Week 33

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I realize that I might have sounded a tad bit dramatic in the last email. I apoligize. But we all know that I am a dramatic person so I don't think anyone was surprised :)

Ok so sorry about the whole Tuesday thing again. We ended up having to go up to Budapest to do the whole residency card thing again because mine got stolen when I my wallet got stolen a few weeks ago. So we switched our Pday and came up a day early for Zone Conference. The area President came in for Zone Conference tomorrow so that will be exciting! 

So today was Pday and after the whole hivatal thing we went to the Opera House and took the tour! It was amazing! I love that my companions wanted to go! It was sooooooo cool. Seriously so worth it. The inside is so beautiful. We got to take the tour in English which was awesome so we could understand it all. Seriously that place is beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't pay for the wrist band to be able to take pictures inside, but they did do a mini concert of sorts and a woman sang 2 opera songs. AMAZING. I love the culture and history behind the building. It was built when Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire so it had to be smaller than the opera house in Vienna. Wild. But apparently it is prettier. 

So we also did missionary work this week too. No worries there.

Szombathely. It is pretty great. We are like right on the border of Austria so actually several of the kids in the branch go to school in Austria. wild. And then a few of our investigators go to college in Austria while living in Szombathely. So most people speak German. It was like a 3 and a half hour train ride from Budapest so plenty of time to get to know the new companions on the train ride. I am with Sister Daniels who got to the country in September and with Sister Curtin who has been in Hungary since January. Both of them are the best and great missionaries. Sister Curtin is the oldest companion I have been with, and unfortunately we will probably only be together for like 2 more weeks because this past week was just a mini transfer and the real one is in 2 weeks. wild right? So I am trying to just soak up all her wisdom and knowledge while I can. She is a great missionary. They both have done lots of traveling so it has been fun to swap stories. They both went to BYU before their missions and actually Sister Daniels is in the nursing program like me! She got accepted then left on her mission so she hasn't actually started the program yet, but it is still something great we have in common. We already have found a pretty great rhythm teaching and finding and things so that is pretty great. So fun fact about were we live. There is currently a senior sister from the Szombathely branch serving a mission in the country so we are living in her apartment so it is pretty nice. We have a piani maker and a dishwasher. not real life!!! so much lunch quality has gone way up. 

We have some great investigators. There is an awesome man who just got baptized and so we are really trying to focus on his wife and help her gain a testimony so that she too can receive the same blessings as her husband and then one year from when she gets baptized they can go to the temple. Right now we are trying to get her to let us teach to her instead of her husband. she is literally just the most amazing wife. she supports him 100%. she comes to church with him everyweek and it was so tender in our lesson to see just how much they love each other. It was really cool to see the great marriage because it isn't the culture in Hungary to marry. 

The Szombathely branch is super solid. They are wonderful. Bigger than Szolnok and they are just 2 melchizidek priesthood holders away from becoming a ward. 1 of which with be the guy I was just talking about who got baptized. 

We teach a few other great people and have been doing some good finding together. I love being companions with them! It is great being with someone who speaks the language so well. We had a let in while tracting together and I was just amazed and listening to her and then I remembered that I should probably help her out and speak too. haha. 

We have this one investigator who unfortunately missionaries have never taken her seriously. But she is super cute and has great potential. We met with her and it went super well. I feel like we are soul sisters. And so I made a deal with God and my companions that if she gets baptized I will name my first born girl after her. I can't tell you what the name is because you might not approve. But I love it. It was cool we bap challenged her and she was like well I guess I should probably came to church and so she came and brought 7 people with her!!!!! wild. It was great. 

Love you all and have a wonderful week!

Sister Grigg 

me at the step on the opera house. i am a little obsessed with this place.

This was the investigator that brought 7 people to church. She isn't related to all the kids but the rest of the kids are all one family. The 15 year old boy loved church. A family in the branch likes to have the missionaries over for dinner and their investigators so the mom was the nicest woman in the world and invited them all over for dinner and so this was at their house. The food was great and the family was so kind! 

mini transfers

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Dear Family,

I am so sad right now because we have a little mini transfer tomorrow. Since we switched to the 9 week transfers, the going home dates are all messed up so there is a group going home tomorrow but there aren't any sisters going home so we thought that sisters wouldn't be effected by the mini transfer. Then we got a phone call this morning from the assisstants and they told me I am leaving Pest and going to Szombathely. Opposite side of the country out in the West near Austria. At first I wasn't the biggest fan of the city, but I love love it now. We have some really great investigators and 6 baptisms coming up next transfer all of which we put on bap date since I got here so it is sad that I won't be there for those. One and doneing is hard. I didn't get a chance to really say goodbye or anything because no one thought sisters were getting moved. I thought the whole going where you want me to go and stuff would be easy on a mission but right now it is going to be really hard. I am sure that tomorrow once I get to the train station and meet my new companions and get on the long train ride out to Szombathely I will be excited and have a great attitude about it. Fun fact thought. I scheduled programs for tomorrow because no one thought we were leaving and I don't want them to not get taught so I asked Sister Smith (the presidents wife) if she could be my companion for a little bit so that my companions can still teach the programs with the investigators. So she is going to come pick me up and take me to the train station to meet everyone for transfers! fun stuff going on splits with Sister President for a bit and don't have to take the trolley with my heavy suitcases. woot woot. 

It was a great week once again! Pest is doing so well. We taught tons of programs, put someone new on bap date, had lots of people at church. So many that I couldn't handle them all! A mom we teach showed up with her son, and I was sitting there and I am like oh my goodness I don't even know who the primary president is for the Hungarian primary! We the ward members were champs like always and helped us out. It was so great. Speaking of church the English Primary President asked us to do sharing time because it is all about missionaries so we did the sharing time and I forgot how wild kids are! We were having them introduce themselves and I didn't notice that 2 of the girls were fighting until one goes those 2 are fight and one of the girls fight goes, "My name is Grace, and I have a dead arm." so funny. hahahaha. One of the high council members spoke on Sunday and he is german and helps us out once a week with one of our bap dates. He is such a great member, and in his talk he talked about his experience helping with us and stuff and seeing how the gospel has been blessin the investigators life and said that he is getting baptized in the coming weeks and had him stand up and wave to everyone. sooo good!!! I just know that the gospel can bless everyone's lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and as one of our investigators says," it contains messages meant specifically for us." We can find amazing amounts of comfort, spiritual strength, and answers to our questions if we diligently study out of it.

All the investigators are doing well in Pest! I am sad to be leaving, especially because next Pday we had planned to go to the zoo. we all know how much I loves zoos and how upsetting that is. but it will being fun getting to know a new area, new companions (I am going into another threesome!) and new investigators! I have heard the city is super pretty and that they have a great strong, branch out there. So this will be an exciting new chapter of my mission. 

I love you all and hope that everything is great back home! 

Sister Grigg

We went to the house of terror today on pday. It was super cool and really enlightening. We always learn about lots of things during world war II with the halocaust and such, but it was really neat to learn about how Hungary was effected during communism and post world war II. 

Last Pday we did Sajt night with the elders. Which is cheese night. Which is really like just making homemade mozerella sticks. 

Then while we were tracting this week I got gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe. so lame. 

Such an amazing week!!!

Dear Family and Friends!

This week was so wonderful!!

Let us start with the highlight of the week! Imre's baptism! President gave us permission to go to Szolnok so that I could be there for Imre's baptism. I have written about him home a ton. With when we first found him and his teaching process! It was such an amazing experience. We were waiting for the train in Budapest and I saw someone we baptized in June from Szolnok, which was such a weird coincidence, and it was great! And then we got on the train, walked to the hotel, where the baptisms are, and we walked into the room and Imre was standing there in his baptism clothes looking out the window. I just had flashbacks to the first time that I met him when we knocked on his door and then the first time we met with him in a program when he showed up wearing a super inappropriate shirt and reeked of smoke and then here he was wearing the white baptismal clothing, not a hint of cigerette smoke! It was so wonderful. He was so ready and prepared to get baptized. I got to talk to him for a little bit before. Then I gave the talk on baptism. rough.. but it was ok. haha. We sang in the choir musical number (which was almost everyone there..not a big deal) and the spirit was just so strong. I got so see a few of the Szolnok branch members again. And Zsuzsi, which was so wonderful. Biro elnők baptized Imre and unfortunately we had to be bap in Pest for another baptism so we had to leave right after that and couldn't stay for longer. But I got to talk to him for a bit before he changed, and he such talked about how excited he is to get the gift of the whole ghost and about how baptism isn't the end just the beginning and how he will be a church member the rest of his life and endure to the end. It was perfect! He is serious the best find ever. He was so prepared by Heavenly Father for the gospel. It doesn't mean that it was easy for him because he had to overcome a lot to get baptized, but I know how blessed he is for all of it! He is just such an amazing example to me and I am so thankful that I was able to help him along the way. I am so excited for him to get the priesthood! 

Ok so Pest is going really well too. Another highlight of the week was having lunch with a member and his friends. He invited us to his work place and bought us lunch (score number one) and then we got to chat with 5 of his friends. At first it was a little weird and hard because of the positioning of everyone to talk but then 2 left and we were positioned better and we could just chatt. They were fasinated about why we are here and things like that. Asked us why we came. And before my mission, when President Morgan asked us to say one sentence about why were choice to go on a mission I thought a lot about it and then after this lunch I thought a lot about it too. And an addition I came up with another answer. I am here in Hungary because I know that God has a plan for us. Christ is at the center of that plan and when we learn about God's plan and learn about our identiy as his children we see the world in different eyes and everything has meaning and purpose. I want other people to know about this wonderful plan of happiness! 

Ok so back to the lunch it was really neat. It wasn't the typically normal missionary work that we generally do like knocking on doors and talking to people on the street; it was great! I was also just so proud of this member because he was probably so nervous to have invited us to meet his friends! I think we will potentially get one new innvestigator so that will be fun to see what happens.

We met with this one woman from English class a few weeks ago and she has been bringing several friends to English class and we found out that they all know each other from the 12 step drug alchol anonymous program and the second step is all about finding God and the relationship with God so they are all interesting in meeting with is great! Different but really cool. 

Our main invesitgators with bap dates are progressing so well! They both fasted for the first time yesterday! so great. One came to church for the first time yesterday (he was at conference) and he goes I started my fast. It isn't too hard yet and Sister Magda's stomach growled. so good. A member showed him about the LDS gospel library app so he is way into that and he found LDS.org (he wouldn't let us give him the address because he wanted to google it haha) and has been rewatching some of the conference talks. so great. I love being a missionary and being able to help the Hungarians come closer to our Heavenly Father.  

Love you all and until next week!

Sister Grigg 

St István's basillica. because one time of seeing the creepy thousand year old hand isn't enough.

Our Zone leaders gave us a giant milka bar at zone training because our companionship got the most new investigators this past month! We are the youngest companionship in the zone...it just goes to show that the language isn't everything and the spirit is so much more important and does the converting.

today we walked be the American Embassy because our ward mission leader works there so we wanted to see that outside. what do you know... a statue of Ronald Reagan was there! Jon this is a shout out to you! Note how pretty parliment looks in the background.

Then we walked into the Opera House but unfortunately you can only see the big great cool part in tour so I don't know if we will be able to go back to see more inside but here is us in the main hall!

We went back to Szolnok so obviously I had to take a picture at the train station with the sign!

so that was a picture of Imre and I and the other picture was Biro elnők who baptized him, Sister Peterson my companion last transfer and then her greenie this transfer (who is in the nursing program at BYU a few symesters behind me! small world!)

Conference!!

Dear Family,

How amazing was conference?!?! It went by wayy to fast. Unfortunately we don't get to catch the Sunday afternoon session so I am excited to read it in the Liahona in a bit. We had a bunch of investigators come and a few of the less actives we meet with. One of which brought 2 friends! one of which we are meeting with this week. sweet. We were able to set up with a family that someone else brought to conference! It was just a weekend of wonderfulness!

It was fun watching the relief society broadcast knowing that Mom said she loved it and thought it was good. One of our investigators who came to that one said she wasn't impressed with any of the women, and I just had to laugh haha. I didn't really know what to say. But she loved the prophet so that was good. And she came to a different session as well said it was amazing and like it was meant just for her. Love how all of the church leaders were speaking to millions of people but how it feels like it can be just for us! A different investigator called conference exciting! I loved how he talked about the priesthood session. And was asking us all kinda of questions about home teaching because I guess they talked about it. So good!!

What were all you favorite conference talks?!

The one Elder Ballard gave about members and missionaries working together was so good! And it totally worked because right after that session one member who was watching it in English with us goes hey sister what are you doing Friday at 12:30, do you have a program scheduled. We responded no and he goes how would you like to come have lunch with me and my coworkers?! So great. So we are going to his work place to causually interact with his coworkers. Talk about a great leap of faith by this memeber. I am sure he is nervous and hopefully he doesn't know how nervous I am because the hardest part about Hungarian is the causual chit chat. I am so excited though! I know there is going to be someone in that room prepared to hear the gospel!

I loved the talk that Elder Uctdorf gave about how the gospel is for everyone. Elder Erying's was super good. I loved how he started off by saying what choices do we make that bring us unhappiness and then what choices bring us happiness. And when we know about the gospel and have experienced the blessings and happiness it can bring why do we ever make choices that would lead us to not experience those blessings and that happiness!?! But we are not perfect so we do. 

This week was good! We went on splits and now the sisters in my mission get to do real legit splits like elders do. So that was way fun! It is always neat to learn from an older sister missionary. 

A member that has helped us out in several programs brought us dinner after a program he helped us with. He takes the Elders out to dinner  and now he likes the sisters enough to bring us food! So good. He was so nice and so excited to tell us he brought us dinner. He said he was going to cook for us sometime. It is awesome to see how much the members support us and to help us in the work, but that trust had to be gained through a lot of prays and hard work. 

I love you all!

Have a fabulous week!!!
Sister Grigg

That same member we went to fed us Serbian food for lunch and Sister Messinger hit her head on the staircase and so the member gave her this huge ice pack and made her sit there with it on her head. So good!

we go tabling by a metro stop and so there are always tons of people and the drawing was perfect to narrow out the people who weren't in a huge hurry that we could stop and talk too. 

The ward here is working on get the ward missionaries to teach the new member lessons. So we took a ward missionary out to a lesson to a member who got baptized a month ago. She was great. Her name is Marta. This is her. We had to take 2 different buses to get out to the members house because its was way out in the 15th district. And sister Magda and I always take selfies so there is that one.

Splits with Sister Chamberlain. Sister Magda and I spent the day with her in Kispest. While our companions worked in our area. She is such a great sister missionary!

We went tabling today with the elders and drew out a great plan of salvation. It was so great! I talked with a bunch of cool people who stopped to look at it and was able to set up a few programs with them for later this week!

Week 29

Monday, September 30, 2013

So as we were emailing. The police came up and checked everyone IDs. Don't worry I was freaking out, even though I had no reason to be. Typical Sister Grigg. The mission hasn't changed somethings :)

The guy on the computer next to me is blasting gangum style. Ally, it makes me thing of you! 

Ok so it was an amazing week. Wild how the best weeks can also be the hardest! 

We were so blessed to but 3 people on bap date this week! Wild! It was amazing. They all all in December, but I wouln't be suprised if 2 of them get pushed up. The spirit was so strong in all of them, and it has been so cool this week to see them progress and see how Heavenly Father really is preparing the people of Hungary to hear the gospel. I love it. I heard from one of my zone leaders in a training a few months ago that offering the baptismal innvitation to someone is the time he has felt the closest to the Savior on his mission. So I payed close attention to that this week, and it is so true! 2 of them were people the three of us have found while we have been here together so that was even neater! One of the innvestigators after he accepted said it was so far away and we said if he is ready sooner of course we can push it up. He said the most wonderful closing prayer! It was so tender. He asked God to help him strengthen his faith so that he will be ready and to help him share about the wonderful church and the gospel with others because of how much he loves it! All in the closing prayer! It was so wonderful. 

 So I think I am going to go back to not using names any more because lots of Hungarians are now reading the blog, and I wouldn't want to accidently put too much information and offend anyone or anything. It definately makes it harder to describe to you how the week was.

We had several investigators in church this week, which was fabulous. I think I need to make flashcards or somthing for the ward memebers because I can't remember like any of their names, which is a problem when it comes to introducing people. It was also the primary program this week, and if you thought little kids were cute saying their things and singing the song well I have news for you because it is like 10x cuter in Hungarian! Real life. One of our investigators asked how Hungarian Mormon learned that it was ok to bring their children to church because the Hungarian/catholic tradition is that it is so not ok. Did they learn from the American families that go to church here in Pest? That was such an interesting comment because it is so true. Even in the states when you go to catholic church and things like that, there aren't really kids there. I am just so thankful for the primary system and things like that. I know it is truly inspired of God. How wonderful is it that we focus so much on families and teaching children from a young age that they are children of God and teaching him about him and his commandments. It is just such a blessing. And yeah sometimes the kids make sacrament meeting super noisy, but is ok. 

And ok let us be honest here, who hasn't sat behind the family with tons of kids on purpose because it is entertaining during sacrament meeting?!?!! 

We had some really cool let ins tracting this week, which was awesome. One that was super cool happened because someone we went to go back to a previous let in tracting and they said no thank the second time around and so we continued to tract in the 10 story, and we ran into this guy and we were talking about the Book of Mormon, he was in his pajamas at 1:45 in the afternoon, not a big deal. 

I am so excited for conference. What a blessing it is that we have a living prophet on the earth today, who leads us and guides us with God authority! So we start watching conference here Saturday night. Then on Sunday we watch the relief society recorded while the men watch priesthood then we catch the saturdayafternoon and then the sunday morning one we get sunday evening. We will miss watching the Sundayafternoon session. I am pretty sure I will get to watch all of them in English! so excited! We should also have a good number of innvestigators who are going to come as well! 

Ok so President and Sister Smith randomly showed up to our district meeting this week. Perks of serving in the city! 

Have a great week everyone! Love you all! 

Sister Grigg 

We went to this really cool street called Váci utca today. It had tons of really cool aricheture and shops. Dad talked about it in an email he sent me. 

So we went to the largest synagogue in Europe today. Unfortunately none of my companions or the Elders wanted to pay money to go inside. lame. It looked so cool from the open door. So we just took pictures on the outside. 

This is a guy we tracted into. He was so tender and showed us pictures of his family and himself. And he let me take a picture of him holding the picture of himself. He is in his 80s. It was so fun.

We went tracting again this week out in the 16th district. The stake center is in the 14th district so it is a little bit of a bus ride but not a big deal. And we were talking to this guy, and we introtroduced ourselves, and I always point down to my name tag at my name and my name tag was gone! I was shocked! It has fallen off. He wished us luck finding the name tag, and we started retracing our steps. We had been on 2 sides of the street so who knows where it could have gone. I was praying the whole time and after a little bit of walking I looked down and there it was! It had fallen on the sidewalk and landed exactly like this! I love that what is important to me is also important to Heavenly Father. It was a little miracle :)

The other thing about where we went tracting this day was that every house had a massive dog. Like huge. That wanted to bite our heads off. And they all had signs that say Vigazz! Harap a kutya. Which means watch out. The dog bites! nuts. 

csodálatos

Monday, September 23, 2013

Dear Family,

We have meet with this guy named Gabor 3 times now. It has been the coolest to watch him progress. He was just interested in English but now is interested in the gospel. He has started to praying for the first time in his life, and it was so cool to hear him talk about his experience with that and hear him bear testimony (although he has know idea that is what he was doing) as he talked about his new found communication with he Father in Heaven. He is getting baptized there is no doubt about it. We had a great member come with us once last week and he is coming to the lesson again tomorrow! I am so excited to keep helping him grow and progress. He responded super well to a soft bap challenge too! 

Laci (the investigator from Pest not the one from Szolnok) has been progressing too. We had an amazing lesson with him this week. We were able to find out more about his concerns about baptism and afterward and now hopefully we will be able to continue to work with him and address them. He is praying about a bapdate though so that is awesome. 

Renata is a new investigator as well! She is literally so cool! We found her last Pday during our working hours. She has the life, and I so want to be here. From meeting with her I realized how grateful I am for personal revelation. For the fact that our Father in Heaven wants to communicate with us individual and one on one. He wants to help us chose what is best for us and he knows. She has tons of amazing questions that make us think. We really have to tune into the spirit so that we don't say things hastely and give the wrong answer. It is so cool. She said the restoration makes perfect sense and of course the Plan of Salvation is God's plan. How cool is that?! Love it. 

I mentioned the cool thing tracting when I sent the pictures. It was just super fun to be in a neighborhood that looks like neighborhoods back in the states. I'll have to send a picture of the 10 stories that we normally tract in. We saw the biggest dogs at these családi houses though. Seriously, they were massive. 

We teach the cutes 10 year old girl ever. We talked about the 10 commandments this week and chastity (that was a first, teaching the law of chastity to a 10 year old) this week. She is so cute. When we asked why God would want us to be honest she said so we can live with our families for eternity. What a good answer. Every commandment God gives us is so that we will be better prepared to live with our families for eternity. So cool.

Did I mention that one of my zone leaders is Hungarian? The other is the youngest certified hypnotist in America. Pretty cool zone leaders huh?

The city is great. We have funny things that happen a lot. I love my companions. Our investigators are doing well, progressing, and our find efforts have been going well too. I love being a missionaries and I love the gospel!

Sister Grigg

Ok so we had a little accident today. We were with the elders and we were trying to get on the metro and the doors accidently shut. So one of the elders (our district leader Elder Seegmiller) went on splits with 3 sisters today for about 10 minutes while we waited for the next metro and caught up with the other 3 elders again...opps!!! (2 sets of elders so no worries no one was alone). so of course we had to take a picture to document it.

We went tracting in a different area today and found some családi houses. Normally we just tract in 10 story apartment buildings. One of the ladies was so nice at first we were talking with her neighbor and she was like you shouldn't be here and then we walked along her fence and she kept talking to us and wasn't interested so we handed her an English flier just to show that we are nice people and teach free English. See was like oh my grandchild might be interested and so I asked for his phone number and she invited us in feed us grapes (homemade) and water. We were fasting that day but looked at each other and decided to eat them because she kept telling us to. And we chatted with her for a bit and she is a nurse! so of course we were instant friends. Nurses are the same in every country (love you Jenny and Mom :))...they tell you how amazing of a profession it is and how you can work as a mom, a grandmom, and just anytime of you life.

so I kinda like the idea of sending the pictures before the long email. (Katie was upset that I called it short last week :)) so I am going to do it again. 

since I serve in the city ya know I am like a little hipster now (don't worry I totally know I am not really hipster). I wear my awesome glasses and take the metro. it isn't a big deal. as Sister Magda says how did the hipster die? He drowned in the mainstream. And way did the hipster burn her mouth on the soup. She ate is before it was cool. I love my companions. 

And the other picture is Sister Magda and Messinger as we wait for the metro. 

Katie's Mission Call!!!

New York New York North mission!!! 

She reports to the Mexico MTC February 5th to learn Spanish. 

Week 27

Monday, September 16, 2013

Ok so this weeks letter will be shorter because I sent lots of pictures. I know everyone is so excited to open their inbox and see a billion pictures of me :) Being in the city is great.

First off, happy mission call Katie! That is beyond exciting! I so knew you were going to go Spanish speaking! Back to the East coast and our roots. Love it. The New York Spanish speaking mission has no idea what a great missionary they will be recieving! For real though.

It has been a really good week. We worked really hard, and I know that numbers are not everything, but it was really nice to see the numbers go up as a result of our hard work, obedience, and relying on the Lord. Lots of knew investigators and our member presents increased. The ward wants to help we just need to ask!

We got let in a number of times tracting and it was so fun! It was great and helped remind the three of us that people are ready and prepared for the gospel, even in this huge city. One time we were tracting, it was around 7:30 and we were just so tired. and we went into a building next to ours, got in magically and we were all just kind of down and so I said we are going to get let in tonight. To be honest I had absolutely no idea. But I wanted to try exercising my faith my companions just kind of looked at me and said okkk. 15 minutes later we got let in by a super cute young girl who had a beautiful view of the city (learned the word for that from her that night) and amazing taste in books (harry potter, lord of the rings.. not a big deal). Then the next night we got let in twice. once by a young couple who was like come on in. and he had the best questions about prophets and such. We are so excited to go back this week. Then the next was we had a bout 10 more minutes left of working until we could head back for dinner and so we we like ok a few more doors and the next door let us in. I was a little confused by what she was saying at first and then realized that she said we could chat if she could work while we chatted. It was so fun. She was doing someone's nails and we chatted about the gospel with both of them and we are going back this week to have a "mormon" party as she calls it. so funny. I got so many compliments on my speaking this week which was a nice confidence boster. apartenly I have a funny accent that Hungarians in Pest enjoy because people keep telling my how pleasing it is to listen to me speak. ha. ok. These other 2 let ins were super cool because we did the same think. Ok we are getting let in tonight and excersized our faith in the Lord and he provided. My theory on finding that has worked thus far is that as long as we are trying our best to talk to everyone we can then the Lord will put in our path the people that our ready. The next step is talking to people on buses and metros. so scary.

We didn't really have time to go tracting other than those 2 nights because we had too many programs set up :))) but we got dogged A LOT because that is what happens when you just set up with people on the street. It happened in Szolnok too but that is ok. One of the people that did show up from off the street was so cool! I loved talking to her, I learned the phrase for a guy was not my type in Hungarian from her. not a big deal. haha. As my Hungarian has improved, I remember how much I enjoy talking to people! Which is one of the reasons I wanted to come on a mission. To talk to people about Christ. We put someone on bap date this week. We weren't planning on it but the spirit told us we need it to. At first, Attila is his name. He is an older man in is sixties I would guess. At first he wasn't into setting a date but then we talked more about it and decided on december 21. I love being on a mission and I can not imagine not being a missionary. Lucky for me I still have a year left!

I love watching people progress. We had a second lesson with someone and it was great to see him progress, even if it was just a tiny little bit! I love the gospel I know that this church is true and I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon.

I hope all is going well!

Sister Grigg

This is the shoes by the Duna. Since I am now a city serving missionary, I take artsy pictures. It is so not a big deal. The shoes a memorial to holacaust victims in Hungray during world war two because they would line them up at the banks of the Duna and then shoot the people into the river

more shoes

Hero's square with the companions

Her is a picture of Parliment. Unfortunately it is like under construction or something so you can't get that close right now. Hopefully before the end of my mission the construction will be finnish. Mom and Dad, remember that brutal puzzle?

Remember St István's nap? well here is a statue of the king at Hero's square. he is a cool guy. And then here is a pretty church inside of a castle with some pretty floors. If I translated the sign right I think it was like some sort of agrictulture musuem inside an old castle. I dunno. We just walked through the outside.

We walked half way across the chain bridge (not all the way because that would be in Buda and not on our side of the river so we can't cross without permission) I believe that it is also the same bridge that katy perry was on when she filmed her firework music video. or that is what everyone keeps telling me. I don't remember. So that is me singing Katy Perry. It is not a big deal.

And then me and Elder Christensen on the chain bridge. He was in my district my second transfer and now is in my district again. Don't you just love the awkward elder sister pictures?

we went walking along the duna last pday and around parliment. Don't worry. I keeped things classy by drinking a coke along the river in memory of Mom, Aunt Lynda, and Jenny.

Pest

Monday, September 9, 2013

Dear Family,

The city is sooo different than little old Szolnok. I don't really know how to describe it, but it is just so different. I will learn to love it just like I loved Szolnok. We take public transportation like no bodies business, which is cool. But really. so much public transportation. There is much more travel time than in Szolnok. We took the bus there, but we also could pretty much just walk everywhere we needed. Except for like 2 places.

We meet in English a good amount, which is so interesting to me because that is like a first on my mission. It is so different. You have to really watch what you say and make sure it is actually from the spirit and that you aren't just talking to talk. I guess the major method of finding people in Pest is through English classes and they want to practice their English. There are just so many people here! There are tons of people, yet no one really wants to stop and talk to you. It is so different.

Our main investigator here is named Laci. He is in his early 20s and has been taught all the missionary lessons but something is holding him back from the gospel. He is really neat because he is like a sponge. He just soaks it all up: the book of mormon, the for the strength of youth, gospel principles manual. Something super funny is that we were talking and we found out that he listens to heavy metal, while he reads the scpriptures. So one of his commitments last week was to read the BoM while not listening to heavy metal.

Another investigator we met with is named Krisztina. She was really neat. She is the youngest grandmother ever! We were on our way there, and it was our first program as a companionship. We headed there and were going to teach the Word of Wisdom and Sister Messinger grabbed Law of Chastity pamphlets instead of the WoW and so she felt like we should talk about pray instead and we get in there, and I was asking questions to get to know her and she said that she doesn't fell like God is hearing her prayers anymore. It was perfect! and we talked about prayer, shared some good scriptures (my personal favorite about prayer is in 3 Nephi 18) there was a verse that talks alittle bit about Satan and we didn't read that one and then she talks about how sometimes she feels like there is a little devil on her shoulder (so funny to hear that in Hungarian!) so we read that one and she loved it!

The Pest ward is also the international ward so there are a good chunck of Americans. Church was so loud yesterday! It was something I hadn't heard in such a long time because there was only 1 child in Szolnok and she was 8 and never cried during church. haha. I was also sitting right behind a family that had 7 children.

Something really neat that happened is that there was this couple and their little son who came down to Szolnok twice this summer and one of the time was when I spoke in church and she is a member, but her husband is not. They are super super nice. And they live in Pest! She told me to go find her sister who is inactive. She got baptized when she was 12 and was only active for about a year. So we went and saw her where she works. I think I may have talked about this in a letter home a little bit ago. And so I saw the couple yesterday in church and went and talked to them. She told me all about how her sister liked that we went and saw her were she works and how she really enjoyed us. It was so cool. And the husband who isn't a member told us to go back so funny! I am excited to have this relationship already with them and hope that maybe we can get the husband interested in being baptized. He said the closing prayer in Sunday school, so I wonder what is holding him back.

There is a good sized YSA program in the city between Buda and Pest. We went to one of their activities on Friday because we have 2 YSA aged investigators and it was neat. The youth and them are where it is at in Hungary right now.

Love you tons and hope you have a wonderful week!

Sister Grigg

Pictures!

these are my companions. Sister Magda and Sister Messinger

we found a door with 2 door handles while tracting. so strange.

Katie turned in her papers this week!!!

She's pretty excited about it:

Transfer week!

Dear Family,

This transfer has gone by so fast. It was a short one, only 5 weeks and this upcoming one is 10 weeks! Double the length of the last one. And I hit my 6th month mark in 3 days! wild. Time is going by so fast.

So the new we have all been waiting for.....I am headed to Pest to go be in a threesome! I will be with Sister Messinger, who is a transfer ahead of me so I know her from the MTC. I will also be with Sister Magda, who is a transfer below me and so I know her too from the MTC. I am excited! PS I will get mail more often so the next 10 weeks is the time to send me letters and packages :) haha

I am also so sad though. I am leaving my greenie area. I have been in Szolnok for 4 months, and to be honest I don't know how I am going to love the Pest ward and people as much as I love the Szolnok branch. Ok well, I know I will but seriously I just love them so much. When I first got to Hungary, I couldn't really communicate with anyone. Everyone told me to just love the people, but I didn't know how I was supposed to do that when I couldn't communicate, and when I didn't feel like I could connect with anyone. I know that it is so possible to love people. Now after 4 months I can communicate with them, but the able to speak to them in their language isn't what fostered my love for them. But rather teaching them about their Savior, helping them to come unto him through the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, especially repentence, like it talks about over and over again in the scriptures. I am so thankful for my time here in Szolnok. I have met so many wonderful people and have been blessed to serve them. I understand what people mean when they say that love is a gift from our Heavenly Father.

The other day in Imre's lesson, I just looked at him and saw him going through the temple and what a wonderful day that will be. He is doing so well with not smoking and brings up his baptism all the time. I am so glad I am going to Pest because now I might be able to come back for it. We talked about the Priesthood and Biro elnők came, the branch president, and it was such a good program. I love the priesthood and am so thankful that Dad always had the priesthood while we were growing up.

On Sunday they started doing something with the young women where they conduct Relief Society the first Sunday of the month and Berni and Alexa were sitting up there and gave a spiritual thought. Berni was barely active when I first got here and Alexa wasn't active and I was in tears (and not just because I could understand what they were saying :)) because of how much they have grown. I don't know if they will ever realize how much they have changed my life. When we first when over to Berni's and her family, after we walked about I turned to Sister O and said I never want to go back. It was miserable and then it became the program I looked forward to the most every week. I didn't know it was possible to feel this much love for people, but I do. It is still our most chaotic program, but I just love them so much. Sister Smith taught Relief Society on Sunday and at the end asked me to bare my testimony and I got up there and was a blubbering mess! haha. but it was so good.

We went on splits again this past week. It was good. Every does missionary work so differently so it is neat to see different style. Zsuzsi started meeting us every morning at 6:30 in the rose garden where we go running and runs with me for the 30 minutes. She is a good runner! it is exhausting. Plus I have to think about Hungarian while we are running hard! It was an answer to prayers though because for awhile I have been asking to have a great desire and drive to work out because it is hard for me to work out that early and the desire didn't necessarily come but Zsuzsi did. Something like that although it is simple is neat to see how Heavenly Father answers our prayers not how we want, but he does answer them.

Sorry no pictures this week. The computers are being silly :(

Ok so funny. So the Smith's, the senior couple in Szolnok, had us over for dinner last night and somehow we all ended up leaving the branch house together and Gábor was there, who was baptized in June, and Sister Smith invited him over. They prepared a back potato bar (complete with homemade chili..so good!) and I ended up sitting next to him and he goes soha nem talákoztam vele which literally means I have never meet with this before and then he asked how he should do it. It was sooo funny.

We had a neat experience this week. We met with a woman we had found while tabling. I had talked to her on a bench for about 25 mintues and we were able to meet with her in a real program this time. I don't think she understood a lot of what we were saying, but she talked about the feeling that she had while we had talked on the bench and then the same feeling she had while we were sitting there together. She called us little angels :) but the neatest part for me is that she seemed to already be intuned to the spirit because it wasn't the words that were important to her but rather the feelings. The Szolnok sisters are meeting with her again next week and she wants to come to seminary to find out more about the Book of Mormon.

I am excited to tell you about how Pest is next week!

Love you all!
Sister Grigg

Week 24

Monday, August 26, 2013

Dear Family and 1 friend, 

Guess what?! I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday. And no it was not in English, it was in Hungarian for like almost 15 minutes and no I didn't just read out of the scriptures the whole time (I only used 4 verses)! I was terrifed! Let me tell you. And you know how I do that think when I get nervous and speak really fast, yeah that isn't a good combination with a language I am not fluent in haha. All my cute little young women were smiling big at me and making hearts with their hands so everyone could definitely tell I was nervous. But everyone told me I was clever afterwards and that it was understandable so that's good. haha. 

Ok so this week was good. It seems like I just emailed. What happened...

Imre! So we taught the Word of Wisdom this week, and he believes it is from God and all that wondeful stuff just didn't feel ready. So next time I mentioned that if he can quit smoking we can move his bap date up to October and he liked that. And then the next time after I decided we needed to give him a date to quit smoking, he didn't want one but the spirit said he needed one. So I through out this coming Wednesday and he said that he knew I was going to do that to him. He made silly but reasonable excuses and cleaning and wanted to get rid of the smell of smoke out of his apartment to make it easier and so then I said can we come clean? He looked surprised but we are going over this week with the branch president to help him clean his apartment on Wednesday. Mom, I am bringing some of the peanut butter you sent to share with him. And then on Thursday he won't smoke ever again. I have complete faith that he can do this. It is going to be so good. And the elders have an investigator right now who is coming up on 2 weeks of not smoking. Her and Imre will most likely get baptized on the same day. 

Biro elnők, the branch president, reads the blog now too. Not a big deal. Loves it. He is an amazing branch president. Words can't really describe it until you experience it.

Ok so funny. So one of our investigators (this story can't have a name) told us that for the holiday he or she drank (unfortunately, but no worries we talked about repentence and it is all good now) a lot. But the funny part is, while they were drunk they were preaching about the gospel. Telling all their friends about the Book of Mormon and the church. riot. 

We had some pretty good success tracting this week, which is fun. One of the guys we met with again and he was telling us about his son who was a stillborn. I asked him more about it and the umbilical cord choked him. I started crying in the lesson, which shocked me and I think him, but it was really good and we are meeting with him again. It is neat. 

Ok so when I was with Sister O we had a program with a 15 year old girl and it was half English and half the gospel (which happens when you find people through English) and she told us she didn't believe in God any more because she went through a hard time and she felt like God didn't help. It broke our hears and we didn't really know what do say or do to help her. Sister O talked about the BoM and I shared my favorite scripture with her, Ether 12:6 and told her she was going through a trial of her faith right now. Sister Peterson and I met with her again this past week 2 months later because she has been summering and on vacation and she said that she kind of believes in God a little bit again that she read the scripture I had shared with her last time over and over again and said it helped so much and that is what helped her have faith again. I cried a little bit. I am getting to be an emotional missionary. It is a rough life a little bit in that sense. We are meeting again with her this week with one of the branch young women and I am so excited! 

Love you all!

Sister Grigg

This is when Zsusi cooked us food last transfer. Pig Liver!

Pictures of Zsuzsi and I!

Köszönöm széppen

Anita and I at sportnap.

Sister O, Anita requested that I send this to you. haha

A Branch member, named Ercsi and I.

And my Hungarian residency card. Now I am legit

Szent István nap week

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Dear Family,

This week was Szent István nap. He was a Hungarian King and I believe he was the king that made Hungary a Christain nation. It was a huge deal. The town shut down all weekend and had been preparing for the day. Tons and tons of festivities in the square. It kind of reminded me of big hat day a bit. only a little bit. There were huge fireworks and let me tell you Hungarians do not mess around with their fireworks. They take them very seriously. I called president on Monday and asked him if we could stay out a half and hour later so that we could watch them and he gave us permission so that was really neat.  We also went fishing yesterday for the holiday since there are 2 rivers in Szolnok. Elder Loveday loves fishing and so we bought these bamboo fishing pools where we go grocery shopping for like a 1. Elder Smith caught a fish! the Senior couple. it was a riot. I was kind of over the whole fishing thing after about 45 mintues. I am sure no one is surprised by that. I don't have enough patience for those kind of things. It was so hot too. But no worries, I didn't get sunburned, I put on lots of sunscreen.

So I know why I came to Szolnok. It was because of these young women. I know I have said it before, but I just love them so much. I feel like I can connect with them the most because they are only 4-5 years younger than me. They are so wonderful and I love that they are know being coming friends with each other so that they can help strengthen one another. They are all so patient with me and the language and are always trying to help me. And 3 of them want to go on missions. How amazing is that!

On Sunday we had a program with Zsuzsi out on the grass under a tree by the branch house because that is where she wanted to go and she told me that she has already emailed her new bishop in Germany for the ward that she is moving into! How amazing is that? she isn't even a member yet! she is so great.

We went to choir and a Bérni and Valika went and Valika was so into the song that it brought tears to my eyes to she her this happy because when I first got to Szolnok she was so distraught and now she is just so happy and her husband will get baptized in about a month and a half.

Tomorrow we teach Imre the Word of Wisdom and he is a hardcore smoker. I've been able to help 2 people quite so far so hopefully this will go well. I think he is ready. We haven't felt like we should teach it before this week, but now we both feel that he is ready. I know that he can quite if he puts his faith in the Savior and his atonement. The branch is investing a lot of time into him already, which is awesome because he is going to have strong ties to the branch rather than the missionaries. The branch president has come to 5/6 of our last programs with him. Imre loves scriptures study and always asks the best questions. He was so prepared to learn about the law of chastity last week so I think the Word of Wisdom is going to go well too. There is a picture of Imre that I sent. We met his mom yesterday in the square, she was super nice and I want the missionaries to teach her in Gyer!

So Marika, who got baptized a few weeks ago. We went over there to help her paint a last week and we went and saw her yesterday. She hasn't been to church in the last few weeks and something that we have been focusing on as a companionship is church and getting our investigators and RCLAs there. She said she has been really tired but she has come to church before when she has been tired. And so we chatted  more about it because that is something that we talked about doing as a companionship. I brought up  the fact that she has come before when she has been tired and said that spiritually she felt really good afterward. It is really because someone told her she has to wear a skirt and she doesn't have one. I told her to just come in pants. haha. But the best part about that was she asked me who she needs to pay her tithing to. How tender is that!? We didn't even talk about tithing, we haven't retaught it yet she is just trying so hard. I love Marika so much. She was one of the ones who was able to quite smoking. It is amazing. I totally teared up and I told her I was crying and she started crying too. It was great.

We went to Szeged for Zone training last week and we did role plays with real Hungarians and I was with 2 elders (I don't know why because I would never be teaching with just 2 elders in real life). and we were talking and I get nervous to speak Hungarian around other missionaries, more than with Hungarians. And at the end, Pál was his name, asked me how long I have been here and I said May and he goes but you speak so well, so that made me feel really good. That was my moment of pride for the week. It is so funny because some people you talk to on the street say oh my goodness you speak so well and other say they can't understand you. whateves. haha.

Ok well I love you all and have a great week!

Sister Grigg

This is our adventure fishing. We went fishing not in the Tisza which is the bigger river but the Zagyva.

Elder Smith

And the elders are sitting on a bench that says private property. It is a public bench and someone stuck that handwritten sign there randomly.

Here is a view of Szolnok from the Senior couple's apartment.

we played rugby for sportnap the other day. it was super funny.

Alexa and Valentine and I

the branch had a party for Szent Istvan nap and the had a palacsinta eatting contest but hungarian pancakes don't hold up on a string to well and so one of the members learned how to make American pancakes.

This is Imre. I have been talking about him in emails for probably the last month. He is awesome and is going to make such a strong priesthood holder.

so this one is interesting. one of the elders investigators (he used to be ours and we handed him over 2 months ago) drew this from a photo he took at Adri's baptism. He said that it took him 4 weeks. (A/N: I believe the original to this drawing can be found in this post.)