Transfer Week!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Tomorrow is the big day! We go up to Budapest and get the new companions. Szolnok is going to change so much! Sister O is leaving and going to Nyiregyháza and Elder Miller is leaving to Szeged and be a Zone Leader. Elder Giacalone and I are staying. and I am getting Sister Petersen and Elder Giacalone is getting Elder Loveday who will be our new district leader and is coming from the office because he was a secretary. Sister O and Elder Miller say that Sister Petersen talks none stop so I think we will get along well. I'll let you know next week about it all. Since I am going into my third I am officially trained, which is scary. But since I am still in my greenie area, everyone says that I am still a greenie so that is good. Hopefully I can just stay in Szolnok forever.

Oh other big next. They started intense construction on our apartment because we have been without hot water for a week (it has been a rough life but it is ok we have been surviving with like 5 minute showers) and they like are completely redoing the bathroom like the wall has been knocked down and they took out the sink, cabinet, mirror, tub, everything. and we thought it was only going to be 2 days but it is going to be a week know. ut oh. So we asked the Senior Couple, the Smiths, if we could stay with them for 2 days but now it will be a week so hopefully they will be ok with that! so I am bringing back a new companion and we can't live in our apartment for a while. ha. I'm nervous for the whole new companion thing. It is my first time. What if all of our investigators leave us! eee. Sister O tells me to stop being so dramatic, which is true. But still it is scary. The mission is growing! there are like 7 (maybe 6) new companionships!

I want to tell you about Imre. I think I mentioned him. 3 Sundays ago we tracted into him. And we went and tracted this building and we had a really hard time getting in (this was the same building that I accidentally made the lady cry in) and we tried like 10 different people to get in and then randomly I was like try 63 and the guy let us in (unfortunately it wasn't Imre) so we then knocked on 130 doors. like for real. It was sweltering, we were dying of thirst and starving and kind of just wanted to go home. but we were like lets just finish the building so we it was one of the last door we knocked on. And this man opened the door with no clothes on. Real life and we told him we were doing a survey and he asked if we would still be here in 10 minutes and to come back. So we were like done tracting and so we just were like should be wait or leave and we decided to wait and went and talked to him and he was semi interest but we couldn't teach him then because he was home alone and he didn't have a phone number and so we thought there is no way that we will end up meeting with him he doesn't have a phone number. We set up for a couple days later and he came! we have met with him around 5 times and the 3rd time we put on bap date! He is golden really. He has already seen how since he has been reading the book of Mormon and praying how it has changed his life. He smokes a lot but already heard about the word of wisdom because that was the Sunday school lesson on Sunday and is willing to quit but wants to build up his faith more first. knows the Book of Mormon is true knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Believes the plan of salvation is true. He is so into studying the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon and asked for the gospel principles manual. It is sooo cool. Really. It was crazy to have found him because we felt dead, and it is moments like that when you just push a little harder that a miracle happens like finding Imre. It is amazing so see the change in him. We read about repentance from Alma 36 (classic) yesterday and he loved it.

Have a great week!

Sister Grigg

oh PS remember how I said that I am matching making the branch, yeah Csaba and Valentina are dating. so good. She came to our first program after she was baptized and said I know that there are certain things that I shouldn't do and I want to date right so tell me everything. Obviously she already knew about chastity and jazz. So we talked about dating and she read Elder Bednar's chastity talk from conference and looved it. And it reading the for strength of youth right now. so good. 

oh and Ally I don't know what the whole blog think is like but one of the elders I serve with has a blog and I don't know if that linking thing is a good idea or not but it is Elder Giacalone in Hungary. [A/N: this is Elder Giacalone's blog: http://jgiacalone.blogspot.com/. He mentions Robin and has a few pictures with her in them. I think they might also tell some of the same stories, if you'd like a different perspective.]

And here are the elders tabling. Elder Miller and Elder Giacalone.

A pictures of our district. It is the Kecskemét missionaries and the Szolnok missionaries.

no worries there is not as many pictures as last week. just doing a little yoga in a sunflower field. Every morning we exercise with the elders and every third day about we do yoga. Sister O leads us in Yoga so just practicing a little bit.

we took an hours bus ride to have lunch with a member family this week. We go once a transfer.

Week 19

Monday, July 22, 2013

Dear Family,

First off next week is transfer week so the email will be coming on Tuesday next week since we switch Pdays transfer week. Fun fact next transfer will only be 5 weeks and then the one after that is 10! Whaaat. and then they will just be 9 weeks from then on out.

This week was such a good week. It was the zone goal to go all RAMBO but it was going to be a really hard to do so beacause of the kirándulás, the baptism, and going to Kecskemét for district meeting but we all worked hard and it was a super good week.

We put Gyula (I think I will just use first names it is easier) on bap date. Sister O and I set a transfer goal to find a family but instead I think we will be completing one! His wife, grandson (his grandson is Csaba who baptized Valentina, Marika, and Patrik) and wife Valika are members and is one of his children and then a daughter in law. So it was such a good experience. We were planning on bap challenging him after we watched the restoration film but we were talking about his book of Mormon reading and we gave him Alma 36 about repentence because he says he wants to change his life and the spirit was strong so we did it then and then it turns out Octber 5th is his birthday. So he will probably be baptized on his 60th birthday! how neat is that!

So the language Dad asked about it. I try not to talk about it in emails because it can be a discouraging thing for me. Learning Hungarian is literally the hardest thing I have ever done. It is teaching me a lot of humility and patience which is good. It is very easy to get discouraged and impatient with myself because of it but I am trying to be happy and such and just be patient and work hard because everyone says it will come. And strengthening my faith that it will come. We went on splits this week with the Sister Training leaders and the one I was with (Sister Fox) says I speak a lot and very well for my age in the mission and she says she is a good judge of it since they go on splits with the whole mission, but I dunno. I still have no idea what people are saying to me when they speak. Well ok that isn't true I can carry a conversation, but for example today when we went grocery shopping with the elder they were joking around that I could go senior next transfer (but I am positive that it won't happen since there is a group of 10 sisters the transfer above me) and then a néni came up to me and said something to me while we were waiting for the bus, and I had no idea what she said. haha. But it turns out she was saying that she found my berlet in the grocery store and gave it to the front and the grocery store was all like oh we know her she is the little foreign girl. haha. riot. I am the little foreign girl so that means the grocery store knows Sister O probably as the tall foreign girl. And how nice of that néni to come tell me that I had dropped my bus pass.

Sister Fox was really nice. And I really enjoyed splits. I was nervous and anxious for it, but there was no reason to be. It was neat to she how someone else does missionary work. She dies after next transfer and says that she is very comfortable leaving the mission because she knows it is in good hands because of sister missionaries like me she says. It was really encouraging to hear.

The big kirándulás was a good experience as well. They were celebrating pioneer day and these individuals are all the pioneers for the church in Hungary and so it was really neat to see them all pull through to organized this huge event. Kecskemét, Szeged, and Békéscsaba were all there. Are branch is so little, but you never would've been able to tell by the event it was such a success. They worked really hard for it. It was amazing to see them all pull through together.

We had a baptism which was definitely the best part of the week. Marika, Valentina, and Patrik were all baptized. It was so wonderful! The feeling of the spirit that was there while they were walking into the water and then when they came out just can't be described. The look of joy on Marika's face when she walked out of the pool was indescribable. Patrik was so excited all day Saturday and all day Sunday. Adri who got baptized last transfer told us about what see remember from her baptism and it was so great. I don't think they will ever know or understand how much they have changed my life (well Valentina wants to serve a mission and hopefully Patrik will as well when he gets older so maybe they will get it) Even just typing about it I can feel the spirit and am starting to tear up a bit. It was just such a sense of this is why I came on a mission to help people enter into the covenant of baptism to help them see how accepting the restored gospel can change their lives. To partake of the gift of the atonement. It is such a blessing to be a part of it and to see how much they have all change. I can already see such a change in Gyula from saying his first prayer and beginning to read from the Book of Mormon for the first time. He talks more. He has come to church things a lot since his family are members, but now he participates. It is amazing. I know the atonement has the power to change hearts and lives and I have seen it so clearly hear in Hungary. Since there is just one week left in the transfer I've been thinking a lot about the first 2 transfers of my mission and it really has been some of the best 12 weeks of my life. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and even the the Hungarian language is so hard I am blessed to be a missionary in Hungary right now.

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

Sister Grigg

So this is from the kirándulás on Saturday and it is with a member and her husband who we put on bap dat for Oct 5^th this week!

and then V who got baptized and sister O and I.

I am matching making the branch. It is not a big deal. Here is member C who baptized V and there are the same age and both want to serve missions. C younger siblings were teasing V about her eventual sealing to C in the Salt Lake Temple. It was so good.

Here is Patrik and I. He is the one I told the story maybe like 2 months ago about when we put him on bap date. Some how the children's bap clothes got lost so a white shirt and pants worked instead. He was so excited for his baptism. It was one of the best experiences of my mission. I feel so fortunate that I got to see the whole process. Finding him, putting him on bap date, teaching him (and the elders finished the teaching process) and then him being baptized. And I'll most likely still be in Szolnok when he receives the priesthood.

Here is the Szonok Crew in Besenyszög for the kirándulás

V and I. Good thing I did my eyebrows that day because some Hungarians don't know how to take pictures and get super up close and in your face.

And her is an awkward picture of Elder Giacalone and I from the kirándulás (the quad unit activity). His Mom now reads the blog. so sometimes the people I serve with get special requests because their families read the blog. Kinda fun huh?

plus the yoda pictures of Elder Giacalone and I that he requested goes on the blog. That was when we got stuck in Ketcskemét in the vihar (storm...check me out with that Hungarian. It was one of the words I learned from church yesterday)

oh and another bap picture

it is kinda of selfish of me but where the baptism is is never a good angle for pictures so I look like a weigh a million pounds in all the bap pictures but whatever. It isn't about me.

baptisms!!!

V is the 17 year old girl. M is around 55. and P is 12 years old. It was such a special day for all of them.

We had a big (3 branch 1 ward) party to celebrate pioneer day and we had permission to wear non pross and we ended up rideing with President and Sister Smith there (everyone met at the branch house in Szolnok and then went to the place in a little falu (village) a half an hour away) and on the way back Sister Smith made president stop so we could take pictures in a sunflower field. And funny story the grass was taller than I was so I completely face planted on the way over there in front of the mission president and his wife, my trainer, and our elders. not a big deal. I'm over it.

here are more sunflower pictures. one I am squinting real hard and the other one my eyes are close but the third is golden because my hair is flowing very nicely in the light breeze. And Elder Miller has his arm around the sunflower.

K peace and blessings

A letter from missionaries in Robin's area

Sunday, July 21, 2013 

Dear Brother and Sister Grigg,

You have an amazing daughter. She is an excellent missionary. and she and her companion work so hard. We arrived in Szolnok Tue. She and her companion have been so kind to us. They took us to a bakery the first night we were here. They also invited us to attend a program with them. She is doing well on her Hungarian. Thanks for raising such a fine young daughter of God.

Love, Sister Ruth Smith and Elder Marvin Smith

Post-sickness week

Monday, July 15, 2013

Dear Family,

Post sickness week has been good. So we spent last Pday in Budapest because we were already up there for the doctor, which was really fun. We went to St. Istvanne's cathedral and went up to Buda Castle. Pictures are included.

More importantly, we have 2 baptisms this week! So excited. The Szolnok branch's goal was 10 convert baptisms this year which is huge because last year they only had 3. We have 2 baptisms this week and the elders have 1 (it is that boy P who I told the story about a month and a half ago, the branch president said it would be better if they teach him and that was a few weeks ago) so with these 3 baptism the branch will have had 9 this year, which is super exciting! Unfortunately a few of them are already inactive. Baptism is a huge deal but even bigger is retaining them and enduring to the end. Our baptism last time the 17 year old girl she has yet to take the sacrament since her baptism. She comes to church every week and always comes in a skirt or dress now but always comes late. so we are really working on punctuality. She is so sweet. already plays a big role in the branch and her heart is in the right place. Speaking of skirts and dresses V who is getting baptized this week bought a skirt because she didn't have one and everyone else wears one. It was so sweet when she told us that because we hadn't said anything. Another one of our investigators has been dressing more modestly because people in the branch have told her. It is kinda funny. Sister O and I just think come to church we don't care what you are wearing; we will talk about the modesty thing later haha. Speaking of church yesterday a woman we gave a pass along card a while ago showed up a church today. We didn't get our number or set up with her or anything but she came to church because she needed some comfort. I was playing the piano so I didn't really get to talk to her, but she ended up staying for all 3 hours.

We put L on bap date this week. He is the one who's birthday party we went to my first week in the country. We have been meeting with him endlessly lately and we were able to put him on a bap date. I really believe that since he has been keeping his commitments to read and come to church he has been able to progress. Unfortunately, he won't pray on his own. He says very good prayers when we meet, but it afraid of seeing a vision like Lehi and Nephi did in 1 Nephi, which is kind of really funny, but it is ok. He called us yesterday and said that he read because I am szigorú when we extend the commitments. Which means strict haha. He gets really distracted easily.

Remember that funky program I talked about a few weeks ago with Z brother's? They came to get her bike and we asked them if we could talk about prayer for 15 minutes and he prayed at the end. He is really interested so we set up with him this week, which is exciting. We are going on splits this week with the sister training leaders and I am nervous. It will be the first time I'll be away from Sister O and doing missionary work with someone else. But it will be good preparation for when we part ways at transfers in 2 weeks. This week is also a huge church party thing on Saturday. A ward and 2 other branches are coming and so is the mission presidency so it is like a huge deal and President Smith gave us permission to go if we only shop and email today instead of taking a pday. So we are having lunch after this and then just working the rest of the day.

We had zone training this week in Szeged, which is a further train ride for us than Budapest. So we have to wake up early and it takes the whole day, but it was really good. Szeged is a super pretty city and on the train ride there, we saw lots of sunflower fields.

I almost forgot to tell you all that we went to a wedding this week! A member invited us to her niece's wedding and President Smith said we should go because it was only a half an hour so we went. I didn't understand a thing, let's be honest, but it was neat. Very different from the weddings I have been to in the states.

We found the best ice cream place ever this week while we were tracting and trying to get into a building we kept seeing people with ice cream cones so I just asked them where the ice cream place was. Actually it was a dad and a daughter on bikes and I kind of superly weirdly ran after them and stopped them. Sister O was dying, but we ended up getting way good ice cream. Oh while we were tracting yesterday I made a woman cry. It was so said. It was my turn for the door approach and I borrowed a good Sister O question and asked her from where she receives happiness and she cried and wouldn't take the plan of salvation pamphlet. I felt horrible. We did more tracting than normal this week so that was fun.

Ok well I love you all! Have a wonderful week everyone!

Grigg Nővér

Sister O and I at Buda castle. We didn't realize we would be in Budapest last weekend so yes I wore the same skirt for 3 days. Thank heavens it was reversible.

We spent 1 night at the buda sister's apartment and they got feed by the Stake president so Sister O and I made palacsintas, which are Hungarian pancakes. Dad they remind me a bit of Swedish pancakes. 

The Parliment building. This is the view from the Buda side of the river from the castle district. 

Here is the gross concoction of meds I had to take 3 times a day. eww that is the bathroom at the mission home in case you thought ours was that nice. 

We spent a lot of time on trains this week with coming back from buda and then going to szeged. 

Here is St. Istvánne's cathedral and inside the cathedral. Don't worry, they still have his hand, which is what the other picture is. 

Here is lunch at an Italian place in Szeged that wasn't really all that Italiany

The elders were in Budapest as well for new missionary training for Elder Giacaloni so we met up with Elder Miller so there is a pic with the 3 of us 

This is the Szolnok crew in Szeged for zone training 

Kedves családom

Dear family,

How are you all doing? Looks like it will be an exciting week. What with Jenny's Birthday yesterday, Peppers and Katie's this week and Mom and Dad being in Utah. I heard something about a facebook picture war. Sounds like the Griggs are up to their normal tricks.

Well, it has been a good week. A week of lots finding. We unfortunately got dogged a lot. And it is really sad because if only people knew how much the gospel could bless and change their lives. Seriously. oh the mission presidents wife, Sister Smith called us Tuesday morning during our studies and asked if she could come down and work with us and so she came down and spent several hours streeting and tracting with us. it was fun.

Thinking of one example with that of how much the gospel can bless people if they would only accept it, we had a program yesterday with a referral from an investigator (well we aren't exactly teaching him right now but he comes to seminary on wednesday evenings, English class, and to church occasionally) he is the one who in a program about prayer I thought he said he prayers to a little black lamb but he really said he was the black sheep of the family...awkward. haha. ok so his sister. she was at his birthday party that we went to my first week in Szolnok. And it was an amazing program. We taught the restoration, we we really teaching in unity and the spiritual was the strongest I have felt it in a program before and the things she was saying we were like this gospel is perfect for you! and her son was their too and it was just great and then she said that she didn't want to meet again. and it was a little sad but we know that everyone has their agency. sometime agency is the worst in missionary work but we are so blessed to have agency so I remind myself of that.

The Herds, the senior couple in Szolnok, are being transferred to another city in Hungary. We don't know where they are going. They aren't allowed to say. But the branch was devastated yesterday and our cute 17 year old investigator V was in tears as well. It is going to be so different with out them. Plus I am going to have to start playing the piano in church. speaking of V though was watched the restoration film with her and she loved it. she bore the most amazing testimony about Joseph Smith and there restored gospel it was amazing to here it. i alway think of Mom and her saying that when she first heard about the Joseph Smith stuff she was like oh I don't need to believe that. and when you talk about the restoration to people it sounds very strange but I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon, which is the convincing evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that through him God restored his church to the earth. it was awesome. We talked about how blessed we are to have a living prophet guiding the church today and gave her a the conference Liahona, which we just got in Hungarian this week so the branch members are way excited. and it is so true.

Funny story, we went tracting and before we went into the building I looked in the window the the barber shop on the ground flow and guess what was hanging there?! a pass along card. Sister O and I died.

so i got the ghetto computer today so I don't think I will be sending pictures home because it is sooo slow.

love

Grigg Nővér

the cat in the email place. katie please provide to ally the caption for that one.

we got caught in a huge rain store in kecskemét during district meeting and the district leader let me borrow his coat. so kind. we were carrying a box of book of mormons and we were so worried about them getting destroyed but it was all ok.

The pass along card in the window.