Monday, February 25, 2013

Going into March!



February 25, 2013
Dear Family and Friends,

That's terrible to hear about Alisha and her illness's! It just seems like luck was not on her side for this week. I hope that she feels well enough to do the simulation today. It's interesting to hear the change that they made for the board. I'm so used to having the adults giving the questions and judging. But, this will be an interesting twist. But there is one thing that is for sure, and that is that Alisha will be absolutely tremendous. There's no doubt in my mind, if I've said this before then I will just be repeating myself, that she will be a terrific spokeswoman. She has the Magda blood in her! Plus, if she feels like it's getting hard or she is stuck in a rut, all she has to do is say a funny joke or something witty like she always does and she'll have it in the bag. No worries! She'll do great! 

All these people are leaving on their missions!! What in the world is happening?! And Heather went through the temple?! That's awesome!! She went through exactly a year and two days after I went through. Sweeett! That must have been such an awesome thing to participate in. From the pictures you sent me she looked super happy. Well, how can you not, you just went through the temple. Note of advice, go as MANY times as you can before you leave. Because after the MTC, where you will go the temple once a week, you won't be going to the temple till you get home. I've really missed the temple since I've been here. I think that is also one of the greatest sacrifices I had to make in order to serve a mission here. It also makes me think of the members here in Hungary and that their closest temple is in Freiberg, Germany. They only go a few times a year, while all of us back at home, at least in Sacramento, have a temple right next door. What a terrific blessing that is! And because of such, we should not take it for granted. I know for a fact that when I come home that I will be making it a goal to go to the temple on a weekly basis. Not only is it a blessing for all of the souls whose work are being done, but it is also a blessing for us to be in the place that is closest to our Heavenly Father. Why wouldn't we go to the temple? But, congratulations Heather! I'm so proud of you and I can't wait to see you here! 
Elder Magda in Pécs
Yep, I'm Kewl!
Overlooking Pécs
For some updates on me this week, Elder Hunnicutt and I have been having some really great stuff happen to us this week. Already the first few days we had people let us in AND people set up with us in the middle of a staircase of an apartment complex. Let me explain the details; our first let in was with this woman and her little kids who had recently moved the day before. When she opened the door, all we said was 'We have a really important message that we would like to share' and she showed us to their living room. Both in shock, we sat down with all of their kids and gave them a message about the Book of Mormon and its witness of Jesus Christ as our Savior. Because they already have a good strong belief of Christ already, they listened and were excited to read the book. They were so receptive to the Gospel and they asked us to come back for this week! Miracle number one! Our second let in was with an older man who had been waiting to meet with us. He already believes in Christ and wanted to read the Book of Mormon and read it's contents of the divinity of Christ. Shocked, once again, we bore witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and we were able to have a great conversation with the man. He also wanted us to come back and talk more about the Book and the church. Miracle number two! This next one I really thought to be a miracle, personally. We were tracting in a building and while we were waiting at the door for someone, a mother and her daughter started walking up the stairs to their apartment. Before I continue any further, stopping people in some circumstances for me is still hard and I get nervous sometimes when I want to stop people, this instance being one of them. But, I felt that we should talk to them anyways even while we were waiting for someone to open their door. So, I stopped the two women and told them what we were doing and that we meet with people and talk with people about our church. The mom said 'Well, that's very kind of you' but the daughter, who was 15 or so I would say, looked at us with excitement. The mom looked to her and said 'Do you want to talk with these boys about their church?' 'I would love to!' We set up a time to meet right there on the staircase and she said that she was excited to meet with us. Miracle number three! There were more things that happened to us that were a little bit smaller, but that were still awesome for us, but these experiences I really wanted to share with you all.   


The work is picking up!! We actually have scheduled programs for this week! It's an absolute miracle for me to see this happening this soon into the transfer. Elder Hunnicutt is a really hard worker and we are doing our best to keep the work going with both of our desires to work and help people come closer to their Savior. So Elder Hunnicutt is from a really small city of Texas and has two older brothers. He is the only one in his family to serve a mission and he is also a super scripture wiz. He is also, probably the most humble and patient elder I know. He is really helping me in being patient with the work and continuing to work hard despite of the lack of success we reap. He is a great companion to be with and I'm glad that I am serving with him at this time in my mission. 

I come to a conclusion with my letter, but before I close I will answer a few questions. My shoes are actually doing pretty good. My Echo pair I have been wearing basically every day and the soles are starting to wear through. But they are super comfortable still and they still have some good life in them. Plus I haven’t really worn my other pair so I'm sure I will be good shoe wise till the end of my mission. Candy wise, unfortunately they don't have very many sour candies here. And when they do have some in stock it's not very sour. Lame!! A lot of their stuff is chocolate, which is good but it's kind of been chocolating me out. :P I really don't want to ask for anything though. You don't need to send me stuff. Your emails are all I need to keep me going. :) 

Alrighty, I am off to hit the pavement. Keep being good and make it a goal to attend the temple this week for me! Love you all!

Isten áldjon meg benneteket,
(May God Bless You)
Magda Elder



Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Well Hellloooo All Yaa'lll



February 19, 2013
Well Hellloooo All Yaa'lll
A wet day!

Elder Magda and Elder D'Angina
Transfers keeping getting more interesting. I had a few predictions for what could happen to me, but the call I received was definitely not what I expected. First off, I thought that Elder D' would be staying here in Pécs and I would leave. Where and who I would be getting are not important, but I had no doubt in my mind that I was definitely leaving and Elder D'. would be staying. But, instead, my theory was switched around. Elder D'.  is actually leaving Pécs and is going to Kaposvár and I am staying here in Pécs for a 4th transfer. I feel so bad for Elder D'!  He absolutely loves this city and the branch and wanted to stay so badly. But, at least he will still be in my district. Kaposvár and Pécs is its own district and we have district meetings once a week, so he will be able to visit Pécs every other week, since we go back and forth where district meeting will be held. But I know that he will be an outstanding missionary in Kaposvár. He and I worked so much here in Pécs and I know that he will only give that same or even more, energy to the people of Kaposvár.

It's a bird.  It's a plane?


It's an INVESTIGATOR!!!!
So, like I said, I am staying and I am actually getting someone from the same group as me from the MTC........Elder H.!!! Going back for all of you to the days of the MTC, back in April of 2012 (Which, by the way, is almost a year's difference!), I was in a companionship with Elder B., who is doing well by the way, and  the other companionship in my group was a threesome of Elder Ju., Jo. and H. Now, being in the field, I will be serving with Elder H. who is an awesome elder and I am excited to see how these next 5 weeks will be. Tomorrow we will be going up to Budapest to meet our new companions then be coming back to get back into the work. 

Keepin cool in Hungary!
Bikes schmikes!  This is how we roll!
Riding the Train!
For interesting things of the week, we thought this past week was going to be really good, but it didn't turn out the way we thought it would. One of the new investigators that we just got told us during the middle of our program that he really didn't want to talk more about the church and apologized for taking our time from us when we could be talking to someone else more interested. We thanked him for his honesty and for letting us know, but we Elder D' and I still felt kind of bummed after he had said that. But, hopefully the Spirit will touch his heart somewhere down the road where he will want to learn more about the Gospel.

Renata's Baptism
Friday we were able to go to a ward party for a holiday that they celebrate here called Farsang. Apparently it's like a Halloween that they celebrate in the Spring. It's like a celebration because winter has finally passed (which it hasn't really) but it's still a fun thing. All of the kids dressed up in their costumes and we played games together with them and it was SOO much fun. This branch is so awesome and everyone was super kind to one another.  Yesterday we had kind of a cool experience. We had kind of a last 'hoorraaah', Elder D'.and I, because it was going to be our last day together. So we went out and trackted for a good few hours and we got a legit let-in!!!  ! It was a miracle!! We had been trackting for a little bit, but we came up to home of a family, telling them that we were doing a survey, and they let us in. It was a single mom with 2 young daughters and we gave the mom the survey, since the daughters were kind of occupied, and she responded to our questions amazingly!! We soon found out that she was Catholic and a Sunday school teacher at the Catholic school. She said that she would really love to talk to us more about our religion next week, but she said that she is firm in her faith and is staying a Catholic. Both Elder D' and I thought to ourselves that just listening to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is all a person needs to feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost that what we teach is true. Even leaders of the church, both now and in the past, said that they were once strong believers of their faith but after hearing the testifying witnesses of the Restored Gospel, they could not deny that what we taught was true. I felt this and so did Elder D', and so we will be excited to meet with her.....well, I will at least. 
The first sight of MOUNTAIN DEW in Hungary!!!!! (oh the joy...)

 Well, that was the highlights of our week. For shout-outs to people back at home: Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!! You’re getting up there with those years. But that's a good thing :) And tell Darian that I pray that the Spirit may be with him, always (Not to be Star Wars cheesy.....well, maybe). That first day in the MTC is one of the most powerful days and I hope he remembers every moment of that day. He will be an amazing missionary, I already know it.

I hope everybody feels better soon and I love you all so much! 

Sincerely,
Magda Elder