Busy week‏

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a great week :) We had a crazy busy week but it was good.

Splits
This week we went on splits with the Érd sisters. That meant I got to spend the day with my girl, Sister Hafen which is always so much fun! :) It's always fun to see how much she improves in the language since helping her from the beginning. She is going to do amazing things here in Hungary! :)

Zone Training
This week we had zone training. Sister VanDenBerghe and I did a small training at our own Zone Training in Buda about working with other missionaries. Then the Zone Leaders from another zone asked us if we would come and do a training at their. SO the next day we travelled to Győr. It's only about an hour and a half away but lucky us, we got stuck at a stop and had to wait for about an hour. In the end, it took us about 3 hours to get there! We were about an hour and a half late to the training and showed up right in time to do our training haha. Then we had to turn around again and leave to get back to Buda for some programs.

Gabi
Gabi is someone that we used to meet with back when I was serving with Sister Naegle. But we haven't been able to meet with her for a while because she has been so busy. But finally we were able to meet with her again and it was amazing. In almost 2 months since I have met with her she has still been reading the Book of Mormon and praying! Honestly, I was surprised to hear that! It was amazing to see how her countenance changed in the hour we met with her. She came in a little stressed and rushing and was on the phone. But as we met with her she just seemed to calm down and was just so happy. She was asking what the normal day in the life of a Mormon was and what it would mean to be baptized. It was incredible. I am so excited to see how she progresses!

András
András is one of my favorites! He is another one, like Gabi, that we haven't been able to meet with in a while. I was so excited to be able to meet with him again. I was worried that with so much time away he would just slowly drop off and not meet with us anymore. But we were able to meet with him and had a great program.

Well, that's about it for the week. It was pretty busy and just flew by! Next week we have transfers (so I won't be on again until Tuesday). Chances are...I'm probably leaving Buda for my last transfer. Which is slightly heart breaking but it would be fun to go one more place. We will see though! I'll let you all know what's going on next week! Thank you all for writing me. Oh and our emailing time has been shortened a bit so I probably won't have time to respond to most emails. But just know I read them on and I really appreciate them! They help get me through the week!

Love you all!

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

July 20, 2015

Hi Everyone!

Hope you're all doing well! :)

This week went by so fast...

Richard

We had a really cool experience this week. Someone who we were supposed to meet with didn't show up for our program. We were pretty bummed but that's life. We wanted to stay in and wait for our next program in like 45 minutes but we figured we should probably go out and street for a little bit. So we went out and did some walking around the block and then went into a park. We handed an English class flyer to this guy and he started talking to us. His name was Richard and he turned out to be from England and was just living here in Hungary working! He was super nice and super cool. He told us he believed in some kind of bigger power out there but didn't know what it was. He said he suffered from a lot of health problems and was kind of sick of it. We told him a little bit about what we believe and a little about the Book of Mormon. We didn't have any English ones with us but we told him we could get one for him. He said that he didn't feel like he could just all of a sudden turn to Jesus when he had been so bitter for so long and that it was too late for him. But after a few minutes, he told us he would be in the park later in the week and that we could come find him and he would accept a Book of Mormon! Sadly, the time and day he said he would be there...there was a storm so no one was there. Hopefully we can go back and find him at some point though! :)

Splits
We went on splits this week with the Sisters that are serving in Pécs. I got to spend some time with my friend from the MTC, Sister Cropper. She had to go to the dentist though so I also spent sometime in the Dentist Office. It was really nice though because Sister Szabadkai came with us. I got to just sit and chat with her for a little while which was so fun. She is so nice! I think they are going to do amazing things here for the mission.

Well, that's about it for the week! Sorry...not much to report. I hope you're all doing well!

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

Isten Gyermeke Vagyok‏

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! :) This week was awesome. I'll start with my new companion, Sister Vandenberghe. I love her!! We get along so well and have had so much fun together already. None of that awkward get to know your new companion stuff! :)

So the best parts of this week were the weekend so I will mostly just tell you about those...

Saturday
Saturday was great! First, we had Sport Nap so I got to play soccer. That's always great :). Then, walking on our way back from Sport Nap, I get a call from the Sisters in Békéscsaba. They tell me that Rozsa is getting baptized today!!!! You might not all remember, but Rozsa is a lady that we found in Békéscsaba when I was with Sister Whittaker and Sister Geröly back in my second transfer!! She had been scheduled to be baptized at the end of my second transfer and I wanted to be there for it so badly but I got transferred to Érd in the middle of the transfer. She has been trying to quit smoking for the last almost year so that she could get baptized. Anyways, Saturday she was finally baptized!! Sister Cox (in Békéscsaba) told me that Rozsa was struggling a little so she sent me her number and I called her! It was the first time I talked to her since I left Békéscsaba and it was so fun to talk with her. She told me how she still remembers that first day we were walking in the main square and handed her a card with a picture of Jesus Christ. She said she has changed so much over the last year and was excited! I was SO excited and so happy!

Then, Saturday night, the BYU Contemporary Dance team came and performed. President Szabadkai was so nice. We didn't even have to ask for permission to go...he asked US if we wanted to go! :) He let all of our Zone go so I got to see Sister Hafen which is always the best! It was a really cool dance show. We went with some of our friends from the ward, Lina and Andi.

Sunday
Sunday was also great. Csaba and Vera both came to Sacrament Meeting. Not only did Csaba not show up late to church, but he showed up 20 minutes early!! I was so proud of him haha. Sadly they both could only stay for the first hour, but at least they could come for that! I also got to talk to Barnabás who was able to go to Germany to the temple for the first time last week. He was so thrilled! Floating on cloud 9! Said it was amazing and he didn't want to go home.

Sunday night was amazing. The BYU dance team did a fireside. I wasn't really sure what to expect to be honest. A couple of them gave short talks on different gospel topics like faith, Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. In between each talk, they sang a song. The first song was the EFY medley. The piano started and seriously I can't even explain how I felt. Tears instantly came to my eyes and I just felt the Spirit so strong. That's one of my favorite songs. I remembered the times I went to EFY and we all sang that song together and how powerful it was. Then, the very last song they sang was I Am a Child of God. They sang the first verse in English. Then, they sang it in Hungarian. Once again, I was hit with the Spirit so strongly. I got goosebumps and my eyes completely filled up with water. It was so powerful hearing it in Hungarian. It reminded me how much I love this country and these people. I was once again grateful that I have the opportunity and privilege to serve here. I feel my time here quickly coming to an end as I am approaching my last transfer and my group is now the oldest sisters in the mission. It was a good reminder to me of the importance of why I am here and how much I love serving here.

I hope you all have an amazing week. Thank you again for all of your love, prayers and support.

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx

Mini-transfer

Hi Everyone!

Hope you're all doing well! :)

President Szabadkai
The biggest news of this week is our new Mission President! President Szabadkai is now our Mission President. I was able to serve in Pécs (where he and his family are from) before I came to Buda and was able to get to know their family. It is so funny being able to serve around them here in Buda. He called some impromptu Zone Trainings this past week so that he would be able to meet every missionary in the mission by the end of the week. He and Sister Szabadkai went around the room and shook every missionary's hand and talked to them for a few minutes. They are so kind and personable. This is such an amazing step for Hungary to have a Hungarian Mission President! :) They are going to work miracles here!

Transfers
Well there's lots of big news this week actually. The other big news is the mini transfer! My companion, Sister Feil, is going home tomorrow. I have loved serving with her. We had so much fun together and worked hard. My new companion is going to be Sister Vandenberge. I have met her a few times and she is super nice! People only have wonderful things to say about her. I am really excited to serve with her! :)

Krisztina
The bishop's daughter, Krisztina came out with us for a few more hours again this week! Luckily, this time we had a few more programs for her to help us with! She did so great. She bore her testimony in our programs and was a huge help. She is going to be such an amazing missionary in a few years when she can go! :)

Air Show
On Saturday there was this cool Airplane show on the Duna river! We went with the Elders and a couple members and an investigator to watch it! Me and Sister Feil and one of the members, Lina, walked up and down the streets filled with people and handed out flyers! It was a super fun day.

Sunday
Sunday was great! :) Csaba came to church again! And was almost on time this week! ;) It was fast and testimony meeting and...well...Csaba decided to bear his testimony! He got up there and talked about how much he loved being there and that it was a good place to be. He called me later that night to tell me that his exams the next day probably weren't going to go well, but that it was okay. He was super glad he had gone to church and felt really good there and was glad he was able to give a talk! :) So sweet. On Sunday, Krisztina got set apart as the ward pianist and a ward missionary. She asked if Sister Feil and I could come in and see her get set apart! It was so sweet. It was nice to be able to be there with her. She is so excited about her calling as a ward missionary! Then we had dinner at the Peterson's house which was soooo good. They made us lasagna and peach cobbler! It was especially good since it had been fast Sunday and i was staaaaaaaaaarving! I love the Petersons! They are the cutest, sweetest couple!


Monday
Well because of transfers this week, we had a normal working day yesterday. We met with Vera in the morning which was great. Then we met up with Lina from the ward so that she could say goodbye to Sister Feil. They are both really musically talented so they ended up playing the piano and singing for a little bit while I got to just sit back and enjoy :) Then we spent the evening with the Bishop's family! They fed us dinner and we got to chat with them for a little bit. It was super fun.

Well, it was a great week! I'm excited for this new week. I hope you are all doing well! Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support.

Sok szeretettel,

Simons Nővér xx