Changes!‏

Sziasztok!

Well, the day has come. We got our transfer calls this morning. A few weeks ago I had the thought that maybe I would be leaving Békéscsaba at this mini transfer. But I didn't want to, so I convinced myself that I would be staying at least until the real transfer in September! But sadly, I will be leaving Békéscsaba tomorrow! I have grown to absolutely love the people here and this little city. I am sad to have to say goodbye to them and my companions! But, I am excited for the new adventure I will have! Tomorrow, I will go to my new city which is Érd (pretty close to Budapest) and I will be serving with Sister Erlandsson who I haven't met yet! I am sure it will be great and I will love Érd as much as I have loved Békéscsaba! :)

We had a great week here in Békéscsaba! I hit my 5 month mark on my mission which is crazy. I cannot believe how fast the time is going. Also, I mentioned a few weeks a Liahona I had been studying in personal study. I opened it up to one page randomly last week and I saw a picture and thought "hey...he looks really familiar!" Sure enough there was a little story written by Angelica Hagman who married a missionary, Elder Hagman, that we knew when we lived in Greece! It was so fun to see their picture!!! So a little shout out to the Hagmans :)

On Wednesday last week it was a holiday so we went to Gyula for the day. We went with the Smiths and the Elders. It was so fun! We toured a little castle there and got some lunch and ice cream. It was a great way to spend the holiday :)

On Friday we went to Szeged for Zone Training. Unlike last transfer, we actually made it on time :). We were able to drive up there with the Smiths so that was nice! And then we rode the train home. Sadly though, we missed the first train and had to wait around for an hour for the second train. But we met a cool girl and talked to her a little bit so that was fun. It was also really fun to see some missionary friends in the Zone. We had a great training talking about commitments. I learned a lot.

Friday night we also had a little branch talent show. That was fun and we had a pretty good turn out! All the missionaries sang "Let it Go" from Frozen. It was pretty rough haha but it was fun to sing.

On Saturday we had HAJNI'S BAPTISM!!!! So funny story...that baptism font last week. It wasn't supposed to be delivered to us yet. They have to do some plumbing or something so they took it away :( We were all devastated. After days of walking/driving around searching for a swimming pool, we finally found a lake that had been used last year for a baptism. It was pretty gross haha but Hajni was such a good sport. She said that it didn't matter where she got baptized, just as long as she did. She has such a strong testimony. I am so excited for her. She said she feels such peace and is just so happy.

On Sunday, we had a great meeting by the senior couple the Broadheads. They talked all about family history and got me super excited about it! I never really realized how important it really is!! I wrote down a bunch of things that I want to do for family history work when I get home. I would encourage you all to do some family history work! Even just a little bit every week.

Our investigator Rozsa is doing so well. She didn't understand the Book of Mormon when she didn't understand it. But yesterday when we went back, she told us she understood! And that all of her answers were in it! She started reading in Mormon and then just started reading. She read 8 chapters from one program one day to the next program the next day. We asked her if she would pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Her response was, "Well...I don't really need to. I know its true. But yeah I guess I can pray. But I know it's all true." I cannot believe how prepared she is. I wish I would be here for her baptism but that's okay. I am so excited for her.

Well I hope you all have a great week. next week, I'll be emailing from a new city so hopefully I will have some exciting new stories!

Sok szeretettel,
Simons Nővér xx

Csodák‏

Jó napot!

Well, this is going to be a short email this week because we only have one hour to email. There is a Hungarian holiday on Wednesday so apart from on hour of emailing today, it is a normal working day and our pday is on Wednesday to join in the celebrations.

Everyday I try to write down the little miracles that happened during the week. But this week we had two big miracles! On Tuesday, we were sitting in the branch house doing a district language study. A big truck pulled up outside with a delivery. Sister Smith said, "Oh...I wonder if it is the portable baptismal font." For a minute, I thought she was kidding. But sure enough...out came a big cardboard box that had a portable baptism font in it! I did not even know that a baptismal font had been ordered! And apparently, it wasn't supposed to show up for another 4 months or so! Hajni showed up at the branch house at the same time as the font was being delivered. She was so excited as her baptism is this coming Saturday! It was as though the font was delivered early just so she could get baptised in it! It really was an incredible miracle. We were all so happy and couldn't believe that it had arrived. Now we won't have to deal with renting pools or going to public pools and awkwardly asking people if we could use the little pool for a minute. Now we are all set for Hajni's baptism on Saturday! :)

Another great thing happened this week with a new investigator. Her name is Rozsa. We streeted her at the beginning of the transfer and then went to meet with her last week. We set up to go see her again a few days later. As we met with her, we talked about the Book of Mormon and the history behind it. It was an incredible program. The Spirit was so strong. She told us how wonderful she thought it was. She loved the picture of Christ in the Americas at the front. She said she felt like she was in that picture. She told us how she felt so good when she was with us. In my mind I was thinking, "wow...should we ask her to be baptized??" Sure enough, Sister Geröly had the same though and she asked if Rozsa would prepare to be baptized in September. Rozsa said YES!! It is amazing when you meet people who have been so prepared by the Lord. She didn't even know what she was searching for until we gave her a Book of Mormon and told her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was such a testimony builder to me.

Anyways those were some of the great things that happened this week! I feel so lucky that I get to be here in Hungary telling the people about this gospel that has blessed my life so much. It's so amazing to see people learn about the gospel, accept it and see the amazing blessings that come from it. I love this gospel and I know that it is true! I also know that The Book of Mormon is true.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

Stepping Into the Darkness...‏

Jó napot kívánok!

We had another great week here in Békéscsaba!

We had a little adventure on Thursday when we went to look for a mother and daugther who are not active anymore. We went to the building where they lived and rang the buzzer but there was no answer. We wanted to get in the building so we could leave a little birthday treat for the daugther by the door. The building was set up a little funny and we weren't 100% which apartment she was in. After knocking on a few doors and some detective work, we finally found their apartment and left the little treat there. Luckily, as we were leaving, we ran into them on the street and got to chat with them a little bit. It was really nice to be able to see them and to wish the little daughter a happy birthday.

We had a cool program with a guy named Lászlo after English class last week. He had met with missionaries before and received a Book of Mormon but had only read a little bit of it. We explained to him a little bit about the Book of Mormon using the pictures at the front of the book. He understood a little better where the book came from and promised that he would try reading it again! He told us that since he has started coming to our branch house for English class, his life has changed. It is so amazing to see the Spirit working in people's lives!

We had some really great programs this week with our investigator, Hajni, who is on baptism date. She is still working on things with her family to be able to be baptised but so much progress has been made. We have all been praying for her and fasted for her last week and miracles are happening. Its so great. She has such a strong testimony and desire to follow Christ and be baptized.

One exciting thing on Sunday was our investigator, Irén came to church! We hadn't been able to meet with her for a little while. But we met with her on Friday and invited her to church. She told us she has to cook on Sundays...but before we could say anything she said "well...maybe i can just do all the cooking on Saturday instead" and sure enough Sunday morning she showed up to church and stayed for both hours! It was so great to see her! And we had two great talks given by Elder Haws and Sister Smith. One was about testimonies and how we can gain personal testimonies. The other was about trusting God always, especially in hard times. So perfect.

This weekend we got to go to Buda, AGAIN! I love going into Buda, its so much fun. Sister Whittaker had a New Missionary Training she had to go to. Which meant that Sister Geröly and I got to go with two other Sisters and tour a little bit of Budapest. That was so much fun since I hadn't had the chance to go yet! We went and saw Parliament which was beautiful. We saw a Holocaust Memorial. There are a bunch of metal shoes along the side of the river. This shows where Jews were lined up, told to take off their shoes, and shot into the river. It is so heartbreaking and a really beautiful memorial. Then we saw a few other things around the city and it was an adventure! We were able to meet some interesting people on the train ride there and give out some pass along cards. On the way back, we got a whole car to ourselves and got to each do a little personal study and chat a bit. It was a really great trip. But it is always good to go back to Békéscsaba!

A few weeks ago I started a study journal as I am doing my personal study in the morning. It is so great! I feel like i learn so much from doing this. Yesterday I was reading an article from the new Liahona called "Be Strong and of Good Courage." Here are a few quotes that I loved from it...

"The Lord has placed currents of divine influence in your life that will lead you along the individual plan He would have you fulfill hear on Earth." (Elder Richard G. Scott)

"We may not be satisfied with our circumstances and thus spend time wondering when things will change. If we do this, we miss out on wonderful opportunities for spiritual growth."

In the last few paragraphs of the article it also talks about how sometimes, we will not know the outcome of what we do. Sometimes the Lord asks us to take a few steps into the darkness, and as we are faithful and do so, He will then light the way for us. I love that. It went along perfectly with where I am readying in Alma. In chapter 27, Ammon suggests that the Lamanites go to the Nephites. The King, however, is fearful because of all of the bad things that they did to them in the past and thinks they would want to destroy them. However, twice he says that if the Lord tells them to go, they will go. That shows incredible faith. Even though he was fearful and didn't know what would happen, he said that they would go wherever the Lord told them to go. That's how we have to be in our lives. Sometimes we will be required to do something that we don't know why or what the outcome will be. But if we have faith and trust in the Lord, He will provide a way and will help us.

I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for all of the emails! Sorry for those of you who I didn't have time to respond to. I really appreciate hearing from you all even if I don't have a chance to respond.

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx