4 months since I left!! Weird!!!

I cant believe it has already been 4 months since I left!!! Time is so weird on a mission. It goes by so incredibly fast. It is the greatest though.

This week has been super hard but so great at the same time. Sister Behunin got to travel around Hungary twice this week while sister Fresh and I tried to hold things together here. It was quite an experience for both of us. I don't think I have ever laughed so much! We had a lot of funny experiences because we have no idea what we are doing or what anyone is saying. So we just laugh and it makes it all better. Laughter really is the best medicine. The first time that Sister Behunin left, we had 2 programs. One was in English and that went really well and the other was with one of our progressing investigators - the one that is getting baptized on June 22. We went over the baptisimal questions with him and it was so funny because he talked a lot but we had no idea what he was saying. We had a member present and we think everything is okay though. The funniest part of the whole program was when he started to try to explain how to get to their house. We were going to meet at their house to teach his mom because his mom wants to also be baptized on June 22 and we hadn't even met with her yet. So we were trying really hard to understand how to get to his house but we couldn't understand anything they were saying. So him, his little sister and a church member decided they would write it in Hungarian in my planner thinking that would help us understand better. They all hovered over my planner and were arguing over the best way to write it in my planner. All three of them were talking at the same time talking about what the best way to explain to us how to get to their house. Finally sister Fresh and I just looked at each other and started laughing and everyone just started laughing too. It really was such a great lesson and it actually helped the investigator and his sister get to know Sister Fresh and I better. We had sister Behunin call them later and she couldn't figure it out either so that made us feel better. They ended up meeting us and taking us to their house. It was forever away!!!

Speaking of going to their house, it was an awesome experience! It was such a good program and such a good experience for me. We are so blessed in America! Their family lived in a little 1 room home and they have 6 people in their family. They are such a kind family though. The dad is atheist and he had a lot of questions for us. and the mom needs to know a lot more before she can be baptized. His dad asked us to come back next week to teach him though so we are teaching his whole family now! And our investigator was helping teach his family with us. It was awesome. He is just so excited to be baptized. It was really good for us to see. He is such an awesome kid. He is 20 and his little sister is his little shadow. They are literally never separated. They are awesome!

So Fresh and I survived the 1st time without Behunin pretty well. The 2nd time was a little bit rougher though. We had a program with  a 15 year old girl that is pretty quiet. We had a member there but they didn't speak any english and she didn't say anything. Anyways, it was a really rough lesson and we challenged her to be baptized. That didn't go over to well but she said she would still meet again with us this week. It was a really hard lesson but we learned a lot from it! As soon as the lesson was down we went downstairs in the branch house and the elders asked us how it went. Fresh and I just looked at each other and laughed and laughed and laughed. It was the worst lesson but we did it!!! And we laughed about it after. Then we went to go tabling after that and of course the police would come up when it is just us two at the table because we have no idea what we are doing and we don't speak any Hungarian. Luckily the elders came and saved the day!!! The cops just wanted to know what we were doing and see if we were selling anything without a permit. The elders have been so nice and helpful to us when sister Behunin leaves. Although I haven't figured out if its because they are nice or they just like to laugh at the messes that Sister Fresh and I get in. We make pretty good entertainment when we are trying to speak Hungarian to people. haha!

Also from sister Behunins fun 2nd trip she lost her missionary debit card, over 100 dollars in cash and her pass for the metro everywhere. So that has been a little stressful for us because we cant go very many places and its just been a crazy week!

This week was also trash week. Trash was everywhere!!! You could hardly walk on the streets it is so dirty! The homeless people love this day and people take off work to look for stuff they want from other peoples houses. It is crazy!!!

This week we have been able to see a lot of miracles! We are meeting with another investigator and she is awesome! She is totally going to get baptized. Elder Walker family came and picked him up from his mission this week and while they were here they decided to put on a program for everyone in all the areas he served. It was so awesome!!! It was something the people here really needed. They don't ever see what normal family life is...a lot of people have nothing like the family that we do. I am so grateful for our family!!! His family sang songs and showed pictures and things. The spirit was so strong!!! We had quite a few investigators come and a lot of them were just bawling because they had never seen a family so happy before. 2 of them said that this is what Hungary needs - happy families who love each other. It was awesome! Anyways, our investigatorand her friend  LOVED it! They were both crying and taking pictures during the whole program. They had a lot of questions for us afterwards. They said that everytime they come into the church house they just feel a feeling of peace and a feeling that they cant explain. It was so good! We met with her yesterday also and she just kept telling us that there is something here about the people in our church and she is going to find it. We are helping her find it :) And she thinks the law of chastity is the coolest thing ever which was a huge relief to us!!!

A couple of other investigators also came to the walkers program. They are the greatest. We had to hand them over to the pest sisters but they come to english class here and they love doing stuff with us! I love them both! They made us homemade chocolate chip cookies (we cant get them here because there is no brown sugar). They also loved the program and asked if all families were that happy in America. They wanted to have a family like that someday.

Also after the walker program, one of the elders investigators who I have kinda gotten to know pretty well  came up to me and told me she had a secret. She whispered to me that she was going to get baptized in July and I am so excited for her!! It was really a tender mercy for me at that time that she was so excited to tell me about it! She said she had been waiting to see me again so she could tell me! She is so happy and I am so excited for her!

Well I think that is about everything that has happened this week. It has been a crazy exciting week! It has made me so grateful that I have such a wonderful family back home where I really know I am loved. So many people want that in their life and I am blessed enough to have that. That is really what is most important in this life. Family is literally everything. I have been given so much and taken so much for granted in my life. It is wonderful being able to be a missionary and help these people feel what true happiness really is and help show them that families can be happy. That families can work out. It is definitely hard being away from such a great family, but there is nothing like helping people everyday and telling them about the Gospel. We are so blessed! I am so amazed everyday at how much the Lord pours out blessing after blessing upon me and on our family. The Lord really does love us so much! He loves all His children. I love being a missionary!!!

Love you all lots! hope you are all doing well!

Falslev Nővér

a good picture of the view of the trash from our house. That was just in one day!

Fresh and I made hungarian breakfast burritos to celebrate us making it through a day without Behunin! It was really fun. We did everything from scratch! They were delicious!

we also got caught in another downpour on the way home from the grocery store. It was so much fun! We finally just stopped running and just walked home and enjoyed it since we were soaked. When it rains, it pours here.

Trash day...the pile just right outside our apartment. THere were piles everywhere!!

sister Behunin is super short...so of course a lot of people makes jokes about her. We all said that there was no way she could give me a piggy back ride because my legs would touch the ground. She proved us wrong. She is one little fire ball!!!! I love her!!! 

Hero Square. They have statues everywhere too. Im not sure what the entire story is of these statues. sorry! I know there is some significance to it.

a view of the bath house. The buildings are so beautiful here! And the lawns too.

So we found out this week exactly what sister Behunin will be doing with her new calling. I didnt think it sounded too crazy at first but I am quickly coming to realize how hard it will be for all of us. She is going to be going to different cities where sisters are and training them. She will be gone at least 1-2 times a weeks for 24 hours at a time plus the travel time to get to whatever city she goes to. I didnt think it sounded that crazy but it actually will leave sister Fresh and I alone to do a lot of the teaching with our investigators. Kinda nerve wracking but that is how we will learn the language faster. Sister Behunin leaves this afternoon and wont get home til late tomorrow night, then she leaves wednesday afternoon and wont get home til either late thursday night or maybe friday morning. Luckily the members here are really nice and are willing to help us out! We really couldnt do it without the members here! They are awesome! It will be really good for sister Fresh and I. Sister Behunin is one super busy sister! I am just glad I dont have to do what she does haha!

This week has been so awesome! I just love being in Hungary!! We have been having so much fun and we have seen so many miracles this week! We had the best lessons with one of our investigators. He is getting baptized June 22 and he is so excited! He wants to serve a mission and is asking us lots of questions of what he can do it order to be a missionary now. He said he wanted to look like a mormon at church now and so yesterday he wore a full on suit the whole time for the first time. That is quite an accomplishment because it is pretty hot here. He is just so ready to be baptized! he cannot wait to be a member. And the coolest thing was that his mom was really against him being baptized. We found out that the missionaries taught him and his family about 9 years ago and he remembered them from when he was a little boy. Then when he saw the missionaries he just remembered how he felt when he was little and wanted to talk to them. His mom was very against him being baptized and that is why he didnt get baptized earlier. They are catholic and so him mom said that they were going to stay catholic. But he called us yesterday and told us that he talked to his mom and told her about the church and now she wants to be baptized on the same day as him. So we have a new baptisimal date and we havent even met her in person yet! She has been taught all the lessons I guess a long time ago. And his little sister wants to be baptized...they want her to wait til she is a little older though. We will see what happens with her. It is so cool! I hope I will stay in Buda so I can be there for their baptism! Everyone thinks I will most likely leave though. 

We also got another really awesome investigator  this week that I really feel like will get baptized. We had an awesome program with her! She works at Nu Skin here in Hungary (a lot of people work for Nu Skin in our ward here - that is how quite a few heard about the church because the company headquarters is in Salt Lake City). She came to church last week and to a few other things but she didnt want to talk to the missionaries at first. We didnt know why. We found out yesterday that she just wanted to find out more about the church and didnt want to feel like she was being sold something. She came to all of church and then we met with her for over 2 hours after church. It was such an awesome program! She is so prepared. She was telling us how she really trusts the members who work at nu skin and she has seen something in them - something that makes them happy and they know who they are. She has seen something different in them and she wants that in her life. She said she felt so good at church and even though it was really strange, she felt like that was exaclty where she needed to be even though she didnt know why. It was such a good program! And we had the best member there! She is just the best. We are going to have a family night tonight with her family and our investigator. I am really excited but REALLY nervous for it. Sister Behunin is going to be leaving to miskolc so Fresh and I are by ourselves. Luckily members will be there but we are pretty nervous. Our investigator is really super patient though and is also trying to learn English so she understands and is way cool about us struggling trying to say things. 

This week we've been able to meet with a ton of new people and they have all set up with again so that was great! We are working so well together as a companionship. We have a lot of fun but get a lot of work done as well. We had a lot of our investigators come to church yesterday too which was a huge deal. especially for people in Hungary. They said they all loved it too so hopefully they will keep coming. 

I cant believe how fast time is going. I really honestly feel like I just got here and its already halfway through May! I feel like I came into a different time zone since I came on a mission. Its weird. I love being a missionary and helping people. It is an amazing experience to help make people truly happy in their life. There really is nothing else I would rather be doing right now even though it is so hard. 

Well I love you all and hope everything is going great! Thanks for all the letters and everything! Love you guys!

Falslev Nővér

This is the view from Buda Castle. 

Buda Castle

Szia family!

Well i dont know if I have much more to tell you since I just talked to you yesterday but I figured I just send out another email. It was so good to see you all! Time just goes by way too quick!

Transfer weeks are crazy here. I feel like it has been especially crazy for me since I was the only one who stayed in this area and i wasnt really planning on staying without my trainer. But it has been great! I LOVE sister Fresh and sister Behunin. They are so great! And we all get along really good!!! which is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time haha! we all like to talk so often we are running behind schedule. but it is great! and our district is awesome. The elders are so funny here!

Well our craziest part of the week was just when sister Behunin left to kecskemét overnight. So that just left sister fresh and I who have only been here 6 weeks to teach our programs. It was so scary but we survived!! I got really good at just looking at people and nodding my head pretending i understood when really I had no idea what was going on. It was pretty funny yesterday, Sister Fresh and I were watching the District for some of our studies yesterday and it just said that one of the most important things you could do for your investigators is to listen. We looked at each other and just laughed because it doesnt matter how well we listen...we dont understand a thing! But it will come with time. we just hope sooner rather than later. We find out this week what exactly sister Behunin is doing. She is (in lack of a better word) a zone leader for the sisters in the mission so she will be gone a lot training. We just arent sure for how long or how often. She is really good at teaching us though and really good at teaching the language. I have already learned a ton from her! She is really patient! Other than that, nothing else really much has happened....its just kinda been a crazy week with transfers and getting everyone all situated. It will be a very interesting transfer for a lot of companionships because most of the sister are just in companionships of 2 instead of 3. And we have a lot of new sisters dont understand the language. Im sure we will be able to see miracles though! I am so excited for this new transfer and all that I will be able to learn! It really is an amazing experience to be on a mission! I love it! and i am learning a ton! Love you all lots!

Falslev Nővér

This is our door to our apartment. it takes us forever to get in and out of our apartment with all the locks on it! 

This was our celebration the first night we were together. It was sister Behunins year mark in the country and we also found these cool glasses in our apartment so we decided to do a toast. We had peach and pear juice. The juices are so delicious here in hungary!!!!

TRANSFERS

Szia family!!

I am so excited to get to skype with you this week! I am so excited!  I am excited to see everyone.

Today has been a really crazy day. really crazy! Transfers went a lot different than we thought. A couple weeks ago, president smith told sister kennedy that she would be staying in Buda with me and we would be getting another companion. but something must have happened and we are all getting split up. Sister Kennedy is training again and opening a new area for sisters in szeged and sister Larsen is going to nyeregháza and opening another new area for sisters. I'm a little stressed out because that means I need to know how to get to all our investigators houses and Buda is really big! And i haven't really payed to much attention to where we are going because I thought sister Kennedy would be here. Bad idea on my part. I hope it goes okay. Today is just going to be a crazy day getting everything ready. My new companions are Sister Behunin and Sister Fresh!!!! I am really excited! Sister Fresh was my comp in the MTC so I'm so relieved she is with me again! We really get along! And sister Behunin is just great! She was training my other companion sister Broadhead and she has served with both sister larsen and sister kennedy. I am really excited for it! I just hope I can  remember everything I need to! Just a little stressed about it. And we also found out that they are going to have sister leaders in the mission too - basically like zone leaders who go around and train different sisters. Sister Behunin is one of the new sister leaders so president told me that she will be gone a lot and sometimes for days at a time. So that means that Sister Fresh and I will be teaching, calling people, and everything on our own a lot of the time. Just a little stressful! haha! But I know it will really make me stress and I will really have to learn the language. It will hopefully get me learning it faster and using it more. Its just crazy because we have both only been out for 6 weeks!

Some funny things that happened to us this last week is we went to a family night last night with the cutest family ever! The mom was just recently baptized in December and they have 3 adorable little boys! We taught them about the plan of salvation and at the end I pulled out some pictures of our family and they got SO EXCITED!! All the boys just kept saying 'look! Its a real mormon family!!!' They don't speak any english but that is all that they can say in English. It was really cute! They loved seeing pictures of the family! So people love pictures over here so if you ever want to send me more, feel free too! haha!

Another funny thing that happened yesterday was that we were on our way home and it just started to sprinkle. We just kept walking and then all the sudden it just started to DOWN POUR!!! and i mean DOWN POUR! It was so crazy! We were close to a bridge so we ran underneath it. I have never seen so much water in my life. We were there for about 10 minutes and we really needed to get home. It had started to let up just a little and so we figured that it was just continue to slowly let up. So we decided to run home. It didn't let up at all. It poured even harder as soon as we left the bridge! Then we had to wait for the light to turn green so we could cross the street. We were standing a little too close to the street and this huge van came by and got us SOAKED!!!! My skirt was drenched and so were my shoes. I had to keep a hold of my skirt cause i thought it was going to fall off! Then as soon as we get to our apartment door, it just stops raining. It was so funny!!! We were soaked and we all had a pretty good laugh.

I also had the terrifying experiencing of cutting someones hair. Ya so terrifying! Sister Kennedy needed a haircut so she told me to cut her hair and so i did! I was terrified. But it turned out good! Thanks for the new haircutting sisscors mom! They work great! I'm just learning all sorts of new things out here!

I see that you all saw Noémi's video. She is such an awesome girl! I just love her! She is going to take us on a tour of Buda today so that will be fun! I had no idea they were taking video of us....i thought it may have just been pictures to put in a little book we made for her. I thought it was a really cool movie though!

Things with our investigators are going good. We still aren't sure what to do with the Boston Red Soxs fan. He wont meet with the Pest sisters so we'll see what we will do. There is an older lady who said she wants to be baptized too and she is awesome! She is a sweet lady! But she just wants to know more. We are going to have her set a baptisimal date this week so hopefully that goes good! She has really gotten along well with sister Kennedy so we'll see how she takes it not having her there. We also had another investigator come back and meet with us. He REALLY wants to be baptized and already set up a baptisimal date for himself for June 24. We aren't sure he really understands everything though so we are just taking it slow with him. His parents are really against him getting baptized so we are going to meet with them this week. So hopefully that will turn out okay. We also met with someone from our english class. We met with her and it was such a good lesson! She really felt the spirit and she just kept saying how good she felt. She said she hadn't felt that good in a long time. We were able to explain the spirit to her and she just left a totally different person. she was so HAPPY! That is the amazing blessing of being a missionary...you get to see how the gospel literally brings light and happiness into peoples lives! It was such an awesome experience!

Well I cant think of much else to say. I cant believe I have been here for 6 weeks already! Its crazy how fast time flies!!!! I love it here! I'm going to miss my companions but I am excited to start another transfer too! It will be a little crazy but we will get it figured out!

Szia family!!

Sounds like everything is going good at home! Thats crazy about the new bishopric you guys got. They will be good though. You should send me pics of the new fence and the new car you guys got next week.

This week has been a good week. We have been meeting with the red sox guy and it has been going really good! He has already finished Alma and he came to church yesterday and had a lot of questions. The only problem is we cant teach him anymore and he doesn't like that very much. He doesn't have a lot of money so he walks every where he goes. It takes only a half hour to walk to the branch house here and it takes him 2 hours to walk to the one in pest. But he is in pest area so we have to give him to the pest sisters. We are meeting with him today so we will see how that goes. We are hoping there is a member that can give him a ride or something. When we told him that the other missionaries were going to have to teach him last week he said 'I live in Buda now'. It was really funny! We tried to get permission to teach him here since it was closer for him but that didn't work. I'm really bummed we have to let him go. I don't know if he'll keep meeting with the missionaries or not since it is such a long walk.

Also we have been working with an older lady. She is so sweet and she has had a really hard life! A lot of her family has died. She has read a lot of the BOM and she has highlighted and marked up everything she has read. She thinks its really funny when I try and speak Hungarian so she said she has become my Hungarian teacher. She tries to teach me how to speak Hungarian but I can't understand anything she says. She loves me though! I think the harder you struggle with Hungarian, the more the Hungarian people love you for it. She told us that she has been investigating different churches and she feels a lot different in this church. She was having some concerns about being baptized but yesterday she told us after church that she knew she wanted to be baptized. She has only been investigating for about 2 or 3 weeks. She is a really sweet lady! Really funny too!

This week we also met with a girl from Serbia. She is awesome! I really got along with her and we became good friends instantly...probably because we were speaking in English! haha! But her dad and his family (her parents are divorced) live here in Buda and are active members. We met with their family and had a lesson and then the next day another girl took us up to Geléert hedge. It overlooks Budapest and it was absolutely gorgeous up there! I took some cool pictures. Then we went to a park up there and taught her about the restoration. It was an awesome lesson! She has a lot of the same beliefs as we do, but unfortunately she left back to Serbia on Saturday so we cant meet with her anymore. I am really really bummed we cant meet anymore! I am going to stay in contact with her though! She is really awesome! She will come back to Hungary though to visit so hopefully she will contact us again when she comes back! I just love all the people here! Especially the ones that I can actually talk to!

The girl who tried to commit suicide last week, we only got ahold of her once and it was her boyfriend that picked up the phone. He wasnt too nice and we were pretty worried about her. Then we were tabling and saw her! We went up and asked her how she was doing. She was with some of her friends and she just said that she didnt need God in her life anymore. It was really sad! But we told her when she does, she knew where she could find us.

We had a woman baptized in our ward on Saturday and it was great! Her husband was already a member but he had been inactive. She is such a sweet lady and they are really strong in the church! She got up and bore her testimony yesterday and from what I could understand it was really good! We had an investigator come to her baptism and she really liked it! She had a lot of questions and so we are meeting with her today. hopefully that will go good!

This week was also Sister Kennedys birthday. That was really fun. We invited Pres. and sister Smith to lunch and they came with us! It was a really good time! We went to this place called the guru where they sell palacsinta's (it means pancakes but they are really crepes. Everyone eats them here. If you go over to someones house they will fix you crepes even if they werent planning on you. and they usually just put nesquick stuff it in! they are the best!) It was really good to get to know the Smiths better. They are awesome!

Everything is going really good here. Transfers are next week. Im pretty sure I will still be staying in Buda with sister Kennedy. We'll see what happens though. Hope everything is going well at home! Love ya lots!

Falslev Nővér

The statue on the top is Gilert Hedge we hiked up to.

On top of Gelért hedge. So beautiful! this is the Danube river looking over on the pest side. so cool!

My companions and i on top by Gelért hedge. The story is that this guy was fighting for his religious freedom and so he thrown into a barrel of nails and thrown down the mountain. This is the place where Elder Nelson dedicated Hungary for missionary work! Such an amazing dedicatory prayer!

We were tabling and then all of the sudden TONS of people started dancing all these cool traditional Hungarian dances! It was so cool! People are really talented here.