Doors I am guilty of hoping no one answers

Stress and duck

So many miracles that happened this week! But let me first explain the duck. Well one of our amazing Senior Sister missionaires Sister Oldham brought us some duck recipes from Sopron and after church we began mixing recipes and substituting ingredients like crazy because we live in Hungary and are close to the end of the month so the pénsz are scarse. We took pictures with it of course first and then stuffed it with onions and apples and oranges. then we covered it with 3 packages of chicken seasoning (Figuring that would do the trick) Then convered it with more oranges and apples and onions. Then we took the rist and put it into the fire box which is the invention that eventually was corrected and improved upon and evolved into the Oven which many people have and take advantage of as a 'regular' house hold appliance. On the smallest fire setting it cooked and cooked and cooked for 4 hours while we weekly planned and poured 7-up on it every 15 minutes. It finished and tasted LIKE DUCK! which tastes almost as good as chicken. The best part was definetely the onions and playing with the duck beforehand. happy easter.

 

Easter here is a much bigger deal the kids got out of school for an entire week and Easter monday is just as big of deal as easter sunday. Easter monday traditions include going up to random women and spraying them with perfume on their head while reciting an homemade poem then they give you money or chocolate. It makes as much sense to me as halloween so I guess were even. But we did get to witness it first hand since all the active members are visited and sprayed that day by the branch presidency who we went along with. (I forgot that every néni would make 5 cakes for us and ate way too much at the first home-- resulting in me having to take off my belt.)

 

REAL MIRACLES THIS WEEK! After coming to Szombathely to find no real investigators Elder Heaps and I have been trying everyweek to be exactly obedient. We try to find things to improve on and work hard everyday. Lots of doors. Lots of angry Nénis. Lots of hopes made and three days later dropped. And for some reason I just love these people more and more every time they talk to me. On Tuesday after a long freezing day of tracting and finding people. We got a call. We never get calls. A lady mumbled some things about family history and then we heard another lady scream and the call ended. we were really confursed but so so excited. We called her back My job was taking notes my companions was focusing and trying his best to translate what she was saying. The third call back she answered and we found out she is interested in doing family History with our church and one of the members refered her (GO MEMBERS!) My companion asked some questions and she then told us that she was really sad, lots of bad things had happened to her and (her words)"I feel somethings missing and I need Gods help but I dont know how to get it." Were meeting with her tomorrow and trying not to get our hopes to high but still are full of faith.

 

Thats all the time I have. We met 6 other potential investigators throughout the week and will visit some tonight. God loves his children. We are his literal children. He wants to bless us and we wants us to use the blessings weve been given already such as the Atonement as much as we can. I love that we have this knowledge and I pray you will also be able to share it with others this week. It will bless your life as you embrace and use it. A favorite scripture I memorized this week (Sorry I dont have it perfectly and completely forgot the reference) But it says. 'I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abbounding in good works that Christ the Lord God Omnipotent may seal you his. that ye may be brought to heaven that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal lifethrough the wisdom, the power, the justice, and the mercy of him who created all things in heaven and in earth who is God above all. Amen.

 

I love God and I love you all.

Hughes Elder

Nenes and Happy Easter

It was a short week but a good one. We started out the week by going by and visiting all the people we had met who told us that 'now wasnt a good time but if we came back theyd "love" to hear our message.' Well we started out with a list of around 40 names and addresses and about an hour later we had 3 people that had told us to come back another time and all the others told us they were just trying to be nice cause we looked cold. So we weeded out a lot of people that werent actually interested hah and now we can focus on finding again!

 

One of my favorite things that happens when we tract is when we knock on the doors and we can hear a Hungarian Néni yelling 'im coming Im coming who is it who is it.' then you just hear the slightest little plastic eyewhole cover slide and  the little light that was in the eyewhole go dark and the néni who was just yelling 'Im coming! who is it!' super loud. you can just hear so distinctly in the silence her slippers slowly tiptoe further and further away till its completely silent. Hah Nénis are my favorite. 

 

Another interesting... thing this week is weve been asking people on the street what is the most important thing in your life and almost 98% say health and almost 88% are smoking a cigarette as they say it and coughing those words out hah. The Gospel can help everyone.

 

We did have a success story though Ill share with you (they're rare but so great). Yesterday we were tracting and after an hour of getting told no over and over and over and getting yelled at by this ONE old néni that was delivering something to what I feel like was every door we knocked at after hers. We finally decided to do 3 more doors and so we knocked on the second to last door and this super kind bacsi named Mike Forest (he translated it for us and was so excited to tell us) LET US IN!! AND HE WASNT CRAZY!!! That almost NEVER happens. They usually say no or they let us in cause... theyre crazy. But he wasnt! We talked with him about the church and resolved the usual concerns about polygamy, (which the old guys usually are actually dissappointed when we tell them that its not allowed anymore haha) and stealing all their money. Then we taught him the restoration and he got so excited to read the book of mormon. We were also able to pray with him and the spirit was most definetely there. During the prayer Elder Heaps blessed him with good health and after he ended the prayer mike pulled out these two push up things and just started pumping out 15 pushups hah(I did not see that one coming)! Hes 83 years old and it was so random Im so sad I didnt get it on video but after he made my companion do push ups too. He was pretty impressed ill send you the video. 

I love Moroni 7:33 "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me, ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." That is an incredible promise and I bear my testimony that it is true and that when you put your whole trust in God meaning you alighn your will with his will. You will have power to do all that he would have you do. You will be protected and most importantly you will be happy. I see this everyday I do my best. I love you all and hope you have the best Easter. (We bought a duck with our extra money from grocerys so dont worry your Easter Dinner wont be half as delicious as our Easter duck cooked by two 18 year olds in a firebox.) countyourblessings.

 

I love you all

Hughes Elder

Hungarian holiday

I This most recent Hungarian Holiday was the celebration of a Hungarian revolution that resulted in a whoppin 8 HOURS of freedom. It doesnt sound like much but you better act like its something EVERYTIME an néni or bacsi tells you about it every 3 minutes. They are so proud of their history its great. As far as I could tell they celebrate by buying lots of chocolate and alcohol then drinking way too much. And a new discovery I made is that when people are drunk they are not as kind to you when you knock on their doors and bear your testimony in broken Hungarian hah! We had people yelling out of 10 stories telling us to go away which was awkward at fist but we zoned it out after a while. However its probably easier for me to be yelled at cause I cant understand anything theyre saying. Oh one time a bácsi on the 8th or 9th story threw his lighter at us while we were csengőing (ringing doorbells to try to get let into the building) but its really windy and cold here so it ended up shattering 10 meters away. Obsitcle avoided.

Highlight of the week was Zone conference with Elder Limar of the 70. It was fantastic, motivating, and inspiring. The west and southwest zones traveled to Budapest thursday and Elder Limar answered questions, taught us how to improve our finding and shared some missionary secrets. Its weird but it felt better than a Christmas. One of the biggest things he emphasized was something that I have heard a lot of people say" the Holy Ghost is the missionaries best tool/asset." Elder Limar immediately stood up after that was said by someone and said "We do not, we cannot use the Holy Ghost as a 'tool'. The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead. He is a God. You will never use a God. But when you testify of pure doctrine you have a personal testimony of the Holy Ghost will use YOU as a tool/vessel to carry the truth to the heart of the listener!" He is pretty amazing and he challeged us to be more bold at every door we knock at and to testify of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith at everydoor possible.

After we implemented his teachings into our tracting and began to testify at every door we had more of I guess you could say the "extremes." We were able to find people that were genuinely intested in our message and people that were passionately not interested... yet! And its fine I love all these Hungarian the same. One particular miracle this week was yesterday when we were able to teach Zsuzsanna a 'less active' who we tracted into that hasnt been to church in 12 years and doesnt remember anything really. Which has been a miracle cause we have been able to teach her like an investigator from the begenning. She has two children and desperately wants them on a good path-- and the Gospel is the perfect path for families. We were able to help her feel comfortable enough to pray for the first time in who knows how many years and it was such an amazing prayer. The spirit was so strong she was crying when she finished and so of course I cried a tiny too mostly because of the cat though. ALSO she made us delicous cake! A Win Win lesson.

I love the Hungarians. They are a passionate people who have been through so much and they are some of the most loyal people I have ever met. This branch here in Szombathely is just a big family and its so nice to see people support and love each other instead of gossiping and excluding others. Ill share a quote from my favorite talk in conference Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence by Elder Jorg Klebingat "Become really, really good at forgiving. “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (D&C 64:10). Forgive everyone, everything, all the time, or at least strive to do so, thus allowing forgiveness into your own life. Don’t hold grudges, don’t be easily offended, forgive and forget quickly, and don’t ever think that you are exempt from this commandment. Spiritual confidence increases when you know that the Lord knows that you bear no ill feelings toward another soul."

The Savior died so that we and others could repent. Support others as they try to repent and make it easier for them by forgiving them quickly.

I love you all and pray for you lots.

Be bold. Be forgiving.

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Hughes

1 is a picture of győr my favorite city Ive seen so far in hungary.

2 is Elder heaps and I with Sister Szabadkai (the best) and Elder Ribar (who was my trainers last companion) at zone conference in the mission home!

Talking lajos

The weeks get better and better and way shorter, which is pretty scary. We have seen lots of little miracles here in Szombathely and have enjoyed a really busy week. On wednesday my trainer and I went up to the mission home and I got to see my MTC family hah I missed them so much and it was so good to see that theyre all doing well. It was so fun to share our crazy tracting stories and here about all over Hungary. I love President and Sister Szabadkai. President Szabadkai is very-- to the point and I love that hes not a people pleaser by anymeans. I can tell very easily that he loves us all and I think that fact that he doesnt put up with disobedience is another testimony of the love he has for each of us. The Szabadkais calling is very hard and Im so grateful they are here serving while I am. 

Elder Heaps and I went 6 days without any bread or sugar. Thats literally all they eat here so its actually really impressive hah. There are pékségs everywhere I go and I actually passed 3 on my 10 minute walk to email. I only stopped at one. 

We continue to see little miracles as we tract and found two fantastic really open familys this week and we met with a less active part member family as well. We have appointments to go back this coming week and hopefully everthing will work out. 

Another miracle: Lajos who is about 60 years old and comes to the pro english class everyweek invited us over to his house to meet his family. We were really nervous going over because we didnt know if wed be able to get a lesson or message in. He talks so much. He really never stops talking. Even when were talking hes talking to himself quietly. I dont think any of you reading this can actually comprehend how much he talks but nevertheless we went. He took us to his cute home and it was CAT FREE so thats miracle one. We didnt think they would make us anything but his wife had made Kakáos Csigas which are one of my favorite pastries here, thats miracle two. We were able to eat with them and talk a normal amount (for Lajos that is) about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton which we know nothing about. We just sort of listen and he summarizes his points in a sentence or two after his 15 minute tangents. I was able to bear my testimony about the Book of Mormon during a pause he took to breath and my companion bore his testimony about the Gospel a few times. His wife opened up a lot more the longer we were there (we were there way too long) and at the end when we asked if we could return and talk more about the Church she said "You have one chance." It was a little intimidating but good hah. So 2 and a half hours later we saw the sunlight again. So much for the 30 minute visit we had planned. However  Elder Heaps did make a valiant effort to get out of there several times and actually saved us from going on a car tour of Szombathely later that afternoon as well as getting out of a 7 hour castle tour this morning.(Miracle 34) It really did turn out so much better than we both had anticipated. we were able to give them a book of mormon and they let me eat 7 Kakaos Chigas in return. AND taught me how to make them. IN HUNGARIAN! So I dont actually know how to make them but oh well-- its probably for the best.

Pray for charity everymorning. Study it and ponder about it during the day. Charity encompasses all the other Christlike attributes and as we dilligently seek it and do all we can to use it everyday we will change our nature not only our behavior. I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week. 

Sok Szeretettel,

Elder Hughes

If you know anyone that could be helped by learning about the Gospel (thats everyone) tell your local missionaries about them. Referals are the best. We havent got any yet but when that day comes. Hopefully it one day will... Its gonna be surreal. 

we tracted a building right after jehovas witness tracted it. surprisingly it was the most successfull open building yet after we told them we werent Jehovas Witness.

The sign above the door says: Jehovah's Witnesses please don't bother me.