#14 Kecskemét: I love being a missionary!!
This week was my 5 month anniversary of being a missionary!
A mission tradition when doing splits is the gold fist challenge, so we did the gold fish challenge and bought one gold fist for me and one for Elder Garrett; because Elder Garrett hadn’t done it, we had to work really hard to convince him that he wanted to do it, but we did the gold fish challenge. The gold fish challenge is when you get a gold fish, the fancier the better, and put it into a glass of water, with enough water to fill the capacity of your mouth and you then you drink the gold fish so it swims around in your mouth and then you gulp it down whole. I did it, and it was way easier then I thought it would be. It was cool. I called it “living sushi.” Now I think I have the coolest sushi story ever. It took a lot of cheering Elder Garrett on to get him to do it. It was fun. I swallowed a gold fish today, and I’d probably do it again. We shouldn’t get sick… none of the people who have done it have gotten sick.
On the way back to Kecskemét, we sat in a train compartment with a man from Portugal who is living in Prague, and studying in Prague and learning Czech, sports science, and English. He’s atheist and wasn’t necessarily interested but he was curious, and it was nice to talk to him in English.
Elder Philips and I went to institute. We studied Alma 2 and 5. In Alma 2 we replaced the name Amlici with Satan and Alma’s name with Jesus Christ, it types and shadows the Council in Heaven and the War in Heaven really closely. It is really really cool.
We also traveled to Budapest on Friday for zone conference, which is always a blast. We talked a lot about weekly planning and better finding skills. I have lots to work on and lots of ideas to help me improve.
Fun story: our train from Budapest broke down on the way to Kecskemét, and we were on the train for 3 hours or more not moving. Eventually they fixed the problem but we kind of went crazy, we were stuck with the Szeged sister missionaries, Sister Wise and Lewis, (Sister Lewis was with me in the MTC) so at least we had company.
In my study this week:
I read a conference talk I really loved one from Elder Rasband, “Let the Holy Spirit Guide.” He says, “We must be confident in our first promptings. Sometimes we rationalize, we wonder if we are feeling a spiritual impression or if it is just our own thoughts, when we second guess or even third guess our feelings as we all have we are dismissing the spirit. We are questioning divine council. The prophet Joseph Smith taught that if you will listen to the first prompting then you will get it right nine times out of ten.” There was another talk by Elder Bednar that I remember, a talk where he spoke about receiving revelation, he said a lot of people ask the question: How do I know when I’m feeling the spirit or when it’s just my own thoughts? He basically said: If it’s a good thing, if it’s a thing Christ would do, if it’s keeping the commandments and it’s blessing other people, then it doesn’t matter whether it’s you or the spirit just do it; but if it’s a bad thing, then it doesn’t come from the spirit and don’t do it. I think the spirit works through us more than we think and sometimes what we perceive to be our own thoughts are our own thoughts given to us by the spirit. I also read Elder Clayton’s talk, “Whatsoever He Has Said Unto You, Do it!” He talks about doing the will of the Lord and it is a nice companion to the other talks.
It was a good week, our next one looks full, which is always good.
I love being a missionary!!
Love,
Elder Morgan
Word of the week: Lamantin: Manatee
This was another week of travel. On Tuesday we went on splits in Szeged. I love Szeged, it is absolutely beautiful, and I like the bigger more urban feel. Elder Biesinger and I had two lessons which was awesome! One of them I shared a scripture and the lady cried, good tears, it was a new experience for my mission. She then gave us 10 kilos of apples, they were the best apples I've had in Hungary. We also had a lesson with one of their investigators, about how precious the gospel is in our lives. I shared with her the parable of the pearl of great price. We also talked about Lehi's dream. It was fun.
We went to the lesson with Robi, an awesome member in Szeged that I met last time at their branch Christmas activity. We had lunch at Burger King, and It was so good, but we ate way to much. Robi was astonished at how much American boys can eat and how big the hamburgers were. Yeah, we Americans eat way too much.
It was a wonderful splits. We also did the goldfish challenge ;)
We went to the lesson with Robi, an awesome member in Szeged that I met last time at their branch Christmas activity. We had lunch at Burger King, and It was so good, but we ate way to much. Robi was astonished at how much American boys can eat and how big the hamburgers were. Yeah, we Americans eat way too much.
It was a wonderful splits. We also did the goldfish challenge ;)
A mission tradition when doing splits is the gold fist challenge, so we did the gold fish challenge and bought one gold fist for me and one for Elder Garrett; because Elder Garrett hadn’t done it, we had to work really hard to convince him that he wanted to do it, but we did the gold fish challenge. The gold fish challenge is when you get a gold fish, the fancier the better, and put it into a glass of water, with enough water to fill the capacity of your mouth and you then you drink the gold fish so it swims around in your mouth and then you gulp it down whole. I did it, and it was way easier then I thought it would be. It was cool. I called it “living sushi.” Now I think I have the coolest sushi story ever. It took a lot of cheering Elder Garrett on to get him to do it. It was fun. I swallowed a gold fish today, and I’d probably do it again. We shouldn’t get sick… none of the people who have done it have gotten sick.
On the way back to Kecskemét, we sat in a train compartment with a man from Portugal who is living in Prague, and studying in Prague and learning Czech, sports science, and English. He’s atheist and wasn’t necessarily interested but he was curious, and it was nice to talk to him in English.
Elder Philips and I went to institute. We studied Alma 2 and 5. In Alma 2 we replaced the name Amlici with Satan and Alma’s name with Jesus Christ, it types and shadows the Council in Heaven and the War in Heaven really closely. It is really really cool.
We also traveled to Budapest on Friday for zone conference, which is always a blast. We talked a lot about weekly planning and better finding skills. I have lots to work on and lots of ideas to help me improve.
Fun story: our train from Budapest broke down on the way to Kecskemét, and we were on the train for 3 hours or more not moving. Eventually they fixed the problem but we kind of went crazy, we were stuck with the Szeged sister missionaries, Sister Wise and Lewis, (Sister Lewis was with me in the MTC) so at least we had company.
In my study this week:
I read a conference talk I really loved one from Elder Rasband, “Let the Holy Spirit Guide.” He says, “We must be confident in our first promptings. Sometimes we rationalize, we wonder if we are feeling a spiritual impression or if it is just our own thoughts, when we second guess or even third guess our feelings as we all have we are dismissing the spirit. We are questioning divine council. The prophet Joseph Smith taught that if you will listen to the first prompting then you will get it right nine times out of ten.” There was another talk by Elder Bednar that I remember, a talk where he spoke about receiving revelation, he said a lot of people ask the question: How do I know when I’m feeling the spirit or when it’s just my own thoughts? He basically said: If it’s a good thing, if it’s a thing Christ would do, if it’s keeping the commandments and it’s blessing other people, then it doesn’t matter whether it’s you or the spirit just do it; but if it’s a bad thing, then it doesn’t come from the spirit and don’t do it. I think the spirit works through us more than we think and sometimes what we perceive to be our own thoughts are our own thoughts given to us by the spirit. I also read Elder Clayton’s talk, “Whatsoever He Has Said Unto You, Do it!” He talks about doing the will of the Lord and it is a nice companion to the other talks.
I read a talk by Elder Christofferson, called “TheVoice of Warning.” He writes, “While the duty to warn is felt especially keenly
by prophets it is a duty shared by others as well.” He starts the talk by
talking about Ezekiel about when he was called as a prophet and Jehovah tells
him that he is a watchman on a tower to warn the people. Elder Christofferson
says when we know the dangers ahead and we don’t warn people, we’re under condemnation
because we are somewhat responsible for them. It’s our responsibility to warn people
of danger so that they can make the choice. Once we let them know, then it’s in
their hands. He talks about ways we can warn people of the dangers of sin. What
I got from it, is that as a missionary I have a responsibility to talk to
everyone about the gospel. For Kecskemét we are the watchmen. Elder Christofferson
writes: “The voice of warning shall be unto all people by the mouth of my disciples
whom I have chosen in these last days. As watchmen and disciples, we cannot be neutral
about this more excellent way. As Ezekiel cannot see the sword coming upon the
land and blow not the trumpet, but this is not to say that we should bang on
our neighbor’s door or stand in the public square shouting repent, truly when
you think about it, we have in the restored gospel what people deep down really
want. So the warning voice is generally not only civil but as the Psalms
phrase, “It is a joyful noise.” Elder Christofferson shared an interesting thought
from a newspaper editor:
Deseret News opinion editor Hal Boyd cited one example
of the disservice inherent in staying silent. He noted that while the idea of
marriage is still a matter of “intellectual debate” among elites in American
society, marriage itself is not a matter of debate for them in practice.
“‘Elites get and stay married and make sure their kids enjoy the benefits of
stable marriage.’ … The problem, however, is that [they] tend not to preach
what they practice.” They don’t want to “impose” on those who really could use
their moral leadership, but “it is perhaps time for those with education and
strong families to stop feigning neutrality and start preaching what they
practice pertaining to marriage and parenting … [and] help their fellow
Americans embrace it.”
We are blessed when we do this and we bless other people. It
is what Christ would do! He says, “May we each be able to say to the Lord with
David: “I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy
faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy
truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from
me, O Lord.” I really liked Elder Christofferson talk.
It was a good week, our next one looks full, which is always good.
I love being a missionary!!
Love,
Elder Morgan
Word of the week: Lamantin: Manatee
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