WEEK 2

Hey Everyone!!!!

So this week was kind of weird. Everyone said to just make it to the first Sunday in the MTC and you'd be good. But honestly the first few days were a piece of cake. It was after last PDay things got a little rough. Not too bad but some stuff happened in our district. I don't know all of the details but sadly one of the Elders went home (health related stuff) and that kind of threw us all for a loop. Two days in a row, two of our teachers just stopped class and just asked (in english so it was a big deal) if we were okay. They kind of helped us work through stuff, which was great. We all talked about the great things about each other and I think it brought us all closer together. 

Hungarian is progressing! it is so hard but it's coming along. And I just have to remember it's only been 2 weeks. The fact that we can all kind of teach a lesson in Hungarian is pretty good, if I do say so myself :) We have two new investigators (again our teachers) and it's better than the first one. Well...kind of. I still get frustrated because I know what I want to say but I cannot figure out how to say it in Hungarian. There are a lot of charades going on in the lessons :) But it's great I am loving Hungarian. Although it's funny we have all noticed that as we learn more Hungarian, our spelling in English is getting worse and worse haha so sorry if I have really bad spelling errors. 

Okay so the best part of my whole week. On Sundays we have devotionals. This Sunday it was Richard Elliot - an organist. So that was cool. BUT then all of a sudden they announced and showed on the big screen...wait for it....DAVID ARCHULETA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I freaked out. Those who knew me my senior year in high school know how much I love him ;) Anyway it was a very musical devotional so that was incredible. David Archuleta sang and I cried. Yes I cried. And I'm not ashamed. It was seriously so amazing. That boy has the voice of an angel. He had been home from his mission for just a week so he was still super missionary like and oh man it was just so good to hear him speak and to hear him sing. Ah-mazing. And then after devotionals we can go watch a movie (usually either a talk by a general authority or something) but this week we went and saw the movie Legacy (it's this super old movie about the times of Joseph Smith and the pilgrims). Oh my gosh it was so bad Hahaha but it was like so bad that it was awesome. Needless to say our whole district was on a super duper spiritual high that night after the devotional and movie haha.

The hardest part of the week was Jake leaving. On Sunday, all of the Albanian missionaries sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." I hate that song. I mean no...I love it. But I hate it. Before they music even started I was bawling. Literally. Like almost hyperventalating. Which didn't help Jake since I was sitting right at the front so as he was up there singing he was bawling too haha it was really sad and tons of other missionaries were crying too and came up afterwards and were like "you guys!! you made us all cry! we feel so bad for you right now!!!" haha and then Tuesday was pretty hard. I woke up at 4am and went with the Finnish Sisters so say goodbye to the Albanians. That was hard to see Jake walk away. So I've been a little down the last few days. But I've decided that I just need to be positive and optimistic. I miss Jake especially since he was my sanity here in the MTC. But I'm so excited for him to be in Albania. And I’m not far from him. Plus I'll see him in 22 months :) It was seriously the best blessing EVER having Jake here in my zone with me for the first two weeks at the MTC. And of course I still miss him (like I miss the rest of my family) but I am just going to completely focus on me trying to become the best missionary I can be. 

Soooooo many people who know me know that I'm a tad bit clumsy. And it's like been enhanced since I’ve been here. I think I whack my head on something everyday. It really hurts and I need to be more careful lol the other sisters think one day I’m just going to black out and collapse because I’ve hit my head so often haha Our district is so fun. We started assigning each other Disney characters. it started when we decided one of the elder's looks like nahla (yes the girl lion from the lion king haha). I think in the end I was given Meg from Hercules (which I’m not complaining about). It was so fun haha

So we've all be talking...we are terrified to go to Hungary haha but in a talk we watched by Elder Bednar a few weeks ago, he talked about how he used to interview new converts and almost always they said that the missionaries that taught them were total dorks and could barely speak the language but what made them decide to join the church was the feeling that they had when they were with the missionaries. I would love to become completely fluent in Hungarian. But I know that there is no way I can do it all on my own. I have to have the help of the Lord or there is no way I can do it. Especially to know enough Hungarian to leave here in 7 weeks. We are told to learn the language of the country we are going too but more importantly to learn the language of the spirit. It has been a rough few days mostly with just Jake leaving but I am putting the sad moments behind me and just focusing on learning Hungarian and the language of the spirit. 

Overall, things are great! there have been ups and downs but that’s normal in life. I'm just trying to focus on the blessings and the positives in my life! :)

Thanks to everyone who sends me emails and dear elders! I'm sorry if I don't have time to respond but just know I love it so much and getting mail is one of the best parts of the day! I love you all and miss you and can't wait to see you in 18 months! :) 

Simons Nover 

p.s. Fun fact for you all...The Hungarian MIssion was opened on June 1, 1990 so LITERALLY two days after I was born!! I don't know why I thought that was so cool but yeah :)