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!