#16 Kecskemét: The best of times... and the worst of times
Szervusztok!
It was a good week, we had lots of good work, and we were able to find 3 new investigators this week which is always awesome!! Numbers wise it may be one of the most productive weeks of my mission thus far. My language skills are progressing quickly now, I’m at a place in Hungarian where it’s easier for me to pick up new words so I’m making flash cards to help me increase my vocabulary. This week we went to Hetényegyháza, twice, to look for inactive members of the ward. On P-day we went to a traveling national history exhibit at the city museum and saw the Sevso Treasure. The treasure is roman silver serving platters with beautiful artistry from the 300 A.D. It was pretty cool. We went to a fun priesthood activity at the branch building and it was really fun. We played ping pong and ate hot dogs and talked. It was really simple but a lot of fun.
Later that same day, we went to meet an older lady in a northern part of town for an appointment we had set up (another former investigator) and when we got off at the bus stop there was an older lady at the bus stop who asked us if she could help us find what we were looking for, and when we told her she said, she was who we were looking for. She had walked from her house through the snow to come meet us at the bus station and walk us back to her house. That never happens! That was so cool. She also had a really nice house. She made pizza for us. She’s in her 70’s but looks much younger because she’s very healthy and active. We ended up talking about families the whole time because that was what she was most interested in. She has four grand kids who live in Canada and only speak English, so she learned English so she could talk to her grand kids and daughter-in-law. She loves her family. She was awesome! New investigator #2. In one day!! It was a really good day.
On Wednesday, after teaching a new member (who is preparing to receive the priesthood) about the priesthood with a member of the Bishopric, I ended up in a conversation with the member of our Bishopric who began asking me questions about Priesthood organization, keys, and authority. It felt odd because I am so young and he was trying to learn from me. I didn’t think I knew a lot about these things before I went on my mission, but I’m beginning to realize that I do know quite a bit. I’ve been thinking about Brother Lund (one of my young men’s leaders in Maryland). One of Brother Lund’s big things when he was our young men’s president and then the stake young men’s president, was talking to us a lot, over and over again, about priesthood organization and priesthood keys and stuff like that. He told me one time that he believed that if an Aaronic priesthood holders are intimately familiar with how the priesthood works then they will be prepared to be leaders in the church. Which makes a lot of since. I’m just realizing that I know a lot about the priesthood. Thank you Brother Lund, you taught me well!
We went streeting with the white board in the town square and we got persecuted. We were persecuted by some middle schoolers, because middle schoolers know how to be mean. We brought out our white board and our question was, “What is the most important thing in your life.” There were six of these middle schoolers and one of them said, “Family” with a heart around it, and one said “Best Friends,” and that was really nice; but there was that one kid who had this look in his eye, and he started drawing naughty things on the board, obscene pictorial representations. Well, monkey see monkey do, and then they all started doing it. Then they escalated their bad behavior and they all started kicking the board and destroying our markers by crunching them into the ground. Well, as if that wasn't bad enough, they got worst. I guess they were trying to provoke us and because we stayed calm they got more agitated. They began spitting on us and spitting on the board… and AHH! We tried to be patient and hoped it would end, and of course it did, they got tired of persecuting us and they went away. Then we did some normal streeting without the white board and we talked to an older woman and her granddaughter who were very nice.
Later that day we looked up less active members of the church in a nearby town and we left notes on the doors because no one opened up, and then to our surprise a man came out of his house (not a member of the church) and asked us to come in for gyömölcs (fruit) tea. Let-in’s in Hungary are very rare, but this one was really too easy… which made us a bit nervous because it's one of two things -- The person is either genuinely interested in meeting missionaries (a rare thing) or he’s going to kill you. Just kidding, kind of. But we had a good 45 minute talk. He talked about the shooting in Florida and wanted to talk about one of the issues he has with the concept of God which is how there can be so much suffering and sadness in the world. So we talked about that as a gospel principle. I talked about my very difficult experience from last summer with the death of my little cousin. We shared with him Alma 7:11-13. We talked to him about the plan of salvation and how it helps us understand that when mortal life ends we don’t need to worry because life doesn’t end and God has a plan. He said he would like to meet with us after he returns from a business trip to Olaszország (italy). Really cool experience!!
So Saturday was a good day in the end, kind of sad because we got persecuted but then we got a miraculous let-in, so we got the bad and the good.
This is the last normal week of this transfer, next week we will have splits again with the zone leaders, and the week after that is interviews, and cleaning checks, and stuff, and then transfers on the 7th. Sometimes time flies!!
Word of the week: tengeralattjáró (ten-gehr-all-aht-yaró) means submarine, or literally "sea-under-goer" Hungarian translations are funny to me.
Szép Hétet kívánok!
It was a good week, we had lots of good work, and we were able to find 3 new investigators this week which is always awesome!! Numbers wise it may be one of the most productive weeks of my mission thus far. My language skills are progressing quickly now, I’m at a place in Hungarian where it’s easier for me to pick up new words so I’m making flash cards to help me increase my vocabulary. This week we went to Hetényegyháza, twice, to look for inactive members of the ward. On P-day we went to a traveling national history exhibit at the city museum and saw the Sevso Treasure. The treasure is roman silver serving platters with beautiful artistry from the 300 A.D. It was pretty cool. We went to a fun priesthood activity at the branch building and it was really fun. We played ping pong and ate hot dogs and talked. It was really simple but a lot of fun.
Later that same day, we went to meet an older lady in a northern part of town for an appointment we had set up (another former investigator) and when we got off at the bus stop there was an older lady at the bus stop who asked us if she could help us find what we were looking for, and when we told her she said, she was who we were looking for. She had walked from her house through the snow to come meet us at the bus station and walk us back to her house. That never happens! That was so cool. She also had a really nice house. She made pizza for us. She’s in her 70’s but looks much younger because she’s very healthy and active. We ended up talking about families the whole time because that was what she was most interested in. She has four grand kids who live in Canada and only speak English, so she learned English so she could talk to her grand kids and daughter-in-law. She loves her family. She was awesome! New investigator #2. In one day!! It was a really good day.
On Wednesday, after teaching a new member (who is preparing to receive the priesthood) about the priesthood with a member of the Bishopric, I ended up in a conversation with the member of our Bishopric who began asking me questions about Priesthood organization, keys, and authority. It felt odd because I am so young and he was trying to learn from me. I didn’t think I knew a lot about these things before I went on my mission, but I’m beginning to realize that I do know quite a bit. I’ve been thinking about Brother Lund (one of my young men’s leaders in Maryland). One of Brother Lund’s big things when he was our young men’s president and then the stake young men’s president, was talking to us a lot, over and over again, about priesthood organization and priesthood keys and stuff like that. He told me one time that he believed that if an Aaronic priesthood holders are intimately familiar with how the priesthood works then they will be prepared to be leaders in the church. Which makes a lot of since. I’m just realizing that I know a lot about the priesthood. Thank you Brother Lund, you taught me well!
Saturday was the best of days and the worst of days.
We went streeting with the white board in the town square and we got persecuted. We were persecuted by some middle schoolers, because middle schoolers know how to be mean. We brought out our white board and our question was, “What is the most important thing in your life.” There were six of these middle schoolers and one of them said, “Family” with a heart around it, and one said “Best Friends,” and that was really nice; but there was that one kid who had this look in his eye, and he started drawing naughty things on the board, obscene pictorial representations. Well, monkey see monkey do, and then they all started doing it. Then they escalated their bad behavior and they all started kicking the board and destroying our markers by crunching them into the ground. Well, as if that wasn't bad enough, they got worst. I guess they were trying to provoke us and because we stayed calm they got more agitated. They began spitting on us and spitting on the board… and AHH! We tried to be patient and hoped it would end, and of course it did, they got tired of persecuting us and they went away. Then we did some normal streeting without the white board and we talked to an older woman and her granddaughter who were very nice.
Later that day we looked up less active members of the church in a nearby town and we left notes on the doors because no one opened up, and then to our surprise a man came out of his house (not a member of the church) and asked us to come in for gyömölcs (fruit) tea. Let-in’s in Hungary are very rare, but this one was really too easy… which made us a bit nervous because it's one of two things -- The person is either genuinely interested in meeting missionaries (a rare thing) or he’s going to kill you. Just kidding, kind of. But we had a good 45 minute talk. He talked about the shooting in Florida and wanted to talk about one of the issues he has with the concept of God which is how there can be so much suffering and sadness in the world. So we talked about that as a gospel principle. I talked about my very difficult experience from last summer with the death of my little cousin. We shared with him Alma 7:11-13. We talked to him about the plan of salvation and how it helps us understand that when mortal life ends we don’t need to worry because life doesn’t end and God has a plan. He said he would like to meet with us after he returns from a business trip to Olaszország (italy). Really cool experience!!
So Saturday was a good day in the end, kind of sad because we got persecuted but then we got a miraculous let-in, so we got the bad and the good.
This is the last normal week of this transfer, next week we will have splits again with the zone leaders, and the week after that is interviews, and cleaning checks, and stuff, and then transfers on the 7th. Sometimes time flies!!
Word of the week: tengeralattjáró (ten-gehr-all-aht-yaró) means submarine, or literally "sea-under-goer" Hungarian translations are funny to me.
Szép Hétet kívánok!
Comments
Post a Comment