Dear all,
It has officially been overcast for exactly...every day since I got to Eger! What the lame! I turned to Sister Rada the other day and I was like, "I feel like we're vampires or something." And she was like: "Why? Because it's rainy and cold all the time and all we do is walk around and meet with people and go to cathedrals and castles and underground cellars and ancient minarets and old universities and miss that happy chemical people get out of the sun? I'm basically waiting for the Cullens to pop up any given day!" Hahaha
With that noted, I think we should basically win some sort of award for getting up and running a couple miles every morning despite the gloom and the fact that we've both been doing this for "A Really Long Time."
Speaking of which, being companions with Sister Rada has been really cool. I mean, I know I said that last week, but really it's impressive to get her insights on missionary work having both served the same amount of time. The work in Eger has been pretty notorious for being pretty stagnant---and the work I walked into here that Sister Rada had been doing was pretty dang impressive considering. Right now we have two investigators with a baptismal date, and though there are definitely obstacles ahead, it's been really good.
In one of our lessons this week one of the coolest people I've been able to teach my whole mission told us, "I've searched my whole for a certain feeling. And I've gone to so many churches just looking and looking for it---and I finally found it last week at yours."
So, yeah.
Pretty dang cool.
I would be lying if I didn't say I miss Nyíregyháza so much it hurts (and we all know missionaries don't lie, right? ;) But I think missions teach you a lot. And sometimes you need to learn the same lesson over again, but I guess that's kind of life, right? This week I had some time to just kind of realize what my mission has meant to me so far--and reflect on the crazy amount of transferring. When I was in the MTC, we listened to this suuuper cool talk by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ" (which I would highly recommend to anyone anywhere). And one of the things he talked about most is how missionaries get caught up in this whole "I want this" or "I want that" kind of complex. And his respnse to that (in typical Bednar fashion) is just that "this isn't about you."
And really it's not. And I guess that kind of thing is hard to really learn, because everyone on a base level has set needs or desires. And especially out here, so far from everyone and everything back home you kind of want a specific checklist of things that you could always look back on to see that you served a "successful mission"--because it makes the sacrifice--the blood, sweat, and tears---seem a like it was totally worth it. But I think the thing that I learned the most this week, or that was reiterated the most, was how this really isn't about me. I didn't come on a mission to serve in a specific area or a certain person, or to check down my checklist, I came to serve in general. And sometimes you just have to take a step back and realize that that's enough.
Anywho, enough from me this week. Love you all, miss ya :)
Tudom hogy a Mormon könyve igaz!
Szeretet mindig,
Carle Nővér
It has officially been overcast for exactly...every day since I got to Eger! What the lame! I turned to Sister Rada the other day and I was like, "I feel like we're vampires or something." And she was like: "Why? Because it's rainy and cold all the time and all we do is walk around and meet with people and go to cathedrals and castles and underground cellars and ancient minarets and old universities and miss that happy chemical people get out of the sun? I'm basically waiting for the Cullens to pop up any given day!" Hahaha
With that noted, I think we should basically win some sort of award for getting up and running a couple miles every morning despite the gloom and the fact that we've both been doing this for "A Really Long Time."
Speaking of which, being companions with Sister Rada has been really cool. I mean, I know I said that last week, but really it's impressive to get her insights on missionary work having both served the same amount of time. The work in Eger has been pretty notorious for being pretty stagnant---and the work I walked into here that Sister Rada had been doing was pretty dang impressive considering. Right now we have two investigators with a baptismal date, and though there are definitely obstacles ahead, it's been really good.
In one of our lessons this week one of the coolest people I've been able to teach my whole mission told us, "I've searched my whole for a certain feeling. And I've gone to so many churches just looking and looking for it---and I finally found it last week at yours."
So, yeah.
Pretty dang cool.
I would be lying if I didn't say I miss Nyíregyháza so much it hurts (and we all know missionaries don't lie, right? ;) But I think missions teach you a lot. And sometimes you need to learn the same lesson over again, but I guess that's kind of life, right? This week I had some time to just kind of realize what my mission has meant to me so far--and reflect on the crazy amount of transferring. When I was in the MTC, we listened to this suuuper cool talk by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ" (which I would highly recommend to anyone anywhere). And one of the things he talked about most is how missionaries get caught up in this whole "I want this" or "I want that" kind of complex. And his respnse to that (in typical Bednar fashion) is just that "this isn't about you."
And really it's not. And I guess that kind of thing is hard to really learn, because everyone on a base level has set needs or desires. And especially out here, so far from everyone and everything back home you kind of want a specific checklist of things that you could always look back on to see that you served a "successful mission"--because it makes the sacrifice--the blood, sweat, and tears---seem a like it was totally worth it. But I think the thing that I learned the most this week, or that was reiterated the most, was how this really isn't about me. I didn't come on a mission to serve in a specific area or a certain person, or to check down my checklist, I came to serve in general. And sometimes you just have to take a step back and realize that that's enough.
Anywho, enough from me this week. Love you all, miss ya :)
Tudom hogy a Mormon könyve igaz!
Szeretet mindig,
Carle Nővér