Wow! I love being a missionary. I cant believe another week is already gone. It has been a great week.
Our investigators are doing great! We have had some really good programs this week. We met with É and it was such a great program. She was having a really hard time this week. We asked her to bear her testimony to us this week and it was so simple but it really made her realize that she does know a lot more than she thought. And it also helped her realize that she can use the priesthood right now in her life. She asked for a priesthood blessing and we had one of the Elders give it to her. It was such a good blessing. I am so grateful for the priesthood! It really is so powerful! and was just what she needed! We just have to continue to help her make those steps towards baptism. She is just great!
We also had a good program of inviting the spirit into the M home. For some reason, I kept feeling like we needed to go over to the girls house on a certain day when we didnt really have a lot of time. I am so grateful we ended up going even though it was for only a few minutes. I think God sent us there to protect the girls. I love being a missionary. We were able to just take the kids in the room and we started seeing primary songs with them. It was really hard for them to sing at first, but as we continued to sing and sat around in a circle, you could just literally feel the spirit protecting us. And it calmed everything down that was going on in their apartment. God literally does send angels to watch over His children.
K is doing so well! We met with him and he had read LOTS out of the BOM and he had studied all about the priesthood in the back of the BOM and had a lot of questions for us. He said that he loved church because he just felt like this was his place. He has been going to another church every week but lately he had been feeling that he wasnt in the right place. He loved church and has been learning a lot. Unfortunately he is going to be working in another city until the middle of July so we cant meet with him for a while. :(
We also went on splits to Debrecen. I got to go with Sister Jensen again! It was just like old times! I love her! and learned a lot from her! It was a really good time. We even got to run a short marathon on the way to Debrecen haha! I mistook the bus numbers and got us on the wrong bus. We had to run forever to the trainstation carrying all of our things. I was so exhausted! But right as we walked up on the train platform, the train came. If we would have been a minute later, we would have missed it. Thank goodness for the little every day miracles!
This week, we also got to do a family night with É and D, and B and the two kids (both the husbands couldnt come :(. ) Anyways, we did a cool activity with them about following their parents voice and being like sheep following a shephard. We read John 10 with them and it was a really good lesson. It is amazing to see the change in them each and every time we meet. They are getting more and more warmed up to the Gospel and learning bit by bit by bit. We also played the game 'dont eat Pete' with the reeses pieces mom sent me. I was laughing so hard! They loved that game so much! And I think the adults enjoyed it even more than the kids. And they loved the american candy....they ate the whole bag!!! haha! It was a great night!
But my favorite day this week, was Sunday. Church was just great! We had quite a few investigators come and all the talks were so good for them! Primary turned out really good and all the kids were good! And then Sunday night we were just going to go around and try and do a little bit of streeting. And I kept having this feeling that we needed to go see M. She is an RCLA who we have met with almost once a week and honestly, she is the most hard-heardened person I have ever met. I did not want to go meet with her last night because I knew I would be really frustrated after we left the lesson. I have been wondering why we even bother going back to her....honestly it is because the branch president has just kept asking us not to give up on her even when she tells us she doesnt want our help and doesnt want to talk about 'our God' or anything. Anyways, we only had 20 minutes left, I was tired and just wanted to start heading back home, but we ended up going anyway. And it was a miracle program.
It started off how it normally did....it was super awkward. Didnt really know what to talk about. She had even started to make fun of my hungarian a little. I just really wanted to leave. She tolds us that she found a job and things had finally started to look a little up for her. But when I looked at her, I knew she wasnt happy. And then the question just popped out of my mouth....M, are you really happy? She just turned and looked at me and I knew that I had asked the very question that she had been thinking herself. And it was just amazing as the spirit took over. I knew exactly what scriptures I needed to read with her. One of them spoke about being humble. She turned to us and said, 'I have been too prideful and havent listened to God. I am tired of following my own path. Will you help me be humble? It is a huge weakness of mine'. We ended up reading Ether 12:27 which used the exact phrasing of her question in the scripture. It was an amazing lesson. When we ended the lesson, we asked her to kneel down and say a prayer asking God what she needed to do. When we all kneeled down and she began her humble, repentant prayer, it just literally felt like we were all surrounded by angels. I just couldnt help but feeling an overwhelming amount of love for M even though she hasnt been very nice to us since the very first day I got here. All of that was forgotten and I just wanted nothing more that for her to just come back to church and come back to the Savior. That is exactly the same way that the Savior feels with us. When we repent and we have that desire to improve and do better, He doesnt care what we have done in the past, He just wants us to come unto Him and make a better life for ourselves in the future. He wants to lead us and guide us. And as we ask for His help, He will be more than willing to send it. Sometimes we are just too stubborn and prideful to recognize it. It was an awesome lesson.
When coming home, I made quite a few phone calls telling the branch members that they really needed to go over and see her. I couldnt help but think of the parable that Christ gave when a man who lost 1 coin out of 10 and when he finally found the coin he told all this neighbors and had a big feast so that they could also rejoice. It was an awesome learning experience for me. Being a missionary is the greatest blessing in the whole world! I love being a missionary! It is the greatest feeling in the whole world!
I know that through the Gospel, everyone can change. No matter what their circumstances or past mistakes are. I know that the gospel can literally lift burdens and guilt and shame away and replace it with peace, happiness, and forgiveness. The gospel is powerful. It can change people in an instance. We just have to be the ones who first decide to open our hearts. I love this gospel!
Love you all!
Falslev Nővér
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
I love being a missionary! Life couldn't get any better!
I seriously cannot believe another whole week has already passed. Time seems to go by so fast.
Our investigators are doing so well! We have had some good experiences this week.
We went over to see s and see how his leg was doing. I made him brownies but got a little impatient and the outside was burnt and the inside was delicious! haha! So we went and just got him some other treats. We also took him a new liahona. We found out that he knew a mormon guy where he was serving in the military and he really appreciated his standards. He also told us that he heard a lot about the BOM and he saw that his kids had one and so he thought he was going to start reading it. So we ended up going home, writing our testimonies in his own copy and gave him one. they are the coolest family ever! He also told me a lot about using the ROVER equipment and things that dad has done. it was fun to hear his stories. and being over behind enemy lines really got him thinking about what is most important in life. We were so happy!
I also had my last zone conference this week. It was such a good zone conference. We watched a short clip from the movie 'facing the giants'. this football coach is sick and tired of his team already thinking they are going to lose when playing games so he makes one of the leaders on the team do the 'death crawl' across the whole field. But the coach blindfolded him so he couldnt see how far he had come. the boy was only supposed to go 50 yards but he ended up going the whole field length. And it is so true with us....sometimes the world sets standards for us and we never think we can even reach them. But as we put our blindfold on and trust in our coach (Christ) we are able to accomplish a lot more than we ever thought possible. it was a really good conference and i learned a lot in it.
So on Friday, F called us and told us that he wanted us to come over and see a lamb slaughter. His son was graduating from 8th grade so they were throwing a big party the next day and going to slaughter this lamb. We didnt have time that night, so we sent the elders and they had so much fun. The next day, we went over to their house for dinner and it was the craziest ever. We had just gotten back from meeting with an RCLA and she had fed us TONS of food and then we went straight to F's. I wasnt really feeling very well either and so i was hoping to sneakily just get by with just taking a little bit of food. i almost got away with it, but at the last minute F saw so he grabbed my plate and he filled it up. And man, does he really know how to feel a plate! he put more on my plate than the elders! So much that food wasnt even staying on the plate. And this isnt like your typical well-balanced meal of veggies, bread, meat, etc....this is ALL just meat. Oh my gosh! I have never felt so sick but I sure did get a lot of help eating it! All the other missionaries were busting up laughing because they knew how full I already was and my companion got away with only eating a little. It was really nice to meet all of F's family though. They sure did make us feel like family haha! It was a good cultural experience for us. I love the F!
Also this week, we met with someone new named K. He asked us for BOM a few weeks ago and has come to sport day a few times. He was asking me all sorts of questions but was still a little hestitant to meet. But this week we finally met with him. And the program was awesome! The spirit was so strong but at the end he seemed a little nervous. i was super bummed at the end cause i honestly thought we had given him to much information and he was a little overwhelmed. Then just before church starts, i turn around and he came to church! And the whole meeting was just perfect for him! he told me that he could only stay for the 1st hour and after the first hour he asked if it was okay if he stayed for the whole church meeting. It was awesome!
But I think the highlight of my week this week was the M. I LOVE these girls! We have been through a lot with them this week, but it just makes me love them even more! These girls have so much to overcome in their circumstances but they have such pure and simple faith. it is wonderful to see. During the week V asked me if our sholders always had to be covered. i told her yes and explained a little about why. She came to church on sunday in a pretty blue dress with a pretty pink cardagain that covered her sholders. She wanted to be just like the Sisters and cover her sholders. Then we went over later Sunday night because V wanted to take us to her grandma's house to teach her grandma too. V was also wearing her cute pink cardagain to cover up her sholders. On the way over to her grandmas, she asked me if I was going to be coming to a camp with them branch on August 2nd. One of the members told her no that I would be going home. V turned to me in the most heart-breaking way and asked me in i would be there for her baptism on Aug. 17th. I told her no. V just stopped and ran to me and gave me the biggest hug I have ever got and started bawling. And that just got me bawling. I think that was really the first realization I've gotten how little time I have left. I am pretty sure i have given these girls my whole heart and when V started bawling, i just felt like my heart was starting to fall apart. i love this little family so much! We ended up continuing on to her grandma's house and it was like V was another companion and little sister missionary! She was helping me explain everything about the BOM to her grandma and was telling all of her cousins and everyone who would listen. I was so proud of her! I have learned so much from her! And i cant wait for her to finally be baptized. she has been waiting for so long!
I love being a missionary. This is the happiest time of my life. There is no where else or anything else I would rather be doing right now. I know that obeying the commandments and living gospel principlies is really trully what brings happiness in our lives. And sharing that with others brings joy that you cant even describe. I love being a missionary!
Love you all!
Falslev nővér
Our investigators are doing so well! We have had some good experiences this week.
We went over to see s and see how his leg was doing. I made him brownies but got a little impatient and the outside was burnt and the inside was delicious! haha! So we went and just got him some other treats. We also took him a new liahona. We found out that he knew a mormon guy where he was serving in the military and he really appreciated his standards. He also told us that he heard a lot about the BOM and he saw that his kids had one and so he thought he was going to start reading it. So we ended up going home, writing our testimonies in his own copy and gave him one. they are the coolest family ever! He also told me a lot about using the ROVER equipment and things that dad has done. it was fun to hear his stories. and being over behind enemy lines really got him thinking about what is most important in life. We were so happy!
I also had my last zone conference this week. It was such a good zone conference. We watched a short clip from the movie 'facing the giants'. this football coach is sick and tired of his team already thinking they are going to lose when playing games so he makes one of the leaders on the team do the 'death crawl' across the whole field. But the coach blindfolded him so he couldnt see how far he had come. the boy was only supposed to go 50 yards but he ended up going the whole field length. And it is so true with us....sometimes the world sets standards for us and we never think we can even reach them. But as we put our blindfold on and trust in our coach (Christ) we are able to accomplish a lot more than we ever thought possible. it was a really good conference and i learned a lot in it.
So on Friday, F called us and told us that he wanted us to come over and see a lamb slaughter. His son was graduating from 8th grade so they were throwing a big party the next day and going to slaughter this lamb. We didnt have time that night, so we sent the elders and they had so much fun. The next day, we went over to their house for dinner and it was the craziest ever. We had just gotten back from meeting with an RCLA and she had fed us TONS of food and then we went straight to F's. I wasnt really feeling very well either and so i was hoping to sneakily just get by with just taking a little bit of food. i almost got away with it, but at the last minute F saw so he grabbed my plate and he filled it up. And man, does he really know how to feel a plate! he put more on my plate than the elders! So much that food wasnt even staying on the plate. And this isnt like your typical well-balanced meal of veggies, bread, meat, etc....this is ALL just meat. Oh my gosh! I have never felt so sick but I sure did get a lot of help eating it! All the other missionaries were busting up laughing because they knew how full I already was and my companion got away with only eating a little. It was really nice to meet all of F's family though. They sure did make us feel like family haha! It was a good cultural experience for us. I love the F!
Also this week, we met with someone new named K. He asked us for BOM a few weeks ago and has come to sport day a few times. He was asking me all sorts of questions but was still a little hestitant to meet. But this week we finally met with him. And the program was awesome! The spirit was so strong but at the end he seemed a little nervous. i was super bummed at the end cause i honestly thought we had given him to much information and he was a little overwhelmed. Then just before church starts, i turn around and he came to church! And the whole meeting was just perfect for him! he told me that he could only stay for the 1st hour and after the first hour he asked if it was okay if he stayed for the whole church meeting. It was awesome!
But I think the highlight of my week this week was the M. I LOVE these girls! We have been through a lot with them this week, but it just makes me love them even more! These girls have so much to overcome in their circumstances but they have such pure and simple faith. it is wonderful to see. During the week V asked me if our sholders always had to be covered. i told her yes and explained a little about why. She came to church on sunday in a pretty blue dress with a pretty pink cardagain that covered her sholders. She wanted to be just like the Sisters and cover her sholders. Then we went over later Sunday night because V wanted to take us to her grandma's house to teach her grandma too. V was also wearing her cute pink cardagain to cover up her sholders. On the way over to her grandmas, she asked me if I was going to be coming to a camp with them branch on August 2nd. One of the members told her no that I would be going home. V turned to me in the most heart-breaking way and asked me in i would be there for her baptism on Aug. 17th. I told her no. V just stopped and ran to me and gave me the biggest hug I have ever got and started bawling. And that just got me bawling. I think that was really the first realization I've gotten how little time I have left. I am pretty sure i have given these girls my whole heart and when V started bawling, i just felt like my heart was starting to fall apart. i love this little family so much! We ended up continuing on to her grandma's house and it was like V was another companion and little sister missionary! She was helping me explain everything about the BOM to her grandma and was telling all of her cousins and everyone who would listen. I was so proud of her! I have learned so much from her! And i cant wait for her to finally be baptized. she has been waiting for so long!
I love being a missionary. This is the happiest time of my life. There is no where else or anything else I would rather be doing right now. I know that obeying the commandments and living gospel principlies is really trully what brings happiness in our lives. And sharing that with others brings joy that you cant even describe. I love being a missionary!
Love you all!
Falslev nővér
Monday, June 16, 2014
Another week already????
Wow. Time is going by so fast. This week has been crazy busy. Some of the funny things that happened this week though:
It is super hot here....and so we decided before we were going to eat lunch one day to soad our feet in cold water in the bathtub to cool down. Well my companion forgot to flip the water off from showerhead to bathtub (I still think she probably did it on purpose haha!) and so when I turned on the water I was expecting the water to come out from the bathtub but it came out from the showerhead and cooled me right down....in fact I just pretty much had a whole new shower that day! I was soaked! We laughed about it for a pretty long time.
Also this week, Sister Cropper was saying one of the prayers and I think as soon as I kneeled down, I just fell asleep. I dont remember any of the prayer. Anyways, she finished the prayer and I was still asleep so she just left me there for about 5 minutes before we had to go to a program. She woke me up and it scared me pretty bad. I had no idea I feel asleep. Its also been the joke for the week haha! The Lord really does give you energy to keep you going during the day....its just sometimes hard when you finally stop moving haha!
English Class - I felt like I needed to do the spiritual thought in english class this week. And I felt like I needed to share one specific verse 2 Nephi 25:26. But I didnt want to share it because that is exactly the same scripture that Sister Cropper shared last week. But I felt like I needed to do it and so I added a couple of other verses with that scripture and bore testimony of why I am a missionary and how much I love the gospel. There was one new person in our english class who spoke hardly any english, she was sitting in the very back. She started bawling when I shared the scipture. God really does know exactly what His children need.
Our investigators are doing well. We had a super crazy weekend with them all.
Saturday we went to a less actives daughters graduation and helped her with a lunch afterwards. All of her family was there who arent members so we got to talk to them a lot. Her niece was super nice and friendly to us and we got to talk to her for a while. She wanted to show us her dog so we went over to her house thinking we could just see this little cute dog. It was the biggest dog I have ever seen in my life. I think it was the same type of dog from the sandlot. It was huge! And as soon as he came to see us, he shook his head and all of his drool got all over us. We stunk like dog the rest of the day. I wish I could send some pictures of it home. You will have to wait til I get home to see.
Then as soon as that was over, we ran over to the branch house because the misionaries had volunteered to plan the branch activity. It was all sorts of crazy when we got there, a ton of people had come. We were all going over to have a hot dog roast and we had planned to do a 'Tree of Life' activity with them. We were waiting for some other investigators to come so all of our other investigators waited with us. When we were almost to where we would turn down a street to go to the place where the fire roast would be, I just had an overwhelming sense of what being a missionary really is. When we were walking, I was holding little M's hand, D had her arm wrapped around my other arm V was walking in front of me talking to me, S had to hands on my sholders trying to steer me, we had É and her family walking with us, B and her family, 4 less active members, and some other members walking with us. Then coming from the other direction I looked out and saw sister Smith walking with F and all of his family and some of their cousins. From a ways away, F waved to me and just had the biggest grin on his face. It was in just that small moment that I just really felt that this is what missionary work really is about. Bringing people along with you towards the Savior. We hadnt even started the actual activity but I started tearing up just looking at all these people whom I love so dearly and I just had the most overwhelming love for them. Being a missionary is seriously the best thing in the world! I love these people so much!!!!
The activity was awesome! We were a little bit disorganized but the spirit really helped! We set up a short rope course and had obstacles along the path. The elders were the tempters (and they did a good job...they got a lot of people off the rope...everytime they got off they had to 'repent' and start over) I was on the rope and I was the GATE on the path telling people what they would face on this journey. As each one of our investigators came to talk to me, I only had a short 1 minute or so to tell them what they needed to do in order to stay on the course to the tree. And one of those things they had to do was baptism. It was not a very long time to say anything, but it doesnt take a long time for the spirit to testify to someone. It turned out to be a really good activity. I think everyone learned a lot from it. Everyone eventually made it to the tree though....the little kids were the funniest because the elders could get them off the rope so easily! It was a really good activity.
Then we just got to roast marshmellows and hot dogs and let everyone talk with each other. it was a great day! And it was a great turn out!
And everyone liked it so much....they came to church! We had 11 investigators come to church yesterday. One of which was someone we had just talked to on the street. It was great we had so many people at church, but I am pretty sure I looked like a chicken with my head cut off. I have never been running in so many different directions once sacrament was over. Dealing with kids can be sure crazy sometimes. When church was done and all the craziness of the day was over, Sister Cropper and I took a deep breathe and started walking home to finally get some lunch. Just as we walked out the door, the bird decided to give us another wonderful gift of luck and pooped all over us....it got all over in my hair and other over Sister Croppers hair. I am so glad that the birds have decided to love us so much. I have never had problems with birds pooping on me until now. But we did get quite a good laugh from it. We really needed a good laugh!
It has just been an amazing week this week. This week I learned a lot about what is really means to change....not just your behavior but your nature and your character. And change all starts with what your desires are. That is why is it so important to have good desires and good thoughts. With every good or bad thing that happens, we are always changing - for better or for worse. That is why we are commanded to remember Christ at all times and in all places so we can become more like Him. I also found a new favorite quote: 'Brick walls are there for a reason, they let us prove how badly we want things.' We will find a way over the challenges 'brick walls' in our lives, if we just dont give up and let God help us find a way over them.
I love being a missionary. I love this work. God does live and He does know His children. This gospel is true. It is also the only true way to happiness in life. I love my life!
FAlslev Nővér
It is super hot here....and so we decided before we were going to eat lunch one day to soad our feet in cold water in the bathtub to cool down. Well my companion forgot to flip the water off from showerhead to bathtub (I still think she probably did it on purpose haha!) and so when I turned on the water I was expecting the water to come out from the bathtub but it came out from the showerhead and cooled me right down....in fact I just pretty much had a whole new shower that day! I was soaked! We laughed about it for a pretty long time.
Also this week, Sister Cropper was saying one of the prayers and I think as soon as I kneeled down, I just fell asleep. I dont remember any of the prayer. Anyways, she finished the prayer and I was still asleep so she just left me there for about 5 minutes before we had to go to a program. She woke me up and it scared me pretty bad. I had no idea I feel asleep. Its also been the joke for the week haha! The Lord really does give you energy to keep you going during the day....its just sometimes hard when you finally stop moving haha!
English Class - I felt like I needed to do the spiritual thought in english class this week. And I felt like I needed to share one specific verse 2 Nephi 25:26. But I didnt want to share it because that is exactly the same scripture that Sister Cropper shared last week. But I felt like I needed to do it and so I added a couple of other verses with that scripture and bore testimony of why I am a missionary and how much I love the gospel. There was one new person in our english class who spoke hardly any english, she was sitting in the very back. She started bawling when I shared the scipture. God really does know exactly what His children need.
Our investigators are doing well. We had a super crazy weekend with them all.
Saturday we went to a less actives daughters graduation and helped her with a lunch afterwards. All of her family was there who arent members so we got to talk to them a lot. Her niece was super nice and friendly to us and we got to talk to her for a while. She wanted to show us her dog so we went over to her house thinking we could just see this little cute dog. It was the biggest dog I have ever seen in my life. I think it was the same type of dog from the sandlot. It was huge! And as soon as he came to see us, he shook his head and all of his drool got all over us. We stunk like dog the rest of the day. I wish I could send some pictures of it home. You will have to wait til I get home to see.
Then as soon as that was over, we ran over to the branch house because the misionaries had volunteered to plan the branch activity. It was all sorts of crazy when we got there, a ton of people had come. We were all going over to have a hot dog roast and we had planned to do a 'Tree of Life' activity with them. We were waiting for some other investigators to come so all of our other investigators waited with us. When we were almost to where we would turn down a street to go to the place where the fire roast would be, I just had an overwhelming sense of what being a missionary really is. When we were walking, I was holding little M's hand, D had her arm wrapped around my other arm V was walking in front of me talking to me, S had to hands on my sholders trying to steer me, we had É and her family walking with us, B and her family, 4 less active members, and some other members walking with us. Then coming from the other direction I looked out and saw sister Smith walking with F and all of his family and some of their cousins. From a ways away, F waved to me and just had the biggest grin on his face. It was in just that small moment that I just really felt that this is what missionary work really is about. Bringing people along with you towards the Savior. We hadnt even started the actual activity but I started tearing up just looking at all these people whom I love so dearly and I just had the most overwhelming love for them. Being a missionary is seriously the best thing in the world! I love these people so much!!!!
The activity was awesome! We were a little bit disorganized but the spirit really helped! We set up a short rope course and had obstacles along the path. The elders were the tempters (and they did a good job...they got a lot of people off the rope...everytime they got off they had to 'repent' and start over) I was on the rope and I was the GATE on the path telling people what they would face on this journey. As each one of our investigators came to talk to me, I only had a short 1 minute or so to tell them what they needed to do in order to stay on the course to the tree. And one of those things they had to do was baptism. It was not a very long time to say anything, but it doesnt take a long time for the spirit to testify to someone. It turned out to be a really good activity. I think everyone learned a lot from it. Everyone eventually made it to the tree though....the little kids were the funniest because the elders could get them off the rope so easily! It was a really good activity.
Then we just got to roast marshmellows and hot dogs and let everyone talk with each other. it was a great day! And it was a great turn out!
And everyone liked it so much....they came to church! We had 11 investigators come to church yesterday. One of which was someone we had just talked to on the street. It was great we had so many people at church, but I am pretty sure I looked like a chicken with my head cut off. I have never been running in so many different directions once sacrament was over. Dealing with kids can be sure crazy sometimes. When church was done and all the craziness of the day was over, Sister Cropper and I took a deep breathe and started walking home to finally get some lunch. Just as we walked out the door, the bird decided to give us another wonderful gift of luck and pooped all over us....it got all over in my hair and other over Sister Croppers hair. I am so glad that the birds have decided to love us so much. I have never had problems with birds pooping on me until now. But we did get quite a good laugh from it. We really needed a good laugh!
It has just been an amazing week this week. This week I learned a lot about what is really means to change....not just your behavior but your nature and your character. And change all starts with what your desires are. That is why is it so important to have good desires and good thoughts. With every good or bad thing that happens, we are always changing - for better or for worse. That is why we are commanded to remember Christ at all times and in all places so we can become more like Him. I also found a new favorite quote: 'Brick walls are there for a reason, they let us prove how badly we want things.' We will find a way over the challenges 'brick walls' in our lives, if we just dont give up and let God help us find a way over them.
I love being a missionary. I love this work. God does live and He does know His children. This gospel is true. It is also the only true way to happiness in life. I love my life!
FAlslev Nővér
Monday, June 9, 2014
A crazy week of adventures!!!!
Wow! Time is just flying by so fast! I cant believe it! I feel like I just emailed you all yesterday! Things are really just going wonderful here. We have had the best week ever!
We started teaching one of the members boyfriend this week and it is going awesome! He is already reading out of the BOM and our first program was awesome with him. He came to church yesterday and loved it. It is amazing how much better and smoother the programs go when members are so involved with the lessons. It goes a lot smoother when they already have friends and have someone they trust!
This week was also very interesting. We had a lot of weird run ins with birds this week....the first one being the most interesting. We had been streeting and decided to stop for a little ice cream break. We were sitting down and eating ice cream when this lady we had streeted just a few days earlier saw us and came over to show us her cute 3 month old baby. She was adorable!! As we were standing there looking at how cute this little baby was, I felt something land in my hair. I reached up to see what it was and sure enough, to my great pleasure, there was bird poop all over in my hair. But this bird was really smart, it didn't just me, it got all three of us. The lady's jacket was covered with it but she didn't care because she was really in love with showing us her little baby. She just kept right on talking with us. So I wiped the disgusting bird poop out of my hair with my little ice cream napkin and we moved over about 10 feet or so and kept talking with this lady. About 5 or 10 minutes later, I felt another BIG drop all over my arm. I looked down and my arm is just covered in bird poop. DISGUSTING! And I didn't have any more napkins to wipe it off. It also landed all over the little babies car seat thing and got a little on the baby. But the lady was so into her baby that she didn't even care. It was so funny! I cannot believe I got pooped on not just once but TWICE! Even after I moved! But apparently, getting pooped on by a bird here in Hungary means you will have a lot of luck....so getting pooped on twice just means all the more luck, right? Haha! So funny!
We also got to see a storks nest with 3 little babies in it. Those nests are huge! And so are the birds! And we also found a little baby birds nest right by our apartment door that have 5 baby birds in it. The little boys in our apartment get so excited to have us see the birds whenever we come home. Today we were also walking along the road, when a little bird fell out of its nest right in front of us and dropped on the ground. It was very confused and had no idea what to do. So needless to say....birds have been our best friend this week haha!
I also got to go to a Hungarian hospital this week. We were visiting one of the less active members there. I will just say that Hungarian hospitals are very different from ones than I am used to. I am so grateful so technology! It was a little crazy going to see the hospital here.
Our investigators are doing awesome. We had a program with D, A, and G and did trust falls with them and talked to them about faith. I think it was a really powerful lesson for them all. They all wanted to say the prayer at the end so we all let them say a prayer. And they actually prayed for things they wanted. Hearing a child say a sincere prayer is one of the most tender moments. No wonder God loves His children so much. It was such a good and fun lesson!
On Saturday, we had the craziest day but it was so good! We had a sport day and played soccer. We have been trying to get a lot more people to come and this weekend we ended up having 22 people come! And all of them were our investigators besides 2 members. It was awesome! And crazy! The night before, at game night, we met A and G's dad. He has been serving over in Afghanistan and just got home a little over a week ago. He is awesome! It was so cool to talk to him. I was talking about his time over there and he started telling me a little about his job. He trains other soldiers to use equipment and things. I asked him if he had ever heard of the predator airplane and he said of course! He said he has used that lots over there and that is has been their eyes. He said that it was saving tons of lives there. They couldn't have done a lot of what they did without it. I thought that would be good for dad to here! IT was cool to talk to him about it. He speaks perfect English of course too so that made it a little easier to talk about military things.
Anyways, so we invited him and his family to sport day and they said they were all going to come. Super awesome family! So he comes to sport day a little late and we had so many people he was trying to figure out who was on who's team. Anyways, he starts to play on our team and he is super good at soccer! After about 15 or 20 minutes of playing, he lifted up his daughter on his back and then the ball came over to him. So he too quickly put his daughter down and we all heard a big pop and he was down for the count. I felt horrible. Anyways, long story short, they went to the hospital and we went over and visited them later that day. We found out he tore his Achilles tendon and has to have surgery on it and it will take 2 months to recover. It was so sad! But he was super nice about it! So that was crazy.
Right after sport day, we came over to the Smiths to have a program with F and his family. They made us stuffed cabbage. It was delicious! We had another good program with F and he still wants to be baptized. He has read a lot and is doing good!
E is doing well. We had a lot of good programs with her this week. I love her family so much! She is going to have to make some really tough decisions in her life. But we had some members there and they told about their conversion stories. These members are my hero's! They sacrifice so much. They really are so strong here. I just love these Hungarian people so much.
Yesterday was also a little crazy. All of the M came to church and a few other children. And we found out after sacrament meeting that the person who was teaching primary couldn't stay so we had to do a last minute lesson. It was so crazy but we had a lot of fun! It was fun acting like a little kid again and singing all the primary songs. We taught them the song, 'do as I'm doing' and they loved it! It has been a great week!
This week I was learning a lot about patience. I have been learning so much about the Christlike attributes. This was my favorite scripture I found on patience: Hebrews 12:1 'let us lay aside every weight...and run with patience the race that is set before us'. We are all in Gods hands. When we trust in Him, the weight of the world doesn't have to weigh us down. We just have to keep running and keep being obedient to what the Lord has commanded us. I love this gospel and am so happy! I love being a missionary! Best thing I have ever done in my life! Love you all! Have a great week!
Falslev Nover :)
We started teaching one of the members boyfriend this week and it is going awesome! He is already reading out of the BOM and our first program was awesome with him. He came to church yesterday and loved it. It is amazing how much better and smoother the programs go when members are so involved with the lessons. It goes a lot smoother when they already have friends and have someone they trust!
This week was also very interesting. We had a lot of weird run ins with birds this week....the first one being the most interesting. We had been streeting and decided to stop for a little ice cream break. We were sitting down and eating ice cream when this lady we had streeted just a few days earlier saw us and came over to show us her cute 3 month old baby. She was adorable!! As we were standing there looking at how cute this little baby was, I felt something land in my hair. I reached up to see what it was and sure enough, to my great pleasure, there was bird poop all over in my hair. But this bird was really smart, it didn't just me, it got all three of us. The lady's jacket was covered with it but she didn't care because she was really in love with showing us her little baby. She just kept right on talking with us. So I wiped the disgusting bird poop out of my hair with my little ice cream napkin and we moved over about 10 feet or so and kept talking with this lady. About 5 or 10 minutes later, I felt another BIG drop all over my arm. I looked down and my arm is just covered in bird poop. DISGUSTING! And I didn't have any more napkins to wipe it off. It also landed all over the little babies car seat thing and got a little on the baby. But the lady was so into her baby that she didn't even care. It was so funny! I cannot believe I got pooped on not just once but TWICE! Even after I moved! But apparently, getting pooped on by a bird here in Hungary means you will have a lot of luck....so getting pooped on twice just means all the more luck, right? Haha! So funny!
We also got to see a storks nest with 3 little babies in it. Those nests are huge! And so are the birds! And we also found a little baby birds nest right by our apartment door that have 5 baby birds in it. The little boys in our apartment get so excited to have us see the birds whenever we come home. Today we were also walking along the road, when a little bird fell out of its nest right in front of us and dropped on the ground. It was very confused and had no idea what to do. So needless to say....birds have been our best friend this week haha!
I also got to go to a Hungarian hospital this week. We were visiting one of the less active members there. I will just say that Hungarian hospitals are very different from ones than I am used to. I am so grateful so technology! It was a little crazy going to see the hospital here.
Our investigators are doing awesome. We had a program with D, A, and G and did trust falls with them and talked to them about faith. I think it was a really powerful lesson for them all. They all wanted to say the prayer at the end so we all let them say a prayer. And they actually prayed for things they wanted. Hearing a child say a sincere prayer is one of the most tender moments. No wonder God loves His children so much. It was such a good and fun lesson!
On Saturday, we had the craziest day but it was so good! We had a sport day and played soccer. We have been trying to get a lot more people to come and this weekend we ended up having 22 people come! And all of them were our investigators besides 2 members. It was awesome! And crazy! The night before, at game night, we met A and G's dad. He has been serving over in Afghanistan and just got home a little over a week ago. He is awesome! It was so cool to talk to him. I was talking about his time over there and he started telling me a little about his job. He trains other soldiers to use equipment and things. I asked him if he had ever heard of the predator airplane and he said of course! He said he has used that lots over there and that is has been their eyes. He said that it was saving tons of lives there. They couldn't have done a lot of what they did without it. I thought that would be good for dad to here! IT was cool to talk to him about it. He speaks perfect English of course too so that made it a little easier to talk about military things.
Anyways, so we invited him and his family to sport day and they said they were all going to come. Super awesome family! So he comes to sport day a little late and we had so many people he was trying to figure out who was on who's team. Anyways, he starts to play on our team and he is super good at soccer! After about 15 or 20 minutes of playing, he lifted up his daughter on his back and then the ball came over to him. So he too quickly put his daughter down and we all heard a big pop and he was down for the count. I felt horrible. Anyways, long story short, they went to the hospital and we went over and visited them later that day. We found out he tore his Achilles tendon and has to have surgery on it and it will take 2 months to recover. It was so sad! But he was super nice about it! So that was crazy.
Right after sport day, we came over to the Smiths to have a program with F and his family. They made us stuffed cabbage. It was delicious! We had another good program with F and he still wants to be baptized. He has read a lot and is doing good!
E is doing well. We had a lot of good programs with her this week. I love her family so much! She is going to have to make some really tough decisions in her life. But we had some members there and they told about their conversion stories. These members are my hero's! They sacrifice so much. They really are so strong here. I just love these Hungarian people so much.
Yesterday was also a little crazy. All of the M came to church and a few other children. And we found out after sacrament meeting that the person who was teaching primary couldn't stay so we had to do a last minute lesson. It was so crazy but we had a lot of fun! It was fun acting like a little kid again and singing all the primary songs. We taught them the song, 'do as I'm doing' and they loved it! It has been a great week!
This week I was learning a lot about patience. I have been learning so much about the Christlike attributes. This was my favorite scripture I found on patience: Hebrews 12:1 'let us lay aside every weight...and run with patience the race that is set before us'. We are all in Gods hands. When we trust in Him, the weight of the world doesn't have to weigh us down. We just have to keep running and keep being obedient to what the Lord has commanded us. I love this gospel and am so happy! I love being a missionary! Best thing I have ever done in my life! Love you all! Have a great week!
Falslev Nover :)
Monday, June 2, 2014
Another week FULL of Miracles!!!!!
Wow! This week has been FANTASTIC!!!! I just really feel like I am on top of the world right now....well I guess I am according to Hungarians. You go to other places but when you come to Hungary, they literally say that you come onto Hungarian...that Hungary is like a higher place. They are so funny! And so right! Hungary is just the best!
Well funny story of the week...last week in english class, one of the students came up and told me that I would be a 7 million forint wife in I was from the country he was from because I am so white haha! I laughed so hard! So for about minutes our whole english classed talked about how white I am. I have been laughing about it so hard this whole week! I love Hungarians!
Our investigators are doing so well. I just love them so much!
J. She is a young girl and she has been meeting with the sisters for quite a while. She has just recently started reading out of the BOM and it is amazing how much people start to progress when they act and just READ!!!! (If you ever want Heavenly Father to really bless you, just act...all the blesses just start pouring out!) and anyways, we had a super awesome program about baptism. Such a great program and she is praying about getting baptized. She is an awesome girl!
The M are doing well. Unfortunately they got in trouble this week so of course, the logical punishment is to not let them go to church or let them meet with the sisters. So it is going to be a long week without meeting with them :( I am going to miss them! This week though they were doing good and reading a lot. We also taught them some other primary songs to sing in a piano recital we had on Saturday. They did so good! And they loved singing the songs. We sing them every time we go over to their house now and its amazing how well it brings in the spirit. One day we went, the whole family was fighting and it was just pretty chaotic. I told the kids we were just going to start singing the songs we learn and by the time we finished singing, everything was calmed down and we were able to start our lesson. I just love those girls so much!!!!!!
D, G and A. They are awesome! This week we had them be the teachers and they taught us the Plan of Salvation. I was so proud of them! They really have learned a lot! We gave them little CTR rings and they thought they were the greatest thing in the world. And the lesson was just amazing...I am FINALLY really starting to learn how to teach kids. They opened up a lot more around us and it just felt good to finally teach a lesson that they actually really understood. They are the coolest kids ever!
So I have been studying every week on a Christlike attribute and this week the attribute was Knowledge. I realized that when I decide that I want to study/learn something, God provides me with the experiences I need to learn. We have to desire to learn and then act before God can lead us to where we need to go. Anyways, it was amazing to see how the Lord really helped me use everything I have been learning over the past couple of weeks to really experience miracles this week. A couple of examples:
We met with a less active member and we were a little late to the program. Anyways, to make a really long story short, she was really not happy that we were late and because we were late she wanted to make sure we knew how mad she was. It was turning into one of the most frustrating lessons and I almost got to the point where I just wanted to stand up and leave instead of teach her....but I had remembered that morning I had read a scripture in Moroni about praying with all our hearts for charity and love. I prayed so hard that I could just somehow love her and be patient. And my whole entire outlook just changed. I just bore a simple and sincere testimony to her and said we needed to leave. She made it clear that she would not be coming to church for a long time and we left. And then came the MIRACLE! She came to church. And she got up and bore her testimony of how she had let in anger and bitterness. When she was angry and bitter, she couldnt continue to follow Christ and turned her anger toward everyone else. It was a total transformation from when we had met with her just a few days before. The gospel and the Atonement really can change anyone.
Saturday we had a really fun piano program and President and Sister Smith came and so did F and all his family. They actually sang some songs in the program. WE also had a ton of other people come to see it and it turned out to be really nice!
President and Sister Smith stayed the night and came to church the next day. It was such a good sacrament meeting. F came and it was really good for him. He learned a lot during church! President also came to a meeting with the missionaries and the ward members and we talked more about working together. The members are awesome here! The work is really going to start moving forward in this little branch. But the biggest miracle yesterday was the program last night at F's house.
Teaching at F's house it always a bit of a challenge. It is usually pretty loud and hard to get people to listen. So we said a really heartfelt prayer for help during this program. Anyways, the fed us some birds that they had killed that day and some other delicious food! And things were getting a little crazy again. Then I just finally got up enough courage to tell them that we had something important to say and that they all needed to sit down. F sat right down, and we started reading out of the scriptures out of Nephi 27 about the gospel of Jesus Christ. As soon as we started reading, everyone started to calm down. It was by far the most powerful program I have ever had with him. As I was teaching about baptizm, everything that I have been learning about lately just came to mind, I was able to say everything clearly and perfectly in a way that they understood, and the spirit really was the one that took over and told F what he needed to here. The whole family was quite for over an hour!!!!! That is a MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And F wants to be baptized on July 20th. And his brother in law came and sat in on the program and he would also like to be baptized now and start meeting with us. I really stand trully all amazed at what the spirit can do with people. Reading the scriptures are powerful. Prayer is powerful. And there is absolutely no way to describe how powerful until you actually experience it for yourself. It was an amazing program!
Right after that program we had a program with É and her family. T actually listened to us and we taught him. He said he will pray with his family! He wont say the prayer yet, but just to get him to do something with his family is a huge miracle!
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!
This week I also learned that the gift of tongues isnt always for you to speak perfect Hungarian...its for the others to listen and to actually understand what the spirit it trying to tell them. God gifts really are true. God really does fulfill His promises.
I love being a missionary. It is amazing to see all the miracles and blessings that God gives to those who just do what He asks. God does bless the obedient. I just love being in this country and serving the Lord! This really is the greatest work to be doing! I love you all!
Falslev Nővér
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