March 26,
2013
Well Howdy!
Transfers, once again, are here and
as quickly as ever! This transfer came ridiculously quick and both my companion
and I kept telling each other today 'Where did the time go?!?!' Yeah, it was
way to fast for my taste, well, for both of our tastes. News from the top:
Unfortunately, Elder H and I will not be staying together; neither will I be
staying for a 5th transfer in Pécs. Blast! I so wanted to stay for another
because that would have meant that I would have been here for 6 months.
Wouldn't that have been way cool?! It would be at least some kind of record.
Anyways, Elder H is staying and getting a younger companion and I, pedig
(however), will be going to Békéscsaba into a threesome. Whaaaaaaat!! Crazy,
right? There's more, in this companionship, the senior companion, who is now
going to be in his last transfer, is the Branch Leader for the Branch there,
and because this will be his last transfer, I have been told that I will be
filling in his position as Branch Leader probably when he leaves. Even MORE
crazy!!! That means I will have to do everything a Branch Leader does in
HUNGARIAN!! I have both feelings of absolute excitement and nervousness. It's
going to be so much fun. It will definitely be interesting to be in a
tripanionship, but it will be fun nonetheless.
Another sad thing with transfers is
that Elder A, my trainer, is going home. It's now been two years for him and he
is heading home now. It's so saddening because I love that guy so much. He has
been one of my closest friends in the mission, which is probably because he was
my trainer and everything. But, it will definitely be a sad thing to see him
go. He'll definitely have a lot of fun being back home. But his mission son
will definitely miss him.
Some other stuff that happened this
week, yesterday it snowed six inches of snow!! Yeah, it's definitely not like
the spring that's happening over there in Cali. So, basically, yesterday all of
our programs cancelled and tracting wasn't really working, so we spent the rest
of the day going around people’s houses and trying to offer service somehow. We
actually ran into a married couple that we met with a while back who we haven’t
been able to reschedule with for a while and they were working on shoveling the
snow from there walk ways and drive way so that their car could get in. So, we
were able to help them out with that! That marked my official first time snow
shoveling in my life. It was so much fun! Plus the couple was really glad that
we came to help them out and they wanted us to come back and visit them
sometime. Thank yyyyooouuuuu service opportunities! Ha ha, there was a part
when I was shoveling the snow where the wife kept telling me 'That jacket of
yours is too thin! You're going to catch cold!' It was soo funny.
So, for a cool miracle find for the
week, Sunday we had a few hours of finding left in the day and we felt as
though we should go try and visit this less active family that we have been
given by the branch. We have tried several times already with no success. So
this, time we went, rang their bell aaaannnndddd.......no go. No one picked up.
With that, we decided to tract some other apartment buildings that were right
next to it. After going through 1.5 buildings, we came across an older lady,
who said, when she opened the door, 'Oh, are you boys the Mormon missionaries?'
'Yup, we sure are.' 'How wonderful, I used to be Mormon a loooongg time ago.'
'Really? Would you have time for us to come in and share a brief message with
you?' She then closed the door (I forgot to tell you that she was speaking to
us through this miniature door within her front door......confusing? Just
imagine a front door with a much smaller door that's right dead in the center
of the front door that you can open up just to see who the person is that is
knocking) and opened it back up and let us in. We were able to talk to her for
quite a bit and about some of the concerns that she had with the church and we
helped her in answering some of them. She also has been having some health
issues and we offered to help her with anything she needed and she gave us the
biggest grin and told us that we could come back anytime. Elder H and I really
felt like the Lord’s shepherds in that program. I felt the Spirit so strongly
during that program.
Oh, and another cool program we had
this week. We met for the first time with this younger teenage guy who had met
with the missionaries a few years back. We tracted into him last week and we
set up a program with him. When we met with him we were able to see why he met
with the missionaries in the first place, what he liked about having them over,
why they stopped meeting and he told us that he still believed that the Book of
Mormon is true, but had some other concerns whether or not there needed to be
one true church. We then talked to him about the Restoration and about the
priesthood authority to lead and direct Christ's church and about Joseph Smith
being that latter day prophet to restore Christ's church upon the earth again.
After reading the first vision with him and bearing testimony of the Book of
Mormon, I felt prompted to ask him if he had any questions or concerns about
what we talked about and he sat there for a little bit, then looked back at me
with a such a sincere smile on his face and said 'I don't have any'. There was
an immense power in that room that was so indescribable. I honestly felt like
my spirit was testifying with all of its might of the divinity of Jesus Christ
and of my Savior and it was magnified through the Holy Ghost. It was such a
powerful witness to me that the Spirit does bear witness when we testify, and I
only pray that the guy that we met with felt it also.
This week has been so great for me
and my companion and it is sad to see that it is coming to an end. But, I still
have work to do and it is now going to be in Békéscsaba. I'm super excited. Oh!
And by the way, next week Thursday will mark my one year mark. Crazy, right? I
think this has been the fastest year in my entire life. Why did time have to
choose NOW to be the time when it should go by really fast? Ughh! So weird!
Alrighty, you all have a fantastic
week this week and keep the Spirit as close to you as possible. Love you
all!
Sincerely,
Magda Elder
P.S Congratulations Heather with
your Farewell!!! Oh I wish I could have been there to support you, but I guess
seeing you when you get here and being there for your welcome home will have to
suffice. By the way, if I am called to be a trainer when you come into the
country, I will get to be there in the meeting with you when you get your
trainer! That will be SOOO awesome if that happens. And in answer to your
questions, the internet cost here is around 200 forint an hour, which is around
1 dollar. Pretty cheap. What do sisters eat here....well the sisters in our
district said that they eat sandwiches and soup quite often and sometimes have
McDonalds since it is right across where they live. Ha ha, I don't know so much
about that question. Basically you just get what you want and you can always
try and make something new then you just have to be thrifty with what you have.
Oh, and if you know how to make Hungarian dishes back at home, then you will
LOVE making them here because they have all the 'true' Hungarian stuff here
which makes it ALL the more better. And other advice.....study from Preach My
Gospel before you go into the MTC. It helps SOOO much. Trust me.