Week 68

Monday, July 7, 2014

Happy Birthday America!!! (and to Katie)

We spent 4th of July in Hungary with a Mexican eatting tacos. It's fine. haha

It was such a good week!

Barnabás got baptised! He is literally one of the most prepared people ever! The baptism was so perfect and then his confirmation yesterday was even better! There were such wonderful things in it about his life and the temple and eternal families. It was great. 

We went on splits again this week, and I went with a Hungarain. It was cool to spend the 24 hours with her and just speak in Hungarain. It was really fun. 

We switched our Pdays last week so on Saturday a couple from the ward took us to Skanszen (I have no idea how to spell that) it was the the Hungarian version of Sturbridge villiage. I kid you not. They had taken stuff from all around the country from the 1800s and brought it to this place. There were people in coustume blacksmithing, making bread, and other such things. It was cool. And we went to a a marczpin museum. There was Elvis made out of marczipan. how nutty is that?!

We have another investigator that is progressing nicely too so we are hoping to give her a bap date this week! 

Love you all lots!

Sister Grigg

Happy Mother's Day (Again)

Monday, May 12, 2014

Happy Mother's Day,

I hope that all the Moms had a wonderful day. It was so good to skype home! 

The Gospel Changes people. It is official. So remember how we are meeting with a hoarder. Well this week we went back over, and she had been reading out of the BoM, praying, and came to church, and she made a couple of comments that she never would have made 3 weeks ago when we first met. She said she is realizing that if she ever wants to have a clean apartment she needs to throw away the things that aren't necessary. And then yesterday there was a bunch of clothes at the branch for the memebers to take, and I was just praying that her and her daughter wouldn't take any and she goes member we should bring some of our extra clothes here too! Like talk about progress! We made them a bap calendar last week and they are obssessed with it. It is super cute to see them check off everyday that they have read the BoM and prayed. The 13 year old daughter and I get along so well. I helped her with her chemistry homework for 5 minutes and the perodic elements have way different names in Hungarian! My chem TAing at BYU came in handy! 

The missionary couple incharge of Humanitarian projects in Hungry came to help out a place here in NyÍregyháza so I spent the day translating. (obviously sister Feil was there too) They bought power tools for a disabled organization here. A man that works there takes parts of old cars and other things that people throw away and builds like go-cart/bicycle like things for them to use for excersizing because they can't do it the normal way. I'll send some pictures. I have never been shopping for power tools in English let alone in Hungarian, but it all worked out, witth the Lord's help. And then there was someone there from Ukraine who was really American and he heard us translating so then I helped him buy some power tools as well. so funny.

Ok well love you all lots!

Next week is transfers so I will be emailing on Tuesday! 

Sister Grigg

and here is some of the boxes we were able to throw away from the our investigators apartment. the one that hoards. here is a member that came with us. such a champ.

 this is one of the bike like things but this one actually isn't a bike at all. oh well.

Week 51

Monday, March 10, 2014

Monday, March 10, 2014

Dear Family!

We had an amazing week this week! We went tracting like 3 times and one of the times was only for 30minutes, but we got let in so many times! I feel like we didn't deserve as much success as we had this week, but I was such a blessing. We found 2 families this week, which was such a miracle because my whole mission I have only found like 4. I felt like the Lord was leading around Sister Moffatt and I all week. Not only was it a great week workwise finding a ton of new people to teach, but we also had a blast this week! One of my investigators got baptized yesterday in Szombathely. I am so sad that I wasn't able to be there, but I am so happy for her and her husband who baptized her! They sent me pictures today so I will forward them. 

Now looking back I can't remember what happened this week. But it was great. Our bap date that is quitting smoke has gone for over a week now and he also gave up coffee! 

Saturday was women's day. (America really needs to get one of those), and Friday we had a program with him and his fiancee. And he had written us a tender poem for women's day, bought flowers, and had made us dessert. He burned his finger making the dessert. It was such a tender day. 

I spoke in church yesterday about the Holy Ghost as the comforter. When I have given talks in Hungarian, I have spoken really fast as I do in English but the fast speaking mixed with a foreign language doesn't go too well. But the Holy Ghost totally comforted me because I didn't speak too fast. I said that at the end of my talk as part of my testimony and then sat down and the investigator I was sitting next to goes, "You spoke really fast." Ok fine whatever. I was so impressed with myself because I spoke for 20 minutes (which was necessary because the first speaker took like no time and then one of the elders who is younger than me in the mission was speaking after me). Talk about having the gift of tongues. I had it for those 20 minutes and then it left and I am back to struggling again. It is fine. It was a good talk though. Heavenly Father definitely gave me the right promptings for that one. I am so thankful for the gospel! The thinks people turn to comfort these days is nutty.I truly know that only the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can bring us last peace and comfort. I talked about having hope in the right things. People were crying, I teared up a little bit. Thankfully not too much because tears and a foreign language is worse than fast talking and a foreign language. I can't imagine what life would be like without the gift of the Holy Ghost and having him as the perfect comforter always!

We teach a young girl from Ukraine so it is interesting to hear about what her and her family are thinking about everything going on because her family is still living in Ukraine. We have a different investigator who is going to let us start teaching her family instead of just always her! I am so excited. She always has the best questions and I just think oh my goodness the gospel is perfect for you and your family!

Love you all and hope that everyone has a great week!

Sister Grigg

Such an amazing week!!!

Dear Family and Friends!

This week was so wonderful!!

Let us start with the highlight of the week! Imre's baptism! President gave us permission to go to Szolnok so that I could be there for Imre's baptism. I have written about him home a ton. With when we first found him and his teaching process! It was such an amazing experience. We were waiting for the train in Budapest and I saw someone we baptized in June from Szolnok, which was such a weird coincidence, and it was great! And then we got on the train, walked to the hotel, where the baptisms are, and we walked into the room and Imre was standing there in his baptism clothes looking out the window. I just had flashbacks to the first time that I met him when we knocked on his door and then the first time we met with him in a program when he showed up wearing a super inappropriate shirt and reeked of smoke and then here he was wearing the white baptismal clothing, not a hint of cigerette smoke! It was so wonderful. He was so ready and prepared to get baptized. I got to talk to him for a little bit before. Then I gave the talk on baptism. rough.. but it was ok. haha. We sang in the choir musical number (which was almost everyone there..not a big deal) and the spirit was just so strong. I got so see a few of the Szolnok branch members again. And Zsuzsi, which was so wonderful. Biro elnők baptized Imre and unfortunately we had to be bap in Pest for another baptism so we had to leave right after that and couldn't stay for longer. But I got to talk to him for a bit before he changed, and he such talked about how excited he is to get the gift of the whole ghost and about how baptism isn't the end just the beginning and how he will be a church member the rest of his life and endure to the end. It was perfect! He is serious the best find ever. He was so prepared by Heavenly Father for the gospel. It doesn't mean that it was easy for him because he had to overcome a lot to get baptized, but I know how blessed he is for all of it! He is just such an amazing example to me and I am so thankful that I was able to help him along the way. I am so excited for him to get the priesthood! 

Ok so Pest is going really well too. Another highlight of the week was having lunch with a member and his friends. He invited us to his work place and bought us lunch (score number one) and then we got to chat with 5 of his friends. At first it was a little weird and hard because of the positioning of everyone to talk but then 2 left and we were positioned better and we could just chatt. They were fasinated about why we are here and things like that. Asked us why we came. And before my mission, when President Morgan asked us to say one sentence about why were choice to go on a mission I thought a lot about it and then after this lunch I thought a lot about it too. And an addition I came up with another answer. I am here in Hungary because I know that God has a plan for us. Christ is at the center of that plan and when we learn about God's plan and learn about our identiy as his children we see the world in different eyes and everything has meaning and purpose. I want other people to know about this wonderful plan of happiness! 

Ok so back to the lunch it was really neat. It wasn't the typically normal missionary work that we generally do like knocking on doors and talking to people on the street; it was great! I was also just so proud of this member because he was probably so nervous to have invited us to meet his friends! I think we will potentially get one new innvestigator so that will be fun to see what happens.

We met with this one woman from English class a few weeks ago and she has been bringing several friends to English class and we found out that they all know each other from the 12 step drug alchol anonymous program and the second step is all about finding God and the relationship with God so they are all interesting in meeting with is great! Different but really cool. 

Our main invesitgators with bap dates are progressing so well! They both fasted for the first time yesterday! so great. One came to church for the first time yesterday (he was at conference) and he goes I started my fast. It isn't too hard yet and Sister Magda's stomach growled. so good. A member showed him about the LDS gospel library app so he is way into that and he found LDS.org (he wouldn't let us give him the address because he wanted to google it haha) and has been rewatching some of the conference talks. so great. I love being a missionary and being able to help the Hungarians come closer to our Heavenly Father.  

Love you all and until next week!

Sister Grigg 

St István's basillica. because one time of seeing the creepy thousand year old hand isn't enough.

Our Zone leaders gave us a giant milka bar at zone training because our companionship got the most new investigators this past month! We are the youngest companionship in the zone...it just goes to show that the language isn't everything and the spirit is so much more important and does the converting.

today we walked be the American Embassy because our ward mission leader works there so we wanted to see that outside. what do you know... a statue of Ronald Reagan was there! Jon this is a shout out to you! Note how pretty parliment looks in the background.

Then we walked into the Opera House but unfortunately you can only see the big great cool part in tour so I don't know if we will be able to go back to see more inside but here is us in the main hall!

We went back to Szolnok so obviously I had to take a picture at the train station with the sign!

so that was a picture of Imre and I and the other picture was Biro elnők who baptized him, Sister Peterson my companion last transfer and then her greenie this transfer (who is in the nursing program at BYU a few symesters behind me! small world!)

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

I am excited to tell you about how Pest is next week!

Love you all!
Sister Grigg

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

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

Welcome to Concecration Week!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Dear wonderful family,

I just want to tell you all how much I love you and appreciate you. The new missionaries came in this past week, and I have spent some tearful hours (for one of the new sisters not me) with a new sister because her family is not supportive of her dission to serve a mission at all. They have sent her angry letters and so she dreads getting mail. I am so glad you all are supportive and wonderful because I don't think I would enjoy being on a mission near as much if you weren't. I am thankful that when I get mail, I look forward to opening it at the end of the day rather than hidding it in a corner and only opening it once a week because I don't want to break down. I love you all so much! Seriously.

Ok so this week has been a little rough. There just has been a lot going on. Remember how last week I said that it was the best ever well that night when we went to class one of our teachers told us that we were not speaking from the heart. I was heart broken and almost lost it right there. I felt like I had been putting in my whole heart and soul into learning Hungarian and teaching our investigators. They are literally all I think about, beside the sister I have responsibility for in our zone. But I guess I just needed to figure out how I could express those feelings when I teach. So I've been working a lot on eye contact. Do you have any idea how hard it is to look someone in the eye while trying to speak in a language you can't speak in? Well a lot of you do. It is really hard. But it is getting better. We had 21 new missionaries, half of which were sisters, come into our zone so that has been good but challenging. So Friday I received a blessing from our zone leaders and it was wonderful. I am so thankful for the priesthood and the wonderful things it has brought me in my life. Dad thank you for always being worthy to be able to give us blessings while we were growing up. I know that we having been truly blessed because of that. On Saturady we are going to teach Zsolt more about the priesthood because his baptismal date is coming up and he "received" a blessing last week to help me quit smoking (which he is doing awesome by the way) and so maybe I needed to have a trying 2 days so that I would ask for a blessing and be able to better teach from the heart on Saturday when we talk about priesthood. Ok so about Zsolt. Last Friday when we taught him during the midst of my rough 2 days he was struggling with like the samething I was. We we were going to teach about fast offering but then once we got in there we realized we just needed to address his problem. And seriously the spirit was there so strong and I know that I was teaching from the heart because I totally teared up. I felt like that lesson and what we taught was more for me than for him but I know that he received the strength he needed from that. He just felt like he wasn't prepared for baptism, that quitting smoking was too hard, and that he just didn't think he had it in him to be a Mormon. So we talked a lot about faith and I kept testifying that the Lord would never give us a trial that we couldn't overcome and that through the atonement Christ knows exactly how we feel and that Heavenly Faith gives us trials for our benefit so that we can learn and grow. Trials and challenges are for our spiritual growth. (remember that was all in Hungarian so that may have contributed a bit to the whole tear thing), but it was wonderful and gave me what I needed as well to get through the weekened which was so good and everything else has been so good since. I know that the Lord is mindful of us and what we need. He had my teacher make up a fake problem so that Nover and I could teach that lesson and so that I could testify of what I knew and apply it more in my life.

So it is conceration week. And let me tell you no english is hard. I considered writing this whole email in Hungarian (you can change the keyboard so all the accents would have been right and jazz) but then it probably only would have been like 5 lines longs. And that would be sad (nagyon szomoru). Nover and I came up with goals and things we are sacraficing this week and we know that the lord will bless us spiritual and with the language because of the diligence and effort we are planning on putting in. Our usi did so well with consecration week but our Fins kinda failed so we are trying to be like our usi. Speaking of we got 10 kicsi! It is so fun! the 4 nover live with us and it's super fun. and then there are 6 elders (one of which Katie has met, small world). It is really fun. Plus some of the elderek are good at volleyball so gym is way fun again. After the Fins left it was slacking for a few days. :) They are so excited for us do start concecreation week because that means that they will be learning tons so it's nice to have their support. Not being able to express and communicate the way you want to is rough, but it is only day one. I'll let you know how the rest goes next wednesday.

Tomorrow we get travel plans!!! I am so excited. Since we are getting to the downward slope of things. Our teachers have been teaching us secular worldy things (I was going to say real world but the mission is real world because what is more real than the salvation of souls?) like we learned how to shop but really the whole excersize was to get us to share the gospel and know that we are missionaries always every second of everyday. It was really neat. Sharing the gospel with that pretend store owner so super easy and just flowed so well. It made me super excited for hungary and really thankful for the fact that I will have a trainer who will understand everything that they are saying. haha. We have been practicing tracting a ton which is good.

Dad I loved what you said in your letter about when you where in the airport in Sweden. And fun that you and mom are singing in the choir. Thanks for emailing me pictures of the dog and cat mom. I literally busted out laughing when I opened them. And the other were great too. It sounds like it was a fun ward activity. And that would be perfect if you could get the box while you are here. Let me know when the last day you can pick it up is and I will make sure it is at the place and I will give you more details about what that place is once I find out. Oh shoot I should have done that today. Ok well I'll tell you in the next email. When will you be in Utah and for how long?

Ally thanks again for doing the blog. You will probably here me say that a million times over the next 16 months but I got a letter from Susan Bell this week telling me about how much she loves it. So thank you so much.

Funny thing. Jellen has sent me two batches of family names to do endowments for. This time when he sent them he sent cinnamon rolls as a bribe. riot. So my zone has done like 40 of his family names. I am so grateful that we get to go to the temple once a week and I can't believe that I will only go 1 more time for the next 16 months of my life. Wild. It is weird to think about. I know that the blessings we receive there and the ordinances preformed there are for time and for eternity. I am so grateful to Joseph Smith who restored all of those and to the early saints who sacrificed so much so that we could partake of them. 2 sundays ago we watched mountain of the lord and that was like my favorite sunday movie as a kid. The one about the salt lake temple with wilferd woodruff. So good so I am feeling very sentimental about temples because next wednesday is my last time.

ok well I don't really know what else to say. I am fast so I am really running out of steam, especially because we can go to dinner in 10 minutes. ok glimpse into my life.

szeretlek titeket!

Grigg Nover.

no pictures this week because I don't know where my usb thing disappered to. problem. no worries though.

do you think you could all send me a letter containing you testimony? I want to put them in my testimony journal so that I can read it through out my mission. The dear elders have funky paper so if it wouldn't be too much effort to hand write I could just tape them on in there.

Thank you!

Sister Grigg

Week 6

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Dear Family,

This has definitely been the best week so far at the MTC but also it has had some of the hardest points. As the Fins were preparing to leave it felt like nover and I should be leaving with them. They were are district (side note, because our district left nover and I now get to go pick up our own mail. It is the coolest. We get weird looks because we are the only sisters back there) and a huge part of my MTC stay. Then at one point I had a mild freak out. Ok not a freak out but just anxious about leaving the MTC. I didn't feel ready language wise (I still have 2 1/2 weeks left so there is time). One of our teachers picked up on it that morning and gave a spiritual thought about that when we think we will never be able to speak Hungarian or learn it that we are not showing faith in the Lord. He has called me to Hungary for a reason, and in my call letter from a prophet of God it is promised that I will preach the gospel in Hungarian. So the 30minutes of being stresssed were gone and it was all good again. It hard for me to come to the fact that in 2 1/2 weeks when I get on that plane and then land in Hungary I will probably have no idea what any one is saying to me, but I will have learned everything that I need to learn and can learn here at the MTC. So it's all good now.

Speaking of me leaving the MTC, we need to think about phone calls. I get to call home from the airport and so I'll buy a calling card here. I'll get my flight plans in a week so I'll let you know when is good for me. It will be Monday May 6th I believe. There won't be a ton of time so I probably won't be able to call everyone and I know people have work and school so yeah. The other thing is ALLY (just so your attention is drawn there) there is a free service that I can leave a box with this company in provo do you think you could pick it up? It is just things that I don't want to take like my winter coat and maybe a few articles of clothing. I'll let you know more details as we get there. Mom I'll probably mail home all the letters I have gotten while I've been here and emails (I print most of them out) because its heavy. Thank you for your letter and offering so send me things, I'll let you know next week the few thinks that I might need before I leave. The belts were super cute thanks a ton. I have never heard of Hichews and everyone was shocked that I hadn't but they are way good.

So now to the Good parts of the weeks. So we have been choosing days to SYL (speak your language) more because conceration week starts in a week which is when we are only allowed to speak Hungarian. For weeks we have been doing during breakfast and lunch and now we are doing full days and it is going really well. Our lessons have improved because of it and I don't feel as much in a rut with using the same verbs and grammer principles over and over again which is awesome. speaking of lessons. we having been teaching the commandments and are teaching the big ones like the WoW, tithing, and chastity (we teach that one later this week). and I've been taking time to think about how living each of those commandments has blessed my life and when nover and I did that we were able to teach more personally and testify more and ask better questions. Both Zsolt and Andras are in the middle of quiting smoking which is great. They are both doing pretty well and are turing to the Lord for help overcoming their addiction which is awesome. So when we taught it to Zsolt, I asked him to give us all the cigerettes in his home and he starting grabbing everything he could find around the classroom and putting it into my hands and so I ended up with this huge pile of randome stuff. It was super funny! The other teacher who plays Andras would put chalk in his mouth as smoking it was so gross!

This week I feel like I can honestly now say that I Love my companion. Some of you know that we really struggled in the beginning but now we are close and good friends. I can see how after the first week when I started praying for patience and chartiy and began turing outward rather than inward how much growth I have had over my MTC stay thus far. I know that rather than praying for her to change or to do this or that, I have prayed that I could have more patience be more understanding. It took awhile those things aren't developed over night and obviously I am still working on them but our companionship is solid now. We are able to confide in each other we teach really well together now and planning goes so much smoother. I look forward to having companionship innvetory (which during conference I totally decided my future husband and I are doing. nbd.) because we are able to talk about what we do well and what we can help each other improve on. We are now the oldest in the Zone and we are able to set a really solid example of a companionship which I think is super important because I looked up to the older people in the Branch when I first got here. I've noticed us grow the most when we SYL and also since I got my new assignment in the branch and really started focussing on the needs of the sisters rather than my needs. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father knew that this is what I needed and gave me her as a companion. I am so gratefully she was willing to come into the mtc 6 weeks early so that she could be my companion. I know that he gives us certain things in our lives so that we can learn the lessons that he wants us to learn. I know that he hears and answers our prayers.

So along that note there is a threesome in the zone that has been having serious struggles. 2 of them have cried on my shoulder til midnight two different nights (not together) which emotional takes a huge toll on me because I am like feeling of there emotions. The zone leaders have talked to me about it because they are in their district and are really concerned. So that is also why this weeks as been a struggle. But one night (I go visit all the sisters in the zone every night as their sister training leader) I shared a spiritual thought with them that my companion and I discussed during comp study in 1 Nephi 15:3-6 and it is after both Lehi and Nephi has seen the vision of the tree of life and Laman and Lemuel have yet to believe. Nephi orginially turns inward. It is woe is me because I've seen the destruction of my people (which is a horrible thing don't get me wrong and he is completely justified) but then you see a change in him. And this is the Book of Mormon according to Sister Grigg he must have realized that the Lord doesn't want us to turn inward but rather think of the needs of those around us. And then Nephi is concerned about his brothers and their trial and how they don't believe and for the next several verses he tries to help them and tells them to inquire of the Lord. Having Charity is a huge deal and takes a lifetime to develop but we can start now and I know that these past 6 weeks I have started being about to do that and I have been able to see my growth here at the MTC. I know that if these 3 sister base their action and thought about what can they do for their compainons rather than themselves then things will get better. Hopefully it will for them because then it would also make my life a lot easier :) The Albanians are great though. Yesterday as part of my assignment I got to spend the evening with a new international sister in our zone and she is from Russia. It was really cool. The devotional speaker was ELDER SCOTT. so cool. the ZLs and I couldn't sing in the choir because we had to do that but it was worth it. She's great. Elder Scott's talk was all about prayer. The thing that stood out to me the most is pray when you don't have the desire to. I remember when Dad was bishop he told me that exact samething about scripture reading. Read your scriptures when you have no desire to because that is when you need it the most. I know that is true about prayer as well. Sometimes praying is hard in the MTC because you are always expected to do it in Hungarians which is challenging and I feel like in my personal prayers I can't always express the desires of my Heart to my Heavenly Father (so I say a lot of things in English). but it is important that we still pray even when it is hard. Elder Scott also said that he wishes he could have a personal interview with each of us. I thought wow that is the coolest thing in the world to have an interview with an apostle. But then I thought that that what prayer is with our Heavenly Father. He is the coolest most awesomest guy ever and he wants me to communicate with him all the time. How lucky are we?!

Mom and Katie both sent me letters about Boston. Tuesday morning one of our teachers actually told us and I was devestating. I don't understand how individuals could do something like that. The teachers are encouraged to not really tell us about news so any details you send in a dear elder is much appreciated. I'm glad that everyone from the ward is ok. Katie said something really sweet. That she wishes I could comfort my friends back there right now, but then I thought they don't need me the best comforter ever is the Holy Ghost. Through the atonement, all of our wounds can be healed no matter the size or quantity. The atonement changes hearts and lives. I know that Christ feels all that we feel and understands it all. I don't understand how people could do something like that. Wouldn't the world be a much better place everyone understood and applied the atonement in their lives? I feel so blessed to have had parents who raised me in the gospel and a family that is so supportive of me right now. Seriously thank you for all being wonderfuly. So much love this week :)

another cool thing is Elder Scott gave us an apostolic blessing at the end it was wonder. Those things always remind me of during my last year of girls camp when President Erikson gave all the young women in the stake a blessing at the end of testimony meeting. Dad thank you for taking time on the drive home to explain to all of us what he did.

Love you all so much!

Grigg Nover