New York New York North mission!!!
She reports to the Mexico MTC February 5th to learn Spanish.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
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!
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.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
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.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
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.
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.
Love you all!
Sister Grigg
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.
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
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