Dear all,
It's gotten to the point where so much has happened this week I have been staring at the keyboard for the past five minutes because I don't even know where to begin.
So I think I'll just start typing and hope good things happen.
1.) First and foremost,we had weekly planning yesterday and I set a personal goal not to eat any more Ramen this week because I have begun to fear for my life. I do believe, however, that the only thing more pathetic than inspiring the headline, "Hungarian Missionary Dies of Malnutrition Due to Overconsumption of Ramen" is being someone to read that headline and say, "That's a really dumb th-----oh, dang. I know her."
I made this sacrifice for you all because I love you.
2.) This week was Halloween! Woooohooo! Halloween here has mostly been semi-adopted from America so they don't even have an equivalent of trick-or-treating for children, which makes it mostly a holiday for teenagers and adults which also makes it quite a bit scarier. When we weren't freaked out about the crazy costumes, we were hiding from an intense political protest about internet taxation in the main square--which was an adventure, to be sure.
3.) This week was also the Hungarian Day of the Dead. I feel like in Latin America Day of the Dead is pretty closely associated with weeping and wailing and a whole lot of creepiness, but in Hungary it's really just a class act. Everybody just buys a BUNCH of flowers and lights a bunch of candles and quietly places them on the graves and remembers their ancestry and loved ones and it's really quite beautiful and the graveyards just glow soft yellows and oranges all night.
In honor of this occasion, the Elders and Moffatt Nővér and I decided to go out to the graveyards and talk to people about eternal families and all that good stuff. Anyways, we weren't running into too many people at the first cemetary we went to so we decided to go to another cemetary at another part of the city.
Bad idea number one.
About thirty minutes into our walk we begin to realize just how far away the other cemetary is. We were too far into the walk to really concede and walk back, but just far enough in to realize what a bad idea this is. After an hour of one Elder reciting that "the sons of Mosiah suffered many pains and afflictions..." and the other quoting "How General Authorities Eat Their Reese's" (a semi-viral YouTube video from, like, 2011) we arrive at the graveyard. At this point I'm already done, but just wait, it gets better.
So we can't find the entrance. And I wish I could say that is where the story ends but nooo that's simply where Bad Idea Number Two comes into play. The Elders decide that since we had been on such a long quest to find this graveyard and walked for the equivalent of a two year mission (you have to factor in the amount of times I had to hear "hearts were gladdened, tears were shed, and a cup was shared" which multiplies the time walked by several thousand) that we can just hop over the brick wall.
And we did. And we ran into this lady and started talking to her and she kept insisting we were German (and she wasn't even intoxicated) and told us that the graveyard actually closed (because apparently they can do that, even though it was only, like, eight, and forreal, you CANNOT tell me the dead are bothered by our presence. Don't even start.) And just when we're like: oh, dang, we better book it out of here then, the zone leaders pop up out of nowhere and started freaking out and are like: wearesoscareditsnightandacemetaryohmygoodnessaaaaaaahh and I'm just like: oh, you were all bent out of shape about The Cockroach Thing, who are the real sister missionaries here?
Anyways, the point is I basically accidentally broke into a cemetary on the Day of the Dead and the zone leaders almost cried. And I realize I went a really round-about way of sharing that but I REALLY JUST WANTED TO SPREAD THE GOOD WORD OF ETERNAL FAMILIES, OKAY?
4.) I want to entitle this bullet point: "Proof That My District Is The Best." (Contrary to what you might think having just read the graveyard story.)
For this transfer we've been focusing our district meetings on a lot of awesome things that really tie into finding, and they've been totally amazing. But last week we decided to stop the all talk---and start acting.
We came together and decided to all fast for twenty-four hours, so that we could all go out for a designated period of time where we were just going to go out and give finding everything we had. Two hours of the most non-apathetic, most energetic hours of finding backed with the fast of six missionaries. Bulletproof idea, amiiright? We were going to talk to every person we saw for a designated two hours--and spread out as companionships all over the city and do it together. We got together had district meeting, had lunch, and began the fast in kneeling prayer together. We then met twenty-two hours later, began the finding with another prayer together. We then went out and found WITH EVERYTHING WE HAD.
Being a greenie, I was absolutely TERRIFIED. So scared.
But the coolest thing happened. It was so cool. SO. COOL. SERIOUSLY IT WAS SO COOL.
And it's still in the works--so hopefully I can give you the full story in a few weeks, but the point is you don't even need my super cool story.
Because you can find one on your own, because we each have this ability. We each can communicate with God. We literally each have this ability. Isn't that freaking crazy awesome??
We each can pray.
We each can fast.
I want to tell you fasting brings miracles. Faith, I mean a real, deep faith founded in Christ, is the most amazingly beautifully stunning thing.
And I can say that as I've seen it in my life the past week, the past three months, and my whole life. And I want to remind you of the ability to see it in your own--every single day. I promise.
Love you all and miss you crazy kids!
Tudom hogy a Mormon könyve igaz!
Szeretet mindig,
Carle Nővér
p.s. Moffatt Nővér says I have a new blog follower so I want to give a shout out to Momma Moffatt--hi!!
It's gotten to the point where so much has happened this week I have been staring at the keyboard for the past five minutes because I don't even know where to begin.
So I think I'll just start typing and hope good things happen.
1.) First and foremost,we had weekly planning yesterday and I set a personal goal not to eat any more Ramen this week because I have begun to fear for my life. I do believe, however, that the only thing more pathetic than inspiring the headline, "Hungarian Missionary Dies of Malnutrition Due to Overconsumption of Ramen" is being someone to read that headline and say, "That's a really dumb th-----oh, dang. I know her."
I made this sacrifice for you all because I love you.
2.) This week was Halloween! Woooohooo! Halloween here has mostly been semi-adopted from America so they don't even have an equivalent of trick-or-treating for children, which makes it mostly a holiday for teenagers and adults which also makes it quite a bit scarier. When we weren't freaked out about the crazy costumes, we were hiding from an intense political protest about internet taxation in the main square--which was an adventure, to be sure.
3.) This week was also the Hungarian Day of the Dead. I feel like in Latin America Day of the Dead is pretty closely associated with weeping and wailing and a whole lot of creepiness, but in Hungary it's really just a class act. Everybody just buys a BUNCH of flowers and lights a bunch of candles and quietly places them on the graves and remembers their ancestry and loved ones and it's really quite beautiful and the graveyards just glow soft yellows and oranges all night.
In honor of this occasion, the Elders and Moffatt Nővér and I decided to go out to the graveyards and talk to people about eternal families and all that good stuff. Anyways, we weren't running into too many people at the first cemetary we went to so we decided to go to another cemetary at another part of the city.
Bad idea number one.
About thirty minutes into our walk we begin to realize just how far away the other cemetary is. We were too far into the walk to really concede and walk back, but just far enough in to realize what a bad idea this is. After an hour of one Elder reciting that "the sons of Mosiah suffered many pains and afflictions..." and the other quoting "How General Authorities Eat Their Reese's" (a semi-viral YouTube video from, like, 2011) we arrive at the graveyard. At this point I'm already done, but just wait, it gets better.
So we can't find the entrance. And I wish I could say that is where the story ends but nooo that's simply where Bad Idea Number Two comes into play. The Elders decide that since we had been on such a long quest to find this graveyard and walked for the equivalent of a two year mission (you have to factor in the amount of times I had to hear "hearts were gladdened, tears were shed, and a cup was shared" which multiplies the time walked by several thousand) that we can just hop over the brick wall.
And we did. And we ran into this lady and started talking to her and she kept insisting we were German (and she wasn't even intoxicated) and told us that the graveyard actually closed (because apparently they can do that, even though it was only, like, eight, and forreal, you CANNOT tell me the dead are bothered by our presence. Don't even start.) And just when we're like: oh, dang, we better book it out of here then, the zone leaders pop up out of nowhere and started freaking out and are like: wearesoscareditsnightandacemetaryohmygoodnessaaaaaaahh and I'm just like: oh, you were all bent out of shape about The Cockroach Thing, who are the real sister missionaries here?
Anyways, the point is I basically accidentally broke into a cemetary on the Day of the Dead and the zone leaders almost cried. And I realize I went a really round-about way of sharing that but I REALLY JUST WANTED TO SPREAD THE GOOD WORD OF ETERNAL FAMILIES, OKAY?
4.) I want to entitle this bullet point: "Proof That My District Is The Best." (Contrary to what you might think having just read the graveyard story.)
For this transfer we've been focusing our district meetings on a lot of awesome things that really tie into finding, and they've been totally amazing. But last week we decided to stop the all talk---and start acting.
We came together and decided to all fast for twenty-four hours, so that we could all go out for a designated period of time where we were just going to go out and give finding everything we had. Two hours of the most non-apathetic, most energetic hours of finding backed with the fast of six missionaries. Bulletproof idea, amiiright? We were going to talk to every person we saw for a designated two hours--and spread out as companionships all over the city and do it together. We got together had district meeting, had lunch, and began the fast in kneeling prayer together. We then met twenty-two hours later, began the finding with another prayer together. We then went out and found WITH EVERYTHING WE HAD.
Being a greenie, I was absolutely TERRIFIED. So scared.
But the coolest thing happened. It was so cool. SO. COOL. SERIOUSLY IT WAS SO COOL.
And it's still in the works--so hopefully I can give you the full story in a few weeks, but the point is you don't even need my super cool story.
Because you can find one on your own, because we each have this ability. We each can communicate with God. We literally each have this ability. Isn't that freaking crazy awesome??
We each can pray.
We each can fast.
I want to tell you fasting brings miracles. Faith, I mean a real, deep faith founded in Christ, is the most amazingly beautifully stunning thing.
And I can say that as I've seen it in my life the past week, the past three months, and my whole life. And I want to remind you of the ability to see it in your own--every single day. I promise.
Love you all and miss you crazy kids!
Tudom hogy a Mormon könyve igaz!
Szeretet mindig,
Carle Nővér
p.s. Moffatt Nővér says I have a new blog follower so I want to give a shout out to Momma Moffatt--hi!!