Dear all,
Well, guys. Looks like this is the second to last time we're going to have to do this whole "communicate-entirely-through-email" thing. Kinda weird, huh? I can't believe how time has gone---I feel like it wasn't so long ago I was saying goodbye at the Richmond airport and now, well, now it won't be so long until I'm saying hello again. Weird, weird, weird.
This week was beautiful. We had Saint Nicholas' Day----which is actually a Pretty Big Deal out here in Hungary lands----it's the day that Santa Claus actually comes to bring treats to all the children, and they instead believe baby Jesus brings the presents on Christmas Day, which is pretty cool. We had a branch buli (party) and everything and it was loads of fun and we got a decent amount of people there and that Christmas music pumping. Playing with all the kids in the branch was my favorite part personally :)
We met with H right before the holiday and he came in the branch house and looked really panicked and was like, "There was an old man outside looking for the both of you and I told him you were inside but he didn't come in." And so Sister Rada and I went outside to investigate (thinking it was the Elder's Quorom president or something) and find nothing. Whattheheck. And so we come back in....to two bags with all of our favorite treats inside! So H goes, "Sorry, he said he wanted to give these to you for Saint Nicholas Day, but he's really busy this time of year and he had to leave and wanted me to give them to you." Hahaha H is the bomb! He's a graphic designer so he made custom labels for all of the stuff, it was super cool. He's progressing amazingly well and pumped for baptism on Sunday and so are we! :)
Other than that, it was my last fast Sunday on my mission this week. Sister Rada and I both got to bear testimony to the branch we've come to love. It was really cute, a lot of the members got up and expressed their love for the missionaries since so many of us are leaving. It was especially cool because my first week in Eger, there were only eight members in my first Sacrament meeting, and this past Sunday there were about thirty there! Whoop whoop!
It was a really good meeting, but the very best part was the very end. Elder Haws got up to close the meeting and started to announce the closing prayer and hymn when T stands up in front of everyone and says "Kedves úram (literal translation: 'my dear sir' haha), I'm so sorry but I didn't get the chance to bear my testimony and I feel the impression to do so." So T gets up there and says, "I wish I could say that I'm becoming a member next week" (at this point I'm sweating a little) "but the truth is, I've been a member my whole life. I've believed and known these things are true for forever, but it wasn't until those two sisters stopped me on the street that I was able to finally recognize it and finally change." And he then went on to bear a beautiful testimony of Christ.
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
And is was in that moment that everything or anything hard I'd ever had to do my entire mission was one hundred percent worth it. In a very literal, very real sense. And I think I got the slightly clearer picture of why Christ did what He did. Because, honestly, sometimes I've wondered why He did. But God counts his sheep, and if there is one thing I've learned it's that the suffering is always worth it for the one. And missions are worth it. They really, really are.
Well, everybody, I love you lots. I miss you loads as well, and this whole "going home" thing is weird. I already feel like everything was and is a dream, and I'm living in it. And for some reason that killer cliché line from the Other Side of Heaven when John is on his way back to America keeps playing in my head. "They say I'm going home, but it's funny how I feel more like I'm leaving it."
And I'm going to be real, I'm feeling it, John. I'm really feeling it.
I can't wait to see you all next week, though! I'll send you pictures of the baptism on Monday. :)
Tudom hogy a Mormon könyve igaz!
Szeretet mindig,
Carle Nővér
Well, guys. Looks like this is the second to last time we're going to have to do this whole "communicate-entirely-through-email" thing. Kinda weird, huh? I can't believe how time has gone---I feel like it wasn't so long ago I was saying goodbye at the Richmond airport and now, well, now it won't be so long until I'm saying hello again. Weird, weird, weird.
This week was beautiful. We had Saint Nicholas' Day----which is actually a Pretty Big Deal out here in Hungary lands----it's the day that Santa Claus actually comes to bring treats to all the children, and they instead believe baby Jesus brings the presents on Christmas Day, which is pretty cool. We had a branch buli (party) and everything and it was loads of fun and we got a decent amount of people there and that Christmas music pumping. Playing with all the kids in the branch was my favorite part personally :)
We met with H right before the holiday and he came in the branch house and looked really panicked and was like, "There was an old man outside looking for the both of you and I told him you were inside but he didn't come in." And so Sister Rada and I went outside to investigate (thinking it was the Elder's Quorom president or something) and find nothing. Whattheheck. And so we come back in....to two bags with all of our favorite treats inside! So H goes, "Sorry, he said he wanted to give these to you for Saint Nicholas Day, but he's really busy this time of year and he had to leave and wanted me to give them to you." Hahaha H is the bomb! He's a graphic designer so he made custom labels for all of the stuff, it was super cool. He's progressing amazingly well and pumped for baptism on Sunday and so are we! :)
Other than that, it was my last fast Sunday on my mission this week. Sister Rada and I both got to bear testimony to the branch we've come to love. It was really cute, a lot of the members got up and expressed their love for the missionaries since so many of us are leaving. It was especially cool because my first week in Eger, there were only eight members in my first Sacrament meeting, and this past Sunday there were about thirty there! Whoop whoop!
It was a really good meeting, but the very best part was the very end. Elder Haws got up to close the meeting and started to announce the closing prayer and hymn when T stands up in front of everyone and says "Kedves úram (literal translation: 'my dear sir' haha), I'm so sorry but I didn't get the chance to bear my testimony and I feel the impression to do so." So T gets up there and says, "I wish I could say that I'm becoming a member next week" (at this point I'm sweating a little) "but the truth is, I've been a member my whole life. I've believed and known these things are true for forever, but it wasn't until those two sisters stopped me on the street that I was able to finally recognize it and finally change." And he then went on to bear a beautiful testimony of Christ.
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
And is was in that moment that everything or anything hard I'd ever had to do my entire mission was one hundred percent worth it. In a very literal, very real sense. And I think I got the slightly clearer picture of why Christ did what He did. Because, honestly, sometimes I've wondered why He did. But God counts his sheep, and if there is one thing I've learned it's that the suffering is always worth it for the one. And missions are worth it. They really, really are.
Well, everybody, I love you lots. I miss you loads as well, and this whole "going home" thing is weird. I already feel like everything was and is a dream, and I'm living in it. And for some reason that killer cliché line from the Other Side of Heaven when John is on his way back to America keeps playing in my head. "They say I'm going home, but it's funny how I feel more like I'm leaving it."
And I'm going to be real, I'm feeling it, John. I'm really feeling it.
I can't wait to see you all next week, though! I'll send you pictures of the baptism on Monday. :)
Tudom hogy a Mormon könyve igaz!
Szeretet mindig,
Carle Nővér