make missions. Also, we had a program with T.  The Sisters had met with a lot, but he wasn't super progressing. We were finally able to meet with him this week, and it was a good program, totally by the Spirit. He told his story about how he felt like he needed to go to English class and he didn't know why. It was snowing that day, and he just literally weathered the storm to go to English class because he knew he had to go! So we talked about the Spirit and how we can get answers. I asked about when he reads the Book of Mormon and prays about these things. If he came to know these things are true, I asked him, what he would do then, what the next step would be? He thought about it for a while, and then said "well, I guess baptism."

Some sad news. L. was taken off baptism date in Szeged. He said he doesn't have enough money to move out of his girlfriend’s house, and he doesn't have enough money to pay tithing.  I'm terribly sad. I hope the Sisters can help him with these things, and I'm praying my little heart out for him. I love him so much, and I just really hope things can work out for him.

Well, sorry, not too eventful of a week. Just know that I love you guys to DEATH!

Ülellek titeket (I hug all of you!)

FROM MARCH 8, 2015

It's getting warmer! Today especially has been warm and sunny so hopefully it keeps up! 

Not too eventful of a week. We saw a lady carrying just these HUGE bags of groceries, and no one was helping her, so we helped her and that felt good. We went to T.'s with K. (a member). I don't remember if I told you about him?  Hungarians can be pretty talkative, and he was no exception, but we somehow managed to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and he accepted to reading it. Then he had us sit on yoga mats on the floor while we listened to this collaboration of Jesus' sermons from the New Testament with meditation music in the background. Mom, you would have loved it!

Z. is doing well, other than the poor guy hurt his leg and is limping now :( But we had a good program about the Sabbath day and fasting, and we decided to fast with him to help him get off cigarettes. We also made him a little "box of cigarettes" with little paper cigarettes that have scriptures written on them and the box says "smoking forbidden! When you want to smoke, read these scriptures". Z. loved it :) We love him so much. He talked about how he thinks it's really great that we go and visit sick people and spoke about how a lot of people really don't like the Gs here (Gypsies... derogatory word so we say "G"), but he lived around some and really respects them. Z. wants to be a good person, and he is. He as a good heart and he thanks us for helping him. 

The Elders had a baptism on Saturday and it was really good! Z. came and I think he enjoyed it. The baptism was great and the spirit was strong. The Elders investigator (now member) was so cute--after his baptism, he just kept telling everyone "ujra születtem" "I was born again.” Oh, it was so great. 

We met Á. again, the one who has a really hard time because of her daughter’s and husband’s deaths. We taught her the plan of salvation, and she just kept saying like "I can't wait until I can see them again.” It was sweet. She is slow to accept commitments, but it's okay--everyone progresses at their own pace. 

We met B. and B. again (her bf) and we talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and why it has helped us in our lives. I love my investigators and I care about them a lot and pray for them constantly. But sometimes it feels like they're not progressing and it's just like pulling teeth to get them to do anything! But I know even the smallest ounce of trying is still trying! It's still showing God that we love him, and that we want to be better through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for this. 

MARCH 15, 2015

So yesterday, the 15th of March, Hungary celebrated it's (attempted) 1848 Revolution. Today, we went to Hungary's biggest war museum/memorial that celebrates this revolution, and basically every war Hungary fought in after that. It's about 20 minutess away from Székes, so that was really fun! The little boys would have LOVED it! They had tanks, soldier clothes, guns and flags, memorials, huge obelisk for 1848, and even a trench! Lots of celebration yesterday. Everyone wore a red-white-green ribbon pin, just like the political rebels would've in that time, fighting for Hungary's  People dressed up from the time period riding around on horses, and during church you could hear the gun shots and cannon-ball fires-- haha. The belváros had some shops set up, and a stage, where a bunch of high school - college age students were acting out the street rallies, where people would get up and yell out the poems of Petöfi Sándor and other famous Hungarian political poets or what have you. So that was cool! Also, Ice cream shops are opening up again. Despite the fact that it's cold enough to still wear coats, you bet we're getting our daily dosage of fagyi! 

This week was interesting. Lots of wind, lots of cancelled appointments. We met with B., one of our half English class--half Gospel investigators. It was cool-- he said, "I randomly opened up the Book of Mormon and read a really good chapter!" He opened up the Book of Mormon to Alma 32, and was like "I loved it! about the seed!" He said he believes the book of Mormon has truthfulness in it and also came to sacrament meeting, so that was super cool! He still says everything is just compleeeetely different than what he has been taught and what he believes, but hopefully the Spirit can help him navigate which direction he needs to go. Z. is, I think, doing fine, but he STILL hasn't come to church and hasn't been answering his phone :( 

We had a Zone Conference with Elder Patrick Kearon of the 70. It was really good! He told of how the sister missionaries taught him, and their mission president told them they were wasting their time with him! We talked about listening to our investigators, following the Spirit, all that good stuff that I've really been trying to work on more and more. (For example, we were doing some look ups the other day, and there is this less active member whom we have tried to contact for forever and she's never been home, but I said, "Hey, let’s try J." so we did and she was finally home!)  Anyway, Elder Kearon chose a few missionaries to have an interview with him afterwards, and I was one of them! It was super cool. So I'm really thankful for that experience. 

We also met with B. and B.. B. is the one who doesn't believe in God and didn't want to pray. We watched the Joseph Smith movie and talked about how God has helped us know the truth and be happier. B. said that it would be amazing to feel those things. He said he just doesn't have faith. We told him that it's okay--he needs to just try and pray, even if he doesn't believe anything's there. With time, it will come and he will feel God's presence. He said he'd think about it, and that he was just glad to be around such happy people. It was cool. 

So that was the week. As for my Szeged peeps: A. is getting baptized this week, and G. taught English class gave the spiritual thought, because the sisters were in Budapest! Also, remember that G family that I taught that was super legit?? So I guess the Sisters couldn't ever get a hold of them after that, but S., the wife, called the Elders and told them that she's been reading the Book of Mormon and wants to meet with the Sisters! She told them that her husband also really needs this spiritual guidance right now! Super cool. 

The transfer is almost over, in about 2 weeks! It's been a harder transfer in that we've just had a lot of disappointments. And I'm not excited for Sister Sholly to leave :(  She has been the best.  It's gone by SO fast, I hardly believe this was a whole transfer. 

Petöfi Sándor was quoted in the belváros, and in Church yesterday—totally fitting, Hungary's national poem. He said (in Hungarian it sounds much prettier, but for your sakes, here's the English): 

 On your feet, Magyar ('Magyar' means 'Hungarian'), the homeland calls!

The time is here, now or never!
Shall we be slaves or free?
This is the question, choose your answer!  

By the God of the Hungarians
We vow,
We vow, that we will be slaves
No longer!

There's more to it, but that's the best part. I know that we are free to choose captivity or death from the devil, or we are free to choose life and happiness from God. I'm grateful for this agency. I'm grateful to God for the freedom that the Gospel brings. I love you all. 

FROM FEB 9, 2015:
It's been pretty cold here! We've had some warmer days, but it's snowing again today, and it's just been SUPER windy lately, so much so that it's hard to even walk straight, haha. This week's been interesting. Streeting worked pretty well in Szeged, but it hasn't been working as well here in Székes. It might be just because it's cold. But we're working on trying to get more referrals and do more with less active members. But we had some great programs this week.  We streeted this one guy named Z. and he seemed pretty interested, so we set up with him. I was kind of expecting him to dog our program, but we were in the branch house about 10 minutes before his program, and he walked in the branch house! We taught him the Restoration and he was really attentive and interested. So we met him again on Saturday to teach him the Plan of Salvation. He said he had been practicing praying, and he gave us the opening prayer. When we asked if he'd read any of the Book of Mormon, he was like, "Ya, but not a lot. I only read 130 pages". So sister S. and I were like "What?! That's amazing!!" We asked him how he felt about the book of Mormon, and about our message, and he said he felt that it was truthful. He really liked the Plan of Salvation, and he especially liked the opportunity for people to hear the Gospel after this life. He asked a lot of questions about baptism. So we discussed Mormoni 8:10-12 and explained that babies who die are made alive in Christ, and that young children aren't baptized before the age of accountability, 8. He really liked that a lot. He also liked that we baptize by immersion, symbolizing the death of our old life (underwater burial) and our rebirth - our new life devoted to Christ (our coming up out of the water). We asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes! He said he had actually thought about it already, and he wants to! He even told us that he talked to his friends about the Mormon Church (need I remind you that we had only met with Z. once before this?) So we are meeting him again today. Hopefully everything works out! 

I heard Anika is making Hungarian food for you guys this week? Sweet! We ate dinner with a member on Sunday and she made amazing Paprikás csirke! 

The other cool thing that happened--the boys in our family and Dad are going to flip out--Sister S. and I are walking through the belváros, and we see this tall guy who looks at us and says, "Hi!" So we stop and talk to this guy in English for a while and find out that he played for Uconn in that championship game! He now lives here in Székes and plays for the basketball team here, and is really bored here, so he agreed to meet with us sometime. Well. We met and taught him a little bit of Hungarian - things like how to say "pass the ball!" or "I dunk" haha-- it was pretty funny. But we talked a lot about our Church and why we are here as missionaries. It was pretty all over the place, but covered a lot of ground. We talked about what standards we live by, and he admitted that living the way we do would be very hard, especially in college, when people pressure you so much to do things. We talked a lot about God and our relationship with him. He said "Wow, I really commend you guys for being out here and doing this" so that was cool. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and honestly, he was a little weirded out. I don't know if we'll ever meet with him again. But that was one pretty cool experience! We were like "Don't forget about the Mormon girls," haha! He wants to try and do NBA stuff when he goes back to America this summer. So watch the draft! 

FROM MON, FEB 16, 2015:

This week was really interesting and went by super fast! We had zone training in Dunaujváros, basically a Communist paradise of rows of 10 stories as far as the eye can see, haha. So ya, it's a pretty ugly city, but the training was good. I saw Elder Dellenbach (he also went to Olympus), so that was cool! We had a training about repentance and how we can help our investigators go through that process, so it was really good. 

We had a program with Á., this néni who’s super cool and makes us really good Hungarian food, (she made us really good gulyás, probably the best I've had here!) But I also thought she wasn't super interested. But we got talking about the Book of Mormon and how she can pray to know if it's true. She was like "Okay, but what's the Spirit? I really don't understand it." So we were able to help explain to her what the Spirit is, how she can feel it, and recognize that she's already felt it in her life. She talked about how her daughter's death was super hard for her, and that's when she really turned to God and started trying to find comfort through him. So, she can't meet for a little, but teaching the plan of Salvation, I think, is what she needs to hear. 

So. Valentine’s day, we had some heartbreak! It was SO frustrating. We didn't meet with M. last week, and he cancelled our program again this week! Also, Z. didn't show up to our program, even though he's always shown up 10 minutes early! But we did have two really great programs with him, which I will tell you about in a second. We were able to reschedule with both of them, so hopefully we can meet with them this week, but having your two most serious investigators cancel and dog is not the funnest thing ever. I'll tell you about the two programs we did have with Z.:

-So we had a member present teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it was a little all over the place, and didn't get explained super well. But, Z. told the member about how he likes change and, when we stopped him on the street, he realized it was an opportunity for him to change his life. He told us about how he used to be an alcoholic, but now he doesn't drink alcohol at all, and that he's a completely different person.

-This isn't a program, but we were actually riding the bus to visit A., who has MS, and Z. was on the bus! So he told us how jealous he was of us visiting the sick, and he always tells us he wants to be as happy and cheerful as we are.

-So our second program with Z. was so good. We went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ again, because we felt like we needed to get that more solidified. I always love talking about the gift of the Holy Ghost, and so do my investigators. We asked him how he feels when he meets with us, and he said "I feel warmth. like this electricity that starts in my head and then goes through my whole body. I feel like I receive energy." We asked him if he had prayed to know if these things are true, and if he believes the church is true and he said yes. We then committed him to be baptized on the 14th of March. I know God prepared him. So again, it was sad when he missed the appointment, but just keep praying for Z. and for M. They are both so prepared. Just pray that we can help them stay on this path. 

So that was our week! And obviously, a lot of miracles happened, as they always do! Back in my beloved

Szeged people: they're doing great! L. will get baptized and S., the 17 year old girl who is trying to get her book published, said "I don't know how, but I know this is true!" so that was super cool! Sis E and I also just talked about how the Spirit helps people understand more. We talked about how, through their conversion processes, A. and L.’s understanding has just increased so much. I know that's such a merciful blessing from God. Oh I miss them SO much! But I pray for them all the time. 

FROM FEB 23, 2015:

So. Saturday, Sister S. and I hit our 9 MONTH MARK as MISSIONARIES. This is literally insane. Out of control. This is going by WAY too fast. I wish time would just stop! I feel like it's just slipping through my fingers --I know that's missionary life. But still. I wish I had more time. I wish I could do more. I wish that I could be a missionary forever.

This week zoomed by like last week. We talked to this guy on the street who seemed interested and he was cool, but he said he didn't remember his phone number. So we walked away a little bit sad, but later he called!! That is THE FIRST time anyone has ever called us from a card like that! So we set up to meet this week--that was cool! Also, as we were streeting, this girl came up to us and saw us passing English class fliers and she wanted to know how she could get a job passing out fliers, haha! She spoke English, so we talked to her about how we're missionaries, and how we meet with people to teach English and about our church. She told us, "I don't want to learn English" so we said, "Well, can we teach you about our church?" and she was like "Yes!" Haha-- so that was also a first. 

We went to a falu (a small village) to visit a less active member named E. She's SO cool! She actually served a mission in Hungary!  She made us American pancakes and was super nice and cool. There were some times that it was hard to get to church, and so she just kind of got used to not going. It got comfortable. Which is sad. It just goes to show that it can be easy to let things like that just slip by in our lives. And we need to be aware, to watch out for that. She was so cool though, and said "I know I need to come to church! I'm just lazy!" 

So, we had to change Z.’s baptism date because he has a lot of medical stuff happening in March. Also, this will give him more time to prepare and get ready. Right now we're helping him to quit smoking and drinking coffee, so if you guys would pray for that, that would be great! We love him and Heavenly Father really loves him.

On Saturday, our exact 9 month mark, M. missed our program again. We called and called but he didn't answer. A few hours later, we got a text from him saying that he wanted to stop meeting with us. I almost started crying when I read it. That was perhaps one of the most disappointing moments of my life. We haven't been able to call him and try to work things out yet. But that was so incredibly disappointing, especially because I KNOW he felt the Spirit during our program. I still don't know what the whole situation is, but my heart just basically shattered into a million pieces. Sister S. and I just both felt sick. I pray that we can figure things out. 

So there's this guy named G. who speaks perfect English and he's invited us to his English class a few times so that his students can speak with native speakers. Anyway, he works right above our branch house, and one day we ran into him and started talking. He told us about how, a long time ago, he met with the missionaries and they had given him an English Book of Mormon. We said, "G., you should meet with us!" So he did! He said that when he was 14, he was kind of "searching" and he researched all this Buddhism and Taoism and stuff, but he never really found what he was looking for. He said that, eventually he found that there is something above all of us, and that we're all trying to get to the same thing... God. We asked if he believes in the Bible. He said he feels like a lot of things were taken out of the Bible and that it's been translated so many times. We talked about how the Book of Mormon and the Bible together are the complete truth, but he didn't

have time for us to teach a full Restoration. So that's next on the list! 

Also, the Elders last minute couldn't meet with their recent convert, so they asked us to do it. We just did a role play where the recent convert and I were the missionaries teaching the Restoration to Sister S., another recent convert, and this guy D., who hangs out with the missionaries and isn't interested, just randomly came to sit in on our program. As I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how I know it's true, and I felt the Spirit so strongly. I know that was truly a blessing from God that we were able to, last minute, teach that program, and that the Spirit was so strong. 

I love you guys. I love being a missionary. I love this work and I love this Gospel so much. I just wish I had more time to share it.