That is so exciting that you got to meet B! I love her! She has been through so much in her life. She is the perfect example of a pioneer to me. So many of these saints here are going to be pioneers in Hungary. They are so strong and they have to sacrifice so much for their beliefs. I love these people here! And I am so jealous that you all got to meet her! I love her so much! I am glad that the visit went well. I just love B. When I was in Buda we would sit in the back of the chapel in sacrament and when B got up to lead the music in Church, I would do it with her and help keep her with the timing. I just grew to love her so much! She is just a great example to me!

This week has been so good and so busy! We celebrated our halfway point by working like crazy!!! We had so many programs and were literally running all over the city. We didnt even get in a lunch and we just had to grab a 'Hungarian' McDonalds paprika burger for dinner cause we were pretty busy. It was tiring but it felt so good to just be so busy doing something that feels so good! I just love being a missionary and working! Best feeling ever!

This week we went on splits with the Training sisters and it was so good! I went with Sister Kennedy. She was my trainer and it went so well! I realized that I really have come a long ways in the language and also that I still have a LONG ways to go. It was a really neat experience to go back and work with Sister Kennedy. I have learned a lot from her! We went tracting when I first got there (I went to Debrecen - such a cool city!). We were tracting and we tracted this door and this guy around 30 answered. We told him that we were missionaries and that we were doing a survey (that is what a lot of the missionaries do when we go tracting here). He told us very bluntly that he DID NOT believe in a God or anything. We told him we just wanted to ask him a few questions and then all the sudden he just changed. I cant really explain it, but he just changed. And he told us that we could come in. So we went in and just asked him the normal question....How many books he reads in a year, if he is interested in learning english, and then Sister Kennedy changed the question and asked what he thought the purpose of life was. He just stopped and looked at us and said 'Honestly, I was just thinking about that when you guys knocked on my door. I was thinking that I really need to figure out my life and what I need to be doing. I knew I needed to talk to someone about my life to help me but I didnt know who. Then you two rang my doorbell. I never let people in my door.' It was so cool!!!! He proceeded to tell us that he had a cute little 4 year old that meant everything to him! We had a super good short lesson with him and then we set up for another time to come back. I am super bummed that I wont be able to teach him but I am really glad I got to experience that! Super cool!

We had 5 investigators to church yesterday! That was really cool! A came - he is doing great and he is getting so close to the members! Members make a huge difference! Also J and K came too. This week we really started focusing on the basics with them - reading and applying the scriptures, and really praying with a sincere heart. Since they have been doing those, we have had awesome programs with them and they came to church! The basics really are the basics for a reason! The scriptures are so powerful! It was a good day at church!

I just love being a missionary. We experience so many blessings and see the Lord blessing so many people. Yesterday in church as I was looking around at the people in the ward, I just realized how great and strong these people are. They are so loving and just so willing to follow the Lord. I realized that these people here have just become like my little family that I have just been able to come to love so quickly. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!!!! They are so amazing! i am so glad that you all got to meet B. I just cant describe in words how difficult some of the members circumstances are but how willing they are to stand in their faith. Its just amazing how much your love can grow when you serve people and put the Lord first. I love being a missionary!!!! I see so many blessings and tender mercies everyday! Thanks for all your love and support. Love you all tons!

Falslev Nővér

our halfway point paprika bugers from McDonalds. haha! Such an awesome day!

Sister Kennedy on the train. She did such a job cutting my hair! I needed it! She is so awesome!

She is an awesome cook and the lady we did the quit smoking program with. Unfortuntaly we cant meet with her anymore so we just went and gave her a Bible because she had told us that she was saving some money to be able to get one. We had an extra bible in our apartment so we got to give it to her. Such a sweet moment. I love being a missionary

Such a sweet family!

Sorry I didnt email yesterday. I forgot to tell you last week that we are having 'mini' transfers this week so our p day got changed to today. 10 weeks is a long time for a transfer and some people are leaving during the middle of the transfer because it is no longer 6 week transfers. We were a little worried about transfer calls but we are both staying together in Nyíregyháza!!!! Wahoo! We are getting one new elder here and Elder Judd is going.

That is hilarious about mom and dad getting the senior citizen discount. haha! Hey, if you guys come over here, you can ride on the trains for free!!!! and at least you got the food cheaper.

I am glad that Julie is doing better and got to go home. That just sounds so painful! I hope she heals fast!

This week has been really good. We have still been meeting with A and it has been going SO well! He is awesome! I dont know if I told you this but he is from Africa and it has just been a totally different experience teaching him because although he has lived in Europe for a long time, he is not european. He is doing so good! He said a prayer for the first time this past week and it was so simple but you really could feel the spirit so strong just from the simple words. I love being able to hear people pray for the first time. God really is so aware of us! All the ward members Love him too and have been answering all his questions and have been so helpful to come to his programs. It has helped us so much!!!

Also this week we met with K and her adorable son L. I love them!!!! i dont know if I have said very much about her, but when I came here at the beginning of the transfer they were going to stop meeting with her because she wasnt keeping her commitments. We decided to give her some 'question of the souls' that she could find out of the BOM and it has totally just changed her. We met with her and she had read almost every single one of the chapters and told us what she learned and she had TONS of questions for us. She said that everytime she meets with us and everytime she reads from the BOM she feels something but she cant describe what it is and it helps her to feel better. She is thinking about baptism and thinks she wants to be baptized. The only thing is that she is from Romania and they will be going back to Romania in a few weeks :(

This week we also got to watch some of the talks from general conference in ENGLISH! Which was a huge blessing! I love general conference! It felt so good to listen to the apostles and the prophet. While I was watching it, I realized that the most important thing that I need to be doing right now is to love the Lord with all my heart, mind and strength. It was just like an answer to a prayer that I didnt realize I had. As I have tried to focus more on loving the Lord, my love for other has grown so much. Yesterday we went streeting and talked to this lady. She was atheist and was not very friendly to us when we first started talking to her. But as we started talking to her and listening to her, I just saw this soft change come over her. By the end of us talking to her she just told us that maybe their really was a God and then she just looked at us and said that she had never met anyone like us before. She said that she could tell we were different because of something in our eyes. She said there was just like a light in them that she had never seen before. I dont know if we will be meeting with her, but I know we really did have a powerful affect on her! It was a cool experience!

This week was also Krüdi nap. I have no idea who he was and I am pretty sure a lot of Hungarians dont either but they had a little holiday anyways haha! They had some cool things for kids to do in the belváros (the center of the city pretty much) and it was fun to see some of the things there.

Tomorrow is the 1856 revolutions holiday tomorrow. They are setting up for it all over the city. It is kinda like independence day. Also tomorrow is my HALFWAY point! So crazy! Time is just flying by so fast! I love being a missionary! Hope you all have a good week. Thanks for the letters. Love you all lots.

FAlslev Nővér

So for Elder Judds last week we decided to make palacsintas at the branch house. We put pudding in them and we had just a little bit left so I was going to throw it away because no one wanted to eat it. And anyways, long story short, it somehow ended up all over his face. Dont know how that happened. He must be a messy eater. Also another funny story, if you look at my forehead you can see a big goosebump (its not the clearest in the picture). Last week when we were leaving the emailing place, it was really bright and we had been inside for a while so I was looking down at the ground while I was walking. And this big huge sign walked right in front of me and ran into me. haha! My companion was pretty worried that I got hurt but I think the only thing that got hurt was my pride. haha! I got a pretty good laugh out of it.

nyíregyháza in the fall ( i dont know if i told you this but Nyíregyháza means birch house nyír = birch, egyháza means church)

awsome rainbow we saw this week! If you look in the background on the left is our branch house. It is in an office building on the second story. The members are really hoping for an actual building sometime soon!

this is Hungarys entertainment for children. The people in the middle are manually working the ride. And the little kids are just riding in big baskets.

this is some of the other toys that they had for the kids to play with for krüdi nap.

they had a little puppet show playing about krüdi nap for the kids. it was really funny! 

Another week gone??? Already?

I cant believe how fast time goes! This week has gone by so fast! I feel like I just emailed. Weird. This week was great though! I learned a lot!

We went to Budapest for interviews. It took ALL day long but it was good. It was nice to catch up on a few things on the train. In my interview, President told me that Hungary is 14 melkezidek priesthood holders away from getting another stake. That will make 2 stakes in Hungary - which means that we can have a temple! So exciting! The work really is going forward! He also talked about in his last presidents seminar, they were saying that the missionaries need to focus more on finding new people and teaching new people and that the members need to do more of the Less active work rather than the missionaries. So some of the things changed in our mission and we are focusing pretty much only on finding and teaching new people and encouraging the members to reach out to the Less Actives! We need the members!!!! They also talked about how NOW is the time that the field is white. Baptisms in Europe have been going up and that now is not the time 'to plant seeds'. It is just such an exciting time to be part of the work! This weekend we had 14 baptisms in the missions! So exciting!

We also went to Miskolc this week for training. We got there a little early so we got to walk along the walking street...it is the longest one in Europe. It was pretty cool! Miskolc is a super old city and they have some really cool builidngs and castles there!

Things with A are going super well! He is loving church and the members have been awesome teaching him and helping him! Members make a huge difference! He is really excited to get baptized! We have had some good programs with him.

Also, unfortunately, one of our super solid investigators this week dissapeared and we had been trying to call her, go to her house and we were pretty worried something happened to her. Yesterday we decided to go to this random part of the city for some reason and we found her on the street. We found out she has just had some crazy things going on in her life and she needed a break right now. It was really sad but I just realized that God really does know where His children are and what they need. I really dont think it was just coincedence that we found her on this random street.

This week I've really come to realize how much the Lord really is involved with His work, with His missionaries, and with me individually. Yesterday, I just experienced a huge tender mercy and I just know that it was the Lord kindly telling me that He is watching over me and cares about me, even when I am not perfect. I was just feeling super overwhelmed yesterday with a lot of things that have happened this week here and I just felt like there was no way that I could be a missionary with all the things that we do. I was kinda having my typical, dramatic 'oh no, its the end of the world' freak out haha! And then our phone rang. It was one of the members here and he asked us if he could talk to us about some things. It was just the answer to my prayer! I realized that the Lord really does know me personally and He knows exactly what we need when the moment comes. Something I realized from this experience was how easily I sometimes forget the blessings and the miracles that God has done for me in my life when I start going through a hard time. Sometimes I am blinded by how hard my current trials are that I forget to remember every other time that the Lord has ALWAYS helped me through my trials when I turn to Him and allow Him to help me. I know it was just a small little thing for me, but it really was a personal answer to my prayer. And I think that is why the simple and small miracles can be sometimes more powerful than the big miracles - they continally remind us that the Lord really is involved in the details of our lives and He knows what is really hard for us and when we need some extra strength and help.

The Lord is involved in our lives! He knows us personally and speaks to us invdividually. I love being a missionary and seeing the tender mercies of the Lord so much in both my life and the people we teach lives. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!!! What a blessing! I just have been given so much! The Lord is just so merciful! I love you all lots! Thanks for all your letters! Love you guys!

Falslev Nővér

sister rupard and I on our hike last week up Tokaj! Such a good hike!

Szia Family!!!

It sounds like everyone is doing good. I hope Julie is doing okay! She is in my prayers! That is really so sad!

We had such a good week this week! We saw so many little miracles each day when we were streeting and it was amazing! There are just a couple that I really want to share.

R. We were walking along the street hurrying to get home and Sister Rupard was on the phone. I noticed this lady for some reason - nothing out of the ordinary with her - and I thought maybe I should street her. Then I thought no, it would be awkward because I would have to do it by myself, it was getting dark, we were in a hurry home, and I thought maybe my companion would be a little annoyed if I stopped and talked to her. But then at the last minute, just as she was passing by, I stopped her and started talking with her. I found out that she was already a member just inactive and so we kept talking and all the sudden I just got this overwhelming love for her as I was talking to her. I was able to bear my testimony on how much Heavenly Father loved her no matter what and she just started sobbing and said that she had been feeling that she needed to come back to church. And then all of the sudden, she just said she really had to leave and left before I could ask her last name or get her phone number. I was so sad! But I know that Heavenly Father knew exactly who she is and she is being closely watched over. It was super cool!

Also this week, I got to go on splits with one of the older sisters here. It was an AMAZING experience! We taught A - the guy from Sudan and we had an awesome lesson. We taught him the first part of the plan of salvation and everything went so well. And guess what??? He is getting baptized on DEC 14th!!!! We are so excited! He came to the saturday morning and priesthood session of conference and loved them both! I think the saturday morning session was just perfect for him! He really liked it. We are really excited!

Also another miracle we saw when we were on splits. We decided to go visit this older neni that Sister Oberhansley taught when she was here. We went and taught her a little lesson and of course she made us treats and then just as we were about to leave she gave us 10 eggs in a sack. We really did not want eggs of all things because we still had quite a few hours before we were going home and we didnt want them to break in our bags. But we took them. And then we had about 30 minutes until our next program started. We decided to go tracting and try and get a let in. The first csengő (bell) we rang was this other cute néni and she told us that she already believed in Christ. We said great, so do we and we have a message about Him! So she let us in and as we were talking to her, we found out she had gone shopping that morning and the store had run out of eggs. She was so sad because that meant she was going to have to get up early the next morning and get bundled up and go out in the cold to get eggs and she really didnt want to do that. Well, what would you know....we came to the rescue and gave her our eggs!!! What a random thing to have! She was shocked and asked us 'now what church are you from?' How did you know this was exactly what I just prayed for? You guys are my angels' It was so cool!

Now comes the sad part of our week. Saturday night we had general conference and it was awesome! It was only in Hungarian so it was really hard to understand but I could get some things out of it. A came and he loved it! And sunday morning we spent all morning calling our investigators to make last minute reminders to them about it. A lot of them were supposed to come - and we were especially excited about one investigator because she has a really hard time coming on sundays to church. We have been working with her for 2 weeks to prepare for conference and so she set the time aside and was so excited to come. We had everything all set up and were so excited for conference! And then we went to the branch house a little before  2 when they were supposed to be showing the sessions and NO ONE and NOTHING was there. No computer, no projector, no members. It was only us and the elders, one of the elders investigators, and one member. We found out that I guess some things had happened earlier that morning and some of the members got offended so they just decided to cancel general conference. We were so sad!!! We worked so hard to get our investigators to come! And some of the other members who had no other access to watch it also came but werent able to. It was honestly heartbreaking to me. It was a pretty hard Sunday. But I learned a lot from the experience. It made me think about what my testimony is really rooted in. The people in the church or the Lord? Anyways, we had to call and cancel with all of our investigators.

But on the other hand, we got to go HIKING today! It was so much fun! We went with some of the other missionaries from Debrecen and some senior couples and it was the coolest hike ever! It took a lot longer than we thought but it was so worth it! Hungary is beautiful and we couldnt have asked for a prettier day to go hiking!

Thanks for all your letters and support. I appreciate all that you guys do for me! Love you all a ton!

Falslev Nővér

me with this cute recent convert in our branch. We ate icecream and cookies first and then had LOADS of meat and sandwiches. Then she gave us BAGS of Chocolate! She is the sweetest! I love her! 

This is me in front of the Kossuth Lájos statue. I did a report on him before I came to hungary

Our view from the top of the hike.

Our group at the top of the hike.

This week has been amazing! We have seen so many miracles! We have worked so hard and we are definitely so exhausted but the Lord definitely blessed us this week. Here are some highlights:

Monday: We went to the zoo. It was AWESOME! We went with the elders here and one of the members. Hungarian zoos are very different than the ones in America. There isnt near as much of the safety precaution and the animals were so intereactive! Usually when you go to the zoo you just see all the animals just sleeping. This zoo was awesome though! We saw some monkeys wrestling around with each other for a while, a cute baby monkey, we saw some white tigers that are almost extinct (there were so close to us that we could have just reached out and pet them and touched them through the fence), They had a super cool jungle that had rope bridges you could cross and that was super cool! But my favorite part was when we were over by the gorillas. We were watching the gorillas (and by this time there was pretty much no one in the park) and this guy opens up the cage for the lemurs and walks in. And then he tells us to come in with him. So we all followed him in and we got to feed the lemurs with him!!! It was so cool! The lemurs knew it was feeding time so they just came right up to us and would just jump all over us. It was so cool! Lemurs are now my favorite animal! The guy took care of the lemurs so he let us go in. That was so cool!

A- we met A monday night. He is from Sudan but he is a doctor here in Hungary. He is super cool! We taught him twice this week and both lessons went really well. He came to church yesterday and he loved it and was asking all sorts of questions. The members were really nice to him as well! And he said he wants to come again next week!

Z and A - this is a cute older couple that we met a few weeks ago on the street and we went over there to teach them a restoration lesson. It went really well! We found out that they had had the missionaries over at the house 10 years before and A just thanked us so much for what we do. He said that it was from the missionaries that he learned how to really pray to Heavenly Father and he said he had prayed with his own words ever since he met the missionaries. So I learned that even though not everyone we meet with will get baptized, you really still can bring them closer to God and teach them things. It was a really awesome lesson though and they want to come to general conference so hopefully they will come! They are really cool!

J and K-as of right now they are still on baptisimal date for Oct. 19th. We went to teach them this week and K decided to come back home. They were supposed to be at church yesterday with their daughter too but they make it. We were super bummed! We had a super good program with them this week so hopefully they will still keep progressing!

This week the elders found the best burger place here! Hamburgers in Hungary are not from cow, they are from pig and they are just nothing like American Hamburgers. None of the meat really is here. But they found this place and it is the best! One of the elders told them about fry sauce and they tried it and loved it so now they are going to sell fry sauce there too. They are going to name it after the elder - 'andrew sauce' haha!

Also this week, I quit smoking!!!! WAHOO!!!! She did so good and she didnt smoke even once! It was a super good program! And we are actually starting to teach her the gospel now. It was such a good week working with her! And I came to all of her programs and saw the program work so we are hoping that she will decide to try it again soon.

It has just been the best week ever. We have seen so many blessings from choosing to work so hard and be obedient. This week I really came to know how important the spirit really is and how important it is to follow even when you can fully understand why at first. On tuesday, both Sister Rupard and I woke up a little sick. Well Sister Rupard was pretty sick but we had a lot of programs so we decided to try it. Well every single one of our programs canceled on us so we tracted and streeted in the rain quite a bit. It was a really long day and we wanted to just go home and rest a little bit. But we had one more program that night that we decided we were going to. We had met him the week tracting and when we first met him he was very friendly, asked a lot of good questions and seemed really interested in the gospel. So we came back the next week and we felt like we needed to bring a member with us so we did. And as we went into the apartment, something just seemed really wrong. We said a prayer and the man started to ask us some questions and he kept trying to ask a question but for some reason he was not physically able to ask us. It was super weird. Then all of the sudden, I just knew that we needed to leave right then. I dont know how to speak very good Hungarian or anything, but I just got up and was able to have a full conversation with him without even really thinking of what to say and told him we needed to leave. The spirit really is in this work and really does let us know when we are in a place that we need to leave. Coming home from this program, we found one of pass along cards on the ground, in the mud and at that moment, that is kinda how I felt. We were wet, sick, and I felt like we had been pretty trampled on that day. But I learned so much going through such a hard day. It is amazing how much we can learn from our trials if we allow ourselves to be taught by them. I love being a missionary even when it is hard!

I am super excited for general conference this week but unfortunately we dont get to watch it in english because we only have one satelite here and it will be for it in Hungarian. So make sure you all take good notes for me and send me some of your favorite talks! :) I would sure appreciate it! :)

love you all!

falslev nővér

the aquarium! So cool! It had quite a few fish and some cool sharks it in. 

 on the rope bridge in the rainforest.

the lemur on top of my head. They were everywhere!!!!!

the LEMURS!!!!! So Cool!

At the lions cage. They were so active. Especially the male. He was roaring and it was so loud! I got a really cool video of it and how loud he was roaring but i cant send it. 

Today I dont have much time to email cause we are going to go to the ZOO!!! But I will do my best to recap our week.

J: We went back over to his house this week and it actually when really well! We put him back on bap date for Oct. 22nd. We still have a lot to teach him and he didnt come to church yesterday so we will see how he keeps progressing. We are hoping for the best.

I: I who we did a stop smoking program last week with had a friend that wanted to try the stop smoking program also. So we went over there and explained the program to her and she decided she wanted to try it. She really wants to quit. She is also a professional cook and she made us this stuff called Lecsó. It is my all time favorite hungarian meal. It has tomatoes, onions, tomatoe sauce, and LOTS of paprika in it. It is so delicious! And hers was the most delicious kind I have had! Hungarians really know how to cook. We went back over to actually start the program with her and she had already quit and gotten rid of all her cigarettes and everything! We are hoping she makes it! She also had 3 other friends there that were interested so we will see if we can get some more investigators! That went really well.

Speaking of food - Hungary has the best food! On saturday there was a huge food festival in the middle of the city and it was awesome! You bought a ticket and could go around and taste all these different foods. It was awesome! We went there for lunch and were so full afterwards. It was kinda like a childhood fantasy....they had HUGE caulderons of soup and it was delicious! With delicious bread and all the people were dressed up in old Hungarian clothes. They were singing traditional hungarian songs as they cooked and everything. It was so cool! Some of the members were there cooking too so it was cool to see them. I love hungary and their traditions. They are so cool. I wont be able to send pictures today but I will send some next week.  Also we got to have a sajt (cheese) night with the members. It was kinda like mozarella sticks but tons better. I love hungarian food!!!!

We also got to go to Debrecen this week for district meeting. It is a beautiful city and about 5 miles or so from Romania.

This week it has been super rainy. It has rained like every day. One particular day, we thought it was going to be good weather and we both forgot our umbrellas. So of course, it decided to rain more than it had on any other day. It doesnt just rain and then pour here. It just pours. So we ran and tried to find a building to go tracting into but we were already soaked. We looked like two drenched rats tracting but we kept on working! And we knocked on so many doors that day for so long. It was getting close to the end of the day and you can say we were both getting a little discouraged and a little sick from the cold. I knocked on one door and a man answered and just said 'Im happy with my life. I dont need anything. I dont want to change. My life is just fine. So leave.' Something along those lines and he shut the door pretty hard in our faces. But afterwards I was just thinking how Christ feels when He knocks on our door and we are sometimes so caught up in our busy lifes that we just tell Him we dont want what he offers and shut the door. I feel like a lot lately the Lord has been 'knocking on my door' with something He wants to teach me but I dont see the need for the change. It was just a really good thing that I needed to learn this week. I have really started to come to realize that I cannot do this on my own. I still am really struggling with the language but I am coming so much closer to the Lord because it is so hard and because I am struggling so much. God really does love us when He gives us trials even though they are hard. They make our faith in Him stronger.

Today is my 6th month mark in Hungary. So weird to think about. I still cant speak the language and I dont understand a lot of what is said but I have grown to love the people and love Hungary. I just cant believe how fast time is going by!

I love you all! Thanks for all the love and support!

Falslev Nővér

Dearest Family!

I cant believe another week has already come and gone. Time flies by so fast! This week has been so interesting and definitely hard.

We started off this week going strong. Our investigators were all doing awesome! One of our investigators decided to stop smoking last week because she wants to be baptized. So we started the stop smoking program with her the beginning of last week and it was awesome! She was so excited to start and it was such a great program! The spirit was so strong in her apartment when we started the stop smoking program. We did a lot with her this week and have been working really hard with her this week. Unfortunately though, on friday, we went over there and she had quit. It was pretty devastating. We just love her so much and want her to succeed! Sometimes free agency is so frustrating. Its made me think a lot about how patient and loving Heavenly Father is with us though as we make mistakes a lot. He is so patient! We will keep working with her and hopefully with time she can see for herself what she needs to do. We had a stake conference yesterday and she came and some of the talks were just perfect for her! It is so important for investigators to come to church!

Also, this past week we had 2 people on bap. date for in Oct. They came to church last week and they loved it and were so excited to become members. Then we recieved a call from them on saturday night saying that the dad  had lost his faith. We asked if we could come talk to him about it and we went over their last night. Turns out his wife (our other bap. date) has left him and the family and the family is going through a hard time. It was a really hard program yesterday and we arent sure we can continue teaching this family anymore. It was pretty hard. We will see what happens this week. We are planning on meeting with them one more time but we dont think we will be able to continue to meet with them much longer unfortunately. So much happens in one week as a missionary! It seems that people are always either moving forward or degressing. There never seems to be just a standing point. You are either progressing in the gospel or you are drawing farther away. That is why I have realized how important just the little simple things are - reading your scriptures, saying prayers, going to church. The primary school answers but that is really what keeps your testimony growing!

This week we were able to go to Miskolc twice this week - once for a zone training and once for conference. (random fact: Miskolc has the longest walking street in Europe and it is awesome! and LONG!!!) Anyways, we got to hear a really good talk from President Smith during conference. He talked a lot about it is important that we not only ask God for the truth but we also ask Him who we are supposed to be and how we can become better. And one of the hardest parts of hearing the answer is that we have to be willing to make changes as we recieve our answer and that can take a lot of courage. But he said as we do this, and are willing to change, our desire to share the gospel with everyone will grow. Just like King Lamoni - he gave all his sins away to know God. He changed and then  began to share the gospel with everyone he knew. It was an awesome talk and something I really need!

President Smith also had a conference with all the Europe mission Presidents and Elder Ballard and Elder Oaks. This is some of the things he said about the conference and I thought it was interesting so I decided to share it with you.
'As many of you know, Sister Smith and I attended a Mission Presidents’ Conference - which included all of the mission presidents from the Europe Area. There were thirty mission presidents gathered for the occasion. In addition, there were two Apostles (Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard), one of the seven presidents of the Seventy (President Maynes), a member of the Presiding Bishopric (Elder Davies), the Area Presidency (President Teixeira, President Kearon and President Dyches) and others who attended. What a great Conference.
As you can imagine, I took pages of notes (and so did Sister Smith!). We will be reviewing this information with you for a long time to come. One of the areas of emphasis by these wonderful leaders was our "missionary mind set."  They told us that we can, will, and should baptize in Europe.  They are here to organize two more stakes in Europe - and they have two more in the next couple of months.  They have nine more stakes already approved in Europe.  The work is going forward in Europe.  The Church is growing in Europe.  Missionary work will go forth in Hungary.

  They reviewed again the many verses dealing with "the field is white already to harvest." They told us that these scriptures are directed to us - in our day. They referred to an address given by President Spencer W. Kimball in which he "parted the curtain" regarding missionary work. In this address, President Kimball foretold of the Gospel spreading throughout the earth. He mentioned that the youth of the Church - from all over the world - will rise up and do this important work of missionary work. President Kimball asked, "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?" He then encouraged the members to "lengthen our stride" and later asked us to "quicken our pace." Time and time again the Brethren asked, "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?"
The Brethren pointed out that there are currently 76,500 missionaries serving throughout the world. By the end of the year, there will be 80,000 missionaries serving. This dramatic increase of missionaries has caused significant, physical obstacles. For example, image trying to find that many more apartments to rent - or cars to drive - or language instructors - or MTCs to teach missionaries - or any of the significant other physical obstacles. Yet, the main message on LDS.org is that we need MORE missionaries. There is a great work to be accomplished - and we have been called to accomplish it!'''

I thought that was awesome! The missionary work is definitely hard in Europe but it is growing! President told me yesterday that Hungary is very close to getting another stake here! We just need a few more priesthood leaders! It is awesome to be apart of this work right now! I love being a missionary even when it is difficult!

I just wanted to share just another quote that I found this week 'some of the greatest battles we fight are not on the battlefield but within the souls of men. We fight to overcome our weaknesses and temptations. Dont give up. God is with you.' I think that is sometimes the hardest thing for people. We are each fighting our own battle, but a lot of times no one ever sees what battles we are fighting. It was just a comfort to me to know that although I may not know what battles my investigators or others are going through, God does. And He knows how to best help them. I love being a missionary! Even when it is hard!

Love you all! hope you have a great week!

Falslev Nővér

some of the members also taught us how to make palacsintas! They are such good cooks here! I love the members!

this is a library in Nyíegyháza. It is a phone booth pretty much. You leave a book and then you can take a book. So we went and left a BOM in the library haha!

WHAT AN EXCITING WEEK!!!!!! BEST NEWS EVER!!!!

MAN, What exciting news from home! Lots has definitely happened. Congrats josh and Laurie. Super exciting. I still cannot believe it! That news just made my week!

Well, it is crazy how fast my mission has changed once again. A whole new place, new people, new companion, new everything. It is super hard changing but it will be good. I really miss Pécs but I am sure that I will come to love Nyíegyháza as well! It was really hard to say goodbye to the people in Pécs. Saying goodbye is definitely the worst thing ever.

Anyways, the ward here is cool. It is a lot like Duna in some ways. There were about 20 or so people in church. The branch president is super young and has only been a member for about 3 years. They have some cool members here. They love the missionaries here! It is really hard going co-senior. Really hard. Lots of changes and everything but I am growing a lot in ways I never thought I would be growing. One of the members here, H, is super nice to us and has been helping us a lot with Language study and helps us a ton! She is super patient and way cool. She loves missionary work too so she has been really good about coming to our programs as well.

Sunday we had 4 investigators come to church! We were pretty excited about that and so were the members. 2 of them are on bap date and they have been trying to get to church for the last month but the mom is really sick so they havent been able to come. yesterday they came though and they loved it! They are doing so well!

Then also another of our investigators that came to church really surprised us. We had a program with her this past week and we will just say it wasnt the best lesson I have been in. We thought that we might not see her again but she came to church and stayed for all the meetings. in the middle of sunday school, she leaned over to sister Rupard and said that she wants to start the stop smoking program so she can get baptized! it was awesome! She knows the BOM is true and everything. She is super awesome! So we are starting the program with her this week and it is both of our first times doing the program - in Hungarian. So we will see how that goes! A lot of the members are going to help us with it so hopefully it goes well this week.

One of my favorite scriptures that I read this week is Helaman 10:4-5. This transfer will be full of different challeges than I have previously experienced on my mission and it will make me grow in different ways. i just hope that I am up to it! i just read this and it just comforted me that if I do my part and work my hardest, God will bless me with the things that I do need. It may not be what I want or what I think I need, but He will give me what it takes to be a successful missionary as long as do as He asks and commands. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be on a mission and to learn these things. A mission is hard but I wouldnt change it for the world. i am excited to be in a new place and fall in love with more people.

Love you all!

Falslev Nővér

the branch in pécs

NYÍREGYHÁZA!!!!

How fast a mission changes!

Hello family! This week has been super crazy and super good! We have had the best week ever and we have been working super hard!!! We got 7 new legit investigators this week and we had 6 people come to church on Sunday!!!! That is the most I have ever had come! It was super awesome! Everything this week has just gone just the way it was supposed to...until the end haha! We will start with the beginning of the week.

K and Z. We met with the cutest family ever that is really interested in the church. They investigated a long time ago but we arent really sure what happened. Then I guess K found out there were sisters serving in Pécs so she called the branch president here and asked for our number. We had only been meeting with her but monday, she called and asked us to come over to her house. We met her husband, he is a super cool guy and is a police officer. They are the greatest family and have the cutest little 2 year old that loves trucks and cars! We had the neatest lesson with them and they ended up coming to church on sunday and they loved it. I love this family! We also got to go over yesterday and teach them and it went super well. I am going to miss them a lot.

On tuesday, we had family night with the branch members. One of the branch members is in a wheelchair and has a lot of physical hardships. But he is the happiest person I have ever met. I was talking to him and asked him how he always managaes to be so happy and positive. He said something along the lines of this: (it was hungarian so Im not sure what the exact translation would be) 'sometimes you dont smile because you are happy, sometimes you just have to smile because your strong and you know that God will help you through whatever you go through.' That really hit me so hard. These members are amazing over here and have taught me so much! In our english class we also talked about trails and whether or not they are a good or bad thing and if we would trade any of our trials that we have gone through. It was really inteseresting to hear what people had to say. The majority of the people werent really religious but they all made the comment that when they went through trials, they all turned to God for help. It was interesting for me this week to think about my trials right now and the trials that I have gone through and how they have helped me to become to person and missionary I am today. This will be a new set of trials to go through that I will be able to learn something new and stretch even more. Missions, I am learning, definitely have a lot of unique gifts and a lot of the times I dont see the use of the gift until much later, but I always see why I needed the gift later down the road. I dont know why I am leaving Pécs after just a short time but I know that it will be a great experience for me even though it is hard.

I love you all! Sok Szeretettel!

I got my BOM and my bible split! with a super cool cover! I love them!

Time flies by so fast! Not much has happened I feel like since I emailed just on Wednesday. This week has kinda been a weird week for us and our investigators. We went to Budapest on Thursday for our interviews with President Smith. He is a great man! It was good to talk with him. He told me when my release date is...that was a little  crazy. I feel like I just got here....I cant know when I leave! It may change quickly though. Right now it is set for July 24th. Crazy how fast time flies!

On Friday we had district meeting and then one of the senior couples took all of us missionaries out to dinner because we all got standard week for numbers. We were sitting at this really nice restaurant and talking about how good home cooked meals are and then we started saying what we had to do for the rest of the day. We were all going tracting and so we decided to make it a little funner and do a competition with the elder. The loosers had to make a homemade, Hungarian feast and the winners got to choose what the loosers made. It was the best 2 hours of tracting ever!!! Not only for the competition but we really met some amazing people and had an awesome experience. We had so much fun talking to people and really just talking to them. People noticed that and they were more likely to let us in their homes. We got 2 let-ins, 2 new investigators, and 3 other people who were really interested in our message! It was awesome! And of course....the sister KILLED it! We got 102 points! One set of elders made it close but not close enough. It was so much fun! Missionary work is so much fun! We were definitely exhausted that night though that is for sure. We havent decided quite yet what our Hungarian feast is going to be yet!

Also on Friday we got to have an awesome program with a young kid named T. He has been studying different religions and he said he just feels like there is something out there or someone trying to help him or something that he needs to find, he just hasn't found it yet. He is such a cool kid!! We had an awesome program with him and then he stayed for the young single adult activity and he loved it. He said he felt really good and that he wanted to come to the next weeks activity. And he even came and did some tabling with us after the activity was over. He was asking us so many questions about what we do and our believes. Unfortunately though, he lives in a city about an hour away that isn't in our area. He has been coming to Pécs a lot for work and other things but he will be going to school in the other city. He says he still wants to meet with us on the weekends but we will see what happens.

I have been learning a lot about love lately. I was reading a talk by Elder Ballard about honeybee's. He said something that I have been thinking about a lot this week. 'How do we ingrain the love of Christ into our hearts? The answer is simple: In your morning prayer each new day, ask Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an opportunity to serve one of His precious children. Then go throughout the day with your heart full of faith and love, looking for someone to help. Stay focused, just like the honeybees focus on the flowers from which to gather nectar and pollen. If you do this, your spiritual sensitivities will be enlarged and you will discover opportunities to serve that you never before realized were possible.' I love this and this is exactly what I needed this week. We have so many opportunities to share the gospel, just by simple acts of service to others. Or even just to help stregthen others when they are going through a rough time. Christ will work through us, even when we do have weaknesses and make mistakes, to help lift up His children. He will work through us to help others see and experience miracles in their lives. I am so grateful for the Savior and for the miracles that I get to see every day on my mission. It really is the small and simple things every day - that make the biggest difference. Just like a bee that may spend its entire life working to make honey and it contributes one twelth of a teaspoon through its whole lifetime - it still contributes and every little bit adds up. It can take one act of kindness for someone to have a good view of members of the church, or one act of unkindness for a wrong view. It is all in the simple day to day things.

I love you all! I am glad everything is giong well back home! That is exciting about the new baptism in the ward. Make sure you take care of him! :) I love you guys!

Falslev Nővér

The Greatest Week Ever!!!!

Man, time flies by so fast! Sorry I didnt email on Monday. It was St. Istvans day and when Hungary has a holiday - they really have a holiday. EVERYTHING is closed!!! And for the whole weekend. We were able to have a lot of fun but it was a bummer not to be able to email.

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!! I hope you have a great day! I LOVED that video of everyone singing. Good to know that everyone is still the same back home - it was really good to see! I love you guys! And next year I will be able to be home for it! Weird to think. Time is going by way too fast. I love technology. It is so fun to see everyone and see pictures and videos.

Well to start back off of last weekn we got to hike up to the TV tower here in Pécs. It was so much fun!!! I live in the most beautiful place in the entire world!!! You could see forever from the tower and I realized how small Pécs is and how beautiful Hungary is. I got some cool pictures but pictures can never do it justice! We had so much fun hiking up there!

Last week I also got to go back to Duna for a zone training. It was really weird going back. Duna is a lot different than Pécs. Luckily I knew how to get around everywhere or we really would have gotten lost. We almost missed all of Zone training because of the transportation and everything and we had to walk for quite a ways. We had some good bonding time with the elders though on the way! It was fun! When we finally got to Zone training, they did an activity with us where we were in an 'alcoholic anonyumos' group. They gave each of us a problem that we had to pretend to have ie: family problems, word of wisdom problems, pornography, etc. We went around the circle and each person told us what their problem was and then we helped give them suggestions (as missionaries and friends) of what they could do to overcome their problems. Then at the very end, the zone leaders went around and asked each of us if we were able to overcome our problems with the advice we were given. All of the people who were not able to overcome their problems were asked to leave the circle. Quite a few people left. Then the zone leaders spoke to the people inside the circle and said 'congratulations, you all made it to the celestial kingdom. Not everyone did but you guys overcame your own problems.' Those inside the circle were happy that we made it to the celestial kingdom but a lot of the 'missionaries' that didnt make it were my friends and people I loved. It just really put into perspective why I am here and why it is so important to help people along the way...not to just give them advice to help them overcome their problems but to really help them and do anything you can so that they can come to the celestial kingdom WITH you. It just made me realize even more the importance of the work that I am doing right now. It was a really awesome expereince for me.

Our investigators are doing aweseome! I get better and better at speaking every day and it is fun to be able to start to joke with them and understand Hungarian more and more each day. It is still really hard to teach but I am loving it. We went over to a less active families house last week and we invited the son to come to a Young single adult activity we have each friday. He asked something to me but I didnt understand it completely. I thought he asked if he could bring a Hungarian drink of some sort but I guess he asked me if he could bring whiskey and I said yes haha! He knew that I had misunderstood but we'll see if he brings something just as a joke for the activity. He is super funny and I hope we can get them back to church. They are a great family!

Also this week has been so much fun! Dad, you would be so proud of me. Monday night we decided to do a dinner hour with the elders and 'somehow' the subject of eggs got brought up. So, learning from you dad, I asked them if they would like 20 dollars or 4000 forint if I could crack 3 eggs over their heads. They totally fell for it and it was THE FUNNIEST thing I have seen. I really wish I could send you the video of it. It is hilarious! The elders were really good sports about it. I will send some pictures of it though.

Also yesterday we got to have a super pday and it was so much fun. The branch had an activity up in this little camp place and we played a lot of fun games in 'families' and talked about the importance of families. It was really fun to be with the ward memebers and just have some fun with them. I LOVE the ward here! I hope I get to stay in Pécs for a while. The branch is really strong here and the members LOVE the missionaries. It was a lot of fun. Then we went with the elders and just walked about and saw the little booths they had around for the holiday and got some delicious hungarian food! Hungarian food is the best! We just walked all around Pécs and then we ran into this concert that had a bunch of people doing all sorts of traditional Hungarian dances. Unfortunately my camera was dead so I didnt get pictures, but it was so cool! The hungarian dances are really fun to see. They use their hands a lot and make a really loud slapping noise with their hands and it is really cool to see.

It was just such a good week this week! Our investigators are doing awesome and they are reading, coming to church and praying, the branch is doing awesome here and they have such strong members here. I just love Pécs and I love the people here. It has been just a great week! I love my life. Being a missionary is the hardest thing ever but it is also the greatest thing! I love being a missionary! Life is great!!!! :)

Thanks for all the letters and the video. I really really love the video. It was good to see you all at home and together :) I miss you guys tons! But I will be home before you know it. I Love you all!

Falslev Nővér

elder spedding, elder haws, elder decker, elder raymond, sister burdick, me :)

me just happy to be in Hungary! I love it here!

me with the cutest girl! I love her!

this is a square right by where I live. They have walking streets everywhere here. I love it!!! The tall tower in the very back is where we went hiking last week. You can see everywhere from the top of it. 

this is our street we live on!!! Hardly anyone lives on it...it is mostly shops. it is cobblestone streets. Such a pretty street!!!

the view from the top of the TV tower. Pécs is so pretty!!! 

these are some of the coolest members!!! I love all the members here! We went out for lángos - kinda like scones. They were delicious! They had téjföl and cheese on them - so fattening but so delicious!!! 

me and J. he just got baptized last transfer. He is a really sweet man and got us roses. He is pretty funny!

this is the branch house in Pécs. Pretty much blends in with all the street. The branch house is super nice here!

Elder Raymond (he is a new greenie) Elder Haws and me after I cracked the eggs over their heads. They are so funny!

cracking the first egg over his head. I kinda cracked it really hard haha!

this is Elder Haws (on the right) telling me that I better hurry up and crack the third egg over his head.

this is when they realized that it was a joke. It was so funny! I couldnt send the video but I I could get pictures from the video. 

us hiking up with the members to the place where we celebrated St. Istváns day. Super fun place! 

here are some graves in Hungary. They dont really bury people in the ground...they just put them in these coffin things. Cemeteries are a little creepy here. 

this is THE CUTEST little girl I have ever seen! She is almost 2 years old and she just loves the sisters. She is just my favorite! It is really fun to hear little kids learn how to talk in hungarian. She says the cutest things!

this is a random fence post thing that people put locks on. We have one for the missionaries on it somewhere...we jsut couldnt find it haha!

this is the same square that I live by, just from the opposite side. The yellow building, the bottom level is a Mcdonalds. You cant tell it is a Mcdonalds from far away though because it blends right in to the buildings. They are very particular about their buildings!!! I love pécs!!