Week 54 - Dunaújváros

"This week was really interesting and probably one of the harder ones of my mission. I think I kind of freaked out because I only have 6 months left and I feel like I haven't learned enough yet and just haven't done enough good ... There is a part in my setting apart blessing that says at the end of my mission I will feel that I have served the Lord well, and for some reason those words just keep haunting me. I kept having these day dreams of me sitting on the plane feeling unfulfilled and then praying to know if I had served Him well and getting the answer of 'no'. It's just crazy because I felt great about my mission for the whole first year. I mean I had hard times and feelings of inadequacy, but this week was overwhelming. Hungarian was really hard this week probably because of all the doubts I was having. Sometimes I think Hungarian is part of the reason why I feel this way because I feel like I should speak and understand the language better. Anyways ... enough about all of that! I don't like thinking about it! Haha!"

"Me with some graffiti."

"It rained here the other day and was so cold that all the rain froze. The streets were kind of like ice skating rinks! The weather was so bad on Sunday that only ten members came to church and none of the teachers, so the second two hours got cancelled!!!! Okay, call me bad but I kind of thought it was cool! For a kid that never got to miss school or church because of a snow storm, this was the closest thing to one :) It was unfortunate though because I was supposed to teach Sunday School and I woke up at 5:30 to finish preparing and then no one was there to hear my lesson. I will get to teach next week so it is nice that everything is already prepared. Let me tell you one thing I have learned from my mission ... That everything is way less hard and scary in English! Hahaha! I think about teaching in English and how nervous I used to get, and then I think about now how I teach Sunday School in Hungarian and how it's like kind of scary. I just feel like teaching in English is the easiest thing ever now!"

"We went on splits on Wednesday. It was good, but hard too because I was still feeling down on myself, inadequate, and like I had to prove myself to the STL. We were in Pest and I really do love going to the city! I got to see a few of my elder friends, so that was fun! I went with Sister Chamberlain who I really like and we had a good time."

Fresh Nővér and Chamberlain Nővér
in Pest on splits.

"We shot a bow and arrows last p day... it was so fun :) We are going sledding after emailin, or more like icing actually since everything is frozen over. I don't know how safe that is but it will be fun :)"

"We had a children's English class this Saturday and it was the cutest thing ever ... I love all the Hungarian babies!  Babies speaking Hungarian is my favorite thing ever!"

"Sister Sexton and I realized we are kindred spirits this week as we both felt kind of down about our progression but recommitted ourselves to be more positive, not get down on ourselves, and give it our all. I think we will have a better week :)"

"Other than that ... I found a quote from my quote book that is from DEB!!!! [my mom]:

"In trials, perspective makes all the difference. Concentrate on one step at a time, not the end result, that can frustrate you. You are much better than you think you are." 

"That is really what I need to do, stop worrying about the end and just focus on working hard now,  and if in the end I gave it my all then my answer will definitely be a 'YES'!"

"Well, I love you bunches and miss you,  but not too much!"

Fresh nővér

Week 53 - Dunaújváros

Fresh Nővér is loving it in
Dunaújváros!

Fresh Nővér's email was titled "HO HO HO" and these are some of the things she said this week:

"Regarding the title … no, I’m not Santa saying 'ho ho ho', I’m saying 'snow snow snow' in Hungarian :))) "

"Just another week in paradise. Haha!... But really, if cold and snow are paradise then that is what I am living in. IT SNOWED!!!!! On Tuesday we went up for interviews in Budapest with the President. When we left on the train in the morning there were little flurries and then when we came back ... BAM!!! Winter Wonderland! Actually Peterson called me and said the snow came about a month late ... it came on January 24th and I wanted it so badly to come in December!"

Sexton Nővér and Fresh Nővér ... "It's Cold!!!"

"So Deb [my mom] has some questions ... "

What is your apartment in Dunaújváros like? How does it compare to the other ones you have been in? 

"So you walk into the apartment and there is kitchen on the right and pantry on the left, and then straight ahead is a giant room where we have tables and beds. There is a hall with a bathroom and then another room which is my closet :)  It's so cool!!!! We have neighbors with a new baby that cries all the time. It doesn’t really bother me though … I just think about my new little babies that are coming soon :) [Aimee's sister Sherry and sister-in-law are both expecting in the next couple of months!]"

The Kitchen

The Giant Room

My Closet!!!

The Bathroom

Where in the city is the apartment located? (It obviously has a nice view from the photo you sent last week.)

"So the city has like two parts ... a valley and a mountain (more like a hill). We live up on the hilly part where there are like a million ten story buildings. From the branch house you can get a really good picture of the hilly part that is super pretty. I will try and get one and send it later."

"The rainbow of Duna" ...
some of the ten story buildings she mentioned.

What is the branch like? (Number of members, old or young, friendly and helpful to missionaries or not, etc.)

"The branch is small, but I like it! Everyone is willing to help and so that is great!!!! There are probably only like 40 members that come to church, and there is a good amount of young men. The age scale is pretty spread out with not too many young or too many old." 

Who do you have as investigators right now? What do you do in Dunaújváros to get new investigators?

"We have a man named János. He is super great too, knows a lot, and is just really cool."

"We found a new lady tracting this week. Her name is Marta, she is 77, and soooo cute!!!! I love her! She is "Catholic.” We went back to her house yesterday and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read the chapter we assigned her. So that is great. Also we are going to teach her the plan of salvation on Friday because we asked her about life after death and if she thought that was a good thing. She said if it exists then it would be a good thing! I’m so stoked … we are going to change her life!!! Her husband died so I know she will love the plan of salvation!!!"

"We have another new investigator who lives out in a falu (village), Maria ... she is super cool too and she is just searching for peace and all the things the church can give her, so I’m pretty excited for her too."

"We don’t have a ton of work yet, but we will hopefully find some more new investigators this week :)" 

"My favorite sign in Duna... translation
(The world is simply wonderful. Smile! The past and
the future are nice, but the present is hard)‏"

"Other than that I don’t really have much to say. The week was good, we worked hard and had fun. I’m tried but happy its p-day! Hahaha! Thank you all for the love and support and I will try and make you proud :))"

"LOVE YOU!!!!!

Fresh nővér"

Week 51 - Veszprém

Fresh Nővér started her email this week with "Good morning family or should I should I say goodnight?!?!" (With the nine hour time difference when she was emailing on morning it was night in California!)

Transfer News: 

"I am leaving Vesprém ... I'm not mad about it though. I love it here but I am excited to start over. I just feel like I learned so much here in Vesprém so I am excited to go and share it with the world!  I am now going to Dunaújváros which is in the same zone, but a different city. I have been in this same zone for a long time now, since September!!! It’s okay though. There are two really old elders there, Elder Jones and Elder Nelson who are actually the Zone Leaders, so I will learn a lot from them I am sure.  It will just be me and my comp, Sister Sexton. She was in the MTC with me and is really sweet and very quiet. We actually went on splits a few times when I was in Buda with Sister Perkins. I think it will be really good :)" 

Some of the members who will be missed:

"Atilla and Zsuzsa Győr (son and mother)‏"

"Me and Krisztina‏!"

"The Pappék‏"

What a beautiful city:

"The view from my balcony."

"Vesprém is pretty‏!"

My Week:

"This week was interesting ... My companion got strep throat and so I had some extra study time. It was kind of hard because I was really excited to go to work and tract ... don’t know why but I was! ... We made it through and did go tracting eventually! Hahaha!"

"As far as the rest of the week … It was really good! We had fun, taught our investigators, and they are all doing well! We taught Pál, the man who lost his wallet, and it was cool because he still can’t find his wallet but he seemed a lot happier. We read him "Értékes Vagy" which is the Hungarian book of "You are Special” … the one about the Wemmicks. If you haven’t read it... DO IT!!!!  Anyways, it was really good and I just think he really needs to know that God loves him. I think as humans we often forget that. We think that God loves everyone else, and that the atonement applies to everyone else, but not to us. That's not true; God loves us all :)  My favorite part in the book says, "Ne felejts el, hogy nagyon értékes vagy mert én alkottalak és én sohasem hibázom." (Don’t forget, you are very special because I made you and I never make mistakes)  :)"

Thoughts and reflections:

"I feel like all of you said your past week was really simple and I think mine was too. Just being a missionary, trying to learn and grow every day, and be better! I think I've come up with the secret to being the perfect missionary! Hahaha! I am trying to master it but we will see. So here it is...

Be obedient, work hard, have fun, and LOVE the people.

I think it’s perfect because it’s balanced :) Maybe you all think I am crazy, but that is what I think would make the perfect missionary."

"I also feel like I have come to a lot of realizations this week ... like my life as a missionary isn't really my own, and  that I gave up my wants, wishes, and all that stuff for a year and a half so that I could give it all to other people. I feel like at the beginning of my mission I was just floating and was like 'Wow! This is pretty cool', but I didn't really understand that I wasn't just here to chill. I am here to help people, and in return I gain so much more than a year and a half 'vacation'. I don't know if that makes any sense, but hanks for letting me ramble … I just love it here and am excited to give my all and leave Hungary better than I found it :)"

Some time for fun:

"Swink Elder and I raced to see who could eat 
ice cream the fastest without a spoon ... I won :)

"I tried out the spa tub this week!"

Week 50 - Veszprém

"Boldog Új Évet!!! [Happy New Year!!!]"

"The New Year was this week and so of course we got some time off ... We got from 2 pm on New Years Eve and all New Years Day off :)  It was really cool! This is what we did ... 

Fresh Nővér decorating for the Branch
New Years Eve Party.

"The Branch Party: It was great! I love this branch a lot, sometimes they are crazy, but mostly I just love them! Haha! The best part for me was the dancing of course :) I really loved dancing with Virág and Krisztina, two 9 year old girls in the branch. After the dancing we played a bunch of games and let me tell you I felt like I was not even in Hungary anymore. I mean at the beginning of the night I was speaking to people feeling good about my Hungarian. Then they started playing these games and it was like everyone yelled really weird words as fast as they could so the missionaries didn't understand anything. It was so crazy, I just sat there and was like, 'Is that even Hungarian?' ... All in all, the party was good! We talked to some members and they said they stayed until 4 am, but we left at 9 pm." 

"Piros, fehér, zöld‏" ...
the colors of the Hungarian flag.

"We got to stay out until 10:30 pm on New Years Eve so after the party we just walked around with the elders for a while and tried to find some place where I could eat. ... Yes, I was hungry, so nothing has changed :) We stopped by a little concert thing in the belváros [city center] and I got an American hot dog!"

Nővér Peterson, ? Elder, Nővér Fresh , and
Swink Elder eating their "Amerikai hot dog dinner"!

"After we said good-bye to the elders I finished my last few pages of the Book of Mormon, and then Peterson and I just waited for the New Year by watching church dvds. Guess who had the best view of fireworks ever this year? ... Yea, I did! They were literally right outside of our window and so we went out on our deck for a while, but it got too cold. I ended up sitting on our stairs and just looked out of the window and watched all the fireworks explode in front of me :) It was perfect! We rang in the New Year with some noise makers and then went to bed. It was the coolest New Years Eve ever ... I will never forget it!"

This photo does not do them justice, 
but the fireworks were beautiful!

"On New years day we went to the Füred Balaton [a town on the northern edge of Lake Balaton] and it was great! It was really cold but I got to feed ducks, and i learned how to skip rocks. Well, I actually never skipped them, but hey that's okay ...  ahaha!  I also learned how to whip ... I did not succeed at that either, but it was still fun.  Füred was beautiful!"

Fresh  Nővér feeding the ducks.

Trying her had at cracking a
Hungarian whip ... 

It's harder than it looks!

"When we got home we were all so tired that we went back and took naps. We met up later to go to Gizi Nénis house and made gulyásleves with her.... SO GOOD!!! [Gulyásleves is a Hungarian soup made with beef, vegetables, ground paprika and other spices.] I'm so excited to make Hungarian food for you all someday :) Like how Mom made this soup for us when we had that family missionary night and now I know how to make it like a true Hungarian! We spent a bunch of time with Gizi, who it the cutest lady ever. I love her so much! After that we went and played games at the branch house and then went home and went to sleep. It has been such a fun event-filled few days/weeks, but now the holidays are over.  It's crazy because I am actually grateful because it really does hinder the missionary work and now I just feel really rejuvenated and ready to work hard the next year."

Celebrating at Gizi's house!

Some other things that happened this week:

"I ate pig feet and TAIL!!!! ...The tail was way better than the feet though. As I was eating one of the feet, I bit into it and then I saw a toe nail thing! I had to keep eating, but I just about died. ... We get some interesting things from the members!

A pigs tail. 

"I got the best surprise yesterday at church! I was just sitting there waiting for it to start and I looked up and who do I see..... PANNI and Kriszti!!!!! I jumped up and ran over to them and gave Panni a giant hug. It was so great to see her and talk with her in Hungarian :) She looked so cute and she gave me little presents.  I just love her so much! We didn't get to sit by each other because I was sitting by a little girl that really wanted to sit by me, but she bore her testimony. It was so great!"

Panni and Fresh Nővér ... a great surprise!

Panni, Fresh Nővér, and Kriszti.

"I have no idea what will happen at transfers, but next Tuesday we get our calls. It's crazy because we have a transfer every month until May... so for someone who hates change like me this is great, right? ... Even if at first I don't think I will like my call, I know I will end up loving it because I always have! ... I guess what I'm saying is life happens and we can either go with it and make the best of it or be miserable. I'm going to choose opinion 1 :)" 

Szeretlek titeket,

Fresh Nővér

Week 49 - Veszprém

In her email Fresh Nővér told us how she celebrated Christmas this past week:

Christmas Eve:  "We went to Székes [nickname for Székesféhervár where she served before going to Veszprém] where we had a really chill district meeting and talked about Christlike attributes and our favorite Christmas memories ... After district meeting we ate some food and then went caroling :) So fun!!! We went in some 10 stories and just rang door bells, sang, and passed out candy. It was so cool :) After that we went back to Veszprém and we had a program, but the bus never came and so we had to cancel it.  Then the elders made us dinner :) ... We went to the branch house and they brought some rokott krumpli and a surprise!!!! It was DUCK!!!! I had duck for the first time and it was really good :) Then we played games for a while and went to midnight mass. I was so cool, different  and kind of weird, but cool. ... We went home that night and I slept in the loft ... Oh, and I got FOOTIE PJS!!!"

"We got to see Krisztian on Christmas Eve
in Székesfehérvár."

Fresh Nővér and Swink Elder 

Christmas Caroling in Székesféhervár with
her district.

Back in Veszprém ... Dinner made by the elders!
"They are so nice to us!"

The Veszprém missionaries on their way to
midnight mass.

Fresh Nővér's Christmas Eve gift from
home! Could it be pajamas?

Christmas Day:  "I woke up, opened my presents, and tried to be sneaky by sending Peterson on a scavenger hunt to find her gifts! It worked pretty well. It's just really hard to be sneaky when you are with a person all the time! Haha!  We were both mostly just excited to SKYPE, but we had a few things we had to do before that. We had feeding program number 1... with the Macsériék. They fed us Duck too!!! So good :)  ... We were at their house forever and it was so fun. I was so tired after we ate that I just laid on their couch and almost fell asleep. We then headed to our next feeding program with the Pappék and they fed us the famous halászle (fishermans soup).  I like fish and I like soup but there were too many bones. I am really happy I got to try it though.  Our last feeding program for the day was with Irma and this is where we got to SKYPE!!! She made us a 5 course meal and I only ate one course and then skyped ... It was so good skyping! After I hung up with you all I had to eat the 4 other courses ... We started eating at 12:30 pm that day and finished at about 8 pm. During that time I had approximately 12 courses of food!!!! I have never been so full in my life! After we finished our last meal we went to the branch house and played games with the elders! So that was Christmas ... I loved it and have so many good memories!"

Fresh Nővér in her new PJs
with all of her Christmas gifts!

All dressed up ... new sweater, new hat,
new camera!

Halászle  or Hungarian fishermans 
soup ... yummy but lots of bones!

The rest of the week:  "The work was pretty slow ... It's hard because everyone is with family, out of town, or has to bake, but we had 3 more feeding programs during the next few days. ... Pál is my favorite person. He made us this stuffed cabbage stuff that was so good :) and he is just cute. He is still coming to church each week and reading the scriptures. In church yesterday the speaker was talking about how it is important to read the scriptures for understanding and not just to read them and Pál leaded over to me and said, "He is talking about me." and I said, "No, because you are trying to understand. It' different." It was so cute! I just love him."

Fresh Nővér and Peterson Nővér with tickets to
somewhere or something?

Swink Elder and Fresh Nővér at McDonalds ...
Her first Hungarian Big Mac!

Boldog Karácsonyt from the Hungary Budapest Mission

These photos were taken at the Zone Conferences held the 

week before Christmas. Fresh Nővér is in the second row of 

the zone on the center/left of the card.

Week 48 - Veszprém

In her email this week Fresh Nővér gave us information on various subjects ...

"Elf: I am a Christmas elf ... idk if you all know this but I love wrapping presents, so this week I bought a bunch of wrapping paper and I have been wrapping all of the missionaries gifts from their parents for them!!! It is so cool :) I love it because I get to open their packages and see what they are getting, and then i get to wrap everything and make it really pretty! Life is good!!! "

It is definitely winter and "it was really cold"!

"Onion: We now have a game night here in Veszprém every Saturday. We were planing this game where you yell off names of vegetables but you only use the following 4 names: tomato, pepper, lettuce, and cauliflower. Well, for some reason I just started yelling onion and I couldn't help it! Every card I put down I yelled onion and none of them were onions. Haha! It was so funny and I think I will never think of an onion in the same way now :)"

Fresh Nővér and Peterson Nővér playing the
"vegetable" game.

"P.: One of the coolest investigator in Veszprém... still comes to church each week. We asked him about The Book of Mormon and if he knew it was true, and he said he believed it was and if not he wouldn't read it. So we told him he should pray and get a concrete answer, and so we challenged him to read from it and then pray to know if it was true, and told him that after sometime he will  receive an answer :) ... We asked him at church and he had done what we asked and so now we are all just excited because we know that eventually he will receive the answer that what he is reading is true! :) So cool!"

Fresh Nővér and I., another of the wonderful
investigators in Veszprém,

"Zone Conference: It was so good! I feel inspired to be a better version of me. That's the coolest thing to me, that I wasn't sent here to become someone else, I was just sent here to become better. During President Smith's talk he told us that our missions were preparing us for the rest of our lives and that we will be able to look back on our missions when we are going through trails and say, 'I've had worse than this ... I served in Hungary!' It was really great! we also played games, and I got to stand next to Santa. We did a white elephant exchange, and I got my packages and letters!!!! I love mail :)  The only down fall was I had what we think might have been my first migraine ever!!! it was awful and the train got delayed for an hour... but thank the medicine I took because I feel great now! "

Fresh Nővér, Santa, Butterfield Nővér, 
and Broadhead Nővér

"Clumsy: I am! I fell off the couch at our RCLAs house during the program and I trip all the time... its cool though!" 

"My tights fell down while we were
walking home! Haha!"

"My City": Fresh Nővér has had camera problems the past several weeks and the new camera we sent her just arrived this week. She used it to take some photos of  her beautiful city, Veszprém.

The beautiful red and orange roofs of Veszprém
with St. Stephens Church in the background. 

This door is probably in the Castle
District of Veszprém.

Veszprém's Town Square with the Fire Tower
(used as a watch tower in past centuries) in the
background.

View of a portion of Veszprém on a cold and
cloudy winters day.

"SKYPE: Peterson and I calculated the hours until we skype the other day and I know it's so much less than that now, which blows my mind!!!!! Last time we skyped I was a greenie!!! I hope I have progressed :)) I seriously can't wait to skype!!!"