I am in my second transfer! wild.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Dear Family,

Melegem volt. those are the words that best describe the week. Other than the weather is has been a good week. Since we stayed together we didn't go up for transfers so we were just able to keep working.

So no worries the email place has some great rap music going on for us right now, since I know you are all concerned.

Elder Giacalone is here with Elder Miller. Fresh from the MTC. People call him the "teljsen zöldi" and I am the "részen zöldi" or he is the complete greeny and I am the part greeny now, according to the branch members. Katie met him through one of her friends before he left on his mission. So that is some fun stuff. He is doing great. there is a picture of our little Szolnok crew...but Elder Miller didn't want to stop so the picture is of him walking away. His family reads the blog Ally so that is more for their benefit.

Oh the weather. Words can not even begin to describe how hot it is. It has been in the 100s this past week. Thankfully not a lot of Humidity but the rough part is that there is no break from the heat because no where is air conditioned. Like I know I have been hotter in my life but I have never been this consistantly hot for this long. It is going to be a long, hot, and extremely sweaty summer. But it will be good. Funny story about the heat. We went out with the Elders on a bus (which Hungarians don't have the best hygiene in the world so it is way smelling haha) like a 30 minute ride to a village because they meet with a members husband who is not a member. Z. so I realize the whole initial thing might not be the best because everyone's names seems to start with Z. and the wife is B. and they fight a lot which causes him to smoke and that is the thing holding him back from baptism so the Branch President decided Sis O and I could go teach B how to be a good wife because we as a 21 and a 20 are completely qualified on this subject. We give really good advice let me tell you. So since we had no idea how to do this the spirit told us to talk about Christlike attributes and we started with patience. And she knows that she isn't patient and was really willing and accepting to talk about it and how to improve. so it was a really good lesson. But we meet in the kitchen, and it was swealtering. The Elders came out of the livingroom with Z to go look at the baby chicks (yes chickens, that is right) and the three of us are fanny ourselves with family proclamation pamphlets looking completely wilted, is the word Sis O uses to describe our condition. I think we looked like death but wilted is probably a better word. ok maybe this was one of those you had to be there stories.

We had 2 of the funniest programs yesterday. One of our investigators called because she had left her bike there after church and said her brothers were going to come get it if the gate was still open. Oh and this investigator, Z, brought me shoes yesterday. heels. apparently my practically shoes aren't cute enough. She made me promise to use them so I wore them during church. So we went back to the branch house and I was like let try and met with them and Sis O was like ok how would you say that in Hungarian. She is so good. They are 17 and 19. we had met the 17 year old one before. he is dating his sister's (who is 21 and dating a 40 year old) good friend A who is 30 (we have met with her and Z before). apparently the whole age difference thing isn't a big deal here. so we were like hey do you have 10 so we can chat about prayer. So we went in to the branch house and talked about prayer for 15 minutes and gave them a book of mormon and one of them said the closing prayer. during the lesson he was like how do you pray. seriously what a perfect question.

Then we went tracting, and we got let in! Which was my first time being let in, but in all fairness we haven't tracted a whole ton. It was a Mom and her 2 daughters and she also has a son who wasn't there. We told her that we knew our message could help her be happy, which is what synch the deal. or more accurately the Spirit touched her heart at that moment. She isn't happy because the kids' Dad took off about a year ago. So we got to know her and she doesn't really believe in God because of all the bad things that happen. We talked about God and Christ and that they have a plan for us and we introduced the Book of Mormon and talked about agency. We are going back over there this week, which is really exciting! I was reading in 3 Nephi 17 this morning which is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon and in verse 17 is talks about how no one can understand the joy the people felt when the Savior prayed for them to the Father. And I hope when we pray with people that they feel that joy. That they can feel their Father's in Heaven love for them. That it invites the spirit.

We had a great lesson about tithing with one of our bap dates. M. She is the one that is quitting smoking. It has know been 2 and a half weeks since she quit! She is good friends with a member of the branch which is how the missionaries were introduced to her. seriously that is the best way to do missionary work. through the members. If investigators already have that immediate connection it is just so good. V the other bapdate we met with and talked about the word of wisdom and she is now in Jacob! The member there grilled her in her normal fashion but V impressed the member. It was really funny because the member is a néni and then started talking about boys with V and if it was ok to kiss. such a riot.

A who was the one who got baptized almost didn't show up to her confirmation this week! ok seriously now it is like funny but yesterday during sacrament meeting was the most stressful 1 of my life. we were sitting there and Elder Peterson and his new companion had taken a 2.5 train ride so that he could confirm her because she had asked him too and President gave the permission. and then she wasn't there. we called her twice then the elders called and she answer and she had overslept. oh 17 year old girls on summer break. but she got there and was confirmed right after sunday school. we had a great program with her after church and she is doing so well. seriously. it is amazing to see the change in her because of the gospel and even the change since her baptism a week ago! love it. we are going to call her next week before church to help her get there on time. she is cute, in her prayers she asks Heavenly Father to bless her with punctuality. We are hoping to met her mom this week.

Love you all and have a great week!

Grigg Nővér

Sis. O and I

We had a baptism!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Dear Family!

We had a baptism on Sunday, and it was of course the highlight of the week. Our investigator A, a cute 17 year old girl, the Elders' investigator G, and than the only primary child in the branch were baptized. Seriously the ties in this branch are amazing. We all walked over after church, to Hozzam Klub, where they were baptized in the pool there. We had the service in the little attic room at the top and it was so hot. Hungry does not believe in air conditioners, but it was such a spiritual experience. I am so grateful for the Spirit because even though, I couldn't really understand what was being said, I felt the spirit and I knew that the choice these 3 were making were the right one and that Heavenly Father is so proud of them. A was so cute and happy. She was nervous but than afterward she talked about how happy and clean she felt. Our last program with her before her baptism, afterwards we just felt the spirit really testifying to us that she was ready which was a great thing. I just felt such a great amount of love for her and the other members of the branch. Everyone's advice was just love the people and I am sad that it has taken me 6 weeks so feel that great amount of love for them. Funny part about the baptism is that there is a very inappropriate mural above the pools so 2 people stand and hold a sheet over it. riot. After the baptism we all walked back to the branch house and played games and at desert. Ok playing do you love your neighbor in Hungarian is hard. And fun fact. My hair is not considered red hear. Learned that during the game. Probably because it is super in here for middle aged women to dye their hair this purply red color. It is strange. Good news is one of our investigators came to the baptism and she is 17 also and is now beyond excited to for her baptism in a month. She is the sweetest ever. She wants to serve a mission when she turns 19. Touching.

Transfer calls came this morning and Sister O and I are staying together in Szolnok! I am so excited. We are ready for a hot summer of working hard. It is really exciting too because we have 3 baptisms in the July. One of which we have really since her change. She is in her 50s. She is just so happy now! We are coming up on 2 weeks of her not smoking! She says it is getting easier. One day this week we called her just to see how the not smoking was going and she goes I had a cigarette in my hand, and I was trying to decided if I should smoke it or not. Ok wow talk about good timing. I know that the Holy Ghost prompted us to call her at that precise moment. We talked about the 10 commandments, the sabbath day and chastity this week and it she was so cute. She goes oh ok well I won't shop on Sundays any more and is committed to live the law of chastity. It is amazing so see the changes that the gospel brings to people through the power of the atonement and repenting! It is the coolest to see how reading your scriptures everday and praying can make you so happy because that is what she is experiencing!

So our investigator D who was on bap date broke up with us this week. It was so sad. But ok. We teach him in English (so I am wayy sad about that) and he is stellar. He says he just needs a break to write down his own testimony. It was sad, but we felt a feeling of peace about it and really believe that he will be back. He said he will continue to red the Book of Mormon. He is just really logical so he is having a hard time of going with things based off of faith. But he was so legit. Like we taught the word of wisdom and we didn't even have to commit him he on his own said ok I will live this for 1 month and see. And he went to a bachelor party and I wedding and didn't drink because he had promised God for that month! And he went home from the bachelor party early so he would be well rested for church the next day! I mean like how awesome is that. He'll be back.

We went up to Budapest this week for Zone Conference. We were combined with another zone, and it was amazing to see how many missionaries were there! It was really neat. It was great to hear from President and his wife. I loved what Sister Smith had to say about enduring to the end and about how there are many different ends in our lives. Ends of calls or like in missions the end of the transfer. Or even just enduring to the end of the week she talked about.

pictures so here is a few pictures from the baptism. one is of just me and A at the branch house afterward the baptism. one is from all of us crowded and it is a horrible picture of me because I look like an elephant because I am standing right up in front but whateves. the sacrifice we make. Then there is another one of Sister O and I with A.

I love being a missionary!

Love

Grigg Nővér

me and sister O

I was told I talk about food too much so there was no story about food this week even though there was a good one. So none of these have to do with food.

we went to budapest and we had to bring back a pillow to the mission home so i took the bullet and looked like the weirdo walking around with a pillow. so selfless of me. plus it was way comfortable for the train ride.

This is the town square. notice the missionary planner in hand. don't worry there is a book of mormon in my bag. too bad it wasn't in my hands. bummer

we went to a graduation this week. it was interesting.

also with transfers, Elder Peterson is leaving, but Elder Miller is staying and is training one of the missionaries I was in the MTC with for a bit so that will be fun to find out tomorrow.

a week of lots of ups and downs :)

Monday, June 10, 2013

This week was a good week. First let us start with the fact that I ate fried liver! yes that is right fried liver. real life. pig liver was in my belly and it was disgusting. I thought I was going to throw up and I am not exaggerating. So listen to what happened. this one investigator. A always feeds us. He is the one that bore his testimony in sacrament last week and this week he started not smoking. We are coming up on a week of him not smoking. So the wife E brought out food and I started eating (after we had blessed it of course :)) and the meat was super dark so I was like hmm I wonder what this is so I was like disznos? (pig) and they said yes. and sister o was like what kind of meat is it and they said pig liver and I didn't know the word for liver but now I do. and so she translated if for me and I thought I was going to throw up the piece that was in my mouth. Unfortunately I had to eat all of it. and these were not little pieces. so gross. I tried eating it the same time as the pickled cabbage but to be honest that only worked for a few bites then it started making it worse. I tried little bites which was better but then the liver lasted longer. they walked back into the kitchen at one point and sis o was like can I put some on your plate and I was like yeah right remember the time that you served me the largest second helping known to mankind. (maybe that wasn't my most Christlike moment) remember the find for yourself thing during eating programs? yeah. So she wraps it up in a napkin and puts it in her purse! real life. I realize now that I think I talk a lot about food in my emails home. oops.

We have a baptism this weekend and the elders have one as well! She is a cute 17 girl, who the branch adores and fits in so well. We are so excited for her. Speaking of 17 year old girls, we put one on bap date this week. V. she is totes adorbs (haha) ok but really. We meet with her and her mom for the first time almost 2 weeks ago and then we hadn't had a chance to plan another appointment but then she should up at the same time the next week and the Elders called us and were like your investigators here so we raced over and thankfully a different program had cancelled so we could meet. She had read from the book of Mormon several times and prayed about it and knew it was true. We taught the Plan of Salvation and she said she just knew it was right. Knew that it was a good plan and from God. It was amazing she wanted to be baptized and will be in June. She came to church yesterday (we had 7 investigators in church!) and said she really enjoyed it. Thus far the easy part has been putting people on bap date. The hard part is continuing to meet with them after to get them ready. Like M. was supposed to be baptized this week also but we haven't been able to meet with her enough. So we taught the WoW hoping that she would realized that should wouldn't be ready for baptism because she smokes but then said she would quite right then (which is awesome! she hasn't smoked in like 5 days now) and was set on still being baptized and we didn't have the heart to tell her that she couldn't so then super awkward in church when they announced the baptism in Relief Society and another women was like M too and yeah. But it is ok. We talked afterward and she is really looking forward to it in July after we can teach her about chastity and tithing. Fun stuff. She gave us a referral. And we went and met him and he wanted us to go breakdancing with him and his friends and we were by their gym and then all his friends showed up and were like will you train with us sometime. That was awkward. oh yeah, maybe sometime....but we know we are not going to go hangout at a gym with a bunch of guys our age. As sister O and I were walking away were were like were are wearing skirts passed our knees, do we look like we just "hang"? We so don't look like we just hang out. But it is ok and humorous to look back on.

Remember the story I told about the 12 year old boy, P? Our lesson with him this week was about the Gospel of Christ and when we got to the enduring to the end part we asked what that means because we meet at a member's family's apartment and he answered all the questions! It was so tender (a word I have picked up from Sis O. but am trying hard not to use all the time) he like knew how to endure to the end already and we haven't even taught him that much. It just goes to show how important the example and friendship is of members.

I just want to say how much I love my family and how grateful for my parents. We had an investigator tell us that he has a problem in the past and now with adultery. And I truly know and believe that he can receive forgiveness for these transgressions through the Atonement because there is no sin too big or too little that the Atonement of Christ can not cover. It was just heartbreaking to hear, especially because we love his wife. I was reading the family proclamation and it says that every child has the right to be born to parents who are faithful to each other and it is so true. And it is heartbreaking to think about this family and how the father's actions has the potential to ruin their family relationships.

The harder and more stressful weeks also have some of the best times in them. I truly can see how the Lord is preparing the people of Hungary to receive the gospel and how if we work hard we are blessed to find them and be a part of their lives.

It was Elder Miller's birthday this week so we got together with the elders and the Herds and had a nice dinner, and then had correlation meeting, and then sister Herd made chocolate cake. So good. He is old now. Hit the big 20. Elder Peterson played the loveliest musical number in church yesterday and he gave me a jó regelt just now while we were emailing, which he wanted me to mention. We always go over to the Herd's on Pday and cook together and play games. We will have left over chocolate cake today, Sis. O is really excited.

Since I don't want to break tradition with the whole food thing here is a picture of our grocery shopping treat, while we were waiting for the bus last week. Sis O had to take the picture because she was healthy and got bubbly water instead.

Ok well I love you all a lot

Grigg Nővér

Elder Miller's surprised about the cake

here is a pictures of my companion and I tabling in the town square. it might be published on a web page article about missionary work in Hungary by the church. we had to sign releases that the mission president gave us so yeah. not the worlds best pictures but whateves.

so Hungarians like freak out if it is even the slightest bit cold and you aren't wearing a jacket. so I was wearing a sweater underneath this one but the wife of one of our investigators insisted that we wear her sweaters home because we would freeze. it was very sweet of her. mine isn't too bad but check out sister o's. haha

ez az üzenetem sok érték

Monday, June 3, 2013

Church was very tender yesterday. Church is always good but interesting. It is so exciting when a good amount of our investigators show up but then it is sad when the people who need to be there aren't (in this case 2 recent converts). But it was fast Sunday and one of the recent converts is having a very difficult time finding a job so when we went over there this week we talked about fasting and the branch president came with us and we decided we would all fast together on Sunday and start with a prayer in his office before sacrament meeting and then she didn't come to church. It is hard not to be frustrated because there is only so much we can do. We tried stopping by her apartment but she wasn't there so I was able to replace my frustration with concern. But so at the start of relief society the young women were in there to start (all 2 of them :)) and the president had cut out red hearts for everyone and we all stood in a circle and held hands (which sounds strange and it kind of was) but it was in Hungarian so I didn't understand all of what she said but the gist of it was how wonderful is it that we are in the organization that was founded by God and it is the only women's organization on earth that is run by him. and it was so tender and someone shared an experience with family home evening and there was lots of tears and it was just something that would have happened back in the states and it was so tender. the gospel is the same every where no matter what language or were. A 13 year old was ordained to the priesthood yesterday after church and the whole ward gathers into the chapel and is there together. His family is recently come back into activity there are the ones I talked about last week. A is good friends with P the one I told the story about last week and the camaraderie in the branch is amazing. a recent convert was asked to give the closing prayer and it was so awkward. She was baring her testimony instead and everyone had the eyes closed and arms folded and so funny now looking back. She is a Néni so an old woman so it's ok. so then the first counselor got up and said the closing prayer afterwards.

This week we taught the law of chastity a lot. Z is supposed to get baptized in 2 weeks but she is currently living with her fiance. She was very receptive to the law of chastity and knows that is how it should be but she doesn't know what she is going to do because she wants to get married but he doesn't yet and she said it wouldn't work if they moved out so I'm not sure what will happen. He works in Germany and only comes home every other weekend. She is like already a member of the branch except for the baptism part she comes to everything is friends with everyone and is solid. It is said. A tender thing is she is 21 and just had 7 teeth pulled and was in a lot of pain and a member told her she should get a blessing and so she asked us about it. and i was like do you want one now and it wasn't the best timing because we had all changed into workout clothes for sportnap but the branch president was there so him and the elders gave her one and yesterday in church she goes it worked I'm not in any pain and so sis O and I told her how much we love priesthood blessings and all that god jazz.

A different investigator bore his testimony in church yesterday. so tender. He is in the process of quitting smoking. He promised us he will smoke one less cigarette everyday til we start the stop smoking program which I had never seen before. We will start it this week. It is really interesting. and has a 85% success rate. He said something powerful he told us that we need to believe in him and it is so true. If we don't have faith that he can do it then there is no way that he will be able to.

We ate with the elders at E Néni this week and oh my gosh so much food. You are expected to eat everything and Sis O totally threw me under the bus. So she wouldn't have to eat as much she put waaaaay more on my plate then hers. I thought I was going to die. At least it was really good food. Seriously though. Apparently when it comes to sister missionaries you have to fend for yourself in eating programs. rough. So now the elders keep teasing me for eating like a champ. all sister Oberhansely's fault :)

sok szeretettel

Grigg Nővér

ps email me pictures of your fun summers :)

these are the sisters in my district. district meeting in kecskemét.

everyone is still emailing so I guess I can add more. Have I mentioned people by name yet as in missionaries. I'm going to try to starting doing the first initial for the investigators.

so there is me and sister oberhansley and then the elders in szolnok are Elder Miller and Elder Petersen. Then Elder and Sister Herd are the senior couple. every p day we all get together and cook a nice lunch together and play games so that is what is instore for today.

In that district sister missionary pic it was me and sister oberhansley and then sister westover and sister broadhead (who was my üsi in the mtc)

so elder miller and petersen and us table together often, which is generally always a good time. So there is a table that the senior couple made that says free english and free book of mormons and we stand there as a base and then go and talk to people around the square. yesterday actually a couple from America came and talked to us the husband was Hungarian and they live in LA! we chatted for awhile and we talked about the temple on wilshire. we gave them a hungarian book of mormon and wished we had had an english book of mormon for the wife. We gave them a pass along card to give to their family who lives in Szolnok. It was fun.

this is a pic from gyereknap (children day) the branch activity a week ago.