October 10. 2016

Well, this week has been a crazy one, and the upcoming one promises to be even crazier. For one thing, it's officially weird winter/fall weather here. We woke up to a lot of fog on Wednesday this week. It was crazy. It's definitely been getting colder.

Things have been great as we've been preparing Rozália for baptism. If all goes well, it'll be this Saturday. It's crazy getting everything done, but it's awesome too.

One thing I noticed this week was that the Spirit really does whisper to us. As I've come to understand more of what people are saying, I've noticed that more ideas come to mind of how to respond to them. That's been the Spirit directing me, and it's been so cool to follow promptings and follow the Lord's direction for the work here.

I know that Missionary work is the greatest work we can do. It brings so many blessings and joy. It's crazy how much fun it is and how great it has been.

We met with a newer investigator, László. He's really interesting. He's read a lot of religious books and has a lot of Random books, like Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. He has a lot of questions, but he also has a very sincere desire to learn. Elder Seamons and I are excited to work with him.

The last thing is that Transfers are next week!!! It's crazy how quickly time flys. Next week, P-day is on Tuesday.

Sok Szeretettel,
Elder Terry

Oct. 3, 2016

This week was a crazy one. We had zone training in Budapest on Wednesday, a zone day on Friday in Szeged, and General Conference on Saturday and Sunday. It has been an amazing week. I had a great time, even though we were travelling all the time. It was really crazy.

In zone training we learned a lot about doing paperwork for the hivatal (office stuff) so that we don't have any government problems. But then we talked about PMG chapter 7, learning the language. President told us that we should speak Hungarian as much as we can outside of our apartment, and Elder Seamons and I have been doing that and it has helped so much already.

On Friday we had a zone day because we got president's challenge. He wanted us to get 7 tracting days and 2 member presents every week as a zone. We did it, so on Friday we got to watch Inside Out and have lots of fun as a zone playing games. It was a great day. It made me so excited to get back to work and work hard. It was an awesome experience.

We had 2 investigators come to general conference on Sunday. Conference was just in the chapel here in Kecskemét. We watched them Saturday night, and all day Sunday. The order was Saturday morning, Priesthood, Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning. We watched the first and last ones in English, so it was nice to understand those. We'll watch Sunday afternoon next week after Sacrament Meeting. Sándor came for the priesthood session Sunday morning, and Rozália came to women's and Saturday afternoon (which were Sunday morning and afternoon for us). We watched both of those sessions in Hungarian, and it was absolutely crazy. I couldn't understand most of what was going on, but I could still feel the spirit and learn. My testimony of the Prophet and the Apostles has grown so much. I'm so grateful for General Conference and for the guidance and direction that we receive. There were a lot of things that I need to improve on, and I encourage you to find ways to improve and then set some goals.

This week was amazing. The work here is moving forward and things are going great. I'm so grateful to be a missionary!!!

Love,
Elder Terry

A church in Szeged

a street we tracted in Kecskemét (because it's Szabadkai utca)

President's Challenge play day

Sept. 26, 2016

Dear Everyone,

This week has been a crazy one. We had an emergency drill on Tuesday. It was weird, but it was cool to see that the mission is prepared for anything. It kinda threw off our schedule, but it was still really good.

Here is some more information from the letter he sent to me:  One thing, we didn't find out about the explosion until yesterday. It was just an update from our district leader. It was kinda weird because we just move on and keep working. There's actually a rule in multiple places not to discuss politics ever, so we just gotta be obedient and we'll be safe.

Other than that we've been having some good times. Here's some stuff from President's email:
"The rest of our week was great. We taught a great family yesterday, and they are very open to the Gospel. We taught them the restoration with a member, and it was a really good lesson. The spirit was there, and I got to be a bigger part of the lessons than I have been in the past. I'm glad that I can progress and help others to progress as well. We're teaching the family again on Thursday, and we're looking forward to that.

Another great person we could teach this week was Szabolcs. He's investigating out of curiosity right now, but as he feels the spirit he'll come closer to Christ and want to be baptized. We had a really good lesson with him, and it was really cool to see how the principles of How to begin Teaching that Elder Seamons and I have been practicing help him. We've really seen our studies have an impact on those we teach."

I just want to share with you the importance of understanding God's plan for us. I've been reading in Genesis about the story of Joseph in Egypt, and at the end of the story, he talks about how his brothers sold him for evil, but God changed it into a good so that He could save Jacob's family. What really stood out to me was that Joseph had suffered a lot because of his brothers, but because he understood God's plan for him he didn't become bitter. He could move on and keep following Christ. I want to learn from his example and accept God and His plans for me.

Even when we have hard times, if we trust in God and His plan, we don't have to worry.

Sok szeretettel,


Elder Terry

Explosion in Budapest

We received this email from the mission president Sunday morning.  I wasn't too worried because Riker isn't serving in Budapest but it's a nice reminder of how the Lord is watching over His servants:

szabadkai.jozsef@ldschurch.org Sunday, 25 September 2016 Dear Parents and Priesthood Leaders, Last night at approximately 10:30 PM, an explosion occurred in the Oktagon area of central Budapest. At the present time, it is impossible to know exactly what happened and why, with reports on the Internet and Social Media claiming everything from a terrorist attack, to a stunt by the government to increase response to a referendum vote scheduled for next Sunday. Early reports claimed the blast was due to a gas leak and completely unintentional. It may be several more hours before accurate information is released by credible news sources. There are no missionaries stationed in the area of the explosion and the two missionaries living closest to the Oktagon area were unaware of the blast until being informed by their Zone Leaders earlier this afternoon. All Hungary Budapest missionaries are safe and accounted for. I have no additional safety concerns for our missionaries as a result of this development. Authorities throughout Europe have been on heightened alert for terrorist attacks for many months now and Hungary is no different. Our missionaries are continually reminded to follow the safety procedures outlined by the Europe Area Presidency and are in compliance. Just last Tuesday (coincidentally) a mission wide emergency drill was conducted and our missionaries responded extremely well. As additional information becomes available, I can assure you we will take the necessary steps to insure that our missionaries are as safe as they can possibly be. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Szeretettel, Szabadkai elnök

Sept. 19, 2016

Hello everyone! Things are going well here in Kecskemét, as always. We've been having some good times and some miracles.

Our first little miracle came right after P day ended last week. Elder Seamons and I were tracting, and neither of us was really in the mood. I wasn't focused at all and I wasn't thinking about helping the people we were meeting. I asked Elder Seamons if we could say a prayer and we did. I felt a lot better after the prayer, and when we went to the next building, the door was open. We decided to go in, and the first door we went to we found someone who had gone to English Class before and still had a Book of Mormon that the missionaries had given him. We got to share the Restoration with him, and the whole experience really strengthened my testimony of prayer. If we hadn't prayed, we wouldn't have had the spirit with us to help us.

We've also had some cool experiences teaching people. Rozália really wants to get baptized on October 8th and she's been preparing so much. It's really cool to see how much she loves the gospel. She wants to learn so much and she reads a lot from the Book of Mormon every day. Her husband, József, won't be ready because he can't come to church and he has some Word of Wisdom problems, but we're going to keep working with him. Things are great here.


I've got some fun pictures from this week. The first two are of Szentkirály. It's 15 ish minutes outside of Kecskemét. It's crazy. We go from city to way spread out houses and farms so quickly.
The other pictures come from our other adventure this week. We went to teach a Less Active that lives in Kiskunfélegyháza. It's 28 kilometers south of Kecskemét, so we had to get President Szabadkai's permission to go. We had a fun time going there and it's a really pretty city. We got to share the restoration and first vision with Jenő, the less active. It was a cool experience. We'll see if he wants to change and come back to church.

Other than that, this has been a good week. I read Jacob 5 this week, which was really cool to read as a missionary. The Lord has given me part of His vineyard to work in, and it's important that I follow His instructions and commandments in carrying out His work.

This week has been great. I hope everyone is doing well.
Love you all,
Elder Terry

Sept. 11, 2016

Hello everyone!!

This week is less crazy. We actually have the whole time to email, so I can write a proper email. Things have been going great here in Keckemét. Things have been really good. We've seen a lot of blessings poured out on us. First, here's some stuff from my letter to President:

"This week has been an amazing one as we've seen the Lord hasten His work in Kecskemét. We have gotten a lot of blessings this week.

The first is that we got a referral from Church headquarters. We contacted it the next day, and the people we amazing. It was a husband and a wife, and they are so prepared. We've already taught them twice, and they've committed to be baptized onOctober 8th. It was truly a blessing to see the Lord trusting us with two of His children, and I know it means a lot to me that we have the opportunity to teach and help such amazing people. The experience of going to them was awesome. We went over to the building, and the földszint isn't very clean and the building doesn't have any lights, but as we went up, we got to their apartment. When we went in, we saw their clean apartment and they were so eager to have us come in and teach the gospel. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to meet them and teach them."

This was the greatest experience of this week. We got to teach them twice, and at first it seemed a little sketchy, but they are super awesome. The wife, Rozália, came to church on Sunday. It was awesome. Getting to teach them was a great experience.

We also taught Sándor this week. He's been taught a couple times by the missionaries, but we're really hoping that it'll stick this time. He really is a great guy and he just needs to pray and read so God can answer him.

Being here in Kecskemét has been a great blessing, and I'm glad that I can serve here.


Love,
Elder Terry

Random pictures from the area.

These next three pictures are of the református cemetary we visited for a funeral.

Monster spider in the middle of this picture, can you see it?  Not a fan.

church in the middle of the city

These two are from where we ate dinner last week.  It was pretty good.

These next two pictures are from tracting last week.  First one way then the opposite way.  It started raining pretty hard about 10 minutes after I took the picture.

Sept. 5, 2016

Hello everyone,

We don't really have any time because our regular email place is closed for some reason. We have been scrambling to find somewhere to email, but we are more rushed than usual.

So I don't have much to say.

Love,

Elder Terry

Here's some stuff from my email to President:

This week was a really good week. The highlight was the temple rededication. It was really cool to have the opportunity to go and see that. I'm really grateful for the temple in my life, and I want other people to receive blessings from it too. Hearing parts of the Temple dedication in 3 languages was really cool. I had an english translation, and then I could hear German on that too, with the Hungarian playing in the Chapel. It stood out to me that even though we all speak different languages, we are all God's children and He can help us. That's why we have temples, and that's why the temple dedication was translated into all of the languages.

Another great part of this week was teaching József and Sándor. It was a great opportunity. Elder Seamons and I have practiced and roleplayed a lot in preperation for teaching other people, and it was really great to have the opportunity to use the lessons that we've been practicing. We taught József about the plan of Salvation because his mother died recently, and the Plan of Salvation answers questions that people have about that. We also got to meet with him, instead of just hearing his voice over the phone, which was really nice.

Teaching Sándor was great as well. We got to know him and share part of the message of the restoration. He is a great person, and he's just worried about falling into bad habits even after he is baptized. I know that receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and the priesthood will help him so much. He has so much potential.