Sister Shantel Jenna Falslev: I LOVE DUNA!!!!!!

Oh man....where to even begin! This week has been the best and hardest week ever! I love being a missionary and I love serving in Duna!

We met with one of our investigators last week and had a really good lesson with her. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and at the end of the lesson we asked her to be baptized when she knew the things we were teaching her were true. She said yes but she didn't know how she was going to be able to know if they were true or not because she couldn't see them. I understood quite a bit during the lesson but I didn't really say much because, well its Hungarian, and people have a really hard time understanding me in Hungarian. But the spirit just kept prompting me and prompting me that I needed to say something even though I wasn't quite sure I was understanding her concern right. And so I did it. I was able to address her concerns and I was able to bear testimony to her about the importance of having faith. It was very simple, very simple. Just a few short sentences but that was all it needed to be. I found out later from Sister Chamberlain that I had just spoken perfect Hungarian and that everything was understandable. It was such a great lesson and it really made our investigator think. We are meeting with her again tonight and we are going to follow up on being baptized!!

This week we have been fed a TON!!! Literally every day. We have been having so much success and it is so wonderful! Duna has been a little rough for missionary work for quite some time and so its wonderful to see the work moving! We went over to one of the members house for Palacsintas (crepes) and it was just a good experience to get to know the members better. One of the daughters, we really get along and I told her that I really wanted to learn how to make palacsintas. So she taught me and we just had so much fun together. I couldn't really say much to her but we sure had a lot of fun just talking and being with her family. I definitely need a lot of practice on my palacsinta making but I'm sure I will get it before I leave! They are wonderful members!

Then we had splits this week and Sister Behunin and I were able to spend another day together! It was so good! I learned a lot from her and we went and taught another family. I was really nervous about it because I had to teach the lesson. Every lesson we have had with them has just been awesome and so I wasn't sure if I could actually teach the lesson by myself and address their concerns. I did it though and it turned out to be an awesome lesson!!!! This family is amazing and is so prepared for the Gospel! The mom LOVES the BOM and told us everything that she learned when she read from it. She said she feels so good when she is reading the BOM and the whole family loves praying. They pray every night as a family now. I taught them the POS and they loved it. She was really excited about it and she says that she does want to be baptized she just still needs to continue reading the BOM and learning more before she does. She also really wants her husband to meet with us and teach him. He works a lot. She has been telling him everything about us though. It was such a great lesson! I love this little family!!!!!!

We met with another investigator and she is doing really well! We were going to teach her a little more about the restoration yesterday but we actually ended up teaching about the law of Chastity and how it helps family. At the beginning she was just laughing that we had this law in the church and that we had actually kept it because that is kinda an abnormal thing here in Hungary. But by the end she really understood why it was so important and she said how it really could bless families. It was a great lesson! The law of Chastity is the greatest!

Then we also had a wedding in the ward. The bride just got baptized a few weeks ago. Weddings here in Hungary are quite the party. Their wasn't quite the traditional Hungarian wedding but it was still super fun! We went over and helped set up on Friday night and just had a good time getting to know the branch members better. They were so excited to help set up for the wedding and we just had a good time setting everything up. We went and played football with the youth afterwards and that was really fun! Football is definitely an American sport but it was fun to see everyone trying to play!

Then Saturday was the big wedding. It was so much fun! We got to the wedding and when we first got their we found out that the bride was waiting for us because she wanted us to write her wedding vows for her. That was funny! 2 American girls trying to write vows in Hungarian 2 minutes before the wedding. We came up with some good lines but unfortunately we arent the best at Hungarian so we just skipped the wedding vows part haha! It was a really good wedding. The couple was so happy! Then we went to the branch house to set everything up for the party afterwards. Hungarian weddings are really extravagant! I cant believe how much they do for weddings...that is probably why not many people get married here. But they had TONS of food and a lot of really neat wedding traditions. and lot and lots of dancing!!! We got to learn some fun dances and I have never laughed so hard in my life. It was so good to see these people so happy. That is something that isnt too common here in Hungary. It is really sad. That is why us missionaries stand out because we are so happy. People can see it in us. It was just so good to see this little branch having so much fun together, laughing, dancing, helping one another, and how much the gospel brings happiness into peoples lives. It was such a great time to just see how much this little branch loves each of its members and the missionaries. I LOVE this little branch!!!!

The day after, Sunday, everyone was pretty tired from the wedding but everyone was still so happy! Sacrament meeting was going really great! I just love this little branch! We had 4 investigators come to church and everything was just going perfect. Then the branch president gets up and starts looking at me kinda funny (we were sitting close to the front with our investigators) and all the sudden he starts talking and I cant really understand everything he is saying all I hear is my name and then sister Chamberlain looking over at me with shock written all over her face and she tells me that I just got called on to go speak in Sacrament meeting. I have never been so terrified in all my life. I will tell you one thing for sure...the branch seemed pretty little when I was sitting down in the audience but then when I got up to the podium, it seemed like the biggest ward I have ever been in. I had no idea what I was really supposed to say or anything but I realized a lot about myself and about being a missionary in that moment. As I was able to look out over the branch (I saw one of our investiagors and all her kids come! She is the one who has been going through a ton in her family life so she said she needed a break from everything. We were shocked that she came to church!) but as I was able to look out over this little branch, I was just overcome with love for them. I haven't known them for a very long time, but they are just like my little family and I want to help them in anyway that I can! I just LOVE these people! It is really hard to put into words how much I love these people. I just wish you could all meet them because I know you could come to love them as much as I do! It was a really hard experience for me though because I got up to the podium and just wanted to tell all these people how much I loved them and cared for them and tell them everything that I knew was really important in life. I wanted to tell them so much! - but I couldn't. There is nothing so much more frustrating than loving these people and wanting to tell them everything that is important and not being able to speak and communicate the things that are most important. But I realized that love is more than just words. These people know I love them not from what I say, but from what I do. So I got up there and shared what little I could say. And I realized, as I said them, that the simple things that I could say, are really the most important in life. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I know that Jesus Christ is His son and that He did everything for us. I know that God loves all his children and that He wants us to return to live with Him again. I know that through Jesus Christ we can be freed from our sins. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves all of us. I know that families really are forever. I love the Gospel.

Being a missionary is the absolute hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But it is also the greatest thing I have ever done in my life. It is such an amazing feeling to just love people so much but so frustrating not be able to communicate everything to them. But that is what makes me love them even more. Being a missionary is greater than words can even express. There is nothing greater than to see someone who has no hope or happiness in their lives before you talk to them and then as you talk to them and tell them about the Savior, you literally see light and hope and happiness come into their lives. All the joy and the happiness I have had in my life has been because of the Savior. I know that the Savior lives and that He loves each and every one of us. I know that as we act and exercise our faith, that we are able to feel of His love and His mercy more abundantly in our lives. I love the Savior and I love being a missionary. I LOVE MY LIFE!

Falslev Nővér

My unsuccessful attempt at making palacsintas at the members house. Half of it ended up on the floor when I flipped it on the pan. It was such a fun night though!