Halloween and Chanting Nènes

Everything is going very well.  Elder Biesinger is fun to be with! It's always awkward when he asks questions about Hungarian and I don't know the answer but we get along and were both learning a TON

First off I can't let Hannah just walk over me with her cool witch investigator (of whom I'm incredibly jealous.) I did sort of meet a witch man who I called out of our phone (contact from previous missionaries) and met with him. The climax of the lesson was after I had sort of zoned out from him telling about his worries about the Catholic church then him closing his eyes, opening them weird, me giving him a weird look cause he was staring at me, then him telling me his spirit was running in circles through my body. Mormon missionaries meet with the wierdest of the weirdos worldwide! I quickly ended that lesson with a prayer where I strongly asked for the Holy Ghost to be with us hah. 

But back to the usual long letter. EXCEPT this week it will be longer because Death Day here in Hungary and lack of internet cafes in our tiny little city! Meet the Mormons was a great success, more people came then usually come to istentisztelet! The whole idea was definitely inspiration and really helped the members get out of their comfort zones which allowed their testimonies to grow. 

Tamás, one of our 2 investigators, said he knows the Book of Mormon is true. WOOHOO (I have become incredibly socially awkward and accidently said that vocally when he told us that.) And a bonus miracle: his father came and participated in the lesson. I have never seen his mother (a member) with more joy. She desires nothing more than a priesthood holder in her home. The gospel blesses families that is biztos. 

We also had a really spiritual zone training with the Szabadkai's. We discussed the sacredness of baptism and President Szabadkai bore powerful testimony that before anyone is baptised we should really focus on repentance in lessons and interviews. And also ask them the simple question "
Do you feel peace?
" If they don't they are not ready. Therefore they should make peace through prayer and any other way they can make up mistakes they've made. I think this also clearly applies to us. If we do not feel peace when we pray at night, we must pray to know what to do to make peace. I'm so grateful for the atonement.

Other things that happened this week:
Halloween night I hid inside my companion's bed where the blankets and pillows are stored. My intent was to scare him because of Halloween and everything, and I thought he'd be in in 5 minutes, but I fell asleep and ended up waking up 20 minutes later. It was nat a fail however because I did find out I'm not claustrophobic.

The other day we looked up some former investigators and were let into a nénis house. I asked if we could offer a prayer and my companion began praying. Immediately I opened my eyes to find her chanting (a prayer of her own composition I found out later) to Jesus with hand movements and all. (It was a perfect Halloween lesson since I felt like I really was with a witch.)

On our way to tract I heard a honk and immediately turned to my companion "I've never been honked at as a missionary-- I feel like I'm in America!" I started waving and looked for the car that might have honked and I found it hah. It was an old man flipping us off. I lost it and just started laughing so hard I think my companion is still confused. I guess I was just caught so off guard hah.

Everyone who believes in Christ, that he is our Savior and our Redeemer, is a disciple of Christ. I've met a few people during my mission that have told me things along these lines "Well I don't believe in Christ because my mother was a wonderful woman and she believed in Christ and suffered so much because of it. He didn't make her life easier." 

We cannot say that we are Christ's diciples and NOT expect to have some experiences of suffering like He did! I know Christ atoned for us. I have felt his healing powers in my life and seen the miraculous effect it's had on valiant saints here. I know he lives and he loves all his brothers and sisters. I'm so grateful he gives us little tastes of what he experienced in the garden and on the cross. They are a blessing and we should cherish those and always remember them. If you do you will come to better comprehend what He gave us; and in result will grow closer to Him. "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." Acts 5:41

Szeretlek
Hughes Elder

PS: From your photos, why does it look warm everywhere else in the world? I guess I could be in Siberia so I'll just count my blessings. 

Also, There were missionaries here before but the members didn't trust them very much and so we've taken on a lot of responsabilities and I'm sure willl reap the blessings at some point in the distant future.

Madár Tej //Unicorns milk thats not a translation just the best way to describe it.
Tracting in the rain at night
A members incredible foodstorage
Fall in Hungary (similar to fall everywhere else)

I'm an Intercity

Pápa is beautiful and really tiny and sort of feels like Europe... I'm not sure how I feel about that. It has less traces of communism than the east and no 10 stories. I already weirdly miss them and the tacky elevators that always feel like their going to break as they "mint egy csiga" get you to the top. 

Leaving the Szolnok branch was really hard but luckily the branch here is really similar. We're 20 people and if we averaged out all our ages I feel like it'd be in the 60's or 70's, hah. However there are 2 six year old kids that built a train track right in front of the podium during sacrament and were vehemently racing trains on it. At one point one of the moms leaned over from a few rows back and said "Ábi be quieter!" he responded quickly "Mom I can't. I AM AN INTERCITY!" hahah (Intercity trains are the fast trains here that we usually ride on.) I feel like Maze and Vi would get along just great with them!

Biesinger Elder is originally from Medina, New York but doesnt know Abbie's family... but more recently was in the MTC and I love that so much. He has so much faith to find, faith to see miracles and a ton of gospel drive. It is refreshing. He already speaks way better Hungarian than I did 8 months ago and he also made the worst chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten. But I love him anyway.

Back in Szolnok Érnő and Éva came to church and LOVED it, Ribar Elder said! And they are getting pretty close to baptism! I got called as Ward Clerk and did all the tithing computer work yesterday in Hungarian. My best friend: my pocket dictionary. 

Mom to answer your questions: Our district is Pápa, Tatabánya Elders and the Győr missionaries. We travel by train for splits, zone trainings, and district meetings. In Pápa we travel by feet or bikes. Woohoo. There is a hill though and it is quickly awakening me to how out of shape I am! My new apartment is the nicest I've ever been in. It has actual settings on the oven so it actually deserves the name "oven" now instead of "fire box." 

The mormon tabernacle choir sang the most inspiring in the past general conference closing hymn.  I love this chorus:

Fear Not, though the enemy deride! Courage! For the Lord is on our side! We will heed not what the wicked my say but the Lord, our Lord we will obey!"

I love that. Fear not! Courage! If we will obey, this promise is ours. I love it. I challenge you all to share your testimony of the Book of Mormon with someone, whether its a family member, friend, or work partner thingy (what do you call that?) Every active member in Hungary this week is giving away a Book of Mormon with their testimony written in in. Share yours.

I love you,

Hughes Elder

Photos:

Here are some of Pápa and one of Elder Haroldsen at transfers cause he just went home! 

They have a spring and fall cleaning here where people just throw stuff out of their windows and the next couple days garbage men pick it up. Its a littering disaster, but I found this gem (wolf skin?) and took a picture with it for Rocky and Dan. Probably have tics from it too.

Happy hallowen. We did this one Pday cause we couldnt think of anything else to do since Szolnok is not the most happening city.

And there is one in Szeged for our free day we had a long time ago. Our whole district. Elder Ribar's face is my favorite.

Another week gone and gone. Next week I will have stress cleaned the entire apartment and will know what is happening next transfer. This week we had interviews and they were incredible. Everytime I get to talk with the Szabadkais I love them more. My interview was so great and then afterwards Sister Szabadkai taught me how to say the alphabet, something I just haven't been able to get down since O Ó Ö Ő and U Ú Ü Ű all exist and can make a huge difference. I'll try and send the video I listen to it every morning before I try to read the scriptures outloud in Magyar. 

Érnő is getting so close to baptism. He feels the spirit and wants to truly repent; what a beautiful thing we get to experience as missionaries. I think someone in conference talked about being able to see someone repent and said, "There is nothing more beautiful than seeing someone walk out of the darkness and into the light." The contrast really is that vivid. I love being a missionary. Later in the week we met with Sándo,r the new convert, and just talked with him about how incredible conference was and all about repentance.  I learn so much from these incredible people.

Fall is here and that is of course my favorite season cause it's the best and we can finally stop sweating. I took a pair of thermal garments out of my bag for the first time and then took them off three days later. Unsanitary I know, but what I didn't know was my life would be changed forever. My companion says I look like I giant snowball but I feel like a cloud so nem baj. 

The rest of the week was spent tracting, talking to people in the rain, and not eating sugar cause I went off last week and made it the whole week woohoo.

One thing that really inspired me this week was my studies of the Book of Hosea. One of my favorite books in the Old Testament. In seminary I wrote down this quote by Elder Eyering that helped me understand how much the Lord loves us and what covenants truly are. I'm praying for you all and am so grateful for your prayers. I pray we can all find power in prayer and in the Book of Mormon which really is the word of God to keep our covenants and God's commandments with all our might.

“In just two chapters, even my youngest students knew that the husband was a metaphor for Jehovah, Jesus Christ. And they knew that the wife represented his covenant people, Israel, who had gone after strange gods. They understood that the Lord was teaching them, through this metaphor, an important principle. Even though those with whom he has covenanted may be horribly unfaithful to him, he would not divorce them if they would only turn back to him with full purpose of heart.

“I knew that too, but even more than that, I felt something. I had a new feeling about what it means to make a covenant with the Lord. All my life I had heard explanations of covenants as being like a contract, an agreement where one person agrees to do something and the other agrees to do something else in return.

“For more reasons than I can explain, during those days teaching Hosea, I felt something new, something more powerful. This was not a story about a business deal between partners. … This was a love story. This was a story of a marriage covenant bound by love, by steadfast love. What I felt then, and it has increased over the years, was that the Lord, with whom I am blessed to have made covenants, loves me, and you … with a steadfastness about which I continually marvel and which I want with all my heart to emulate” 

The Lord will not forsake us. God loves everyone of us. Turn to him and enjoy everyone of his blessings through repentance.

Sok szeretettel.

HUGHES ELDER

általanos konferencia!!

We started off the week visiting Érnő and Éva. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Erika the member we brought bore pure testimony of baptism and repentance and Érnő and Éva both decided this is a road theyd like to follow! It was such a priveledge to teach them because whenever we taught a principle Érnő would add to it and end up teaching us. Its incredible to see the effect Faith in Jesus Christ has on an individual and especially a family. I like the way President Szabadkai explained it in Zone Training this week he explained that when a person decides to believe and strive to believe in Christ it is like finding a portal in a videogame that takes you to the next level. Understanding, strength, and peace come when we choose to believe in Christ. Then and only then can we understand what a gift and opportunity repentance really is. I love what a general authority said in conference. Repentance was a gift from God bought at a very precious price. Im so happy for Érnő and Éva and pray that their progression will progress. Dah thats a terrible sentence I apologize. I am slowly losing my ability to speak in English!

General Conference was amazing and I recieved answers or ways to receive answers to all the questions that I wrote down before hand. I loved the talk about preparing for the sacrament I have testimony that each of those bulletpoints he listed work and make the Sacrament those 15 minutes in america/3 minutes in Szolnok the most sacred and peaceful minutes of the week. We are so blessed to be led by a prophet!

I dont have much time today since I had to get a haircut and dryclean my suits for the first time ever. Speaking of which all my hair is almost all gone because the lady cutting my hair betrayed me (gave me a terrible haircut) as we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Tomorrow we have interviews with President I love those so much and look forward to them a lot. Our zone also hit a challenge President sent out to the mission and were rewarded with a day we got to spend together as a zone playing sport with the Szabadkais and we also watched Inside out with them. Which was disappointing and helped me not miss the real world. But the day on the other hand was so good and it was so fun to talk with the Szabadkais and hear stories they told us from when they were little kids! (Sister Szabadkai had a fox as a pet in her little apartment as she grew up and President Szabadkai had long blonde hair down to his shoulders hah!) They are the best! I cant wait for you to meet them and feel their love and dicipleship of Christ that radiates off of them!

A few of my favorite notes from conference:

-If people desire to enjoy every blossom of Gods bouquet them must repent.

-You may have Eternal life as long as you keep repenting and stop rebelling.

- God established a place for repentance. It is a part of his perfect plan.

Use this gift and opportunity to feel his love and come to know him and his will more perfectly.

Love,

Hughes Elder

Sorry I only took pictures on our Zone day:

also on a day it got really dark.

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.

Preview attachment IMG_0157.JPG

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.