My week through kepak

We start off with a wonderfully stressful tuesday where we did a "drill" (that much we did not know). We packed all our belongings and took other procedures incase of emergency to all be safe. We packed fast. Then with extra time I cleaned our entire apartment (after this picture) (stress cleaning is my favorite) then unpacked my bag and packed it again. No need to worry about me in a emergency. Ill get out quick and if anything does end up getting shipped home everything will be folded. I like to think our landlady would have been quite pleased.

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We finished tuesday meeting with the Péter and Borbála the greatest hungarians. I love them and have had my testimony confirmed over and over as we have taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are progressing towards baptism and bonus have the neatest home. Péter is a potter and has a little studio in their home with a kiln in it and Borbala is a professional singer. They send their love and want me to tell you thank you for letting me come here. Ill keep you updated on them!

Wednesday featured TONS OF TRACTING. And sweaters because tempeatures dropped out of the blue and in result tracting became harder. But just look at diligent Ribar Elder over there getting yelled at by nénis who were taking naps and were woken up by our ringing!

Thursday was pretty rough since three of our investigators all canceled on us without telling us. So we ended up spending a lot of time waiting and practicing the Christlike attribute of hope! Luckily after the end of our day our one meeting that never fails is the precious skip bo cards. I won twice this week that is for the books since Ribar Elder is usually unbeatable.

This was taken at the end of our Missionary Correlation Meeting with our new Mission Leader Zoli! He has been a member for about a year and is such a great member missionary. He was there on the doorstep of two of our investigators homes waiting and hoping with us till he drove us back into the city. (Cars make me a little uncomfortable now they are so small.) Oh and we got a new sister in our city. Trios are hilarious in a painful way. Better to watch one then be in one in my perspective.

I found my best friend Saturday on the way home from an less active members home. I gave him a lot of love and he gave me a lot of wounds. It is always the best when youre walking though a park and run into a wild hedgehog.

Sunday was fantastic. Partaking of the sacrament is a privlegy. With my limited selection of hymns I decided to play an easier one for the closing hymn in sacrament (God be with you till we meet again). This was a mistake. No one told me before hand sadly but it started out with me playing the introduction and all the nénis in the ward paniking asking each other SO LOUD how the transfer was over so fast. I was so confused at why they were being so loud and talking about the transfer as I tried to focus and get though the first verse (they still wernt singing) the chorister started laughing . I was confused. The branch president was now laughing and the nénis were still talking. I played through thankfully and then said the closing prayer. That was followed by 3 nénis chastising me for picking that hymn. They apparently have a branch secret no one was kind enough to tell me that they only play that the sunday before the transfer and they all thought we were leaving. It was scary in the moment and less scary now but still pretty fresh in my head. I will never play that hymn again hahah. 

Sorry that was long. It was supposed to be faster but it wasnt. Psalms 23 inspired me this week as I reflected over all that Ive been given.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadethme beside the still waters.

 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths ofrighteousness for his name’s sake.

 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow ofdeath, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod andthy staff they comfort me.

 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mineenemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runnethover.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the daysof my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Turn to the Lord. Let him restore your soul, let him lead you beside still waters. We need not fear if the Lord is with us. And if we are obedient to his commandments we have the promise of his companionship. I know God lives. He loves each of us. And he sent his Son to lead us back home.

Stellar week kivánok!

I love you.

Hughes Elder

Wild hedgehogs and lots of other miracles

We saw so many miracles this week! With our companionship goal of talking to everyone we added something to it which is bearing testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon with everyone. I dont think I have born my testimony of the Book of Mormon so many times in a week as I did this week with complete strangers. My testimony of the Book of Mormon also grew more than it ever has. There is surely a direct correlation.  A surprising amount accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon as we boldly bore our testimonies and encouraged them to find out for themselves. We found new investigators, opportunities to serve, and made others laugh (unintentionally but they laughed none the less) all by just bearing testimony of the truthfulness of the Book our entire church is depends on as its keystone. Ive never understood and I guess still dont completely understand the amount of power the spirit has to touch the hearts of those we bear our witness of truth to. Im grateful for Moronis promise the opportunity we can pray to know if these things are true for ourselves. There are opportunities to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon everywhere. Even in Orem. Find them and be bold the spirit will reconfirm your witness each time you do.  

And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believein Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

other highlights of my week:

-helping some gypsys push a their car full of kids down the street

-seeing a wild hedgehog while tracting

-having a fantastic lesson with Ádám where we answered some questions and taught him how to find answers for himself

-meeting with Árpád a man we found in the Area Book and teaching him about the restoration

-starting up english class for the first time in Szolnok for a year. 2 members ended up coming #privatelessons

-avoiding punchs thrown at us by a really drunk bácsi who was mad we were in Hungary.

-meeting and talking for thirty minutes about Jesus Christ with 2 nénis in the park.

-meeting the kindest néni tracting with the most beautiful magyar vizsla who told us we can come back next week and help her in her garden and share the message of the Restoration.

-Frieberg temple dedication, hearing Elder Bednar speak german which was translated into english then into Hungarian for us hah (feat. a confusing hosanna shout with the 3 language translation and video delay.)

-Seeing Elder Miller Sister Gertsch and Sister Mason from the mtc at the dedication.

My heart is full of hope and this week I am most grateful for Mom and her unconditional love she has shown to all of us.

Love you,

Hughes Elder

hedgehog his little face hiding up by the corner of my hair.

me and the nénis we met in the park they were so excited to get Book of Mormons (one is our neighbor and has never heard of our church ...before this)

Brocali, barb and buda

Baird Elder left on wednesday which turned out to be perfect timing cause all the members wanted to see him before he left so we were able to visit almost all the active members (something we are supposed to do at the begenning of each transfer so that we can work better with them.) This also means we got fed a lot. Which always is good in the moment but not as good when youre tracting three hours later in a hot ten story and feel like a balloon but I think its worth it. 

We met a really kind néni named Barb and today as we were walking back from the grocery store (after jumping into a bus at a stoplight cause the driver had the door open for air circulation but I thought he opened it just for us! I thought it was God just being really nice to us giving us a little break and not making us walk to the bus stop and I guess it may have been but to the driver of the bus it was just a misunderstanding haha!) we were stopped by a 30 yr old woman who told us she had been looking for us. She told us she used to go to church and meet with the missionaries but somehow lost contact. We set up a teaching with her for this weekend and are full of hope for this transfer. God blesses those who strive to keep his commandments.

Thursday we had a great zone training on finding. We then were able to go on splits with the assistants which so happens to be my trainer Heaps Elder! We laughed a ton, I learned a lot, and we found a great bácsi who they will meet with this week! It was fun to be around the Szabadkais and Sister Szabadkai made us the best mashed potato pogácsa's ever! Also after the Zone training I was asking Sister Szabadkai where I could find brocolli in Szolnok cause I had looked at the market and couldnt find it in Tesco either. She gave me a couple places I could look and later that night while Heaps Elder and I were working in the office with President she came down with a big bag of fresh brocolli haha she told me she had to run to the market for something and wanted to get some for me! They are the greatest I love them so much!

This week I tried to focus on the spirit. I figured from my studies that if we always keep the spirit in mind we will be more likely to follow its promptings as suddle as they may be. If we keep the spirit in our thoughts and decide each morning to give our will to God we will be able to dicern the quiet promptings that come when they come, because they do come everyday. I like the example of Alma found in Alma 8:9-18. Alma puts his whole heart into teaching the Amalekites but nonetheless gets kicked out. (That part has taken on a whole new meaning the past 6 months haha) Then after the messenger appears to him and he tells him to turn around in verse 18 it says he "speedily returned".  He of course is blessed for his immidiate reaction of exact obedience and blesses many more people in result. We must make the concious decision to do what the Spirit prompts us to do. No matter how terrifying that may be whether it is going back to Amalekiah or back to a 10 story you were just kicked out of or saying something kind to someone who offended you. We have the blessing to act and not react. If we go out with the intention to minister to Gods children, our brothers and sisters everyday. Then the Lord will work wonders among us.

Szeretlek

Hughes Elder

Me and the soup I made Heaps Elder after we got back from his dentist appointment and half of his face was completely numb hah!

And me and Stringham Elder (Hes the best and from my MTC group) after Missionary Correlation Meeting in Buda.