PDay again! an experience frrom the best day on my mission thus far

Monday, May 27, 2013

Dear Family

First off a big happy birthday to Billy!!

It is getting to the point where I am like wow Pday already again! so that is fun news. It was an excellent week. I am have a swing on things and settled into a great routine which is nice.

Today was new missionary training so last night we went up to Budapest and we spent the night at the mission home and had dinner and then breakfast with the mission president and his wife which was just lovely. It was like being in a real home and was so wonderful. After seeing my MTC companion with her companion, I truly know that my mission president was inspired in the assignments. Exciting news we also had interviews today and he told my trainer that we would most likely still be together next transfer in Szolnok which I am beyond excited about because I just love her. It was so neat to hear him talk about her because I'm pretty sure she is probably his favorite sister missionary. In his training slides every example story is about her and how great her missionary work has been and to think that this is only her 5th transfer! so great. and we went to the hivatal to make me legal to live in the country. lots of waiting. great stuff.

So the coolest thing thus far of my mission happened.... wait for it. so we had zone training in Szeged which was like a really long train ride and we had to get up super early to go but it was good. It was all on "paul" (which stands for some fun jazzy things) and working on teaching people not lessons and working in unity as a companionship and way good and the zone leaders invited one of their investigators on bap date whose name was pál so we good role play and then this random guy on the street whose name is also pál came into the church and said he wants to know more and so they were like we are doing a training would you like to help us out and you can learn more? so wild. so we taught a new investigator unplanned during zone training in Szeged. ok but then we got home way late and had to cancel a few programs and then one of our way solid investigators on bap dat cancelled with us, which turned into a blessing because we ended up going to the less actives program that we would have cancelled to meet with D. so we went and we read out of the book of mormon with H and her family. and their friends were over and have been there before while we were there and we were reading out of 3 Nephi 11 about when the savior comes and were going to commit them to read as a family everyday. normally the friends are super distracting and a hinderance but this time I tried to be happier (goal for this week was smile more for me in weird situations (there are many of them)) and my companion talked to the friend mom a little and I tried to get the 12 year old friend boy involved more. we were going to only read half but the kids were loving it so we continued (oh and earlier on the way over we were talking about our comp unity and small things we could continue to work on and how we could implement zone training and we were talking about having each others backs) I didn' know what the scriptures were exactly saying because you know the whole Hungarian thing but I knew it was talking about baptism and the thought came to me that we need to bap challenge their family friends. and i was like know way they said they were reformatikus and I didn't want the less actively family to think we were being pushy. but I felt it again. I didn't know if it was me or if it was the spirit, but I felt it strongly and we were still reading the chapter so I turned to my wonderful and support trainer who completely has my back and whispered we need to bap challenge them and she is like say what (but not really just an inquisitive look) so she we bear testimony does a great job introducing baptism and the holy ghost from the passage we read and relates it to the 8 year old who is going to baptized in 3 weeks . mean while the member mom was like peeling the table the 13 year old girl was braiding me hair the soon to be 8 year old girl what pulling on my companions arm to show her something while we were trying to talk about baptism and then I threw out the bap challenge. I was thinking more for the mom. and she was like ohhh no i'm good and I was like aw come on spirit you prompted me. but then I turned to the 12 year old P and was like "te is?" and he NODDED YES. like say what! and he's mom goes P was just telling me that he wants to be mormon and she we asked how he feels about the BOM and he feels happy and good when we read and he had been taking turn reading verses and we explanined that it was the spirit and set a date for him in a little more than a month and committed him to come to church and the branch activity on Saturday. it was amazing. and so many things happened that day like if D hadn't cancelled we wouldn't have been there and the zone training Seriously it was something straight of out PMG. so many distractions and the spirit was this still small voice but very strong if you listen. so he came to the activity and came to church and it was wonderful. we asked him how he liked church and he said "meg fogok keresztelkedni" i will be baptized. so tender. my heart melted. I know that the Lord is preparing the people of Hungary to hear our message and I truly know that nothing matters unless the spirit is present and it is so important to listen to the promptings of the spirit and sometimes we don't know if it is us or the spirit until we act on it. I also have such an increased testimony of companions if she hadn't been supportive and known that we both can receive revelation for our investigators than that would have not been possible and she totally had my back with the whole amazing intro into baptism that set the spirit.

we had 6 investigators at church and the elders had 3! 9 investigators in that little branch at church. the work is really taking off in szolnok and it is so exciting! when I was in Budapest today everyone kept saying oh Szolnok good things are happening there right now and it is so true. not a very big city but great. And i found out today that the elders have a nicer apartment in Szolnok than we do but who cares the work is going well and that is what is more important. a month ago that would have really bothered me.

Love

Grigg Nővér

i went to budapest and the only pictures i took was in the pekség right before we got on the train to gome back. sad.

First Week in Hungary

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

So this is been a very busy week. first off today is Tuesday because yesterday, and I think all weekend was a holiday in Hungary. So none of the stores were open yesterday so we switched our PDay to today. Everyone just said that it was some Catholic Holiday so I can't really tell you what it was.

So a week ago we were planning for the next day and for some reason we felt prompted to make a goal of getting super standard this week. Which is like a set amount of numbers that the mission has set. And it was literally like the hardest thing I have ever done. We skipped meals and when we took them we would only take like 10 minutes. But I know that we were blessed for our hard work. And it was good that it was my fist week because then it set the standard or pattern for me of diligence and hard work for the rest of my mission.

We actually got feed a lot this week, which is a big deal. Only one scheduled. It is so touching to see this people so generously give us there food when they themselves have so little. Like one was with a less active family who is returning to activity which is exciting. and they had the smallest amount of chicken for dinner and wanted us to eat some. We didn't take any of the meat but we had some bread and the soupy stuff the chicken was in. Then they gave us palacentaz (yeah Hungarian spelling is hard) which is there pancakes) and it was just really touching. Then one of our investigators feed us twice! both times they had already eaten so they just kinda of watched us which was awkward haha. They were laughing because we weren't eating the chicken with our hands which I guess is the norm. The said it isn't fish it won't bite you. Then the next day we went back over and they insisted on giving us dinner. It was neat because his daughter came out and talked with us for a while and that was the first time she was willing to come out of her room. They gave us pig and it was in this massive like sausage link type thing and I am pretty sure it was just every part of the pig ground up and put into the huge link things. Oh my gosh. So gross. I was trying so hard not to thing about it. But I know that they don't have a lot so it was so generous of them. We put him on bap date this week for July 20^th which makes 6 investigators on Bap date!, which is so exciting! And I extended the invitation and it was in understandable Hungarian! He this was Friday and he wanted to get baptized that Sunday. ahah! but we hadn't taught ay of the commandments and he smokes so this week is WoW and helping him to start quit smoking. He tells us how much he loves us all the time and his wife who isn't as excited about the gospel but says that she needs more time but she wants to be baptized eventually. She says we just have a sparkle in our eyes.

So I went tracting for the first time this past week. and let's just say I was a little hesitant to go. But it went fine. I felt a little like a criminal trying to get into the 10 stories. so you have to get buzzed into the building and then each floor on either side has another buzzer thing so it isn't quite just like knocking on doors. We have a lot of programs so we don't have many chunks of time to go tracting. Mostly we do tabeling with the elders. in which we have a table display of book of mormons and pamphlet and we go street people close to the table so I have done several on my own because we get more numbers if we go individually and it is terrifying because I can say somethings to them but I have no idea what they say when they are answering my questions so then I ask them if they would like to exchange numbers. hahah. it is going well though. Neat experience while we were tabling on sunday. A 22 year old girl just came up and asked what the BoM was (a Mormon könyve) and that was the first time someone has come up to us and my companion was talking to some one else a few feet away so I was flying solo and it was rough but good. we read 2 paragraphs in the into. She looked at the plan of salvation pamphlet and I told her that God has a plan for her and it was good. when I asked to exchange telephone numbers so was so eger which was awesome. she was with her daughter and then 2 of her sisters.

Ok peace and blessings.

sok szeretettel

Grigg Nővér

so one of our investigators who is so good about coming to church and the branch activities and things but won't let us sit down and teach her much called and said she wanted to drop by fish for us..... oh goodness. it was during comp study so we went down and got it. She is a really cute 21 year old who always is doing nice things for us. she made a gyulosh (or however you spell it). she just wants so hang out with us and be friends but we are like we need to teach you the law of chastity. she has a bap date in 3 weeks and loves the branch and church so we will see what ends up happening. so this is the fish. we put it in the oven and I tried is and I actually kind of liked it which is like such a big deal for me as you know. but it was the most mild thing in the world.

This is a picture all missionaries in the MTC take. She's pointing to her mission.

In the MTC.

my bathroom. notice the lack of shower curtian...nbd. and the water heater in the shower with us. when the hot water is turned on you can see the flame in there. it is pretty funny. and see the washing machine hose empties into the shower. very different than america but it is all good. I definitely take faster showers here which is a wonderful thing. 

here was our first night in Budapest when the assistants took us on a tour of the city. this is gellardge hedge (yeah my spelling has definitely not improved) which is where the dedictory prayer opening Hungarian for missionary work was given. 

Sister Cook, a friend from Massachusetts

"JRU Depth" with friends from Robin's Jerusalem trip

MTC teacher Brother Leferve 

this is my trainer sister oberhansely. she is wonderful. very sweet, loving, and patient which is perfect. one is the day we meet at the mission office and the other is from sunday

Arriving in Hungary

Monday, May 13, 2013

Dear Family!

So I am here! It finally came. I am really glad that I had been to Europe before because it feels like a mix between Jerusalem and Europe. I am in a town called Szolnok, and it is me and my trainer, Sister Oberhansely, and then 2 elders and then also a senior couple, which is fun. They don't speak any Hungarian so they just kinda shove pass along cards at people (in a nice way) and then try and get them to write down their phone numbers as well to then give to us. Last week they got 5 phone numbers so I guess it works :)

So my trainer worked hard in Szolnok last transfer and for that I feel very blessed. We have 5 people with a baptismal date and we are hoping to put 2 more people on bap date this week. We have lots of programs (that is what everyone calls lessons here) which is nice (I was not expecting to have very many), but also exhausting. I try and speak during them, but it is hard when I don't really understand what is being said. I am trying though and I speak more everyday which is good. I feel like I am starting to understand more as well, which is good.

I got to introduce myself in church and bare my testimony. I was really nervous, but it went really well. Afterwards everyone came up to me and was like oh my goodness you have only been in Hungary for 5 days and you speak like that! And they would say I am a very good speaker and then I wouldn't be able to understand anything after that which is slightly ironic.

We have taught some very weird people but everyone needs the gospel, especially weird people I guess.We'll see if those weird people go anywhere.

Cool story number one. This guy called and invited us to his birthday party, which was just going to be his family and he wanted us to meet them. So we went and it was on one of our very strange days, so we were like if it weird we will peace out. So it was good and they gave us cake and asked what we were doing in Hungary and we told them about missionary work bore our testimonies about the gospel and families asked them about their religious background and beliefs and I said a prayer at the end which was terrifying. We left a book of mormon and some pamphlets and we set up again with the birthday boy (who is not a boy but 32) and he is going to church next week and says he has been reading from the book of mormon and really likes it so I think he could be legit.

Another cool experience. Was we had a first program with a man and he is crossed eyed so it was slightly erie at first. But once we got going it was so good. He was so sincere about it all and accepted the restoration and we read a little from the Book of Mormon with him. We told him how he could know of the truthfulness of our message and taught him how to pray and then asked him to say the closing prayer. It was the most sincere prayer I have ever heard. He thanked Heavenly Father for us (it was super funny he didn't know what to call us so he paused and said for these the people) and then he also asked Heavenly Father to let him know if this was the right path for him to continue down on. If it his he will continue on it. We are meeting again with him this week and are hoping to put him on bap date as well. I think he is my favorite right now :)

Streeting is good. I'm not really afraid to stop people which is good and my trainer has already had me do some on my own which is good but terrifying because I don't really now what they are saying.

Love you!

Grigg Nővér

With her mission president & his wife in Budapest

Skyping with Mom & Dad on Mothers' Day (5/12/13)

Last Letter from the MTC!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Dear Family!

I wish that there had been dramatic music to play after that subject because I believe that it is necessary! So my time here at the MTC is coming to an end and while I am now sick of the food and feel like I have been here forever, I know that the MTC is a very special place and I am so thankful for my time here. I know that there are lessons that the Lord allowed me to learn here that I could not learn anywhere else and I just hope that I was able to learn here all that he wanted me too. I feel like I am leaving my Zone better than I found it, which is something that I want to be able to say after each of my areas. All week we have been like the last tuesday devotional and the last wednesday night dinner here and it is a little sad but I know that there are bigger and better things waiting for me in Hungary and that there are so many people there that the Lord has prepared to hear the gospel! I always feel the spirit so strong when I am writing my emails to you and I hope that you can feel the spirit when you read them.

so conceration week. I thought I was going to die. And I am not using hyperbole there Billy. Seriously it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. But it was also really rewarding. We sacrificed English to the Lord in the hopes that he would bless us and our ability to speak the language that he has called us to preach his gospel in. We also sacrificed other things. Ok as soon as we were able to speak English again I was so happy, which is a little bad. But this week made me appreciate so much that we have the ability to hear and understand the gospel in our own language and express things the way that we want to and are used to and I am thankful that the Lord has made it possible for people all around the world to expreience the samething so I am glad that I am learning this language even though it is impossible difficult :) I feel like I can say for the first time the truly I do love the language of Hungarian. I completely no longer wish I was called English speaking and even thought that took me 2 months to learn I am glad I learned it! Sometimes I can be a really slow learner :) conceration week gave me a love for the Hungarian language and when we taught Edina and Zsolt yesterday after we could speak english I found that the Hungarian just flowed better. I am not a very fast speaker in the language and I don't think I ever will be but I feel as though I was able to say things the way I would have said them in English only with the Hungarian grammer and such which was such a nice blessing.

So I feel like the most important thing that I learned here at the MTC ok well 2 things. Is Prayer. Prayer has always been one of my favorite aspects of the gospel but also one that sometimes I am not very good at. But I truly know that our Father in Heaven hears and anwers our prayers. I know that we can tell him anything and everything that is in our heart and he is more than happy to listen. He wants to. I have learned that so much here because I can't just call one of you for advice or just to talk so I do that with my Heavenly Father now. I know that through prayer I have been more able to line up my will with the will of my Heavenly Father. The second is that this isn't my mission (well it is) but it is the Lord's. this is his work. I am merely an instrument in the hands fo the lord. If I do my part, he will allow me to be part of miracles that can occur in the lives of the Hungarian people. I am glad that I learned that one before getting out into the field. One of the reasons going on a mission first appealed to me was all the wonderful example of rms in my life and how amazing they are and I wan'ted to be like them but that is not what a mission is about. It is about brining Heavenly Father's children to the knowledge of there Savrio and how it can help them in their lives and make them happy. I am ready to share that with the people of Hungary because I know that it has been such a blessing in my life and has brought me so much joy. I don't know if my Hungarian is ready but I am ready. This week I chatted with one of my teachers and we talked about the definitions of ready and I had to redefine it for myself but its good. I am ready. We taught our last lessons to our 3 "investigators" and it was so wonderful. Afterward our teachers shared with us the story of the real person that they taught on their mission. They have shared pictures with us and talked about the people, the food, the culture and I am so excited!

Ok well til Monday! Hopefully you answer your phones! between 12ish-2ish my time be posted and then again from 6ish-8ish. Dallas time. which I think is an hour ahead of Utah.

Til Hungary!!!

Grigg Nover

With MTC teacher, Brother Davis

Zone leaders Robin has worked with

With MTC teacher, Sister Lefevre

New Estonian district w/ Robin & her companion on the end