Szervusz (S- air-voos) Family!
Wowza! What a week it
has been! I have finally/already been at the MTC for a week! Sometimes it seems
like I've already been gone for 6 months and other times it feels like I have
only been gone for a short time. The first half of the week was really rough.
Really, really rough for me! I don't know if you got my first letter but I was
so overwhelmed. The first day I got here I was dropped off in a classroom and
the teacher just started speaking jibberish to me and expected me to respond. I
had no idea what he was saying! Then we had a lot of orientations telling us
all what we needed to be doing and all the rules. It was a lot to take in. But
everyone was so friendly and helped the new missionaries out a lot! The first
day we learned the Hungarian alphabet. Hungarian is hard. Really HARD!!!!!! It
has 44 letters in it and 17 conjugations. We have learned the alphabet and only
2 of the conjugation rules and I don't even get those. Last Thursday was a
really hard day for me because we learned how to pray in Hungarian. I could not
remember the rules and how to even say the words and everyone else in my
district could pretty much say a simple prayer with flying colors. On top of
being frustrated and overwhelmed with the language and being new at the MTC, I
got sick. I had a fever and my throat was really swollen. I was in a trio and I
was having a hard time with companions. They have gotten along really well with
each other and were speaking Hungarian to each other and I couldn't understand
any of it. That night, I wanted to just quit. Bad. I was so frustrated. I
quickly realized that serving a mission is going to be a lot harder than I ever
could have even imagined it to be. Learning Hungarian is going to be quite the
challenge for me. But later that night Camrie came down and visited me (she
lives in the same building) and it was such a tender mercy and helped me so
much! She is just the greatest! I have actually been able to see her lots which
has been so great! We have seen each other almost every day.
Friday we taught our first lesson in Hungarian. Ya that's
right....two days after being in the MTC we had to teach in Hungarian. It was
so hard! But I tried it. I could not remember any words and was so frustrated
with myself that I couldn't get it. When we went in to meet with the
investigator I slaughtered my memorized line and then it was my turn to say the
prayer. The night before I had not been able to speak anything. The prayer I
offered was the most simple prayer I have ever said but I felt the spirit so
strongly. I knew that the Lord was watching over me. I knew that although I was
struggling so much and having so many trials, the Lord was not going to leave
me alone. It also made me realize what it was like to be an investigator
praying for the first time. They have never prayed before, just like I had
never prayed before in Hungarian. It was so simple but as I prayed, I felt the
Saviors love and I know the investigator also felt the Savior's love. It made
me realize that even if I can only say a few words in Hungarian, as long as I
have my testimony and know what I am saying is true, Heavenly Father will
provide power to my words and the people I am teaching will be able to feel His
love for them also.
We have since taught
3 times in Hungarian, we can pray, and we can bear testimony. It is all super
simple, but we are doing it. It is the hardest thing I have ever done, but it
is also making me so strong. I have come to learn much faster about the Savior
in this week than I ever have before. There is no way that I could be here
right now if He was not helping me and giving me the courage to keep trying
Hungarian.
Yesterday we taught
our third lesson to an investigator and we also learned 2 new grammar
principles - how to conjugate plural nouns. I need to have a lesson on English
before Hungarian. I have no idea what all the accusatives pronouns, verbs,
adjectives, indirect and direct objects work in English let alone Hungarian.
Too bad I didn't pay better attention in school. Everyone else in my district
pretty much gets what we have learned pretty well. I just haven't got the grasp
quite well yet. Yesterday I got really frustrated that no matter how anyone
explained it to me, I could not get it. So I am getting extra help one-on-one
from the teacher and it has been helping a lot. My companion made the comment
to me yesterday that if she would be struggling with the language as much as I
was, that she would have quit and she wouldn't be able to do it. I sometimes
feel like quitting....actually i feel like that a lot when we are learning
Hungarian but then the Savior gently reminds me that it isn't about me. He has
promised me that I will get the language down and I will. I am just being
humbled very quickly to know that I can't do it without him. This week I have also
just been spiritually feasting on everything they have at the MTC. I don't
think there is any other place in the world where you can have so many young
people shouting and rejoicing in Christ. It is amazing to just see so many
missionaries being trained to be representatives of Christ. I love it every
time we sing!
We have 8 people in
my district - 5 sisters and 3 elders. There are going to be 16 of us all
leaving to Hungary March 25 which is the most missionaries Hungary has received.
11 of us are sisters. We are the first group to be here only 9 weeks so we will
see how that goes :)
We had Linda K. Burton come and speak to us on Sunday and it
was amazing! She talked about how many of us are going to have to teach the
people about what Relief Society really is and how strong the women of the
church need to be. We can't be like the women of the world. In Hungary, the
wards are not big at all. In Budapest there is 2 wards and they have about 120
people in each ward. In all other areas there are only branches. The elders
were telling us that sometimes it would only be the missionaries and sometimes
1 other investigator at church. The missionaries pretty much run the whole
church block, give the talks in sacrament, relief society, primary, Sunday
school, etc. That is why I need to know what relief society works. So don't
complain next time you have to speak or teach in church.....at least you don't
have to do everything! I am so excited to get to Hungary! They are starting to
open up a lot of new areas there and the gospel is spreading. We are going to
be the biggest group Hungary has ever got. The group after us only has 1 elder
and the group after them only has 10 missionaries.
They are getting a lot of missionaries at the MTC. Last week
600 arrived. This week 800 will be coming. Then in weeks to come they are
getting about 1400 missionaries per week. I have no idea where they are going
to put them all. We have 5 girls living in one dorm room. They are remodeling
all the observation rooms into classrooms to make more room but they are really
small. We don't know where we will teach our investigators but we'll make
things work.
My day is pretty much
wake up, eat breakfast, study, class, lunch, study, class, eat, study, study,
study, learn, learn, learn and then go to bed. It is exhausting but so great at
the same time to put everything I have and give to the Lord.
My District is awesome! We have a lot of fun....sometimes
too much fun. But we are working on that. My companions are also AMAZING!!!
They have also been helping me one on one with the language and they have been
so patient with me! Sister Fresh is from Cali and Sister Broadhead is from St.
George. I just love them! We have the greatest companionship of the district!
I also met Sister
Gasser (the bountiful temple sealers daughter - her parents were mission
presidents in Hungary) and she is AWESOME!!!! She is helping us get used to the
MTC and learn the language and I have never seen someone more thoughtful and
kind and HAPPY than her. I don't think I have ever seen her without a smile on
her face. She has taught me a lot and made me so excited for missionary work.
I love you guys! I will send some pics later! Tell me
everything that's happening at home. Hope to hear from you soon. The MTC is the
greatest ever and I am so excited to be serving a mission! It's the hardest
thing I'll ever do but I am growing so much!
Falslev Nover :)
