2017. október 31-e

Sziasztok!
We've had some fun times since last P-day, and it's hard to believe this transfer has come to an end so fast.

Last Tuesday we had interviews with President Szabadkai, which was a lot of fun. I always look forward to interviews because talking with President is always a lot of fun. After that we spent some time finding and cleaning the apartment.

Wednesday we met with a man named Zsolt. He's friends with one of the members here in Pest and he came to church last Sunday. We meet with him and taught the restoration. It went well, Zsolt is really nice. After that we spent some time finding and met with Andrea. She's been having a rough time recently, so we spent most of the lesson trying to encourage her. After that we had a good time finding.

Thursday we had the last district meeting this transfer. It was a good time, and afterwards we went and used the white board to find. It went pretty well, but the weather has been getting colder, so standing outside with a white board isn't as fun as it used to be. After that we had a lesson fall through we had English class and game night.

Friday we had weekly planning and we started the last exchange of the transfer. I was with elder Jones, which was a lot of fun. We haven't really seen each other since we were in Kecskemét at the same time, which was almost a year ago. It was fun to chat with him and work with him again. We've both improved and changed a lot in the last year. We had a couple lessons, and they all happened to be the plan of salvation. We met with some investigators and taught them, and afterward we visited Ági, the recent convert here. It was a great time, and we got a lot of practice in.

Saturday we visited one of the American families here. We were going to do some home teaching, but our member partner didn't show up. :( But the family was really nice, they gave us some good mexican food. After that we met up with Elder Leavitt and Elder Hess and Elder Leavitt and I visited Erzsébet. She's been having a rough time recently, her husband died not too long ago, and we spent a bit of time talking about the Plan of Salvation and how Christ can help her.

Sunday there was a change in the Bishopric which was exciting. After church we visited a member with the Ward Mission leader because the member asked for a blessing. We helped Krisztián (our ward mission leader) give the blessing. After that we met with Krisztina and her family. It was a sad lesson, they've been having a really hard time recently financially, but the gospel has been helping them out a bit.

Yesterday we met with Zsolt again and taught the Plan of Salvation. It went well, Zsolt asks good questions and really pays attention. After that we spent most of the day tracting because it was really cold and we didn't want to be on the streets.

This morning President Szabadkai called and gave us our transfer calls. I will be staying in Pest until the start of January, my new companion is elder Murphy. I've met him a couple times, he's a really nice person. Elder Leavitt is going to be a branch president in Eger, which is really exciting for him too.

This week our theme for self-reliance was Accepting responsibility. It's a really good concept, and the book had some examples of people that decided to accept responsibility and make their lives better. It was a really good topic and I think it's really important. If we don't take responsibility for what we do, we don't really have much of a reason to do good. So the take-away from this is to take responsibility for your life and do good. We are all responsible for what we do, because God gave us agency.

Anyways, we had a good week, and I'm looking forward to an exciting transfer in Pest with Elder Murphy.

Szeretettel,


Terry elder

2017. október 24-e

Sziasztok! 

Elder Leavitt and I had another crazy week. We had three exchanges and it was crazy.

Last Monday we went to Margit Sziget, which is an island in the Danube. It was really pretty and we had a good time. The island is crazy beautiful and I found another sign/monument that says, "I believe in the resurrection of Hungary."

Tuesday we had the weekly phone call with President Szabadkai, had a good time, then we used computers to proselyte. That was fun, we got to use Facebook a bit too, which was really weird. Then we had an exchange with the Buda elders, Elder Shepherd and Elder Saito. I was with elder Saito and I stayed in Pest. We had a good time, Elder Saito is fun. He's from Brazil and he was an exchange student in Hungary about a year before his mission. We had two lessons together, one was with Andrea. She was really nice, she's a really happy lady even though her life has been really hard. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and it was a cool experience to bear testimony that Christ can help her, no matter what happens. Later we met with Alex and talked with him about how to get answers from God. The lesson went well, but he didn't end up coming to church, which was sad.

Wednesday Elder Saito and I tried white boarding in the morning, but it didn't go very well. Later the exchange ended and Elder Leavitt and I spent most of the day finding. Then in the evening, we helped Ágoston move into his new apartment. It was a lot of fun, Ágoston is a really nice guy and it was good to help him.

Thursday we had district meeting, then we had a lesson with Veronika. We invited a recent convert, Dezső to be the member present, but the sisters wanted to have a lesson with him. Long story short, we ended up bring Attila, another recent convert and we had a good lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well, and Veronika came to church. Later we had angolóra, and after that we visited Krisztina and her family. They are in a really hard situation, so we tried to help them out with the Gospel. Good times.

Friday we had weekly planning, and we had an exchange with the other elders here in Pest. I was with Elder Harris in his area and we had a good time. We spent some time tracting, and then we met with a less active member in the branch house. The member we brought was Gergő, and he was really great. He did a good job of helping us out and he helped the less active member out too.

Saturday was a little crazy. We finished our exchange and Elder Leavitt and I got dogged right away, so we went tracting in the 17th district. We found this way out of the way place and had a good time there. Then we went to a harvest party in the Branch house. It was fun. Then Elder Aardema and Elder Katics came from Szombathely, because they are going to be in a church video. After they showed up, we went home, had dinner, and Elder Katics taught us Hungarian for our language study. It was a lot of fun to chat with Elder Aardema again, I haven't really seen him that much since we were companions.

On Sunday they filmed church a bit, elder Leavitt gave a really good talk at church and Veronika, Krisztina and Péter all came to church. They had a good time, later we visited Attila and Dora, some recent converts, and Elder Aardema and Elder Katics taught them a bit for the church video. Then was had a fun Sunday, said goodbye to Elder Aardema and Elder Katics, and in the evening we had an exchange with the assistants.

Yesterday I spent most of the day with Elder Gentry. October 23rd is a holiday in Hungary, they celebrate a revolution that happened in 1956.  We had a good time. It was kinda cold and rainy, but we found a coat for me (I left mine in Pest). We had a lesson in the morning and then we spent most of the day finding. Elder Gentry is a champ and finding all the time, so we had a great exchange together. Plus we ate lunch and dinner at the same Chinese fast food restaurant. It was fun.

And that was our week. We had a lot of crazy stuff happen, it was a good time.

Also, our self-reliance topic for the week was Handling Money Well. It was kinda fun, Elder Leavitt and I have been keeping track of our much money we spend so that we don't run out of MSF (the money the church gives us every month to live on). The principle is pretty simple, it boils down to spending less money than you earn and trying to make as much money as possible. I've been trying to budget money a bit as a missionary since we get MSF every month and it's always the same amount. Anyways, I just wanted to encourage everyone to try to handle money better. It's a simple practice, but a powerful one.

Szeretettel,

Terry elder

Elders Terry and Leavitt

2017. október 16-a

Sziasztok!

Well, we had a pretty good week, had some good times.

Last p-day we visited Budai Vár (Buda Castle). It was really pretty, I have a ton of pictures too. We had some good times there with Elder Harris and Elder Jameson. In the evening we spent some time finding, had a good time.

Tuesday we had a weekly phone call with President Szabadkai, which was good. Then we met up with the other elders in the branch house and learned about using facebook. Now we are facebook using missionaries. Well, we would be, except for the fact the Elder Leavitt and I both forgot our passwords. So, we are almost facebook using missionaries.
After that, we had an exchange with the other elders, Elder Jameson and I spent a lot of time finding and we got a let in. It was really fun and the people were super nice. They told us that they had been looking for the truth, and we had the opportunity to tell them that what we were teaching them was the truth. That was a lot of fun. After that Elder Jameson and I had a quiet evening with Dinner, language study and some 12 week (the program that missionaries do for the first 12 weeks of their mission). I haven't done twelve week since January when I was with Elder Pulsipher in Szolnok.

Wednesday we had some good times, Elder Jameson and I did some streeting. Then we ended the exchange and Elder Leavitt and I spent some time finding. We went white boarding near a university in Pest, it went pretty well. In the evening we tried to go home teaching, but the member couldn't come.

Thursday we had district meeting and afterwards Elder Leavitt and I went whiteboarding again. It went pretty well. In the evening we had English class and some time to call folks. We've set up a lot of lessons, but most of them fall through or get canceled, so we had some time to find.

Friday we had weekly planning and then we met up with the Kispest elders and started an exchange. Elder North and I had a good time together. We had two lessons set up, and a member, Gábor came with us. The first person, Katalin, got called into work and so we ended up visiting Ági first. Ági is still doing great, she has been so happy since her baptism. We had a good lesson with her. Then we went back to Katalin's and visited her, we had a good lesson with her about the plan of salvation and how it affects our lives. Afterwards, Gábor invited us into a McDonalds and gave us some dinner. He basically spent his entire Friday evening with us, which was really nice. He's great.

Saturday Elder North and I met with Gergely, who was a church media referral. He'd heard stuff about the church, and a week or two ago he saw two missionaries on the metro here in Budapest and he did some research online, found out he could order a book of mormon and requested one. We met with him and taught the restoration. It went well, Gergely is a really cool guy, I'm excited to meet with him again.
Later we ended the exchange and had a lesson with Erzsébet. It was a lot of fun. Elder Leavitt and I worried that the lesson wouldn't work out because our male member canceled. We'd invited Margit to the lesson, but we still needed a man. When we let margit know the situation though, she found a male member who could come with us. Ágoston came and taught with us. It was really good and he is super enthusiastic. The members here are really great and helpful, which is nice.

Sunday we had church, then we met with Márta and had a good lesson with her. In the evening we did numbers and then we watched a Europe area fireside with Elder Ballard. It was a really great experience and I learned a lot.

Well, this was our week. We did another lesson/discussion from the self-reliance program this week, the topic was Be Obedient. It was a good one, and one of the scriptures we read was D&C 130:21-22 "20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."
I really like this scripture, and I know that it is true. Whenever we obey God's commandments we are blessed for it. The Lord is bound when we do what He says, and He wants to bless us. All we have to do is do what He asks.

Sok szeretettel,
Terry elder


The attached pictures are the various sights around Buda Castle.

2017. október 9-e

Sziasztok!
We had some great times this week,
On Monday we visited West end, a giant mall in Budapest. It was a lot of fun, but we saw new cell phones and whatnot, which was really weird. But after that we had a lesson with Károly, who is really cool. He doesn't really have any religious background and he told us multiple times during the lesson that it was weird, but he's willing to keep meeting with us and learn, which will be great. After that lesson we visited a less active named Erika. She's pretty great, she lost contact with the church 10 years ago, and she reached out to us. She's forgotten a lot, but she really wants to relearn. We taught her the Restoration, which was fun.

Tuesday we had our weekly phone call with President Szabadkai, which was fun. It was actually the second phone call of the transfer because we had interviews, trainings, and the Szabadkaiék were out of town one week. It was a long phone call, but it went well. After that, we got dogged, and Elder Leavitt and I did some comp. study. We've started doing some self-reliance courses every Tuesday, this week's topic was Using time Wisely. It was a lot of fun, and it's pretty similar to PMG chapter 8. Mostly, it helps us plan out our days better, so that we get the most important things done first. It's been fun so far.

After that we started an exchange with the office elders, and Elder Ballard and I tracted in the rain for a few hours. It was a lot of fun actually, and Elder Ballard is really cool. We're in the same group and it was fun to work with him.

Wednesday, we were still together, and we spent some time using a whiteboard to find in Széll Kálmán tér. We talked about family history, which was a lot of fun. Lots of people ignored us, some people talked to us. We got some phone numbers, and it went pretty well. It's really funny because sometimes people don't even look at us, but other times they are really willing to chat with us. A few people even came to talk with us.
After that we met up with Elder Leavitt and Elder Bloomer, and Elder Leavitt and I came back home to Pest. Then we had a lesson reschedule and another person dogged us, so we spent most of our time that day finding.

Thursday we had district meeting, and we got to use technology to email some PI's that we haven't been able to get in contact with. It's kinda weird to use a computer other than for emailing on P-days, but it went well, some people wrote us back, hopefully we can meet with them soon.
Later we were dogged, and then we had a crazy lesson with Ági. The crazy thing was the number of members that came with us. One member here really wanted to visit Ági, this member is Margit, but we needed to bring a man, so we were bringing another member named Ágoston. When we met up with Ágoston he had a friend with him, (his friend is italian, and doesn't speak hungarian). So all 5 of us visited Ági, and Ágoston translated for his Italian friend. It was a lot of fun and the lesson went really well.
In the evening we had Angolóra (English class) and Játék est (game night), both of which went well.

Friday we had weekly planning, had a lesson cancel on us, and we spent some time tracting. Then we met up with the Assistants and Elder Hughes and I came back to Pest. We had a good time together, we met with some recent converts, Attila and Dora, and had another lesson cancel on us. Attila and Dora are really nice though. We had a misunderstanding somewhere and Elder Hughes and I were 80 minutes late for the lesson. Fortunately, they are really nice and we had a great lesson with them.
In the evening elder Hughes made Pumpkin bread for us to give to Attila and Dora the next day.

Saturday Elder Hughes and I went white boarding in a tunnel near Őrs vezér tere which was fun. We also had some time to tract, and later we met up with Elder Gentry and Elder Leavitt. Then someone dogged elder Leavitt and me, and we came back home and spent some time finding.

Sunday was a lot of fun. Ági was confirmed, so she is now officially a member of the Church, which is really exciting. She's doing great and she'll just keep getting better. Later in the day elder Leavitt and I met with Katalin, who was really nice. Her life has been really hard lately, hopefully we were able to help her out. Elder Leavitt gave her a blessing, which will definitely help her. After that we had numbers in the evening.

We had a great week, even though we had a ridiculous number of lessons cancel or dog, but everything worked out and we had a good time. Also, Elder Leavitt and I streeted some people that said that they marked their religion as Jedi on the census. Unfortunately, they were not actually Jedi, which would have been really cool, but it was pretty funny.


Szeretettel,
Terry elder

2017. október 2-a

Sziasztok! I don't want to spend too much time on this email, so it is going to be a quick one.

Last P-day we had interviews with President which was a fun time. It's always a lot of fun to have those interviews. Other than that, not much else happened that day.

Tuesday we had a lesson fall through and then I went to Érd. We had exchanges and I was with Elder Hess. He's from Layton and came to Hungary in August, so he's still being trained. We had a good time together and did some good work. It was kinda weird being with a younger missionary, most of my companions have been rather old so far. Elder Hess and I did some White Board finding with Family history, it went pretty well.

Wednesday morning elder Hess and I did some tracting, and later Elder Leavitt and I were reunited. Then we had a lesson be rescheduled and we had a really quick lesson with Bogi, a recent convert. She's doing really good, and we probably won't meet with her very much in the future. She's progressed well and doesn't really need us to help her. We had a cool member with us. His name was Szilveszter and he served a mission here about 10 years ago. It was fun to talk with him for a little bit before the lesson started.

Thursday we had District meeting, after we tried to do some white board finding, but it didn't work out super well. We ended up streeting around for a bit, and then we had a lesson with Veronika. She worked a lot and was really tired, but other than that it went well. Then we had English class and game night.

Friday we had weekly planning and started an exchange with the Pest elders. Elder Harris and I were together, and since he's the district leader, he was the one conducting the exchange. It was a lot of fun, we had some fun lessons together. We had some really great conversations too.

Saturday we had 3 lessons planned, and all three of the cancelled within 1 hour, but later we had Ági's baptism, which was a lot of fun. It was a great experience, we didn't have a ton of members there, but it was still really great.

Then we had general conference. We had some investigators come for the Women's session, which they watched Sunday morning while we watched priesthood. It was a lot of fun watching General conference. We saw Saturday morning in Hungarian on Saturday, then we watched priesthood, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning in English on Sunday. It was some good times.

Don't forget to look over General conference and apply all of the great things we learned about. I'm really excited to improve my study of the Book of Mormon, they talked about that a lot.

Have a great week!
Sok szeretettel,

Terry elder

Agi with Elder Leavitt

Elder Terry, Agi, Elder Leavitt